The newest spat over Atlantic Yards features some of the usual suspects; on the one hand, there's Errol Louis, on the other, the Brooklyn Papers. This is Kabuki. If you, for example, should ever find yourself needing to know just what Louis' position is on a given issue, do this: imagine the most stereotypical black liberal you can, drawing heavily on all relevant clichés. Imagine what position this liberal phantom would take on the issue you're trying to divine; Louis will take exactly the inverse position to that. Try it; it's a parlor game of sorts in some circles, with an astonishing degree of accuracy.

The Brooklyn Papers, meanwhile, can be counted on to give column inches to every Yards controversy; the paper, perhaps, is seeing the need to expiate its endorsement of David Yassky some time ago.

At issue is this: as the Brooklyn Papers recounts, and Louis delivers the counter-screed to, Forest Ratner, the developer of Atlantic Yards, has managed to sell naming rights to the stadium proposed for the site to the British bank Barclay's. This house, which traces its roots to a Quaker establishment of 1690, has a troubled past with regard to the slave trade (as do many of the going concerns that still exist from that era) and more recently, was active in Apartheid-era South Africa.

Hence, the Brooklyn Papers scream about 'blood money', and Louis does some aggrieved, petulant hand-wringing over the insincerity of those who still oppose Atlantic Yards; it's as if he's somehow personally offended that such people still roam the earth in spite of his clearly enunciated verdict that They Are Wrong. There's more, but that's the psychological grist of this particular mill.

Now, here's the issue. It's not surprising that opponents of Atlantic Yards should be irked by the Barclay's designation. From the beginning, the opposition to the project was driven by the understandable and completely warranted fear that neighborhoods were being sacrificed to soulless corporate greed. It's hard to see how that perception is mollified when the first major announcement about the project after state approval concerns the naming of an 18,000-seat arena for a global corporation with, let's be honest, something of a troubled past. Naming is mainly about symbolism, after all, so it's perfectly appropriate to ask what it is that Barclay's stands for, or any multinational corporation seeking to have its logo blaze above what used to be people's homes. Symbolism does matter. It matters in especially when you're accused of overturning a neighborhood for your private gain, as Forest City Ratner is. Announcing that you just made an extra $300 million by selling symbolic ownership of people's soon-to-be-former homes ("former", because you'll be expropriating them against their will) to a company that did business with the Apartheid régime could reasonably be expected to raise hackles.

Barclay's is an especially unfortunate choice, needless to say. It's worth pointing out that a parking lot to be created nearby, peripheral to Atlantic Yards, would require the destruction of the historic Duffield Houses, an Underground Railroad site. There's a deep irony that people parking their cars en route to a game in Barclay's Stadium would be parking on the ruins of yet another legacy of slavery.

Hence, the outrage. It is somewhat difficult to see insincerity in that. Some people, of course, are invested in finding it. Which could of course, if one were thusly inclined, be termed, well, insincere.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

| | | | | | | |