Playground Jail in Bed Stuy Sparking Outrage
The emergence of a jail-themed jungle gym at the Tompkins Houses in Bedford Stuyvesant has the community in an uproar. Black and Brown News, which ran this image earlier this week, did some homework and found that NYCHA was responsible for ordering it earlier this week. I don’t think they should put that there in…
The emergence of a jail-themed jungle gym at the Tompkins Houses in Bedford Stuyvesant has the community in an uproar. Black and Brown News, which ran this image earlier this week, did some homework and found that NYCHA was responsible for ordering it earlier this week. I don’t think they should put that there in a neighborhood where many Blacks and Latinos go to jail,” one resident of the public housing complex told BBN. “My son will ask me, Mommy, if I go in there, will I go to jail. As of yesterday, NYCHA had told BBN it was “looking into” the matter and there had been no response yet from the mayor’s office. Pretty mind-boggling and offensive, no?
Jail Playground’ at NYC Public Housing Property [BBN]GMAP
Photo by Monifa Bandele
-Li’l Check Cash Station
I’ve seen some pretty dumb decisions get carried through committees because of some kind of voodoo no-reality-check mindset, this has to be one of the worst. How is this even proposed or brought out of brainstorming? Thing is, it was probably a NYCHA rep that did it and not some outside player.
well rob- I guess some of us just care more than you do about how we live.
I think there are layers to this issue that need to be separated, and that extreme reactions to it, one way or the other, are not appropriate without our knowing additional facts.
As I see it, first, having a jail as part of a playground is not inherently offensive, stupid or inappropriate. I took my nephew to a playground in Texas where there was a whole stylized town, including a sheriff’s office, a jail and a bank (which may well have been there in part to be robbed). Kids loved it, and I would have loved it as a kid. Playing cops and robbers is an old, old game, and indeed a pretty good one, as it reinforces an understanding of right and wrong while giving vicarious thrills to practitioners of both in the play setting.
Second, I would like to know whether the specific “jail” here is regularly ordered or a one-off. Because, third, the mindset of whoever ordered it is important, I believe, in determining with what emotion to react. (In practical terms, if the community wants it replaced, then it should be regardless of the buyer’s motive.) If this was just a common playground element in NYC, then there was no offense intended and none should be taken. At the other extreme, if someone thought it would be funny to send a play jail to a playground where kids may have fathers or brothers in prison, then it is horrible, and that person should lose his/her job. In between are various level of insensitivity and tone-deafness — simply not thinking through the implications of ones actions — that happen in life because none of us is perfect. In that case, the mistake should be corrected, and everyone moves on.
I’m not a fan of finding offense everywhere I look, and I think people who do lead very unhappy lives. I’d like to see how the facts develop before reaching a judgment.
there were tons of games as a kid where you wound up in jail, plain old tag, 3-6-9 3-6-9 3-6-9 etc. it’s sorta dumb to actually label it like that, but it’s funny watching all the uber PC people getting their panties in a bunch.
*rob*
!
***Bid half off peak comps***
Also, adding to the offense, it is painted orange like a prison jumpsuit.
Col Austin- it sends a message. Not just to kids, who are very impressionable, but to the parents and community. That the City thinks you are nothing but criminals, and that you take crime lightly. And nothing could be further from the truth for the Black Community.
Look at the correlation between violent movies and games, and the rising level of violence in society. These things affect people- especially children.
Next up: Play Methadone Clinic.
Could those who are trying to make this a liberal pc thing please explain to me under what worldview it is okay to both normalize and reinforce going to jail as the default play activity in a playground? I have no problem with kids using neutral spaces to invent whatever games they want – be it cops and robbers, civil rights activists and southern sheriffs, rapacious developers and over-earnest community activists. My problem is with it being suggested that this is the game kids should start with. From a “liberal” point of view, how offensive that this is the choice we offer up to any kids, let alone poor kids of color. From a ‘conservative” point of view, why would we want to undermine the sense of terror kids should have of going to jail.
Should be a fun thread…
I wonder what Martha Stewart would think????