Marin City: My first time.

Growing up in San Francisco with my immigrant parents meant that I had walked the streets of my neighborhood like a sweaty canvasser. I walked with abandon, I walked with joy, I walked to arrive and the journey was hardly ever a difficult issue. The corner store was down the block, the Korean market had my favorite crackers and the public library was just down the opposite way. Aside from the fact that my mom worked downtown, I hardly had any reason to leave the outer-sunset district of foggy San Francisco.

As I got older I explored more. High school was in the Mission district, a place we never went to as kids. Pupusas from Panchitas #2 on 16th and Valencia quickly went from new-found taste to go-to-snack. My world was growing and the picture of San Francisco that I once knew was bleeding out, out of the frame that my parents had created. Now as an adult, I have been to most of San Francisco but there are still days that I find myself lost in the city that raised me. I find that to be humbling. To know that I can continue to spend time here and still be surprised.

That bit of surprise hit me when I drove over the Golden Gate bridge to Marin City on Saturday. I had never heard of Marin City before all of our talks after project 1 had been completed. I knew nothing, had seen nothing and was slightly embarrassed to have called myself a Bay Area “local”. But as we got to talking the general narrative began to make sense and I could begin to understand how a place like Marin City comes to exist because I’ve seen it before and I grew up with it.

Marin City is a product of the Bay Area’s racist policies. The people that live there have been directly affected by decades of policy that very purposefully put the lives of Black people at the edges of what is most desired. Marin City reminds me of the parts of San Francisco that couldn't hold on. I no longer want to speak about places like Marin City in the negative. I want to honor the wishes of Ms. Terrie and speak about the beauty of the place that she so dearly loves.

I know that a park seems like a small thing to worry about in the grand scheme of all that is happening but I am reminded of a quote by Robin Wall Kimmerer,

“All powers have two sides, the power to create and the power to destroy. We must recognize them both, but invest our gifts on the side of creation.”

If we are the instrument by which the community of Marin City chooses to create power, then this park is not just a park. This park is a gift.