“We don’t have laws about posting signs for whites and coloreds. We don’t have laws segregating people on buses and trains ... [but] if you look at quality of service, efficiency of service, look at amenities attached to suburban rail versus inner-city bus lines, it’s like night and day.” - Robert Bullard (dean of Texas Southern University's school of public affairs)
Historically, racial discrimination and transportation have been intertwined; from federally funded projects dividing low-income neighborhoods, to Rosa Parks (and Claudette Colvin) boycotting the bus system, to countless civil rights issues with transportation planning that still persist today, albeit in subtle ways.
Issues from air pollution, noise pollution, lack of access to and from jobs, schools, services, the list continues, and the disadvantages are many. Various pieces of legislature and advocacy groups have helped advance the plea and urgency of closing this transportation equity gap, such as the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21stCentury, and the Clean Air Coalition. These help with community involvement and awareness in the hopes of using the justice system to identify and fight discrimination. Some actions use Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to target certain federal actions as exclusionary processes. Other actions use community science such as air pollution monitors provided by the EPA to incorporate scientific data and analysis, making cases stronger.
Discriminatory, or 'disparate' cases are seen across towns in the USA and Native American reservations, such as Houston and the Gila River Indian Community. Complaints filed, cases, and studies have proven time and time again that transit is often not available to those who need it most, while new projects serve those who own cars. The poster child case for discrimination is Hurricane Katrina, when the transportation system came to a halt in New Orleans. Some residents say that transportation slowly came back to the region but not in low-income African-American communities. Other cases include Oakland, California, where a new federal project disconnected a bus route in low-income neighborhoods, where 30-40% don't own vehicles.
Sometimes, racism is blatantly stated, and often via online platforms where commenters are largely 'invisible'. It is obvious that this link between racism and transportation planning is deeply embedded in the USA's founding history and relationships between settlers and the 'others'. It is so entrenched in our daily lives that it has become customary. It gets bathed in different faces and names and covered up in ways that make it difficult to decipher to the untrained eye. Maybe it's time to uncover the truth and approach transportation planning in the most ethical way possible.
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