NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, recently announced that the agency is reviewing park names across the city with the goal of renaming a selection in each borough for Black Americans with local, national or historical relevance. The parks and their new names will be announced Nov. 2.
In celebration of Juneteenth and to celebrate the lives of racial violence victims George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and countless others, NYC Parks created a grove in Cadman Plaza, Brooklyn in dedication, named “Juneteenth Grove.” Adding to an existing tree presentation at this location, the agency planted 19 new flowering trees—because they fortify life—that flank the park’s main entry path on Tillary Street (between Cadman Plaza E. and W.) and has displayed newly designed banners marking the area.
The Juneteenth Grove features a temporary painting of 19 existing benches in the colors of the globally recognized Pan-African Flag (red, black, and green). As the steward of nearly three million trees, Parks recognizes the Black community’s complicated relationship with trees—they represent thousands lynched and their roots symbolize the depth and connectivity the Black community has to America.