Week Nine - Grassroots Advocacy and Government Action
Share an idea or two from this week's reading. What was most interesting to you? What was most strange? How does the reading this week fit into issues and discussions we have had in this class?
Adam Doupe discusses the interests of those for and against the construction of I-40 through Overton Park. It is unsurprising that a major push for the construction of I-40 through Overton came from downtown business owners in the Downtown Association of Memphis. Usually, the elites and businesses with economic interests in a certain development plan will win out against the opposition of members of the affected community who are invested in preventing significant disruption of their lives. This case is an exceptional example of successful grassroots organizing that achieved the opposite end. This victory came after decades of opposition, seemingly against all odds. It endured despite periods of weakened resistance due to the apparent futility of their efforts, what with failures to sway officials and defeats in the courts. Why did this grassroots movement succeed, while others have failed? I think some important factors in this were that the issue at hand was simple and immediate to the members of the community. This made for a movement organized simply behind opposition to the I-40 development path. I think the white privilege and middle/upper-middle class resources of many Midtown residents also helped this movement endure until the end.
ReplyDeleteWhat originally struck me about this week was the equation of grassroots activism and environmentalism. This very much goes hand-in-hand with the Flint readings from the previous week regarding public services and civil rights. Robert D. Bullard and Glenn S. Johnson's article "Environmental Justice: Grassroots Activism and Its Impact on Public Policy Decision Making well articulates this balance and the introduction of environmental justice being correlated to social justice and civil rights. However, I argue that the preservation of Overton Park against the extension of I-40 does not necessary fall under this category of the intersection environmental activism and racial consciousness. As Mackenzie has stated above, the members of the community that worked against the construction of I-40 were predominantly the white middle and upper middle classes. I firmly believe that this would've had a radically different outcome if the movement was had been set forth by the black community, especially without the power Downtown Association of Memphis. In reality, Adam Doupe makes it clear that the preservation of Overton was primarily a white effort.
DeleteSimilar to Lamisa and Mackenzie, I thought that the Citizens to Preserve Overton Park advocacy against the construction of I-40 through one of the city’s primary green spaces opens an interesting conversation about the intersection of environmental racism and social capital and its ability to affect change. This Memphis case study is particularly fascinating when contrasted with the lack of attention to the primarily black activists who protested the construction of I-55 through green spaces in South Memphis just a few years prior. This juxtaposition of almost identical situations highlights the racial injustices tied to social capital, and thus grassroots advocacy emerges as an activity of privilege.
DeleteI ardently agree with Mackenzie, Lamisa, and Anna. When examining grassroots efforts/advocacy it is important to first examine the individuals behind the effort, all of whom appear to be predominately white, and middle to upper middle class in the case of the Overton Park and I-40 controversy. For me, this discussion makes me think about the current "Save the Greensward" efforts regarding Overton Park once again. The fact that the space of Overton Park seems to be one that encourages much debate is also interesting considering its location in Memphis and the individuals who most frequent it. I am interested to see if there are any current articles or articles that will be published that will juxtapose "Save the Greensward" with the previous I-40 debate.
DeleteWhen thinking of the Overton Park and I-40 controversy brought up by those above, and also reminiscent of the closure of West Ave. in Hein Park that we read about, I find myself thinking of the recent Memphis Blacklist published by the Mayor's office in early 2017. While the list was at least racially diverse in its illegal monitoring of citizens, in a way that protestors in the aforementioned actions were not, it reifies the division between citizens and those in power, the government and those governed. Mid-South Peace and Justice Center defines the blacklist as, "a secret surveillance list, which has been popularly referred to as the Memphis Black List. The list is made up of 84 people, some of which are social justice advocates and activists, community organizers, former city employees, and Mary Stewart -the mother of 19 year old Darrius Stewart who was killed by Officer Connor Schilling in the summer of 2015." In this, the government has taken clear action to stifle and monitor those active in grassroots movements. Grassroots movements serve the purpose of bettering our country and situations like this are a clear attempt at quashing those efforts.
DeleteI think Pheobe raises a lot of good points in her discussion of the Mayor's example in class. I also agree that that segregation is not the answer to peace, but is commonly being used as an easy way out to addressing larger scale problems at the moment. When I thought about the Mayor's landfill near a school example, it reminded me of a dispute that occurred in my home town when I was in high school in which there was a discussion of putting a dumping site near a predominantly hispanic school. This took me back and helped me realize African Americans aren't the only minority group facing these obstacles to access to equal education and it is an issue present not only in the south where it is more expected, but all across the country even in San Diego, a liberal city in California.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this week's reading "Shifting Gears: The Intersections of Race and Sustainability in Memphis." I think that the article did a fantastic job of accurately summarizing Memphis's race relations and showing how historical disconnection between different races and classes has lead to distrust, fear, and further segregation. The article voiced the urgent need in Memphis for communication and interaction between people of different backgrounds as a means of bridging divides that have formed over hundreds of years. Throughout the article, I was thinking of the Memphis non-profit Bridges that seeks to connect youth of all socioeconomic statuses and background while teaching them leadership skills. In light of reading this article, it is obvious that the need for programs like Bridges, or for an expansion of the Bridges program, is necessary if we are to begin to solve the issue of de facto segregation in Memphis.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to Isabel, I thought it was extremely interesting to read about the construction of the Greenline and how people’s initial reactions were so negative. The fearful comments expressing doubt and apprehension about the benefits of the Greenline highlight the institutional racism that is still very present in our society today. The authors note that the Greenline would connect different communities such as, “the predominately white, middle-class eastern neighborhoods of Avon, High Point Terrace, and Waynoka…[and] now predominately low-income, African American community” (Farr, Brondo, Anglin 5). This quote, to me, highlighted the irony of progression: many people want progress, but do not want to do the work that needs to be done in order to ensure progress is actually made. In addition, I thought the discussion on safety was very disheartening because of the reasons certain areas of the Greenline were deemed “unsafe”. Minority communities, specifically African American communities in this example, cannot continue to be marginalized and labeled as dangerous. I believe that in order to move away from this harmful stigma, an increase in interactions between communities need to take place to demonstrate that marginalized communities are not the threat to peace.
