Where?

In this comedic sketch, our narrator Adam explains to our white male lead how the white suburb he lives in is the way it is not due to pure chance but is the result of a harrowing history of racist policy known as redlining. In addition to redlining, they discuss the segregation of schools as a result of segregated housing, as well as the mechanisms of white privilege as a result of all of this.

What I also found interesting about this video were some of the comments on the video, and how they relate to our class discussions on revitalization and restoration. Namely, this one:

“I think if we funneled some money into black neighborhoods, repaired their infrastructure, schools etc., we could solve this issue in a way that would satisfy both parties. Black neighboorhoods would become decent, and white people wouldn’t have to worry about getting supplanted.” — Kai W

Even though this video went at great lengths to explain the issue of redlining and how the segregation it created persists to this day, the video fails to provide any real or effective solutions to restoring these disadvantaged communities. Is funneling money into these neighborhoods the solution? Should we be asking for advice from people outside the community, or rather within the community whose members may have the best insight to give?

This Newsweek article details one of the issues touched on by Rothstein in The Color of the Law— environmental racism. Below I’ve attached tables and maps from Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. ‘s “Toxic Waste and Race in the United States” , a study that identified the the ways city planners concentrated industrial sites near predominantly black communities. Rothstein discusses the legislature surrounding this issue, but I was interested in how living near toxic industrial facilities impacts marginalized communities. This article discusses the health consequences of living near an industrial plant, including severe asthma that residents are often born with.  The epidemic in Detroit, Michigan is so severe that blackmarket inhalers and packs of albuterol sell for $15 to $20 and $10, respectively. Especially heartbreaking to me was the story of 7-year-old Shiloh Otoo, a child with severe asthma. Overexposure to the steroid used to treat his frequent attacks resulted in brittle bone disease, which contributed to his obesity.

The boundaries drawn by district planners have real consequences for specific individuals. Despite the importance of these tables and maps, the communities impacted by them are more than numbers. Real people like Shiloh will suffer the consequences of a city or district planners decisions.

Charts and Maps from Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. ‘s “Toxic Waste and Race in the United States”

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/amherst-cross-country-team-suspended-over-misogynist-emails_us_58502f77e4b0bd9c3dff004d

As a former student-athlete in the NESCAC, the recent scandal involving the Amherst College cross-country team intrigues me greatly. A certain type of unity develops between sports teams as they grow close. The locker rooms in which they dwell become spaces for cultural development among teammates experiencing similar successes and failures. A set of rules develops in locker rooms and being part of football locker rooms for ten years introduced me to the social do’s and don’ts of being part of an athletic team. As Donald Trump referenced earlier this year, locker room talk exists and it can simultaneously be rewarding for the people involved and stigmatizing towards others excluded from the space inhabited by the locker room. The Amherst cross-country team displayed some pretty hurtful rhetoric involving their female peers. The email forum in which the hurtful phrases such as “a walking STD” or “meat slab” were used to describe girls exhibits a troubling extension of the locker room to the internet, and displays how locker room talk can be misogynistic and toxic to the development of adults.

Locker room talk often is not policed and can in turn cause unfiltered speech to occur. In a world where sexual activity and attitudes toward the other gender are used as status markers, the openness of locker room talked can cause damaging ideas or opinions to become aired out. The thing about locker rooms is that they have become a safe place for many athletes to be themselves. In Amherst’s case, the thread that was discovered occurred years ago and was meant to be an extension of the locker room for those involved. While not excusing the hurtfulness and damaging effects of the words stated by the Amherst cross country team, some could argue that the report of their emails infringes upon the boundaries of their safe space. This situation brings about two major questions. First, can a safe space extend to the internet? Second, is a safe space really safe if it is developing damaging ideas such as the sexist and hurtful ones introduced by the cross-country team? The verdict of the case, suspending the team from all activity, has displayed Amherst’s position on these ideas. However, the same situation may not play out at other schools. While these questions have not been answered quite yet, they deserve more consideration in title 9 litigation moving forward.

 

We’re used to thinking of “free parking” as that cozy little corner on the Monopoly board or as an amenity that makes it easy to visit a destination.  In the era of Urban Renewal, planners zealously bulldozed urban neighborhoods and replaced them with high rise buildings, highways, and lots of parking lots.  There’s still a zeal to put in lots of parking spaces every time a building goes up, and in many cases parking for new business establishments is mandated by zoning laws.  However, parking lots have in many cases turned the city centers  into virtual wastelands, hindered urban revitalization, and discouraged the use of mass transit.

http://www.governing.com/columns/assessments/gov-parking-urban-planning.html

 

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/09/11/491831552/this-district-may-close-all-of-its-high-schools-but-its-about-much-more-than-mon

From the NPR story:

In northwest Pennsylvania, along the edge of Lake Erie, you’ll find the city of Erie.

There, the superintendent of the more than 12,000-student district has forwarded a plan that’s causing a stir — calling for leaders to consider shutting down all of the district’s high schools and sending students to the wealthier, whiter, suburban districts.

Why?

Superintendent Jay Badams says it’s a “matter of fairness.”

Erie’s schools have been pushed to the brink after six years of deep budget cuts, and he believes the children in the city’s district — which predominantly serves students of color — are being systematically shortchanged.

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/centennial/index.htm

http://www.syracuse.com/schools/index.ssf/2016/08/cny_schools_are_among_most_segregated_in_country_report_finds.html#incart_river_mobileshort_home

From the article: Around 46 percent of Syracuse students live in poverty. Here are the poverty rates for the neighboring districts included in the study:

Westhill: 8 percent
Jamesville DeWitt: 10 percent
Liverpool: 13 percent
North Syracuse: 13 percent
Solvay: 22 percent
Lyncourt: 24 percent

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2015/08/from_church_to_mosque_syracuse_islamic_group_cuts_crosses_tries_to_connect_to_ne.html

 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/07/maps-reveal-history-national-park/