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
I’m betting this thread gets over 400 posts.
I was only in jail once and that was in Hong Kong.
So i guess Monopoly is out of the question for kids in a neighborhoods where many Blacks and Latinos go to jail. I gotta remember the next time I want to donate board games to needy children, make sure they’re not Black or Latino, so as to not offend….
C’mon, seriously? Putting a play-jail in the playground of a housing project? Who thought that was a good idea?
Give the kids little police uniforms to play in & make sure the buttons have pigs engraved on them like that statue in Richmond, VA.
I find this highly offensive on several levels, and being liberal has nothing to do with it. First of all, it’s offensive no matter what playground it’s in. If kids anywhere, through the use of their own imaginations and machinations, devise a game where someone can land in “Jail”, that’s one thing. Having a powder coated, pre-made sign, permanently labelling the space as a jail is a whole ‘nother thing altogether.
Having it in a housing project is just out and out thoughtless, and that’s the kindest thing I can come up with. Was anyone thinking here? Too many people from the projects end up in the real jail, are they now having training facilities? Some may think it liberal p.c. wailing, but it doesn’t take a degree in child psychology to figure out that many of the perceptions and elements of childhood playtime help shape kids’ behaviours and attitudes later in life. That’s one reason why play is so important. It helps us to learn how to socialize and function in society. You’re going to encourage them to go to jail? Or conversely keep them out of it, by having the “door of shame” in a playground?
Is this like the old Puritan towns, where the stocks were in the town square to warn and remind people what could happen to them if they mess up? If this is the case, then don’t just order “jailhouse” jungle gyms for the project playgrounds. Order them for every playground in the city. Perhaps having one one the Upper East Side will encourage little Bernie Madoff’s-in-training to straighten up and fly right. Or else.
BSD- it should be so obvious, even to the most mentally challenged, as to why the Jail motif is a slap in the face. And it should also be obvious that all they have to do is remove the printed panels saying “jail.” But considering your first post, I can see why it would be difficult for you to see such a easy solution.
I personally would wager whoever did the RFP and contracting had no idea there would be a “jail” as part of the play equipment, and that person is probably horrified. But man, it’s just one of those things that really shouldn’t happen…
New York City Housing Authority picked it out…where do they get these people???
We’re still waiting to hear words of wisdom, doctor. Your last post contained absolutely none.