How the design of our city increases racial inequity
This article is about Minneapolis, but it could just as well be about Asheville. Both seemingly progressive cities have long-standing records of structurally dividing the community in ways that have privileged white people, and prevented black people from building generational wealth. The relatively small percentages of black and brown people in these communities have been isolated away from opportunities to participate in the growing popularity and prosperity of both Asheville and Minneapolis. The result is racially divided cities where white and black people experience completely different lived-experiences of the same place.
“What that tells me is that to a large extent, even though this is, for the most part, a progressive/liberal city, it’s also a city in which the races live in parallel universes. It is possible for white people to have no contacts at all with blacks unless they have kids in the schools, or at my university, or they’re in the military, or prison.”
Why This Started in Minneapolis by Sarah Holder for CityLab