nervousgnosis:

Cowboys…on the abandoned outskirts of NYC. Home to the Federation of Black Cowboys, The Hole is located near the Brooklyn/Queens border between East New York and Howard Beach:

“The federation was formed in 1994 by a group of like-minded horse riders, most of whom were members of another (still extant) organization, the Black Cowboy Association of Brooklyn. While the Black Cowboys of Brooklyn had a primarily social and fraternal function, the federation lists community service and youth involvement as its primary goals. Application for membership is open to all, but each application is reviewed with an eye to character and a record of community service. With regard to cowboy activity, each applicant must at least have access to a horse and, as cowboy Lenard Herbert slyly adds, “You gotta have a cowboy hat.” Although the federation’s name is gender-specific, membership is open to women, who ride as the Cedar Lane Jewels.”

The Hole is full of unfinished construction sites and abandoned houses, recalling the ugly history of redlining and development failures in the area. Its geography acts as a buffer, a no-man’s-land highlighting the stark race and class divides between the two neighborhoods it borders. Some of the lots were used as mafia dumping grounds. No sewers are present, as the five blocks that comprise the area sit 30 feet below sea level and flood every time it rains, turning The Hole into a kind of transient swamp. I visited once and it felt like an abandoned town out of the old west, or a cyberpunk novel… Very eerie, and infuriating, when one recognizes how its continued neglect reinscribes segregation. The city and the private sector have yet to affirm the The Hole’s potential as a site for transformation and integration.