Daley backs plan to name park after anarchist
March 24, 2004
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall

Mayor Daley on Tuesday embraced the Chicago Park District's aim to name a Northwest Side park after a self-declared anarchist whose husband was executed in connection with the killing of a Chicago police officer during the 1886 Haymarket Riot.

Daley said the Park District is "paying tribute to women" in general and a "social reformer" in particular by naming a plot at 4712 W. Belmont Lucy Ella Gonzales Parsons Park.

"We're honoring Lucy Parsons. I'm not honoring her husband. . . . As an individual, she was highly regarded among social reformers for her efforts to promote civil rights," Daley said. "Please don't blame the wife because of her husband's actions. That is sexist."

The city, through its Department of Cultural Affairs, already recognizes Lucy and Albert Parsons with a "marker of distinction" at 1908 N. Mohawk, where the couple once lived.

Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue, who is marshaling opposition to the park naming, called the "sexist" label absurd. He said opposition to Lucy Parsons has nothing to do with her husband.

"The woman was an anarchist. She promoted the overthrow of the government and the use of dynamite in getting their way, [including] a dynamite bomb thrown into the midst of police officers at the scene" of the Haymarket Riot, Donahue said.

If Daley is searching for deserving women to honor, he should look no further than his political nemesis, Jane M. Byrne, Donahue said.

"It's a travesty. The first woman to be mayor of this town should have a proper place of recognition somewhere in this city. I don't see her name anywhere," Donahue said of Byrne, who has long been a favorite among police officers for granting them their first written contract.

According to Park District policy, a person must be deceased for at least a year before a park can be named in his or her honor.