From the Times Ledger:It’s the middle of August and the grass has turned brown in many of Flushing’s outdoor spaces from Kissena Park to Flushing Cemetery.
But the grass and foliage at the Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground, known until December 2009 as Martins Field, is in particular disrepair.
On Monday evening, piles of rotting, pungent vegetation greeted visitors just inside the ground’s gates, grass and shrubs were sunburned and dead, caution tape encircled most trees. Trash was strewn across a plaque honoring the 500 to 1,000 blacks and American Indians buried there in the 19th century after dying of small pox and cholera.
That state of disrepair does not sit well with Mandingo Tshaka, the Bayside community activist who was instrumental in getting the site renamed to reflect the honor of the people who were buried under what is now a city park. He is looking to encourage the city to take better care of the site.
“The Parks Department totally eradicated the history of my people and disregarded them and you’ll see it right out here in Flushing,” he said. “It’s time that this city stand up and do the right thing: Respect this cemetery.”
4 comments:
the citizens of flushing bought that land to bury the dead of the area from epidemic diseases,to keep them at a distance.
reading the ground plaques will tell you that the local white population who died during the epidemic are also buried there. seems to be omitted from the local weeklies.
also Everett Martin was not a racist as Tchaka was quoted saying earlier in the times-ledger. see new york times archives of that period. he praised the minorities of that period.
seems to be a bit of rewriting of history.
BTW,the shrubs planted there always appear to be
weeds. with very little rain this summer all city green has turned brown. check the lawns .who can afford
to pay to water our lawns.
if you care to research the n.y.times, the name is EVERETT P. MARTIN,letter to the editor
i commented on Everett's letter to the editor previously
on Q.C. .
no one should be deemed a racist,without checking his writings. don't you agree? it is not fair.
he has family alive somewhere.
Don't worry,in 25 years the predominantly muslim population will build a mosqe there......
Wait till you see what Jackson-Moore looks like now or how the Famine Cemetery (Old Mount Carmel) looked in my youth.
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