Derrick Nathan Interview, July 27, 2019

INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:00:04.920 --> 00:02:12.180 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: Dan Kerr interviews Derrick Nathan on July 27, 2019 during Late Skate at Anacostia Park. In this clip, Derrick Nathan discusses his work with the National Reentry Network for Returning Citizens. SUBJECTS: Late Skate in Anacostia Park; Anacostia Park (Washington, D.C.); Anacostia Park and Community Collaborative; National Park Service -- Anacostia Park; National Reentry Network for Returning Citizens; Activism, criminal justice; Activists, formerly incarcerated; Criminal justice activism; Formerly incarcerated activists

Today is July 27, 2019. We're Anacostia Park at the skate pavillion for Night Out Skating Out. My name is Dan Kerr and I'm interviewing

Derrick Nathan.

Do I have permission to record this interview?

Yes, sir.

Could you tell me what brings you out to the park tonight?

Okay, tonight is a skating event. They had it and they have it Anacostia Park here and my organization which is the National Reentry Network for Returning Citizens. We were a part of this event. So what we do is we cater to the underserved population, which is the returning citizens. And we have a program which is a Ready to Work program. We have a mentoring program and we have a restorative justice program which we run. And we try to meet the needs of anyone trying to transition back into society, from prisons, halfway houses, drug programs, anywhere all over anywhere in the country long as they are DC residents, or they return to this city, you know what I'm saying. From you know, you ain't got to be from DC you gonna commit a crime in DC? So that's what you're gonna be on parole or probation. Or you asked me your standards came from so you have a right to--- you're eligible for anything our program has all.

And what's your role in the program?

I'm the outreach coordinator.

So why did you guys decided to come here tonight?

We were invited to this event, just like we're invited to most events. We were at the mayor's cookout earlier which is for Returning Citizens. So myself happened to be a Returning Citizen and worked for the National Reentry Network for Returning Citizens was a calling for me to come in, you know. And also I'm from DC and was born and raised in this Ward right here.

INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:02:20.040 --> 00:05:27.660 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: Dan Kerr interviews Derrick Nathan on July 27, 2019 during Late Skate at Anacostia Park. In this clip, Derrick Nathan discusses Anacostia Park, Go-Go, and skating. SUBJECTS: Anacostia Park (Washington, D.C.); Roller skating; Cookouts; Go-go; Malcolm X Day; Labor Day; Memorial Day; 4th of July; Atlantic Skating Rink

Since I was a child, I've been coming to this park for 50-some years I'm 52 years old. So I remember having our first cookouts and first picnics in this park. I remember coming to Go-Go bands every Malcolm X Day. Every Labor Day, they had big events down here, which I'm talking about this whole field you couldn't see it'd be a sea of people you couldn't I mean, you know, we were teenagers, you know, 15-16 at the time, 14 or whatever, but you couldn't see this park. I mean, it was the biggest show in DC at the time. So this was in the 80s and then they kind of got away from it in the 90s. It got a little out of control you know. So they had stopped them for one reason or another right the mid 90s they had stopped. I guess they got to, they got to they couldn't control the crowd you know. They were that pop. The gogo bands ain't as popular as they was. Because you have other different genres of music now they got what they call rap and hip hop, that music wasn't out when I was a child, right? It came out it wasn't as popular as it is now. So Go-Go was the sound of DC and that's what we related to. That's what we gravitated to.

Was this one of the epicenters of Go-Go?

This was one epicenter. Farther outside you know like this is because you know, it's free if it wasn't no charge to get into it. But they would have him here over the summer. You could just pick them out every holiday, you know, over the summer. Over the warm summer months. Say spring too, you know. Like I said, it would be Labor Day, Memorial Day, Malcolm X Birthday, 4th of July. All those little holidays over the month or Labor Day, you know in the winter you can't.

The skating has always been... a lot of people visited more now because they had a skating rink, in the southeast in Ward 8, which is Atlantic Skating Rink. But it's no longer a skating rink. So most people that's in this Ward now has to come here. Unless you go to the Maryland side, which is [inaudible] Skating Rink, but it's on the Maryland side.

So your whole life, people have been coming down here?

Yeah, skating. Anacostia Park is a historic park, you know. It's just not I guess, your park for a lot of fishing and you know, listen, I don't have the ponds and stuff, and probably the fish people want here. But it's always been a historic park in the inner city. Let's say that, you know, like for people in innercity, the underserved, you know. This is where we always came to from the 70s 60s all the way up until... I remember you know, my whole life you know I'm saying. This is our park. This is, you know, the people of this of this ward, east of the river, and anything over Anacostia Bridge was called you know, our park. This is called our park.

INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:05:28.980 --> 00:07:29.189 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: Dan Kerr interviews Derrick Nathan on July 27, 2019 during Late Skate at Anacostia Park. In this clip, Derrick Nathan remembers a fight that broke out at Anacostia Park in 1981. SUBJECTS: Anacostia Park (Washington, D.C.)

So you were gonna tell me a story about the park.

It's not really a ... Yeah, I have a story. It's not one that I would be proud of. But I remember one time down here. I want to give you the exact year. I was about 15 so I'm gonna say it was 19 it was 1981 exactly 1981. It was Memorial Day. I was down here 1981. They had bands... [?], Chuck Brown, EU, ... a lot of different bands from the DC, [inaudible], which came from right around the corner the band most of these bands grew up in Ward 8 too. So they had we had a big band with so many people.

