City is eyeing FDR Park for World Cup practice pitches. Communities of color are saying hands off.

When Maria De Los Angeles Mendez closes her eyes and thinks of FDR Park, nostalgia overwhelms her.

She sees her dad sitting in chairs with his friends, a cold beer in hand, blasting bachata, reggaeton, and salsa on the speaker he always brings. She smells the savory aromas of tortillas, steak, and rice wafting through the air as the adults barbecue. She hears the kids in her community running around, playing jump rope and soccer, just being kids.

“It’s a space where we can be away from all the violence, and be here with our family,” said Mendez, who is a civic defender with the South Philly-based Latino organization Juntos. “Kids can be kids, adults can create connection. It’s so much togetherness. We might have a lot of struggles physically, but right now we’re with our family, and we can just enjoy ourselves.”

“It’s a space where we can be away from all the violence, and be here with our family.”

For many communities of color across Philadelphia, FDR Park has provided exactly that — a place to build community and connect with culture and traditions, whether that be listening to bachata, playing the Southeast Asian ballgame sepak takraw, or praying with community.

» READ MORE: What being a potential World Cup training site means for South Philly’s FDR Park

But as news spread that the city has pitched the beloved park for training sites in its World Cup hosting bid, community members are concerned about what the potential loss of this green space could mean for folks of color and immigrants across Philadelphia.

“I grew up in FDR Park, going to parties there and celebrating traditions there. It will really have an impact on us,” said Mendez. “[FDR Park] is one of the only things we have as the Latino community in South Philadelphia.”

According to Parks and Recreation, the two proposed soccer pitches that would be used for practice will not have significant impact on community use of the park, as they constitute only four acres out of the 348-acre park. Additionally, Parks and Rec highlighted that the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia received a $100,000 grant from the city’s Commerce Department to plan a permanent location for the Southeast Asian Market — the creation of which Parks and Rec has publicly supported as part of its 10-year plan for FDR.

But anxieties about what will end up happening to the park abound among communities of color who have utilized and loved the space for generations.

For Mendez and others in South Philly’s Latino community, FDR Park has always been a space for folks to celebrate everything from birthdays to baptisms — and to accommodate the large number of guests without having to pay for a venue.

It’s also been the only accessible green space near the concrete-filled neighborhood, giving community members the space to go on hikes, play soccer, and connect with one another in nature. Mendez still remembers seeing her first ladybug in FDR Park as a kid — and she always wanted to go back to find it afterward.

“You feel the nature, you see the trees and the grass, and it’s like everything is connected.”

That connection to nature is integral to many communities and cultures across the city, in different ways. For example, the Indonesian American organization Gapura hosts Eid prayer in FDR Park every year, which more than 600 Muslims across different communities attend. The outdoor space isn’t just useful for accommodating the large number of worshipers, but to create a more spiritual experience for them.

“You feel the nature, you see the trees and the grass, and it’s like everything is connected,” said Aditya Setyawan, co-executive director of Gapura. “You feel like God’s creation is not just you.”

For new immigrants and refugees from Southeast Asia, FDR Park provided a reprieve from urban life and a reminder of the beauty back home.

» READ MORE: Philly’s plan to build soccer fields and a driving range in FDR Park is sparking opposition

“You come here, you experience your first real winter, you’re living in an apartment, and everything’s brick and cold and angular,” said Catzie Vilayphonh, Southeast Asian Outreach Network cultivator with the Southeast Asian Market. “And then in the summertime, you go out and you hear about this place that has a lake, and there’s trees all around, there’s grass. I think it was really attractive for Southeast Asians.”

FDR Park hasn’t only provided a space for the Southeast Asian community to connect with nature, but to make a living with decent work conditions as immigrants in a new country. As an influx of refugees from Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and other Southeast Asian countries resettled in South Philly in the 1980s, they turned to cooking — a way of life for many — to bring in income, an attractive alternative to the factory jobs that were abundant at the time.

“The market shows people that our food is delicious and accessible.”

Now established as a market in the park, the food stands sell everything from papaya salad to crickets and have provided a way for the Southeast Asian diaspora to connect with the street-food flavors and lifestyle from home, and to be more accepted by non-Southeast Asians.

“The market shows people that our food is delicious and accessible,” said Vilayphonh. “To be able to come somewhere and see, here’s this dish I haven’t had in so long, or they have that one veggie or fruit I’ve been looking for — it puts Southeast Asian cuisine on the map.”

The potential loss of FDR Park for communities of color across Philly doesn’t just mean the loss of a park — it means a loss of connection and culture, community members say.

“They’ve earned the right to be there,” said Vilayphonh. “And a lot of them feel they have a right to fight for it.”