More Than a Park, It’s a Community

For residents around Granville Street in Oxford, North Carolina (such as Keisha Tyler, left, and Chelsea Smith, right), taking back their park — ignored and abandoned by the city — is just the beginning.

Granville Street Park was once a community hub. During the ’80s, this small park in Oxford, North Carolina, was called “the Mecca.” Kids and teens came from across this town (population: 8,628) to play basketball, ride bikes, and be with their friends. Before that, this neighborhood served as the center of a thriving Black community during segregation.

“This area, we had beauticians, we had teachers, we had educators, principals,” says Chelsea Smith. “We had lawyers and judges that lived in this neighborhood. This was like the one stop shop area. My great-grandmother, Maggie Lewis, owned one of the first Black nursing homes in this area, and which is now in an apartment complex.”

“It’s a rich history here,” says Keisha Tyler. The two women grew up in the neighborhood together during the ’70s and ’80s. Chelsea’s great-grandmother owned property in the neighborhood. Keisha was born and raised in New York, but would come for holidays and summer. They went to Bible School together and speak the special language known only by childhood friends who can finish each other’s sentences.

“We always had a sense of pride,” says Keisha. “There was a real sense of community and making sure that the community was kept uplifted. People got together, they had meetings and it was a really nice place to be.”

When neighbors needed a ride to work, Keisha’s grandfather started a taxi service business with a 16-passenger van. Everyone just called it “the Big Green Van,” and it was how folks without cars got to work.

The two friends talk about the gardens people kept, how the roads used to be made of dirt, and there was even pig farming in the neighborhood. Kids would go house to house to collect scraps to feed the pigs. Everyone helped out and watched out for each other.

The city strips the park

During the ’90s, the city of Oxford began to neglect Granville Street Park.

Oxford, like many cities and towns across North Carolina and the country, began to cut back on city services. Politicians reduced taxes on the wealthy and left local budgets unfunded, including parks.

With more drugs on the streets and unemployment rising, crime began to rise across the city. And rumors began to spread: Granville Street Park was dangerous. White politicians looked at this park full of young Black men and decided it was a public safety issue. Instead of seeing the park as a way to keep young people off the streets, “tough on crime” programs advocated cutting public recreation programs and instead investing in building prisons and locking people up. But was the park actually dangerous?

“It’s just urban legend,” says Chelsea. “We did have adult guys starting to come down and play basketball. And I’m not going to say there was never a fight or a pushing match or something like that, but dangerous? No. And the politicians and media just really played it up. I think it was just in an effort to kill the park.”

So the City took out the basketball courts. They removed the tennis nets. The blacktop began to crack and crumble — and it was never repaired. Unlike the neighborhood’s neatly kept houses, the park was abandoned by the City.

“They stripped it and they abandoned it in hopes that we would abandon it,” says Keisha. “And that worked for quite some time. Mission accomplished. They did what they set out to do. We were kind of disenfranchised. They did what they wanted to do.”

But the city didn’t know who they were dealing with.

Looking for ways forward

The same organizing powers that got neighbors to their jobs and that made sure all the Granville Street kids were safe are still in effect. This is a community that knows how to get things done. So neighbors have been quietly minding the park and looking for ways to bring it back, but they haven’t always seen a bright future for it.

“I really lost hope in the park, says Keisha. “I thought that the park was doomed to be like this forever, and that we would only have stories to tell our kids about how the park was. It’s been dead for about 20 years.” In those years, neighborhood kids have had to travel across dangerous highways across town just to play basketball. Plus. the City’s neglect of the park was at odds with how families in the neighborhood maintained their own houses and property.

“We have a lot of respect for our community and for the property here,” says Keisha. “[Chelsea’s] family owns a lot of property in this neighborhood. I still own a lot of property in this neighborhood. As you look around, the houses are very well kept. And that goes into the history of this neighborhood. They wanted to paint Granville Street as impoverished, you know? And that’s not the case at all.”

As part of an older generation, Chelsea and Keisha wanted their grandkids and neighbors to be able to enjoy the same kind of park experience they did, but restoring the park was going to take more than just individuals and friends. It was a city park, and they needed a city solution. Other parks were being maintained — why not Granville Street?

Organizing the Blacktop Project

Members of Down Home have fond memories of the the park. Members like Jason Dunkin had played basketball at the park in the days of the Mecca. Many of our local members have children and they longed for a place their kids could play. Member Courtney Crudup called Chelsea, who called Keisha. Word began to spread: they’re trying to bring the basketball court back.

“It was a no brainer,” says Keisha. “This is exactly what we’re gonna do. I’ll give it as much time as I can give it. Whatever I need to do, I will do it because we’re not going to last forever. And the legacy needs to go on.”

The Granville members of Down Home centered their sights on the city budget process because budgets fuel behind local politics. At first, everyone wanted to meet with Reeves, the Down Home organizer in the county, to make sure the neighborhood had a real ally in Down Home. Everyone wanted to see how restoring the park could be possible, and the answer was to organize! There is power the basebuilding work of Down Home, and the more people can show up the more powerful we can be. Once everyone bought into the power of organizing around this project, they started to circulate petitions and talk with their neighbors.

The group text chat lit up. Chelsea remembers getting a meeting set up at the City Commissioner’s office. She told everyone, “I need all hands on deck. We need to come in bus loads. And when we came, the City Commissioner just wanted to talk with four people.” Chelsea laughs. “We had about 20 people!”

Members researched the budget and strategized how to get their voices heard at City Commission meetings. They researched the cost of renovating the park and created a plan. They met with different commissioners and the Parks Department. Their petition got over 700 signatures– which is huge for a small town.

Members formally asked the City of Oxford to renovate the park, bring back the basketball courts, and restore Granville Street to a new glory that would be accessible to everyone.

But would it work?

Granville Street Strong

“The momentum is crazy,” says Keisha. “We are making moves now. I never thought that putting the heat on the city would result in such a quick turnaround.”

After a post-budget process, the City Commission and the Parks Department have agreed to a budget allotment of $105,000 for a first phase of renovating Granville Street Park. That will include installing a new basketball court and a new playground!

What will happen in phases 2 and 3 later this year and next remains to be seen, but our working-class, multiracial membership intends to be a part of those decisions every step of the way “They basically see we’re not going anywhere, and so we’ll keep showing up and we’ll keep doing this,” says Keisha.

“This is our community,” says Chelsea. “We are community strong. We’re Granville Street strong. And I’ll testify that to the highest mountain.”

Keisha adds, “People grow up and they move away, but it never really leaves your heart. So Granville Street, this park, it’s always gonna be home.”

For more about the park and Granville County, read stories here.