Palo Alto Park At Center Of Racial Justice Debate: Report

PALO ALTO, CA – The exclusionary policy of a Palo Alto park that’s been the subject of controversy for decades has drawn increased scrutiny in recent months with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, NBC News reports.

Foothills Park has been closed to outsiders since it was purchased by the city in 1959, a policy that racial justice advocates say is discriminatory, and which has attracted protesters to the park.

Anjali Ramanathan, a South Bay teen who lives within a block of the 1,400-acre preserve off Page Mill Road but can’t access the park because she lives outside the city limits, has organized protests according to the report.

“You don’t see that many black and brown faces in Foothills Park,” the 17-year-old told NBC News, noting a policy she believes to be discriminatory flies in the face of the city’s reputation for progressivism.

“They are folks who I’m sure pat themselves on the back as liberals and nonracists,” she said. “The true test of someone’s commitment to combating racial inequality is what they’re willing to give up of their own.”

Ramanathan isn’t alone in her belief that Palo Alto isn’t meeting that mark.

LaDoris Cordell, a retired California Superior Court judge, has emerged as a vocal advocate for lifting the city’s exclusionary policy. She plans to file a lawsuit against the city within a few weeks, the report said.

Palo Alto's Foothills Park residents-only rule is discriminatory, unlawful and immoral. Public parks are for everyone. Join us in letting the City Council know that this decades-long rule must end NOW and visit our website: https://t.co/QU4eIrghLI #ParksForAll #BlackLivesMatter
— LaDoris Cordell (@judgecordell) July 26, 2020

“Palo Alto's FoothillsPark residents-only rule is discriminatory, unlawful and immoral. Public parks are for everyone,” she wrote in a tweet linking to Parks for All, an advocacy group promoting the opening of the park to non-residents.

Read more at NBC News