Racist Links of Bennett Park Prompt Demands For Name Change

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Bennett Park might have a new name soon.

Community Board 12, which represents Inwood and Washington Heights, will host a meeting Dec. 8 about the possibility of renaming Bennett Park because of its namesake's racist history.

The Upper Manhattan park is located at West 183rd Street and Fort Washington Avenue. Flyers have appeared around Washington Heights, letting residents know about the meeting.

The Parks & Cultural Affairs Committee meeting's agenda cites what it calls James Gordon Bennett's history of racism and racially inflammatory journalism as the reason to find a new name for the green space.

"We are in the midst of a national conversation on how to memorialize public space: particularly what to do with monuments considered controversial by modern standards and place names dedicated to those who may not warrant such honor, as well as celebrating historical & community figures who have been overlooked," the Community Board 12 meeting agenda reads. "The Parks Department recently renamed ten public spaces and is willing to evaluate others. Given James Gordon Bennett's history of racism & racially inflammatory journalism, there is local interest in renaming Bennett Park."

In September, the New York City Fire Department stripped Bennett's name from one of its highest honors.

For more than a century, the James Gordon Bennett Medal was given to firefighters who performed incredibly heroic acts. However, it was changed two months ago to the Chief Peter J. Ganci medal, in honor of the highest-ranking uniformed member of the FDNY killed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The FDNY also cited Bennett's racist rhetoric as the reason for the change.

Bennett was the publisher of the New York Herald newspaper during the middle part of the 19th century, and he used the platform to push racist and segregationist views during the American Civil War.

Also on the agenda for the public meeting is the next logical question if the Bennett name is stripped from the park: What might it be renamed?

The question prompted an assortment of answers, some satirical some not, in one Upper Manhattan Facebook group, including Highpoint Park, Lin-Manuel Miranda Park, David Dinkins Park, Fort Washington Park, Tony Bennett Park, and even Beyonce Knowles Park, despite the no apparent connection between the two singers and Washington Heights.

The Zoom ID for the 6:30 p.m. public meeting is 931 3345 4726, and the passcode is Parks.

You can look at Community Board 12's full December agenda on its website.