Pawtucket's Save Morley Field rally calls out the Grebien Administration's racism

"They don’t care about the Black and brown children of Pawtucket because of this environmental racism," said Pawtucket resident Zachary Pinto.

Residents of Pawtuckets and activists representing environmental and racial justice groups gathered outside Pawtucket City Hall on Sunday to save Morley Memorial Field. Over 80 community members—including allies from organizations like Black Lives Matter Rhode Island PAC, Save The Bay, the Conservation Law Foundation, Roots to Empower, Climate Action Rhode Island, and Brown Sunrise, as well as local sports coaches, elected officials such as State Representatives Jennifer Stewart, Cheri Cruz, and David Morales, and Ward 5 City Councilmember Clovis Gregor—joined residents to demand that Mayor Donald Grebian and City leaders take action to restore and reopen the 5-acre park in the Woodlawn neighborhood.

Here’s the call to action. Call City Hall. [(401) 728-0500] Tell them you want Morley Field. You don’t want a parking lot. Tell them you want environmental justice, not continued injustice. Call and then call again. Keep calling and writing, contact all your elected officials, and tell them that Woodlawn deserves a full, vibrant, well-resourced Morley Field. - Jennifer Stewart

Morley Field has been a cornerstone of the community since 1976, when it was gifted to the City by Narragansett Wire Company as a recreational space for local families. Instead of preserving this vital public resource, City officials are proposing to sell 60% of the park to New York-based JK Equities, turning a community green space into a parking lot for a distribution center on the site of the former Microfibres Inc. Protesters called on City officials to prioritize the needs of working families over the interests of multi-billion-dollar, out-of-state real estate companies.

Mayor Donald Grebian’s willingness to sell 60% of Morley Field to a multi-billion-dollar, out-of-state corporation raises serious questions about whose interests he truly represents - the residents of Pawtucket or his political donors. Over the past three years, Mayor Grebian has accepted $1,750 in campaign contributions from multiple employees of JK Equities, the company set to benefit from this deal.

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In the video below, I’ve moved the performance of the Extraordinary Rendition Band to the end. The words have been edited for clarity in the transcription below the video.

Jennifer Stewart: I am the State Representative for the 59th District in Pawtucket, including the Woodlawn community, where Morley Field is located. Woodlawn is a working-class community. A few decades ago, the neighborhood finally got the park that it needed. I’m sure it was long overdue then. Still, at least politicians and government agencies recognized that something needed to be done to improve the quality of life in our community. The result was the William H. Morley Memorial Field. This park was created through a National Park Service grant and a gift from the Morley family. The community enjoys the park. Speakers here today will tell you how it mattered to them growing up and how it still matters to them today.

Woodlawn continues to have all the qualities that made Morley Field necessary in the first place. The problem for us today is that we have a City government that would rather sell off community assets for the hollow promise of economic development. How do we know it’s hollow? Just look at the condition of the 10-acre Microfibers lot JK Equities fought a few years ago. It looks bombed out. It is a pile of rubble. Their purchase of that site necessitated the closing of Morley Field and its sale, and ever since it’s been closed, Morley Field has become a derelict site. The whole area has become blighted.

We are here today because that closure and the pile of rubble next to it have been bringing the community down. We’re here today because we want to lift our community up. We want our city government to do the right thing, invest in our community as it should, and reopen the park as it was originally intended to be.

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Pawtucket City Councilmember Clovis Gregor: Thank you for coming down and continuing to support our worthy cause here. As Jennifer stated, the municipality here does not care about our community. This is nothing short of racialized macropolitics at play. A moral indignity has been going on since they closed the field in June of 2022. As Jennifer stated, the out-of-state developer from New York looking to build a warehouse distribution center was not only allowed to demolish that block - with heavily contaminated soil uncovered and rubble of all sorts. Our quality of life has been affected. Our children have no place that they can readily access to play.

I grew up playing at Morley Field, and my son had just started playing soccer. All my older kids played at Morley Field. We have people from all over the community who are dismayed and bewildered that this is what City leaders think would improve our quality of life. Promises of 450 jobs are fabricated and exaggerated. Distribution centers like those they’re looking to build are mostly all third-party contractors. What jobs are they bringing to the community? None. They don’t even have the financing. As a City councilman, we get quarterly reports from JK Equities and Blackstone Distribution; every quarter, it’s the same thing. “We’re still trying to work out the finances.” Yet they were allowed to go ahead and demolish the entire place and leave it like that.

