04-25-18 – Urban Planning

Image Credit: Center For American Progress

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Hey Family,

I was talking to someone the other day who said they were interested in urban planning. In my mind I said, “Is that like gentrification???”

Yes, I’m sorry. I work in media. Almost no conversation is off limits from entering this blog.

I had stopped paying attention, inserting appropriate okays and un huh’s but my mind had gone elsewhere.

Long term ramifications of displacing lower income minorities from their homes for higher rents tenants all in the name of “urban planning” was dancing in my head.

Ta-Nehisi Coates famously analyzed housing discrimination in his piece on reparations. Recently, the Center For American Progress looked at an aspect of the disparity through the highway system. On the program today, Kristina Costa, a Senior Fellow in the Energy Department who looks at the ways in which our environment and infrastructure should work together will talk about how rolling back environmental protections and infrastructure barriers hurts communities of color.

Even the highway system might be racist. Damn.

Tune in to Enlighten Me every Wednesday from 4-5p ET on WERA-FM, 96.7 in Arlington, Va. or check us out online at Facebook.com/EnlightenMeOnWERA or on Twitter @EnlightenMeWERA @andreacambron.