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Race Geography_McCarthy
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- 2. 1 Introduction We visually denote neighborhood boundaries and town lines with street-‐side signs and business names. Crossing from Milton, my hometown suburb, into the adjacent Mattapan neighborhood of Boston, signage dictates that you are entering the city of Boston, and Mattapan House of Pizza announces its neighborhood. Beyond these physical differences, and the municipal change, how does the intangible geography shift when we pass from city to suburb, and what historical features have enforced these socioeconomic and demographic differences? In his seminal novel on racial geography, How Racism Takes Place, George Lipsitz writes that white spatial imaginary is, “based on exclusivity and augmented exchange value forms the foundational logic behind prevailing spatial and social policies in cities and suburbs today”, and that “It is inscribed in the physical contours of the places where we live, work, and play, and it is bolstered by financial rewards for whiteness” (p28). This paper interrogates Lipsitz’s white spatial imaginary by putting his ideas in conversation with a racially imbued contemporary situation at the physical convergence of urban and suburbia in metropolitan Boston. Over the past two decades the City of Boston’s Metropolitain District Commission (MDC) has been overseeing construction of a city-‐spanning greenway corridor that runs along the shore of the Neponset River. The final piece of this project, yet to be realized, is a bridge, which would connect the southern segment of the greenway to the northern segment. This bridge would span the river, cross the Boston city border, and open a route between the predominantly black Boston neighborhood of Mattapan and the majority white suburb of Milton. Since the bridge was first proposed in the early 2000s, there has been a small but forceful vocal opposition by Milton residents who live in the neighborhood adjacent to the bridge site. These residents have expressed concern that if the bridge is built, the civic issues that Mattapan is infamous for would begin to proliferate in their Milton neighborhood (Rosso, 2014; Ring, 2010; Seltz, 2010; Irons, 2010). This opposition has roots in historical instances of people defending physical
- 3. 2 spaces characterized by whiteness. Toni Morrison, renown for her examination of the black experience in America, suggested that “Whiteness” is the appropriation of the generalized American culture by white identity (Morrison, 1992). George Lipsitz writes that, “Whiteness never has to speak its name, never has to acknowledge its role as an organizing principle in social and cultural relations”(Lipsitz, 2011). This invisible racial category allows people to make whiteness synonymous with being American, and thereby making other racial identities a distinct Other, deserving of being segregated and differential treatment. I speculate that Milton residents’ resistance to the bridge, announced in commentary in local newspapers and news websites, is rooted in defense of the white spatial imaginary. The resistance is disguised as NIMBYism, an acronym for Not In My Back Yard, which is used to describe opposition to development in one’s own neighborhood, and it normally implies that the residents acknowledge the development’s importance, but do not want it near them. This veneer facilitates the conflict’s dismissal as an issue of economics and safety, but there are racial underpinnings that this paper attempts to reveal and confront. Mattapan and Milton: the Perceived Racial Dichotomy Milton and Mattapan have historically interlocked racial formations. In the first half of the 20th century, Mattapan was a neighborhood predominantly populated by middle-‐income Jewish families. In 1950 the Census reported that there were about 70,000 Jews in Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan combined. The 1960’s and 1970’s saw a drastic shift, as African American and Caribbean families moved into homes that had been left by the white, and in many instances Jewish, homeowners. This process was dually enabled by realtors “blockbusting” white homeowners who would sell their properties at bargain prices, and financial redlining directed black families into the newly vacated homes. There have been many changes to the neighborhood that accompanied this population shift. Synagogues were changed into churches, kosher restaurants turned into retail, and the reputation of the area has largely shifted to a neighborhood associated with
- 4. 3 violence and crime. Many of the white people who left Mattapan in the 1960’s and 1970’s attempted to stay nearby. Finding a home in neighboring Milton meant that Jewish families would not have to leave their synagogue and its congregation. Moving down Blue Hill Ave into Milton for many meant a slight shift instead of a complete change (Martin, 2010). Figure 1: Total Population -‐ Black or African American alone Since the 1970’s the racial makeup of Mattapan and Milton has remained relatively stable. Through examining data from the 2010 U.S. Census and the 2011 American Community Survey (ACS) we see that Mattapan and Milton, although they are physically adjacent, have polar demographics. The media discourse framed the issue as discord between Milton and Mattapan, but the epicenter has been the two neighborhoods on either side of the proposed connection. Therefore an effective analysis requires that we compare Milton and Mattapan, while focusing on the