I want to thank Steve Ahlquist and Pat Ford from Coalition Radio for being with us the entire time. EcoRI was one of the first local independent news agencies to publish the story, and we are thankful for all the people who continue to support us and for all our community members who continue to come out.

For those who don’t know, this is the third rally that we are having on this matter. It doesn’t matter the amount of pixie dust the municipality is spreading on this proposal. It does not make sense to take the only green space - recreational space - in the Woodlawn area and convert it to a parking lot. It is not correct. They have no community support. After 14 years of power, this administration [thinks it] has accumulated sufficient energy to try to pull the wool over people’s eyes. Still, we’re here to show them that this will not happen, and we will continue to fight them until not just a portion of Morley Field is rehabilitated but the entire feel is fully restored for our children. Thank you all again ever so much for your continued support. We have some folks here already to speak, including co-founders of the Oakwood Raiders, Johnny Santos and Lucien Tavares, who both grew up in Woodlawn and played with the Woodlawn Cowboys and then subsequently brought the Oakwood Raiders in, and they can tell you their part of the story. Thank you so much.

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Lucian Tavares from the Oakwood Raiders Football Team: We’re all here, coming together, because this sanctuary is being taken away from all of us. First of all, this is Johnny Santos, my cousin. We’re co-founders of a group that used to utilize Morley, and these people happen to be kids. We started a youth football program and cheerleading 14 years ago. Coincidentally, at the same time, current City leadership took over here in Pawtucket. I remember being in a conference meeting, fighting to get a permit to play there because that field had been abandoned for a long time. You guys don’t know that. We fought to get the license. We fought for the City to get the conditions of that field up again.

We were fighting every year for 14 years. I am so disappointed that these kids, who finally had a home to call their own, have had it taken away. Now, they are displaced to a different part of town. And we brought that to their backyard so they could walk down the street, like my cousin and I did when we played for Woodlawn Cowboys back in the day, as Clovis alluded to earlier. We had that privilege; we had that opportunity. We want these kids to have that opportunity, and that’s been taken away.

For me, this is about profit over people. You hear me? Profit over people. That’s wrong. We need people over profit. We are all using that sanctuary, that green space, for something positive for our community. Johnny and I wanted the community to be stronger when we started back in the day. Through police department reports, there were shootings, kids were being killed, there was crime, there was gang warfare - right here in Pawtucket. We said, “We’ve got to bring something back to the community we came from.” I don’t live in Pawtucket anymore, but it’s near and dear to my heart. Pawtucket is still a part of me, and these kids deserve the same thing.

I’m encouraged to see so many faces that feel the same way. So don’t give up. Let’s fight. Clovis has been a warrior for these kids. Clovis has been a warrior for all the people in this neighborhood. I’m so happy that not only did he want to run, but he ran again. He’s doing it only because of his heart; he, too, is part of the fabric of Pawtucket. He grew up here. He was able to play here. He could do everything he’s asking this leadership to allow us to do again. So don’t give up. Whatever you can do to support this makes a difference. This is where we have to make a stand—no more profit over people. Let’s do people over profit.

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Johnny Santos from the Oakwood Raiders Football Team: Most of you guys don’t realize that when Morley Field was built, it was a beautiful field with state-of-the-art lighting and sprinkler systems. There was stadium seating in there. It was a beautiful field used by all the kids in the community.

Most of you know we are not graced with acre lots when you’re from Pawtucket. Most of us don’t have backyards. We had very little backyards. Morley Field was the place where I went to be able to play sports and socialize with others. It was very important. Most of you don’t know.

That place has so much potential. There are wetlands behind there that would be a great walking space to make some bike paths. I work throughout the State, from Cumberland down to South County, and as I’m driving, I see parks, playgrounds, and bike paths for communities that don’t need them.

