Quote:
Originally Posted by Pedestrian
Nothing unique about highways. Let's face it: America has a lot of racism in its past. Most people understand that. But it is also working harder than almost any other country to repair the damage. That includes what highways through black neighborhoods did. The new Infrastructure Law actually has significant funds to tear down the most egregious neighborhood-splitting examples.
And it isn't just highways....
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Let's face it, America continues to have a lot of racism today and will far into the future. It is human nature to fear strangers, no matter what the color of their skin is. Having a different skin tone and using a different language automatically makes you a stranger.
Highways, by themselves, are not racists because they have no feelings, they are just things that are not, have never been, nor will ever be "alive".
Too many people always look at things with a negative outlook. Take interstate freeways as the example because that is what this thread is all about. Did they get routed through black neighborhoods 70 years ago? Yes. Did they get routed through white neighborhoods 70 years ago? Yes. Did they get routed very near existing highways? Yes. Did they existing highways get routed very near existing railroads? Yes. Did the freeways, highways, and railroads cross the nation, through mountains, through deserts, through forests, through prairies, through swamps, through ranchlands, through farmlands, through reservations, through parks, through towns, through cities, and over waterways? Yes. Was there anywhere in general within the USA where freeways did not go at all? No.
As I look around America, I see economic developments scattered across America. I see commercial real estate, industrial tracts, residential neighborhoods, downtown business districts, warehouses, retail stores, airports, seaports, and everything you can imagine. What do I see interconnecting them everywhere? Roads, highways, railways, and freeways.
The free movement of goods and people is important economically. When free movement of goods is slowed, for whatever reason:
a union strike at a seaport, a ship blocking a heavily used canal, a bridge across a river being closed because it needs repairs, a railroad, road, highway, or freeway closed because of a landslide blocking traffic, street lane closing for repairs, a power outage killing the functionality of traffic lights, a slow down of traffic for any reason.........the economy takes a hit.
And when there is an economic recession underway, people are hurt. Less goods to sell, less goods get made, less raw materials are needed, less jobs are needed, etc.
Now lets look at it with a positive outlook. A better ability to move goods means a potential better economy, more goods to sell, more goods get made, more raw materials are needed, more jobs are needed, everyone should be happier. Including everyone in those black, white, red, yellow, brown, green, purple, gray, orange, and blue neighborhoods where freeways were built 70 years ago.
Everyone will be much happier if you forgave what happen in the past and looked at what we can do together in the future.
Stop being a victim of the past, start being the solution for the future.