By Nathan Duke
A Bayside community activist who said he believes the city Parks Department is maintaining the historic Martin's Field African-American burial ground in Flushing as a park and not a cemetery slammed the city's upkeep of the site.
Mandingo Tshaka, who led the initiative for a memorial honoring more than 1,000 American Indians and African-Americans whose remains were buried at the site between 1840 and 1898, said he is upset that the city has allowed the memorial site to become overgrown with weeds.
He also said signs do not adequately notify visitors that Martin's Field is a burial ground.
“This is hallowed ground,” he said. “I expect the city to maintain it no less than they maintain Flushing Cemetery across the street. It's a memorial, but it's treated like a carpet. Kids ride their bikes on it and people bring in their dogs even though there are signs saying not to.”
Dorothy Lewandowski, the Parks Department's Queens commissioner, said the site is mapped as parkland and is available to the public. But she said she agrees with Tshaka that visitors should be more respectful.
“It's been difficult educating the public that the space should be respected,” she said. “It's unfortunate that people are not as observant of the space as we'd like them to be. People should not bring their dogs in there. It's designed to be a passive park, not one for active recreation.”
The city paved over the burial ground, on 46th Avenue between 164th and 165th streets in Flushing, more than 70 years ago to build a playground at the site. The burial ground has undergone $2.7 million in renovations, including a steel picket fence, new sidewalks around the perimeter, a new playground and a commemorative plaque.
Tshaka said he would also like four headstones that were formerly located at the site replaced. He said the city violated its own charter several decades ago by removing the headstones, which have still not been replaced. He said the memorial, a flat pavilion, does not adequately honor the remains of the people who were buried at the site.
“This has been an uphill journey,” he said. “The memorial is so nondescript — it should be upright so people can see it or a fence should be placed around it so people won't ride their bikes over it. [The deceased] are entitled to respect, but we're still going around and around.”
Tshaka said Borough President Helen Marshall told him she would set aside money for the headstones, but has yet to do so.
Tshaka has also been pleading with the city to change the name of the memorial site, which was named after tree conservationist Everett P. Martin. He said he would like the burial ground's name to better reflect its historic nature.
Lewandowski said she told Tshaka to raise the issue of renaming the burial site with Community Board 7, which oversees the site. She said the playground would likely continue to be named after Martin, but the cemetery could be renamed.
She said CB 7 has a gardener who maintains the entire district and that the Parks Department would consider seeking out a community volunteer to keep Martin's Field clean.
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at nduke@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