Anyway, uh, you know, fight broke out, scuffle broke out. And I got hit with a baseball bat. And got pummeled, you know, like, I wasn't in the fight, but people were swinging stuff, and I got hit by a bat. So, you know, you know, how I felt after that and I woke up I was I not wake up but I was dazed, but it didn't like hit me and just keep beating me. I just got [?]. I'll just, you know, just get out the way like, you know, and if he was trying to get out the way and I hit, you know, hit me. But anyway, that was an experience I had down here. That was one out of 80 good experiences. So I'm not going to dwell on that. But you telling me an incident you know I'm bringing up an incident that I will never forget. When I was I was no more than 15 at the time so it didn't it wasn't nothing I didn't bleed it just I was dazed, you know. Somebody hit me with it. And I'm not sure it was a bat but it was some wood. I seen the guy run fast and all of his sticks in their hands, you know. So it wasn't facing me. It was just swinging the sticks and people was getting hit and I was one of them, I'll just say that.

INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:07:29.189 --> 00:08:33.649 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: Dan Kerr interviews Derrick Nathan on July 27, 2019 during Late Skate at Anacostia Park. In this clip, Derrick Nathan remembers coming to Anacostia Park as a child. SUBJECTS: Anacostia Park (Washington, D.C.); African American families

So tell me one of your good experiences.

I remember time down here with my family would come from the country. Like I have family in Florida. We have family in Texas. And they would come up when I was a child with my little sister living here. We would come up here and this would be our park. We will come here and bring our little, you know to blow up... swimming pools and we blow up you put board and get the water. We would have them out here. And we would just... we loved it was good. We would stay all day from sunup seven o'clock we down here and then 10 o'clock at night we're still you know I'm saying so this is what we did every year for our birthdays you know for anything in the summertime. It was nowhere. It was 15 minutes from my house or whatever you want to say. And my family will come here so this was a mainstay. Anacostia Park was. This is the park I knew and grew up in, that I could walk to from my house would say that we could always walk to from our house. So...

INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:08:35.070 --> 00:10:53.850 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: Dan Kerr interviews Derrick Nathan on July 27, 2019 during Late Skate at Anacostia Park. In this clip, Derrick Nathan discusses some changes he'd like to see at Anacostia Park. SUBJECTS: Anacostia Park (Washington, D.C.); Gentrification

How would you like the park to be in the future?

They could do a lot of upgrades. There needs to be more table, more benches, chairs. It just needs to be a renovation because it hasn't been nothing done to this park in a while, you know. I mean you look around. There's a lot of open space. You know, I'm saying just empty field. You can put a lot of things. There could be a swimming pool here. And that would be nice, you know, you don't gotta open it in the wintertime. You can just put a swimming pool here. You can put a better basketball out here, I mean whatever you can put a they got a recreation center here, but it's not a lot in there. You know, I'm saying. I think they can do a lot of things. They can make the infrastructure here better, you know. You can make it so people get fish over there, you know. I mean, you know, just liven the park up. I mean, you're here. You can see from this park from other parks, you know, I'm saying. It needs some help. It needs a little help. You know, I'm saying with the infrastructure man, you would think you know.

What about this, this program here? Is this relatively new? I know you said he was going through the mid 90s. But how does this contribute to liven it up?

Like these events, they have this great because you get people to come out. People know when they come out to this park you're gonna see mostly the same people, the same organizations. There's usually nothing going on down here. You don't need security or police or nothing when they have events down here. You got the park police. There are officers here so you know they got a station so it's a nice park. People need to come out to it. More people in the ward should come out to this park and use it because it's here for us you know. It's a public park you know, and we need to access these things ...after a while if people don't see you using it, they think you don't want it. And next thing you know, it's a highway coming through here. Or it's condos or whatever townhouse? A little community you know, there. So we need to use these things. You know, if you see something ain't being used we're gonna let me guess what don't nobody need to use it or want to use it. So people find other things to do with it.

INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:08:35.070 --> 00:10:53.850 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: Dan Kerr interviews Derrick Nathan on July 27, 2019 during Late Skate at Anacostia Park. In this clip, Derrick Nathan urges people in the area to reach out to those with power to make needed changes. SUBJECTS: Anacostia Park (Washington, D.C.); Anti-gentrification

Any last thoughts or things you'd like to leave us with?

Yeah, I want to say we can do a lot better. What I mean by that is, our people in this ward, the underserved, we can do a lot better. Yeah. You know, Returning Citizens. We need to go speak to these people, you need to go and say something to your congressman, if you you know, if you ain't got time to write them, or text them or whatever, have you got time to go down to them, you got to find a way to come across these people and let them know what your needs are. Your needs can't be addressed if you don't let people know that you need that you have a problem you understand. That's the only way you can get your needs addressed. And so, don't sit back and don't vote and don't address these people. You have to, you know, I'm saying these are the people who make the changes who have the power in their position to make change. So in order for him to make changes, you have to approach these people and let them know what's on your mind. And number two, the only way it's a sure way with nothing don't happen. If you don't act, you ain't going, it ain't gonna happen. You understand? I'm saying so, you know, that's the sure way for things not to happen. You know, be honest. If you don't if you don't want no money, you don't ask for no money. You ain't gonna get none. People don't like to ask people for money. Okay, well, I don't know why people say that. Because if you don't ask, you're not gonna get none.

Thank you. I appreciate your time.

Thank you.