Gail Stanback Interview 08/09/2025
Photo by Randi Rosenbaum
Gail Stanback Interview Transcript:
NATASHA: Hello, I am Natasha Fearon and I'm here with Gail Stanback at the Park Slope Old Timers Reunion at 4th Street and 6th Avenue on Saturday, August 9th, 2025. Can you please spell your name for me?
GAIL: Gail, G-A-I-L, Stanback, S-T-A-N-B-A-C-K.
NATASHA: What's your relationship to Park Slope or to Brooklyn?
GAIL: I've been here in Park Slope since I was a wee baby. My mother's parents bought a house on 1st Street between 7th and 8th Avenue in the 1950s, and my parents owned a home on Garfield Place between '56– but my mother's deceased now, but the house is still my father's.
NATASHA: Did you have a particular powerful or important memory of Park Slope or Brooklyn you'd like to share?
GAIL: My most, I guess biggest memory is the community. The community and how we were all together, how we all knew each other, and how we all stuck together and nobody could come into the neighborhood and mess with us because we were like all brothers and sisters. We didn't fight each other. We loved each other.
NATASHA: Why did you decide to come to Park Slope Old Timers Reunion today?
GAIL: I always come, except for I was out of town last year. But, um, to see people I haven’t seen in a long time. Although I still in the neighborhood, a lot of my people that I grew up with, due to gentrification and the high cost of living in Brooklyn, they’re no longer here. So those familiar faces that I used to see every day and love every day, it has dwindled. So it’s sometimes sad, and this is a good day, so I get to see people knowing that people are still all right, you know, are still alive and, you know, to catch up. So that's the best thing.
NATASHA: What are some things you think more people should know about Park Slope or Brooklyn based on your own experiences?
GAIL: What I think is that all in all I think Brooklyn is a special borough.
(Friend walks by; I didn't see you here. How you doing? I know this is miseducation. Where's Jimmy? I keep losing him. GAIL: He just walked up that way. I saw him.)
GAIL: And I'm sorry. So, I'm a doctor, so that's why she said that. But, oh gosh. I think they should know that Brooklyn was a special community. A lot of talent, a lot of love, and I think we're different in Brooklyn. I went to high school at Norman Commons in Manhattan, and you know, the Bronx people be like I don't wanna go to Brooklyn. And we didn't wanna go to the Bronx. But Brooklyn has a certain style, it has a certain way. Even though it's part of the five boroughs, but we stand out. And Park Slope stood out because it wasn’t a whole lot of messing, it was a lot of love. We really loved each other. You know, back in the days we used to know people's last names. Today we don't know your last name. And the kids don't know their last names. And even in the schools here, they try to tell you to call the teacher by the first name, and like, Black people ain't like that. We really value respect. Not because it's the master's home, but because we respect our ancestors and who we are.
NATASHA: What are your hopes for the future of the neighborhood and Brooklyn?
GAIL: Unfortunately, it is just hope. As a spiritual person, as a Christian, you know with some [unclear] and some tumultuous times, where money is the root of everything. And with money comes power, so, we’ve been separated from money for so long. And no matter what we do, money eludes us because they know money is power. So unfortunately, our neighborhoods that we make special, and must, just like the chicken wing– once we make it all appetizing, they come and devour it. So, yeah.
NATASHA: Well, thank you.
GAIL: You’re welcome.