John Mullaly is credited as the father of New York City parks. And he's also credited for instigating the notorious Draft Riots of 1863 and for his racist views on Black people.
It's that very reason activists want to expunge his name from Mullaly Park, which stands at the shadow of Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and in a neighborhood largely home to Black and brown Bronxites.
Activists, which includes Bronx Equity Support Group, have planned a socially distant protest for 11 a.m. to Thursday, once again calling on the New York City Parks Department to consider the name change at a time when statues of controversial figures publicly displayed across the city and nation are being re-evaluated.
On the New York City Parks Department website, Mullaly is described as a "tireless proponent of green space" who was born in Belfast, Ireland. He was an editor of the Metropolitan Record, then the Roman Catholic Church's official publication in the city. In it, he described the Emancipation Proclamation as "vile and infamous," and encouraged New Yorkers to take up arms against enlisting in the Civil War. The Draft Riots lasted for three days, beginning on July 13th, 1863, eventually leading to the deaths of 19 Black men who were either beaten or lynched.
Campaigns to rename the park go back to 2016 after a Hofstra University professor named Alan Singer uncovered Mullaly's checkered history, writing about it in the Huffington Post following a project that looked at the rarely told side of Mullaly's history.
Joyce Hogi, a member activist with the group Bronx Council for Environmental Quality, said it's once again appropriate to revisit the effort given discussions surrounding the removal of statues of controversial historical figures.
"The climate seems right again for us to continue to pursue this," Hogi told Gothamist.
BCEQ sent Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver a letter this past Monday requesting the name change, repeating a similar move in January 2019 when it had sent Borough Commissioner Iris Rodriguez demanding the name change. The news was first reported by This Is The Bronx.
"We thought that this was an opportune time for him to look at Mullaly Park... he may not agree, but it's certainly something that we want him to consider," said Hogi.
Karen Argenti, a member of BCEQ, said that while Mullaly has a positive track record in seeing parks established across the city, it doesn't excuse his efforts to start a deadly, infamous riot.
"We need to make sure that in the future, that people understand that you might do a lot of good things, but if you have bad thinking, and don't respect the dignity of everybody equally, that you will not end up getting your great glory in the end," said Argenti. "If you could take the name of Woodrow Wilson off the Princeton building, you could certainly change the name of a park."
Update 7 p.m.: A spokesperson for the city Parks Department said, "We are in introspective times. We appreciate that how our parks are named impact Black communities, and the communities in which our parks sit at the center. We will review the request and supportive research in consideration."