They’ve got spaces there. We don’t have that here. Our kids need a place to walk, picnic, and play basketball and baseball. There was another field in that community that you guys don’t even realize. It was Newell Park. Newell Park is maybe a quarter of a mile away from Morley Field, but it has basketball courts and a playground.

When we were younger, city-sponsored events were held there. There were lunch programs during summer vacation, and you could go to Newell Park and grab lunch. Most of us here were working class; we were poor, so you need that little handout. Sometimes, that was my only meal. It was about going down to Newell Park and Morley Field and getting the free lunches the City would provide - that they’re no longer providing for anybody.

So keep the fight going. The power is in knowledge. Many of us don’t know what our voices carry, so we are quiet - but our voices are powerful, and the more people who hear our voices, the stronger we’ll get. Thank you to everybody who’s been involved in this. Many people who have nothing to do with this community are still here because they know it’s right.

To this administration, put it to a vote. Every time I vote, I see roads and schools, and I’m always voting “Yes” because I know it’s the right thing to do. I know our kids need schools, and I know we all need roads. Put it to a vote because the people will do the right thing. Our government isn’t the people.

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Richard Stang of the Conservation Law Foundation: Over the last few years, we’ve heard half-truths and broken promises from the City leadership trying to deceive us. What do you call half-truths, broken promises, and deception? Lies! How do you fight lies? With the truth? So, let’s highlight some hard-hitting truths today.

We all deserve and have an inalienable right to come together, breathe fresh air, and enjoy life. Parks like Morley Field aren’t just about grass and trees; they’re about people, our health, and our freedom to shape the neighborhoods we call home.

If Morley Field were in a wealthier neighborhood, no one would dare suggest paving it over for a parking lot. That’s the truth. When did you last see families in an affluent neighborhood fighting this hard to keep the previous sliver of green space?

The truth is, on November 11th, CLF sent an eight-page letter to representatives from the National Park Service, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, and the City of Pawtucket setting forth, in exacting detail, how the City’s Federal Morley Field Conversion Application contained so many intentional omissions and misstatements of material facts that it was itself a shocking indictment of the Grebien Administration’s violations of public trust and willful disregard of the environmental justice issues plaguing the Woodlawn neighborhood community. It’s now November 24th, and we haven’t heard anything from anybody about that letter.

Finally, the truth is we’re not giving up. Morley Field is irreplaceable, and we’re going to fight with everything. We must ensure it’s not taken away by corporate greed and political deals. We’re here, we’re strong, and we’re not backing down.

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Daisy Benitez: Thank you for coming today and showing solidarity for Morley Field. Our parks, our community, and our people are what’s represented here.

I work at the George Wiley Center. As many of you know, the George Wiley Center is a place that organizes both locally and statewide for a more equitable and just State that stands firm in our support for justice and peace. In this case, justice means preserving our green spaces. We believe in addressing climate change and reducing health risks in our communities. Green areas promote physical activity and improve mental wellbeing. Every family and every child deserves a safe place to run and play. Many of us live in small apartment complexes, and for low-income children, local parks like Morley Field may be the only option to play. If Morley Field is taken away from us, it would harm Pawtucket’s families, children, and surrounding areas.

Once again, as somebody mentioned before, the system is trying to profit off of the poor. They want to replace Morley Field with a parking lot that will do nothing for our communities and only line the wealthy’s pockets. This is not fair. We must prioritize our children and our families over the profit. It’s unacceptable that affluent areas can maintain their green spaces without any interference from the decision-makers, while low-income neighborhoods seek to take away the few recreational spaces that we have left.

We must stand together to protect our parks and demand justice for our families, the children of Pawtucket, and the children of the surrounding areas.

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Tarshire Battle from Roots to Empower: That park is needed. It’s needed because it’s the only green space we have that provides some value for the residents of the City. We should have reimagined how to make that a better space for all of us. That’s what the Mayor should be doing rather than trying to have this big organization create parking spaces. We should be reimagining that space as a place for all of us to enjoy—a place for wildlife and for sentimental values that we all have regarding what that green space provides.

It helps with our mental health and physical wellbeing. As you know, we’re experiencing climate change here in our state, across the United States, and the world. That space helps mitigate all the things that come with climate change, like flooding and heat islands. It’s important to continue to have that space.

