Originally published by The 19th Decades after her act of defiance, Rosa Parks galvanized a cadre of activists to protest their own conditions and, though the scope of her legacy for them is still coming into focus, it remains just as powerful. They were fighting for disability access, and, like Parks, they used public transportation […]
Transportation
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Transportation
Now That REAL ID Is Required, Black Travelers May Face New Travel Hurdles
REAL ID enforcement has kicked in and in the weeks leading up to the May 7 deadline, some grassroots organizers worried the requirement to obtain an upgraded ID card from a state’s driver’s licensing agency would have a disproportionate burden on some Black Americans. Already, 21% of Black adults lack a valid driver’s license, compared […]
Posted inPartner Content, Transportation
Trump faults DEI hiring while discussing Washington plane crash
A close look at the FAA’s hiring policies under Obama, Biden and Trump shows that Trump mischaracterized the policies and misled about his actions and the actions of his White House predecessors. He also provided no evidence these policies had any connection to the fatal crash.
Posted inInfrastructure, Unsafe Water
The Sewage Crisis Drowning America’s Poorest Town
Each time it rains, even if it’s just a light rainfall, the streets of Cahokia Heights, Illinois, flood. But that’s not all. Those floodwaters bring in a nightmarish brown tide, a disgusting slurry that engulfs the area, dragging with it the stench of human excrement and decay. With such constant and high floodwaters, people have […]
Posted inInfrastructure, Transportation
Baltimore Needs Modern Transit, but a New Project Rehashes Historical Trauma
At a Sept. 10 Baltimore City Council meeting, longtime Reservoir Hill neighborhood resident Angel St. Jean took the podium to tell the story of her community over the past decade. “Step by step, chip by chip, our voice has been taken away,” she said. For years, residents in the 85% Black neighborhood have worked together […]
Posted inInfrastructure, Partner Content, Public Safety
A Boy’s Bicycling Death Still Haunts a Black Neighborhood 35 Years Later
The story originally published on Healthbeat, a nonprofit newsroom covering public health published by Civic News Company and KFF Health News. Sign up for its newsletters here. DURHAM, N.C. — It’s been 35 years since John Parker died after a pickup collided with the bike he was riding on Cheek Road in east Durham before school. He was 6. […]
Posted inEminent Domain, Infrastructure, Partner Content
Black Women Say An Amtrak Project Threatens Their Baltimore Neighborhood’s Homes — and Children
Originally published by The 19th Angel St. Jean has seen big improvements to the Reservoir Hill neighborhood of Baltimore since she moved there 11 years ago. The historic, now majority-Black community had long been considered “perpetually up and coming,” she said, and parts of it had been underdeveloped for some time. In recent years, however, […]
Posted inEconomic Development, Transportation
Retirees Want Their Homes. This City Wants a Truck Stop.
Jacquenette Cottrell is scared, drained, and damn near bankrupt. For six years, she helped bankroll a lawsuit to stop construction of a Love’s Travel Stop in the middle of her neighborhood in Joliet, the third-largest city in Illinois. The area in question isn’t in the city limits, but an unincorporated area on the east side […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Infrastructure, Partner Content, Rural Issues
How Alabama Turned to Restrictive Deed Covenants to Ward Off Flooding Claims From Black Residents
This story was originally published by Inside Climate News. SHILOH COMMUNITY, Ala.—Their land is bound forever. The deeds of three homeowners — Pastor Timothy Williams, Aretha Wright, and Page Jones — all living in the historically Black Shiloh community of south Alabama, tell the tale. Restrictive covenants attached to their deeds limit the ability of current and […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Transportation
Will the Electric Vehicle Push Bring Black Americans Along on the Ride?
Americans love their cars more than practically anyone — only New Zealand has more cars per capita. So, when President Joe Biden announced in 2021 that he wanted to speed up the transition from gas-guzzling vehicles to electric ones, the push drove debate among state leaders, city planners, and everyday people alike. Over the past […]