Thomas Hughes 
October 8, 2021—
Brooklyn, New York—If you walk through Williamsburg’s McCarren Park on any given evening you are almost certain to see panting joggers making their way around the running track, hear animated yelps of adrenaline coming from the softball fields, and dogs fetching and catching various objects. You will also see a group of neighbors whose advocacy for social, environmental, and economic change has been undiminished for nearly 500 straight days.
The group, McCarren Gathering, evolved from what was originally a nightly silent vigil to honor George Floyd after his murder on May 25, 2020, by a Minneapolis police officer, according to group member Sofia Celeste Tate, 29, of the Greenpoint area of North Brooklyn.
Another member, Trevor Bayack, 51, a Williamsburg resident since 2005, said the group had been invaluable after Floyd’s murder. He said part of the evolving goals of the gathering involved simply providing a presence in the park.
“Hold this space,” he said. “Let people know Black and brown people are still here, that if you’re Black and brown you still have a space to go to.”
The percentage of white population in Williamsburg and Greenpoint was 74.2% in 2019, according to Social Explorer, which compiles census data. Median gross rent increased by 46% from 2010 to 2018, according to the city’s planning department.
Bayack said that the gatherings had opened his eyes to the connection between economic injustice and other injustices in America. In an effort to sustain a weekly economics-themed night at the gathering, Bayack and other group members conceived of Freedommarket.
Photo Credit: Thomas Hughes
When it began in November 2020, Freedommarket was a forum for discussing economic justice. It involved experts sharing entrepreneurial skills, and presentations on closing the wealth gap and economic theory. Eventually Bayack had the idea of offering retail products made by businesses with owners who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color.
After being fined once, the group secured a permit and held three pop-up events in McCarren Park starting in March 2021, before moving to rooftop events when the permit expired. Bayack said he is placing an emphasis on workshops to give entrepreneurs tools to succeed.
According to a 2020 report on advancing Black entrepreneurship from the city’s Small Business Services department, the average Black entrepreneur has about $25,000 in startup capital, while the average white entrepreneur has $106,000. The report produced several commitments by the department for improvements, including establishing a fund to lower risk and incentivize private lenders to increase credit to Black entrepreneurs.
Some of the workshops currently being offered include web design and digital flyer making. Freedommarket curates products including bamboo toothbrushes and all natural toothpaste made by Smile Natural Products, and cookies made by Baked Cravings.
Brian Mays, who founded Smile Natural Products in 2017, said the capital disparity between Black founders and white founders is certainly something he’s aware of.
“It’s a problem that we need banks involved in,” he said. “I personally have struggled to get capital from a bank, even while having a strong record of sales.”
Mays said he wasn’t familiar with Freedommarket, but supported its mission of promoting brands created by owners who are Black, Indigenous and people of color. He said such promotional awareness can especially benefit smaller and newer companies.
Craig Watson, who started Baked Cravings in 2017, was also not aware of Freedommarket, but said the idea was great. “If we’re going to have change I think it’s going to be through economics,” Watson said.
Freedommarket and McCarren Gathering have evolved over the past 16 months. Regular attendee Austion Woolfolk, 27, of Greenpoint, said the group’s focus had shifted over time from being primarily external, such as debating police reform vs. abolition, to more internal, to include rotating nights of education and discussion, from current events, to history, music, and multiple book clubs.
McCarren Gathering will mark 500 days of holding space in the park on Oct. 10.