It’s a way of boosting economic opportunities. I imagine a farmer’s market, a place for baseball games, vendors, and all kinds of activities. There would also be community gardens and walking paths. Let’s reimagine all of the above.

While we’re all here to protect Morley Field, let us voice how we feel and let the Mayor know. He hasn’t been listening, that’s the problem. So we need to scream louder, right? For our community’s health, happiness, and future, we must protect what makes Pawtucket truly special because Pawtucket is special.

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Amanda Pompili: My family has lived in Pawtucket for 16 years. We lived in Oak Hill until 2023, then moved to Quality Hill during the pandemic. But many years before that, I spent a lot of time in Bensley Point, part of Riverside Cemetery, which the City is talking about using to compensate for the loss of Morley Field. Bensley Point is right next door to Max Reed Field, and that area of town does not need a park. Moreover, Bensley Point has been undisturbed land for multiple decades, at least 60 years. When you have land that has been undisturbed for that long, it becomes a natural space, and right now, it’s a migration stopover for multiple species under incredible stress.

There’s a lot of habitat loss, resulting in a mass extinction globally. Developing places like Morley Field and Bensley Point is how you lose species. We have bees that breed there, birds that stop there during migration, and eagles and osprey that nest there.

It is a piece of land that slopes very strongly. It would have to be leveled to turn it into a viable playing field. That would mean digging out everything, taking the top half out, turning it into fill, and filling in the bottom half. I was at a council meeting a couple of years ago, and every council member swore to me that they would leave it undisturbed when they purchased that land. They were going to make minimal changes to it. They were going maybe to put in a walking path and a boat launch, nothing more. Now they’re telling me they will turn it into a field. They’re going to put down sod. They will attract invasive geese, so they must repel them with fake coyotes.

There are no geese there now because it is effectively scrubland right now. They are going to ruin a natural space. What is happening is they’re ruining Morley Field, and then, to answer for it, they are ruining Bensley Point. Nobody is winning in this situation. Nobody is winning. They are causing Woodlawn to lose. They’re causing Oakhill to lose. Nobody is winning. I stand with the people for saving Morley Field, and I stand with saving Bensley Point as well.

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Jed Thorpe: I’m the Director of Advocacy at Save the Bay. Morley Field matters because every bit of green space matters. One of the biggest challenges facing Narragansett Bay is stormwater pollution and the pollution that gets carried into our water bodies when it rains. Stormwater pollution is a growing problem because we replaced green space and open space with pavement, roads, parking lots, and buildings and roofs. The problem is even more pronounced in our urban and metropolitan communities. The data is clear. If you live in a low-income community, or if you live in a predominantly Black or brown community, you are less likely to have a park within walking distance of where you live. You are less likely to have a body of water you can contact in your neighborhood.

That is not right. That is a form of injustice. The way that we lose open space is not a square mile at a time. It’s a parcel here and a park there - and little by little - next thing you know - we wake up, and we don’t have any green spaces, and we don’t have any open spaces anymore.

When we notice injustice, we must speak up and call it for what it is. This is environmental injustice. The good news is that the story of Morley Field is not over. That story is still being written. You are all part of that story. You all can shape that story. I still have hope for a happy ending here for the story of Morley Field. Mayor Grebien still can do the right thing. He can wake up tomorrow morning and say, “You know what? I’ve seen the light. I’m going to do the right thing.”

We’re going to save Morley Field. But we know that that will not happen unless we pressure our decision-makers to do the right thing. It’s our job as advocates to make it easy for people to do the right thing and to make it hard for them to do the wrong thing. We’ve got to keep making them feel uncomfortable. Keep fighting, keep raising your voice, and let’s save Morley Field.

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Harrison Tuttle, Executive Director of the BLM RI PAC: I want to thank the City of Pawtucket and its residents for having our organization present at a community issue that has not been addressed for multiple years by the elected officials who claim to represent you. I want us to analyze who we’re saving Morley Field collectively. Who are the people who are trying to take away a federally protected green space that belongs to every single one of us?

