Arts & Culture: Enjoying and defending Highland Park

A recent incident at Meridian's Highland Park offers a fresh illustration of how this historic gathering and play space is a testing ground for our shared commitment to community values and quality of life.

The episode – a fight between two young girls on the park grounds – was minor, posing no general threat to a robust crowd attracted by the offer of free afternoon swimming in a beautiful Olympic-size pool. There were no guns involved and the fight happened away from the pool complex. But subsequent social media noise seemed to reinforce notions that the park is unsafe, a perception shown to be false at an attraction that gets careful attention from park staffers and police (and monitored via 32 security cameras).

One political figure, Councilman Tracy Tims, felt compelled to address the matter in a video post, assuring all that there would be a police presence during summer pool times, that Highland Park is and will remain safe.

Meridian Parks and Recreation Director Thomas Adams, who wants all to enjoy the historic Meridian park pool and other features without safety concerns.

“Two young ladies got into an altercation and had a fight, and (to) make a long story short, the crowd and the cameras made it look ten times worse than it was,†a frustrated Tims said. “The young ladies were caught, their parents were called and they were banned (from the park). That's the end of it, problem solved.â€

But Tims, reflecting a widely-held view, added this critique of parents and other guardians: “Stop dropping your babies off and leaving, because some of our children are just totally out of control.â€

Parks and Recreation Director Thomas Adams is saddened by how Highland Park is often stigmatized because of the use of Highland as a geographic “landmark†when there is trouble in a nearby neighborhood.

“People should come to the park and feel safe. People come to the park to create memories,†Adams said. “God gives us sense to be mindful. Fear will cripple you.â€

Accounts by city officials were reinforced, for me, a few days after the fight between middle-school-age girls when I visited to see the public swimming program in action. Lifeguards were vigilant at the pool's edge (the lifeguard crew at Highland totals 12) and manager Lebresha Warren was regulating the number of swimmers admitted at one time. As a security precaution, she also was telling new arrivals, “I'm sorry, no book bags†allowed inside the complex.

Outside, two police cars were parked near the swimming pool and another security guard in a cart was present near the pool admission gate.

Meanwhile, a grandmother tending to children who had just been swimming was seated beneath a nearby tree, pleased at the scene of refreshing play. “It's a good thing, gives the kids something to do, gets them off their electronics,†she said. “And it's free!â€

While the afternoon swimming is free and a pleasure, distorted perceptions about Highland Park, a vital Meridian resource since 1909, are costly.

Despite major recent public investments in the Frank Cochran Center event complex, improved play equipment and restoration of the Dentzel Carousel house, many families are leery of spending time at the park. This is especially true of white families, who, if we pay attention to history, enjoyed near exclusive use of park features before the civil rights era. Highland Park is for all of us, and I'd challenge anyone who hasn't been there for years to pay a visit.

For many of us, Highland Park was central to our best growing-up times. And it's easy to be enamored with the park's history, including long-ago roles as a stop on a city streetcar line and as a site for community theater readings. I wonder what I.A. Marks (1844-1914), an early Highland Park commissioner still honored with a prominent statue there, would say about how we are using and sustaining this Meridian treasure today.

— Coleman Warner is a journalist and cultural historian, and can be contacted at legacypress.warner@gmail.com.