Questions

One of the most interesting things about this semester is making the connections of cause and effect between so many things. So here are a few:

Who thinks of the importance of where we create roads? Yet, as one article I just read for my Community Building class says, roads form the skeleton of our societies. We build up communities based on the roads.

Who thinks of how people are affected by roads? As in, who gets displaced by the creation of roads, particularly interstates? Because most interstates were built after cities were established. To go through the city, the highway has to go through neighborhoods. How do they decide what neighborhoods get to stay and what neighborhoods have to go?

Although there are problems with it, suburbanization isn't inherently bad. It was how it happened that created problems, that isolated people in inner-city communities and caused those communities to deteriorate. Who decided how suburbanization would play out? Who decided that they didn't want to be near people of different income levels than they themselves are? Who in the government decided that it was more beneficial to back loans for new construction in suburban areas for whites than to back loans for the improvements and maintenance of already existing homes? Who decided that it needed to be racialized determining which neighborhoods people could get loans to purchase homes in and who could get those loans?

Why do we claim that racism doesn't exist anymore? Sure, we had the Civil Rights Movement, and things have been a lot better since then. But why don't we recognize that there are still lingering effects passed down to today's generations of the injustices we promoted before the Civil Rights Movement? Racism today often hides behind the language of classism (although sometimes it is more overt).

Most of all, once I acknowledge the injustices, how do I work to fix them? Can we create systemic change? Should we focus on individual levels and simply become do-good people owning do-good businesses and volunteering? What would systemic change look like? How important is passing this knowledge on to others, recruiting their help? Or should I just do what I can to help?

Why is it so much easier to just deny that problems exist than it is to try to help? I mean, I know why, to a degree. But it shouldn't be that way. I should learn to be thankful that my work got me where I am and recognize that someone else didn't have as great of a chance at success with the same amount of work. The fact that I am where I am isn't all my doing. I know that I can't just forsake my education and my ability to further it. That doesn't do any good. So what do I do with it to help, to make a difference?