REV. SHARPTON LEADS PROTEST AGAINST GRAMERCY PARK BOARD OF TRUSTEES

n Friday, November 15, Rev. Al Sharpton and the New York Chapter of the National Action Network (NAN) led a protest in front of the only privately owned park in New York City, Gramercy Park, located at 21^st Street between Park Avenue South and Third Avenue in Manhattan.

Joined by Lieutenant Eric Adams, founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, activist and talk show host "Grampa" Al Lewis and Annette Dickerson who is with the Center for Constitutional Rights, the demonstrators showed their support for the plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought against members of the Gramercy Park Board of Trustees. The plaintiffs, some of whom were also present, are a number of Black and Latino students at Washington Irving High School, their parents, some teachers at that school, as well as Mr. O. Aldon James, President of the National Arts Club.

The suit demands changes in the Gramercy Park Trust which dates back to 1831 - 30 years before the beginning of the Civil War. The lawsuit also charges civil rights violations of the Black and Latino 9^th graders from Washington Irving High School who were invited and escorted to the park by Mr. James, a key-holding member of Gramercy Park, for the purpose of studying the relation of nature, science and art.

This was not the first time Mr. James, who is white, had brought a group of students to Gramercy Park for a field trip. The thing is, when the students were primarily white, they met with no objection from the park's Board Of Trustees. But when the students were predominately Black and Latino, it was a whole different story. The lawsuit alleges that while they were in the park, Sharen Benenson, Chair of the Gramercy Park Trust, came over to the students and told them, "We don't want your kind here." One of the teachers answered that this was a learning trip for the students. Benenson replied, "They don't look like a learning group to me."

Addressing the protestors, Rev. Sharpton stated, "In an area of the city that claims to have some of the literary giants, some of the cultural icons of America - to have children of color told that they don't appear to be the studious type and chased from a park is nothing but racial profiling in it's most blatant form."

He told the crowd that NAN will be there on a weekly basis when people eat their lunches in the park. "We're going to be your lunchtime company," he said. And referring to the popular 1967 movie about racism that starred Sidney Poitier, he said, "Guess who's coming to dinner?" Continuing very seriously he said, "If our children can't come into the park, then we will come to the sidewalks around the park until they can."

Sharpton spoke too of the importance of backing up Mr. James and making sure he's treated in a fair and equitable manner. "To target the National Arts Club for doing what all New Yorkers should be doing - participating in the education of young people - is something we cannot sit back in silence and allow to happen," he said. "We cannot let them scapegoat Alston James for standing up for our children. Our children must not be made to think that they are so despicable in these people's sight that those who dare stand with them will be treated as though something is wrong with them rather than lauded and applauded."

Woody Henderson, head of the New York Chapter of NAN, made some important points as well about the fact that it was an educational trip to the park that has roused Benenson's ire. "Everybody complains about the educational system," he stated. "But when someone steps out of their way, as Mr. James has, to try to help educate our youths and then others object, apparently education isn't the objectors' real goal. Perhaps there are certain segments of this society that have a vested interest in children of color not being educated on an equal level."

He spoke too about the fact that Armed Services recruiters are now going into high schools like Washington Irving and encouraging the students to sign up. "If we end up going to war in Iraq, they're certainly not going to say, 'We don't want Black and Latinos,'" he said.

Lieutenant Eric Adams made reference to yet another place that some people would rather see youth of color headed. Gesturing toward the high wrought-iron fences that surround the park, he said, "We're here because we believe our children should be allowed within the fences of a park, not within the confinements of a jail."

Mr. James addressed the protesters as well. After thanking Rev. Sharpton and everyone else for their support, he said that the National Arts Club had simply used its right as a property owner to bring an official class trip into the park. And he spoke of how devastating the experience had been to the children. "It was a searing experience for the plaintiffs," he said. "What happened here should never happen again. I think the only way to make sense of this nightmare is to make sure that it doesn't happen again. The case is documented and the facts are before the Federal Court."

For more information about upcoming demonstrations, call Woody Henderson at the National Action Network at (212) 987-5020.

Donna Lamb can be reached at dlamb@gis.net.