Lesa Carter Interview 08/08/2026
Photo by Mattie Branson-Meyer
Lesa Carter Interview Transcript:
MATTIE: We're good to go. All right. Hello, I am Mattie Branson-Meyer and I am here with:
LESA: Lesa Carter
MATTIE: At the Park Slope Old Timers Reunion at 4th street and 5th Avenue on Saturday, August 8, 2026. Can you spell your name for me, please?
LESA: L-E-S-A C-A-R-T-E-R.
MATTIE: Thank you. What is your relationship to Park Slope or to Brooklyn?
LESA: My relationship to Park Slope is, I was actually born in Bedstuy in 1962, moved here in ‘62, actually in October, and I've been here ever since.
MATTIE: Do you have a particularly powerful or important memory of Park Slope or Brooklyn that you'd like to share?
LESA: My block. I love my block, I love the people on it. We all been to school together. Tough times, rough times, some high school, college. And then after a few years passed, a lot of them moved away. But, what I like most is that we were able to reunion because we're still intact with all the family members that– as possible. And we also keep net on Facebook, so that keeps a union going, and we are very concerned about each other. We love each other and I love them. They're like an external brother and sister, auntie, uncle, mama, what have you.
MATTIE: What or, sorry– Why did you decide to come to the Park Slope Old Timers Reunion today?
LESA: Oh, why wouldn't I? I could get to see all my family. It's just like being at a family reunion, except this is an extension, because we all grew up together from the time we were knee and now that we're adults going into our seniorhood and we just like to see the progress and then the grandchildren. So it's really just family to me.
MATTIE: What are some things you think more people should know about Park Slope or Brooklyn based on your own experiences?
LESA: That Brooklyn in itself is a unity. Even if they move out, we have to have a place where we all come back and share experiences and can grow and help teach the others, the youth under us, how we used to union when we used to be as a family, Like, her mother would see me do something, she's telling my mother, it's eye over eye. We didn't have that relationship whereas now on my block, I don't know anybody. They'll see me, I see them, but they don't have the same approach. But the old Park Slope? You couldn't do anything, and I guess it would have been less policing. It would have been less anything because your mother knew from the other parents. So we took care of each other. That's the way it's supposed to be.
MATTIE: What are your hopes for the future of the neighborhood and Brooklyn?
LESA: For Brooklyn, that they accept the unity that we once had and start to incorporate that with their families, because a lot of their families don't even know each other. They don't know the style and how to do it. And so listening to the older– the elders that are in this neighborhood try to find a way to approach, to get children to speak to each other and not keep this distance with all this social media business and stuff. Just go back to old school and we can grow better together and understand each other. I believe that.
MATTIE: Anything else that you'd like to share?
LESA: Oh, like people picking on me all the time? Yes. See, we have a lot of memories. So she– they talk about all the defense, but I used to be scared of kids in the class and that was my bully protector. She's over this block. Oh yeah, ‘til the one day she wasn't there so I had to fend for myself. But anyway, that's what I like to share.We love each other and I'm glad that this corporation or the organization has keep– kept people together so we can see each other grow old and wherever how we be that we have this unity. Because we have a lot to share. Yes.
MATTIE: Amazing.
LESA: And normally I would be at my family reunion in South Carolina, but I do every other year.
MATTIE: Oh, I love it.
LESA: Yes. So I know what it's like to reunion. Yes.
MATTIE: I love it. Well, thank you for interviewing with me today.
LESA: You're welcome. All right.