A private equity firm, not in Pawtucket, not even in Central Falls, not even in the State of Rhode Island. A private equity firm from New York thinks they can come here and buy it because that is what they’re doing. They are contributing over a thousand dollars to Mayor Grebien’s campaign account to take the land from you. Who thinks that’s right?

As Jed said, the story has yet to be fully written. To finish the story, it’s going to take a whole lot of organizing. That means organizing every single one of you today. We need you to stay in this fight because if you don’t, one day, we’ll wake up, and Morley Field will be gone.

The Black Lives Matter Rhode Island Political Action Committee looks forward to continuing to work on this issue around Morley Field.

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Representative Cheri Cruz (District 58, Pawtucket): I look out into this audience of dedicated community members and see so many. I see Chris, Glenn, and Dave. I see so many community members here fighting. That’s what we need - all of us together fighting. I grew up in Pawtucket. Three generations. My brothers played on Morley Field. We need that field. We are dying for resources like athletic fields and green spaces. We need to protect that field. I won’t repeat what we heard earlier, but Morley Field is being sold to an outside developer. It’s going to be a parking lot for diesel trucks. We already know we’ve got a public health crisis. We’ve got kids in our community with higher levels of asthma and things like that. This is what we, as families and community members, can fight for.

We talk about after-school programming and opportunities. Well, there it is. We’re selling it. We’re selling our future - to the lowest bidder, mind you. That’s what we’re doing. This is something we have to do together. It can’t be just myself or a few elected officials. It has to be the community that comes together. We need to realize that our numbers are power. It’s cold, and we’re out here, right? We’re out here. That’s dedication. That tells the administration that we mean business. We’re not going away. You can try to prolong, prolong, prolong, but we’re not going away until the kids in this community get the field they deserve - until the people in this community get the green space they deserve.

Please keep coming out. We are the power.

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Isaac; Brown University Sunrise: We’re from Sunrise Brown, the Brown University Hub of the Sunrise Movement. We were here two years ago at the second Morley Field rally. When I was out here, I was thinking about a park back home called Baker Park. When I was younger, that kind of park kept me out of trouble. Instead of staying in and playing video games, instead of wandering around, I could go to the basketball court, where I learned how to talk trash. It was the field where I played kickball with my neighbors, and my little league soccer team would go out and play. When the sun set out, I would walk back home - a half block from my house.

It’s hard for me to imagine having something like that for generations and to have that yanked out from under you by a private equity firm that’s not even from here, with the permission of your Mayor, who didn’t even ask you. Some badass City counselors and State representatives are here with the same number of people, if not more people, as they were two years ago. I see folks from the Black Lives Matter Rhode Island PAC, Conservation Law Foundation, Climate Action Rhode Island, and Save Morley Field. I see high school students and college students because when we fight, we win.

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Garrett; Brown University Sunrise: There are many Brown students here. We took the bus here together because we needed to support you in this fight. Many of us may be short-term visitors to Providence and Pawtucket. We’re here for four years of school. But we go to a school that has so much fucking money, right? It is just sitting there. So much money is sitting on a hill, hoarding resources above the rest of the community. We don’t think that’s right.

We’re part of the Sunrise movement. We’re dedicated to fighting the climate crisis and fighting environmental injustice. It’s important to be out here supporting you in this fight against your own government and this foreign private equity company from New York to save this green space because that’s core to the mission of what we do and the mission of what every group here has spoken about.

We want to be bodies and support however we can and however is most helpful. Many of us were here two years ago. Many people are new to Pawtucket, but we are excited to have many new students join this fight.

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Zachary Pinto: I want to thank Sunrise Brown for being here because whether you’re a temporary resident of Pawtucket or a permanent resident when you’re here, you’re part of Pawtucket. Everyone has a stake in what goes on here and why we’re here.

I graduated from Shea High School. I grew up in Fairlawn, Pawtucket, my whole life. I played youth football growing up and played on fields much like Morley Field. Fields like Morley Field meant everything to me growing up in a working-class, low-income family. Places like Morley Field are some of the few places where I could go and escape with my friends, have fun, and create many core memories. It’s important to me and the next generations of students and children to have spaces like this.

But more importantly, I want to emphasize that saving Morley Field isn’t just about this one field. It’s not just about this one green space. It’s not just about green spaces in general.

