TL;DR — having two parks called Biddy Mason is silly, and stripping the Pershing Square name is wrong. Click here, hit the “NEW” button, and leave a comment for City Council telling them so.
Greetings friends,
Friday morning, the City Council is going to vote to strip the name off Pershing Square, renaming it after Biddy Mason, so that we may, for some reason, have two Biddy Mason parks.
Look, I get it, we all love Biddy Mason. She was a badass capitalist who saved her money and bought land that appreciated greatly, upon which she built mixed-use commercial/residential buildings which she would rent to people, and thus make more money. It’s ironic, of course, that Jurado and Hernandez are so hot to promote her; if Biddy were alive today, she’d be being yelled at by them, not lauded!
Biddy Mason naturally used some of her money for philanthropy, which was expected of any very rich person during that era, especially a devout Christian. Mason exemplified the two reigning principles of the Victorian wealthy: noblesse oblige, and Christian Stewardship. She kept a tight ship (for example, though Biddy Mason was one of the twelve co-founders of our local branch of the African Methodist Church, she famously locked the parishioners out when they couldn’t pay her some back some money).
On Friday, the Council will likely be swayed by many of the impassioned letters about Mason, despite many of those letters being filled with “history” that is either misleading or downright incorrect, e.g. “she bravely petitioned for her own freedom” (not true, click here), or other aspects of her life reworked through a modern lens to appear incredible (like herbal midwifery), and sprinkled with some dubiously sourced quotes. Again, Mason is important as a formerly enslaved Black woman who by navigating the economic landscape with relentless industry, demonstrated that property ownership and market participation are the most effective vehicles for empowerment. Her legacy confirms that individual ambition, when paired with private ownership, creates lasting social influence.
But none of the effusive letters to Council will mention that we already have a park honoring Mason, literally on the site of her former home. It’s a great park, it tells Biddy Mason’s story, including great sculptures by Sheila de Bretteville and Betye Saar, and we’ve had it for thirty-seven years. Many of Biddy Mason’s descendants were there to cut the ribbon when it opened in July 1991, and Mayor Bradley was there to exclaim “Today Biddy Mason comes home to stay.” In short, renaming Pershing Square into a second Biddy Mason park was silly two years ago, and it’s silly now.
Now let me take a minute to tell you about General Pershing. Pershing forged the American Expeditionary Forces into a professional combat power during World War I, allowing us to emerge victorious over autocratic tyranny. Sure, you’ll be told he never set foot in Los Angeles—which is of course untrue: his roots ran deep here, as good friends to many local families (he got engaged to Nita Wilson Patton in 1917 at the Patton home in San Marino); when he was here for the 1920 dedication of the park, 50,000 people saw him speak; he spoke to thousands more in 1923 and planted trees at our War Memorial Building. You will be told Pershing did all sorts of terrible things to people of color all over the world—which is also B.S., and I take those claims apart here.
And Council will undoubtedly be swayed by idiotic communications like this:
This makes me spit tacks because one of the things I dig about Pershing is the fact that his relationship with Black people stands out sharply against the backdrop of his era. Before entering West Point, Pershing taught African-American students at Prairie Mound School in Missouri, from 1878-1881. Pershing then asked for the commission to serve in a Black Infantry Regiment early in his career (which was considered career suicide) and then fought alongside the the 10th Cavalry — the famed Buffalo Soldiers — whom Pershing openly commended for discipline, courage, and exemplary professionalism. Pershing supported Colonel Charles Young, one of the first Black West Point graduates and the highest-ranking Black officer of the era, and expressed frustration at the military’s refusal to promote Young to general (a promotion blocked explicitly because it would have put Black officers in command of white troops). Though under enormous political pressure, Pershing assigned Black regiments like the 369th Infantry—the “Harlem Hellfighters”—to the French Army, where they fought with distinction and were decorated with the Croix de Guerre. To be sure, Pershing was a man of his era, not a modern egalitarian. But by the standards of the American military establishment of 1890–1920, his consistent defense, employment, and public praise of Black soldiers set him conspicuously apart.
Be advised, if you actually read the City Council declaration of 1918 naming Pershing Square, it was not just for Pershing, who was the figurehead name, but dedicated to the American Expeditionary Forces in general, all four million who fought for freedom. Thousands of Angelenos were shipped overseas to fight in WWI; more than 450 never came home. Pershing Square honors them, too. But apparently it’s more important to have a second, redundant Biddy Mason Park, and forget about our war dead.
So! All that said, if you agree with me about this whole renaming-Pershing-Square-as-“Biddy Mason Park II” is just goofy, self-serving performative justice, click here https://cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkconnect/index.cfm?fa=ccfi.viewrecord&cfnumber=24-0751 and then click this button:
And then give ’em what for!
I should mention, as well, that there was all sorts of funny business before the final renaming got sent by the clerk to the Friday docket for a forthcoming Council vote.
For example, last Monday, it was the the three-member Arts, Parks, Libraries, and Community Enrichment Committee that unanimously voted yes to send this thing to Council. And guess what? They were legally not allowed to do that. It was supposed to be heard by a totally different committee, the Arts, Parks, and City Facilities Committee, which is made up of a different group of councilmembers! And yet the Council is going to vote on it anyway?
So this mess was incorrectly heard by Arts, Parks, Libraries, and Community Enrichment Committee, and committee Chair Ysabel Jurado, along with Eunisses Hernandez and Adrin Nazarian, didn’t debate the matter, even after many public comments were against the proposal. And to make matters worse, Jurado thought it prudent to make rude and snippy comments at a public commenter! It was the City Attorney’s job to stop Jurado, but of course nothing happened. This is the sort of rot you see behind every fallen regime, and ours is beginning to teeter hard.
I would heartily and heavily advise you click here
https://esotouric.substack.com/p/biddymason3
to read Esotouric’s take on the matter!
Note in the video at 21:45 Jurado says “I don’t know if you saw that Monuments exhibit that was at the MOMA, that was recasting some of these southern memorials to Confederates that were deeply deeply racist” and (first of all, it was at MOCA, not MOMA, but, whatever) the very idea that you could refer to Pershing Square in the same breath as Confederate statues is shockingly insulting (as a child, John J. Pershing’s hometown of Laclede, MO was invaded by Confederates hunting for his father, who defiantly flew the Union flag above his general store). And then Jurado goes on to say that we need to “invest our public dollars in the leaders that are untold” and, um, yeahhhhh…NOT UNTOLD. There’s a 37-year-old public park on the site of her homestead, Councilmember.
Thank you dear Bunker Hill reader! Pershing Square has been Bunker Hill’s front yard for a very long time — let’s keep it the famed Pershing Square that has had so many wild stories in the last hundred years…more on those later! For now, though, please take five minutes (if you are so inclined) and tell the Council so, and send an email directly to actual Committee Chair Monica Rodriguez at councilmember.rodriguez@lacity.org
Thank you!
Bunker Hill, Los Angeles 