"We need to build an interstate highway system, to modernize our logistical capacity and connect our commercial centers. But we need land in those cities, and all the prime real estate is developed."
"Hmmmm...we could eminent domain some of the land."
"But from whom? A lot of those commercial centers are owned by white people!"
"How about the equally affluent Black neighborhoods in those cities? Let's just bulldoze those, wiping out generational wealth that took them decades to build, and permanently dividing them off from their cities' downtowns, making it next to impossible to share in the prosperity the new infrastructure will bring with it!"
"Brilliant! Smith, you're a genius!"
It's not always as obvious as firebombing and massacres. Those are the exceptions. It's usually much more insidious and subtle than that.
"Hmmmm...we could eminent domain some of the land."
"But from whom? A lot of those commercial centers are owned by white people!"
"How about the equally affluent Black neighborhoods in those cities? Let's just bulldoze those, wiping out generational wealth that took them decades to build, and permanently dividing them off from their cities' downtowns, making it next to impossible to share in the prosperity the new infrastructure will bring with it!"
"Brilliant! Smith, you're a genius!"
It's not always as obvious as firebombing and massacres. Those are the exceptions. It's usually much more insidious and subtle than that.