Shirley Chisholm State Park opens in Brooklyn
A mural of Shirley Chisholm, adorns the Shirley Chisholm State Park entrance in Brooklyn. Photo by Tangerine Clarke
Gala centennial celebration for Haitian national
Caribbean Life, J BQ uly 12–18, 2019 3
By Nelson A. King
Family, friends, supporters and wellwishers
feted Haitian national and
Flatbush, Brooklyn resident Carida Sanon
with a gala centennial celebration Friday
night at El Caribe Country Club Caterers
on Strickland Avenue in Brooklyn.
About 200 celebrants – primarily
Haitian nationals in Flatbush – toasted the
100-year-old birthday girl, all decked out in
an elaborate outfit, recalling her tenacity
in raising nine children, and others in the
village, almost singlehandedly, after her
husband expired.
“Nothing is too much for Carida to do
for her children,” Issa Auguste, Carida’s
daughter, told the ceremony. “This is the
kind of mother she is.
“My mother takes care of everyone
around us,” she added. “When my mother
is cooking, she cooks for everyone. She
always has a smile on her face.”
Kevintz Merisier, 33, Carida’s first
grand-child, described his grandmother
as “a very strong woman.”
“She raised all her kids by herself,” he
said. “I was a handful. I have 67 more
years to go.”
Ms. Sanon was honored with citations
from Brooklyn Borough President Eric
Adams and Assemblywoman Rodeyse
Bichotte, the Haitian-American
representative for the 42nd Assembly
District in Brooklyn.
Debbie Pierre, Ms. Sanon’s last
grandchild, read Adams’s, while Rebeca
Lafond, Bichotte’s director of constituent
and support services, read her boss’s.
According to Stephanie Pierre, Ms.
Sanon’s granddaughter and organizer of
the gala, Sanon was born in Bon Repos,
Haiti on Tuesday, Jul.1, 1919, at 6:00
p.m., to Félicité Valembrun and Aurélien
Sanon.
“Carida, the youngest of her four
siblings, was noted for her remarkable
strength and resilience at a very young
age, and home-schooled by her mother to
avoid the brutality of the school system at
the time,” Pierre said.
“To assist her family in making
ends meet, Carida became a vendor in
a local marketplace, selling everything
from charcoal to fresh vegetables,
while remaining resilient in the face of
economic and personal adversity,” she
added.
By Tangerine Clarke
A colorful entrance, at Exit 14 –
Pennsylvania Avenue, off the Belt
Parkway, in Brooklyn, beckons residents
to the newly constructed Shirley
Chisholm State Park, opened on July 1.
A towering mural of Chisholm, the
late, first African-American woman to
join the New York State Assembly - is
painted on a building at the right of
the entrance of the Park in honor of
the gutsy woman of Barbadian roots,
who was born in Brooklyn on Nov. 30,
1924,
The park, a former landfill above
Pennsylvania and Fountain avenues
used by the NY City Department of
Sanitation from 1956 to 1983, is now
a beautiful green space, much to the
pleasure of residents, who have access
to 10 miles of biking and hiking trails.
A Bike Library with loaner bikes
for patrons of all ages is located at
the bottom of the hill, next to a picnic
area, overlooking the water. The main
trail with more seating areas and an
opportunity for fishing in the bay, leads
to the Penn Pier at the end of the park.
Park Director, Andrew Williams, in
a brief interview told Caribbean Life,
that the expansive park dedicated to
Chisholm, who fought to expand the
Food Stamps Program and created the
Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
program, is just over 100 acres.
Chisholm, who was famous for quotes
such as: “Service is the rent you pay for
living on this earth,” “We must reject
not only the stereotypes that others
hold of us, but also the stereotypes that
we hold of ourselves,” and ”I am, and
always will be a catalyst for change,”
among many others, received the
honor, that Williams said will continue
when the park is extended, on 300
acres of land on the other side of the
waterfront. The estimated completion
date is fall, 2019.
The park is adorned with white park
benches, covered by colorful umbrellas
for relaxing, and picnicking. Barbequing
is prohibited on park grounds. He also
noted, that the waterfront is off-limits
for swimming at all times, during the
daylong access to the park, that opens
at 9 am. The last entry is at 8 pm and
closing time is 9 pm.
The park has more than 80 car
park spaces, to give patrons the
opportunity to drive into the park via
the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance, and
walk along the trails, which leads to
Penn Pier.
He said an environmental education
program, will include, fishing, guided
bird walks, and talks about Jamaica
Bay, pointing out, that different basins
along the way will allow patrons to stop
and picnic at tables in the park.
Chisholm, who graduated from
Brooklyn Girls’ School in 1942, and
Brooklyn College cum laude in 1946,
became a teacher while finishing her
MA in Early Childhood Education at
Columbia University.
She would later join the Democratic
Party Club in the Borough to fight
for gender and racial inequality. She
won a seat in Congress, and fought
for domestic workers’ rights, increased
funding for education and health care
maternity rights for teachers, and for
citizens to have access to childcare.
The park was constructed in
partnership with the Office of Governor
of the New York, Andrew M. Cuomo,
the NY State Parks Recreation and
Historic Preservation, the New York
State Department of Transportation,
Empire State Department Corporation,
and others.
Haitian centenarian, Carida Sanon at
the center of her celebration.
Photo by Nelson A. King
Many park benches with colorful
umbrellas can be found at the Shirley
Chisholm State Park in Brooklyn.
Photo by Tangerine Clarke