I.Am.Indignant!

I.am.indignant! It has been my word of the semester.  This semester I have been taking a break from design school to participate in a program through the Higher Education Consortium of Affairs (HECUA) focusing on inequality in America.  The curriculum focuses on a variety of topics from wage discrepancies, housing, race and class issues, and politics.  During the course of the semester I have learned so much, but I have also become so very, very angry.

Take housing for example.  Most of our housing issues today stem from legislation and practices from the 1950s.  After WWII there was a housing crisis that prompted suburban sprawl.  During this time banks and realtors would “red line” certain areas, marking where they would give loans based on race or class.  Realtors would “steer” certain families into certain neighborhoods, increasing segregation.  Exclusionary zoning limited who could live where based upon their ethnicity, creating pockets of race around the city.  Over time these pockets have been allotted different resources creating inequality between them.  Some areas were destroyed during the era of urban renewal, removing affordable housing all together.

Now you may think that these practices have been outlawed by now, and most of them have, yet they still affect us. We still making zoning laws that limit residents based on their income.  Richer sectors require 3 car garages and certain lot sizes ensuring that only those who can afford such luxuries live in their community. Communities given different resources in the past still don’t have equal access.  Many of our communities are still segregated. So here I am, indignant. How are such unfair practices from 60 years ago STILL impacting us?  How are we still unwilling to live near the people we work with or shop with or worship with? Why can’t we strive for a more equitable distribution of resources? I hope that this makes you a little uncomfortable too; uncomfortable or angry enough to educate yourself, or your family, or friends, or faith community.  After all, we are called to care and love those around us, to change the systems that foster despair, hate, and poverty.  I hope that you too are indignant enough to want to make a change, to live in an equitable community with those around us.

-Lindsey May