ReplyDeleteFollowing along with Madison's analysis, I saw a striking irony in this week's reading in regards to progress and the provision of goods and services for public use. The concept of connecting communities through the Greenline sounds exciting and indicative of progress to me, where people from Binghampton may interact with people from Germantown in a way that has not yet been seen in the city. Yet, for others, the conversation around the Greenline follows in the same trend of stigmatization and marginalization that has discouraged projects such as this in the past. A fear of African Americans might prevent someone from biking through majority-black neighborhoods, and perhaps this is precisely why the Greenline needs to happen. Madison talks about a realization that marginalized communities are not the threat to peace, and I believe that the only way that this can be achieved by facilitating interaction between vastly different communities, so that they realize they are not so different indeed.
DeleteI found this week's reading to be particularly intriguing and was able to learn something new about Memphis: I was unaware that the I-40 through Overton Park case reached the Supreme Court. It surprised me that the Secretary of Transportation was the one authorizing the highway, instead of someone at the regional/state level. I do not think that the Secretary of Transportation would be familiar enough with the city of Memphis to sanction a highway to built through a park. It seemed unmistakably clear that the Secretary did not go to excessive lengths to find an alternate route, nor did he do his best to limit destruction to the area. I was surprised to see that it made it all the way up to the Supreme Court, and that the lower courts did not side with the people earlier.
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ReplyDeleteAs a native Memphian, I always find the topic of this SCOTUS case interesting. While it was a great victory for grassroots movements as many people say, I think what many people, especially in Memphis, fail to recognize is how the Binghampton neighborhood was left mostly demolished. This demolition forced a lot of the neighborhood into economic decline. A modern-day example of this can be seen with the Greensward movement. Once again, an environmentalist movement led by middle and upper class white citizens. The movement managed to help elect a mayor who was only concerned with white, middle class issues because he promised to have a resolution to the Greensward issue within his first year of being in office. This just goes to show how not only does history repeat itself, but that repetitively, white Memphians seem to only advocate for themselves, and not the black communities of the city.
DeleteWhat interests me the most about this week's readings, specifically the opinion of Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe, is the Court's willingness to hear and decide cases based on environmental harm. I think that the Overton case is not given as much praise as it deserves particularly when discussing the constitutional issue of standing. In the past, the Court had ruled that certain issues did not pass the direct injury test set out by Frothingham v Mellon and therefore class action suits involving environmental issues were not heard. While I do of course acknowledge the racial implications in these environmental cases, I also think that the Overton case is incredibly important when considering what constitutes constitutional standing to sue.
ReplyDeleteThis discussion in class also struck me as disturbing. The effort to create a landfill in Frayser beside Whitney Elementary school is a prime example of how affluent, white communities are continually favored leaving minority communities systematically disadvantaged. A landfill beside an elementary school can only offset creating an academic environment conducive to learning and success. The fact that this was debated by politicians and locals alike is horrifying. I also agree with the Mayor's point, efforts to create a landfill located in areas like Midtown would never stand. So why is Memphis still even entertaining such ideas that clearly reinforce the racial disparities that still exist?
ReplyDeleteThe Overton park case in interesting to me in that it makes me question the extent to which dissenting voices are heard depend on where those voices are coming from. By that I mean that only when the proposed interstate construction would potentially affect a more affluent part of town did the opposition gain traction. When the path would cut straight through Binghampton, a lower income area that had fewer white residents, there was deafening silence. Ultimately I think it was beneficial that the park was preserved, but it is vital to understand the power dynamics that went into it.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the most interesting thing that came from the week's reading load was from the Farr, Brondo, and Anglin piece concerning the Shelby Farms Greenline. The Greenline is such a celebrated project in Memphis today, but the initial paranoia held by many predominantly white citizens who lived around the Greenline was shocking. The quote that especially stood out was the man who said "It will be a superhighway for drugs and crime!" This reading fits into our class because it displays a mean of connecting the white and black communities of Memphis.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the most interesting thing that came from the week's reading load was from the Farr, Brondo, and Anglin piece concerning the Shelby Farms Greenline. The Greenline is such a celebrated project in Memphis today, but the initial paranoia held by many predominantly white citizens who lived around the Greenline was shocking. The quote that especially stood out was the man who said "It will be a superhighway for drugs and crime!" This reading fits into our class because it displays a mean of connecting the white and black communities of Memphis.
ReplyDeleteThis was published by Ben Griffith
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