This is climate action.

This is about addressing issues of climate change. Many of us feel small when it comes to a problem like climate change, something so all-encompassing. We wonder how we, as individuals, can combat it when we see private equity firms, giant corporations, and even our government giving out subsidies in the hundreds of millions of dollars to oil companies and fossil fuel companies.

You fight this by showing up for the community and fighting to save each field. Every green space is climate action and climate justice. The next step in climate action is taking this energy to the ballot boxes during election season. Continue to elect climate advocates like Jen Stewart and Cheri Cruz. Vote out leadership that has shown time and time again that they do not care about our green spaces. And when I say they do not care about our green spaces, they don’t care about the next generation of Pawtucket. That’s the truth. They don’t care about the Black and brown children of Pawtucket because of this environmental racism.

Let’s call it for what it is. When we see that Black and brown communities are disproportionately affected by these issues, there’s only one way to say it.

Thank you all for being here today and for taking the time to come together and communicate. Remember, we have the power—the people’s power and the vote. The people in charge have proven, time and time again, that they don’t care about us. Vote for actual leaders and climate advocates.

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Greg Gerritt: Working with the Save Morley Field crew has been one of my greatest accomplishments. I’ve done a lot of fights like this. I’ve seen the fights up in Burrillville. I fought nuclear waste dumps in my little town when I lived in the woods. As you go through them, these fights are amazing and hard. We beat that nuclear waste dump because we had the power of democracy in the State of Maine. The State had to get the town to vote on whether or not to turn it into a nuclear waste dump, and we made sure that the State knew that they would never get any of those votes in any town, not only our town.

This is a global issue connected to all kinds of other issues. One of my talents is writing letters to government officials outlining what they need to do to create justice. I’ve been writing to the National Park Service this year, and they haven’t answered—they don’t want to answer.

So I wrote to our Congressman, Gabe Amo and I said, “Get us a meeting with the National Park Service because they’ve not been talking to us for two years.” He didn’t do it, and it was a shame.

We have an administration now that pretends to believe in environmental justice. The next administration coming in, the next people who run the National Park Service will flip us off.

This delay tactic from Grebien and our non-answer from Gabe Amo and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse - I asked them directly to their faces, and they said, “It’s complicated.” What kind of crap is that?

We not only have to fight these guys, but the National Park Service doesn’t want to enforce its own laws and doesn’t want to consider environmental justice when approving park closures. They don’t even care anymore.

We need green space. I’m the river’s watershed steward, and I’ve been waiting for the sewage treatment facility to start taking the sewage that goes into the Moshassuck River right next to that park. It’s supposed to be cleaned up in two years, so finally, after 50 years, the water is going to be a lot cleaner.

Then they close the park? What kind of craziness is that? You’ve heard all the things we need to do. You’ve heard me tell you that our congressman let us down and is leaving us adrift with the Trump Administration and its attitude toward environmental justice. But we have to do all of this.

We have to do a lot more fighting. I get down on it sometimes. It’s crazy that you write letters, and they will not meet with you. They say, “Go meet with Mayor Grebien,” as if Mayor Grebien wanted to meet with us. He’s scared to meet with us. He doesn’t have the truth to back him up. The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management could have helped us. They basically just booted us. It’s up to us.

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Clovis Gregor: The Grebien Administration has systematically closed and taken away parks in areas where there are predominantly people of color. Newell Avenue was neglected for years and dismantled. It is currently vacant. Laurel Hill Park, a park for our kids on Lonsdale Avenue, was closed down and sold for profit to make affordable housing. If Morley Field goes, Woodlawn will only have Paine Park, which is not a green space but a basketball court. It doesn’t matter how much pixie dust that they try to put on this proposal, it is immoral and environmentally reckless.

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Jennifer Stewart: Here’s the call to action. Call City Hall. [(401) 728-0500] Tell them you want Morley Field. You don’t want a parking lot. Tell them you want environmental justice, not continued injustice. Call and then call again. Keep calling and writing, contact all your elected officials, and tell them that Woodlawn deserves a full, vibrant, well-resourced Morley Field. Thank you for coming out. Thank you to all the speakers and the Extraordinary Rendition Band.