Black Independence families displaced in the 1960s deserve more than stone markers | Opinion

This column was intended to be a celebration of two new granite historical markers placed in McCoy Park in Independence. And that very well may turn out to be the case — good on Independence city officials for commemorating a demolished Black neighborhood once known as The Neck.

But there’s a solid case that could be made for reparations for Black families Independence displaced from the area in the mid-1960s to build McCoy Park.

I’m not the first to broach this topic. I hope I am not the last. Independence city leaders must consider commissioning a study on how to best redress the financial harm caused to more than 100 Black families who once called the area home.

Otherwise, the $15,000 grant from nonprofit Health Forward Foundation that Independence CIty Council member Bridget McCandless said was used to erect these new monuments means little.

Kansas City established a similar commission to study the idea of compensation, as have other cities. Evanston, Illinois, went even further with its promise to right past financial wrongs to Black families. Although the Chicago suburb is being sued by the far-right wing outfit Judicial Watch to halt these payments, Independence should not be deterred.

Yes, reparations and the argument for or against financial restitution could be considered a slippery slope. But we cannot ignore the loss of wealth Black families in Independence endured when the city forced them to move.

“Some called it urban renewal,” McCandless said. “Others called it urban removal.”

McCandless worked with the Independence Parks, Recreation and Tourism department and other stakeholders to secure the grant for the markers. Community members were actively involved in selecting new historical markers for the site, she said.

Neighborhood was community’s ‘foundation’

Days before Independence officially unveiled the markers on June 15, I spoke with McCandless about the pending ceremony. Close to 70 people were expected to attend, including local historian and author Alversia Brown Pettigrew, according to McCandless.

I did not think of reparations until after we’d spoken. My hope is that McCandless and the rest of the Independence City Council reads this and take action.

I reached out to Pettigrew for a comment but was unsuccessful. In a news release to announce the new markers, she was described as one of the few surviving residents of The Neck.

“This neighborhood was our foundation,” Pettigrew said in the release. “It was our beginning. It was our family. We lost a lot when it disappeared.”

It’s one thing for the city to acknowledge urban renewal policies that disproportionately affected minority families. On the other hand, aren’t former residents of The Neck neighborhood and their descendants entitled to some form of financial relief?

I’d venture to say a formal conversation about possible overdue compensation is warranted.

It’s worth noting that Independence will host its third annual Juneteenth celebration from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Uptown Market near the Independence Square. Juneteenth is federal holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the good old United States. I commend Independence for having a citywide celebration. Expected guest speakers include U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver and Anthony Mondaine, Independence’s first Black public school board member.

Singers LeVelle, Millie Edwards and other musical acts and performers are scheduled as part of the festivities. Food trucks and vendors are on the bill, too.

One of the new plaques in place at McCoy Park bears the names of 65 Black families displaced decades ago from the very site. The other is embedded with nearby street names and a map of the area.

The latter one reads: “The Neck Neighborhood 1877-1966.”

Before homes were razed in the mid-1960s, The Neck neighborhood was a short walking distance from former President Harry S. Truman’s home on North Delaware Street. It was bordered on the north by U.S. 24 and on the south by West College Street. The Neck’s eastern border was North Spring. North McCoy was its western border, according to Pettigrew, the local historian and author.

I spent a few days recently reading Pettigrew’s self-published book, “Memories of a Neck Child.” The book is a recollection of Pettigrew’s memories as a child living near the Independence Square, where I currently reside. Pettigrew still lives near The Neck, she wrote in her book, now on its eighth printing since 2002.

“I think this name was given to The Neck by the white folks as a definite put down,” Pettigrew wrote. “You know, ‘neck of the woods’ and that type of thing, but, to Black folks, it became an endearing name.”

Truman Library director pushed for new park

In 1966, city leaders deemed The Neck neighborhood blighted and began the push to remove Black families from their homes. By that time, the plan to build McCoy Park directly across U.S. 24 from the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum were already in motion, according to a letter written in 1960 by then-Truman Library and Museum director Philip C. Brooks

The Truman Library opened in 1957, according to its website. Almost immediately, Brooks pushed for a park to be built where The Neck still stood at the time.

In the letter addressed to Garvin H. Dyer, then-chair of the federal Urban Renewal Planning and Advisory Board in Independence, Brooks wrote: “If it should be possible to develop the south side of 24 highway as a park, I should think this ideal. We have some demand for picnic space for tourists who make brief stops, and conceivably a nearby park area might be used for that among other things.”

Not coincidentally, less than six years later, the neighborhood was gone.

Let that sink in: The former director of the Truman Library urged federal officials to green-light the removal of Black residents to appease visitors of the presidential library.

On Monday, I walked through McCoy Park to get a glimpse of the latest historical markers erected in honor of The Neck. Over the weekend, Independence officially unveiled the monuments placed on park grass just south of U.S. 24 near North Delaware Avenue and Bess Truman Parkway.

I appreciate the stone markers. We all should. They highlight a very important part of local history in Independence. I left wondering what else could and should be done.

Why not study the financial impact urban renewal had on minority families in the city? If nothing else, those displaced families deserve to know how their potential wealth as homeowners was lessened during that time.