Black History Month: A Series on How the Government Segregated America through Transportation and Urban Planning

Unless you were raised under a rock (or a radical far-right household), you know that the United States has a long history of racism. Heck, even if you were raised under a rock, you would know this is true. From the horrific acts of slavery to the Tulsa Race Massacre, from separate schools and water fountains to redlining and housing discrimination, it is no secret that official government policy is very much to blame for these injustices. And this is not something just limited to the deep south. It happened practically everywhere.

Even today, we are nowhere near where we ought to be. The horrific murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery show us that racism continues to be prevalent in our society.

Even though the 13th,14th, and 15th Amendments, and numerous court cases explicitly outlawed the deprivation of civil rights based on the color of one's skin, instead of just accepting people who were different from themselves, governments and citizens around the country sought loopholes in the law to deprive people of color of their rights to life and liberty and keep America segregated. Prominent among them is the modern transportation system and attempts to circumvent outlawed housing practices.

The ability to move around has no doubt improved countless lives, but it has destroyed many lives as well. Homeownership has allowed countless Americans to accumulate wealth, but many were deprived of this opportunity, not because they had bad credit, but because of the color of their skin. 

I bet you’ll be surprised to learn that the roads you are driving on (particularly highways) are, in many cases, located where they are precisely because people of color lived in their path, or because these new superhighways would physically separate white and minority neighborhoods. These highways destroyed minority communities. They destroyed cities.

In honor of black history month, I will be posting a series of articles outlining how racism shaped our communities with particular focus on the transportation system and other government policies. As citizens of the United States who presumably care about civil rights, it is imperative to be aware of the full story and rise above the whitewashed education many of us received. You might be surprised to learn that much of what occurred in the past still occurs today, and in many cases, it is happening in your own backyard. America is still extremely segregated, both racially and socioeconomically. I hope this series helps you see that this is largely by design.

Photo by Enokson on Foter