In 2016, the College of Staten Island held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Willowbrook Mile, a walking path across the campuses of the college and the Office of Persons with Developmental Disabilities’ Institute for Basic Research that would document the history of the notorious Willowbrook School. The Willowbrook School was a state institution for the developmentally disabled that was closed in part because of an expose about the School’s horrific conditions. It took more than a decade for the groundbreaking to occur, and 4 years later, the Mile remains unbuilt. This article traces the development process by examining planning documents and recollections of key participants at the groundbreaking and makes two findings about the development and evolution of memory exhibits. First, the Mile’s slow process reflects that public memory is a contest of identity and difference. Memorializing Willowbrook pits vernacular memory of activists and laypeople committed to social justice for the developmentally disabled against an official public memory that deflects attention away from the state’s role in maintaining the Willowbrook School. Second, the competition between official and vernacular memory led to a both-and compromise where official and vernacular memory appear equally. This compromise appears to be untenable for many involved, leading to continued development delays after the Mile’s groundbreaking. This analysis not only traces the conflict between official and vernacular memory of Willowbrook, but how conflict creates new proposals for memory even as their development remains impeded.

2016年，史泰登岛学院举行了Willowbrook Mile奠基仪式，这是一条横跨学院校园和残障人士发展办公室基础研究学院的步行道，其中记录了臭名昭著的Willowbrook学校的历史。威洛布鲁克学校是一家为残障人士提供服务的州立机构，部分原因是该校的可怕状况使该校关闭。开创性的工程花费了十多年的时间，四年后，英里仍未建成。本文通过检查计划文件和开创性活动的主要参与者的回忆来追溯开发过程，并就内存展品的发展和演变得出两个发现。第一的，Mile的缓慢过程反映了公共记忆是身份与差异的较量。纪念Willowbrook纪念活动人士和非专业人士的白话记忆力，使其对发展中的残疾人致力于社会正义的行为与官方的公共记忆相抵触，后者使人们的注意力从该州在维持Willowbrook学校的角色上转移开来。其次，官方记忆与白话记忆之间的竞争导致了双方的妥协，即官方记忆与白话记忆出现在同一位置。对于许多相关人员而言，这种折衷似乎是站不住脚的，导致Mile突破性发展后持续的开发延迟。这种分析不仅追踪了Willowbrook官方记忆与白话记忆之间的冲突，而且还探讨了冲突如何为记忆的发展提出了新的建议，即使它们的发展仍然受到阻碍。纪念Willowbrook纪念活动人士和非专业人士的白话记忆力，使其对发展中的残疾人致力于社会正义的行为与官方的公共记忆相抵触，后者使人们的注意力从该州在维持Willowbrook学校的角色上转移开来。其次，官方记忆与白话记忆之间的竞争导致了双方的妥协，即官方记忆与白话记忆出现在同一位置。对于许多相关人员而言，这种折衷似乎是站不住脚的，导致Mile突破性发展后持续的开发延迟。这种分析不仅追踪了Willowbrook官方记忆与白话记忆之间的冲突，而且还探讨了冲突如何为记忆的发展提出了新的建议，即使它们的发展仍然受到阻碍。纪念Willowbrook纪念活动人士和非专业人士的白话记忆力，使其对发展中的残疾人致力于社会正义的行为与官方的公共记忆相抵触，后者使人们的注意力从该州在维持Willowbrook学校的角色上转移开来。其次，官方记忆与白话记忆之间的竞争导致了双方的妥协，即官方记忆与白话记忆出现在同一位置。对于许多相关人员而言，这种折衷似乎是站不住脚的，导致Mile突破性发展后持续的开发延迟。这种分析不仅追踪了Willowbrook官方记忆与白话记忆之间的冲突，而且还探讨了冲突如何为记忆的发展提出了新的建议，即使它们的发展仍然受到阻碍。