- 5. 4 census tracts adjacent to the bridge. See Table 1 for the relevant Census and ACS data. Table 1 Milton and Mattapan: Race and Income Milton Mattapan Milton Census Tract 4163 Mattapan Census Tract 1010.02 Race1 Black or African American 14% 17.56% 79.9% 81.14% White 77% 74% 8.6% 6.39% Median Household Income2 $104,713 $105,017 $41,519 $36,128 Education2 High School 91.82% 72.33% Bachelor’s Degree 66.42% 15.06% 1. 2010 U.S. Census 2. American Community Survey 2007-‐2011: (5-‐year estimates) These differences in race, income, house value, educational achievement, and household income are drastic, and are rooted in privileges associated with whiteness, which are embedded in Milton’s racialized space. Milton has benefited from a history of mortgage redlining and steering which endowed Milton with the benefits of the white spatiality by marginalizing the residents of Mattapan and maximizing the exchange value of Milton homes. The defense of this privilege shows up in the public discourse about the proposed bridge, which would physically connect the two area’s and threaten the distinction between the white spatiality of Milton and the black spatiality of Mattapan less than 10 yards across a river. Neponset River Greenway The Neponset River was used to determine Boston’s southern-‐most border, and now it delineates one of the most extreme socioeconomic and racial boundaries in Metropolitan Boston. The river flows northeast, from Foxboro about 30 miles
- 6. 5 south until it lets out at Dorchester Bay between the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester and the City of Quincy. Moving northeast, the river forms the border of Boston at Hyde Park, Mattapan and Dorchester. Along its route it physically divides the city from the suburb, and in many areas it denotes a drastic shift in socioeconomic and racial characteristics of residents. In the 1880’s the Metropolitain District Commission (MDC) acquired the Neponset River salt marshes, with the vision of a publicly owned natural corridor buffering the Neponset River, providing natural amenities to the city of Boston and its neighboring communities. Over the years since this initial acquisition, the MDC has acquired over 750 acres along the Neponset River, which they plan to rehabilitate as parkland. In 2003, the MDC oversaw the completion of the Lower Neponset River Trail, which provides pedestrians and bicyclists a recreational path along Dorchester’s riverside, and connects the southern portions of the neighborhood to the newly constructed 66-‐acre Pope John Paul II Park. The Lower Neponset Trail was the first of a series of trails that have been constructed in the following years by the MDC in an attempt to create The Neponset River Greenway, a
- 7. 6 10-‐mile continuous trail from the mouth of the Neponset River at Dorchester Bay to the Blue Hills Reservation in Milton (Rosso, 2012). The process has been piecemeal, and impeded by funding deficiencies and public resistance. In an article for the Boston Globe on March 12, 2012, Patrick Rosso notes that there were still three sections of Neponset River Greenway that needed to be completed. One of these segments runs along the border of Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood, and the suburb of Milton. Slated to be the most expensive of the three remaining sections, a proposed plan, which included a bridge over the river and 1.5 miles of trail, was set to cost more than $10 million. Since 2010, several attempts by the state to garner federal funding for the remaining construction have failed (Rosso, 2010). Articles in the Boston Globe and other local news sources followed closely the MDC and the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authorities’ repeated denial of funding by the US Department of Transportation. The lack of funding became the primary story, but there was another conflict occurring along the border of Milton and Mattapan. Socioeconomic and racial differences between the neighborhoods were brought to light, and the neighborhood in Milton set to host the new greenway vocalized opposition to the project, and their arguments against a physical bridge which would connect Mattapan to Milton embodies how the privileges of contemporary whiteness have been embedded in white spatial imaginary. The objection of Milton residents is influenced by a concern that their privilege will be threatened by spatial change. “Racialized space” writes Lipsitz, “enables the advocates of expressly racist policies to disavow any racial intent.” In 2010, an article in the Boston Globe reported that some Milton residents felt their opposition had been misrepresented, and insisted that there is no race or class divide between the neighborhoods across the Neponset River. These Milton residents noted that, “many of their friends and neighbors make up a racially and economically diverse community” (Seltz, 2010). Through the Neponset River Greenway, the DCR is establishing a pathway as a means of connecting neighborhood amenities, encouraging recreation, and generating public spaces where people throughout the Greenway’s 10-‐mile route
- 8. 7 can meet and build community. Although it is not an explicit intent of the DCR and its partners.. By generating public space the Neponset River Greenway will serve as, “a medium through which identities are created, constructed, and contested” (Lindsey et al., 2001). Residents of Milton opposing the bridge, I argue, that they feel that the middle ground between the two connected neighborhoods would be a loss to their own privilege. The residents in Mattapan and Milton who support the project focus on the opportunity to break the barriers between the two neighborhoods, and provide opportunity for the residents on both sides of the border to enjoy nature. The Boston Globe reported the opinion of Mattapan resident and activist, Rodney Bender, who said that the Neponset River Greenway would provide a chance for safe exercise, pleasant connection to public transportation, and a place for people to bond and “clear their heads” (Jackson, 2010). White Spatial Imaginary and ‘Safety’ Milton residents’ opposition to the proposed bridge which would connect Mattapan and Milton is a contemporary embodiment George Lipsitz’s white spatial imaginary disguised by NIMBYism and perpetuated by supposed post-‐racialism. Defense of the white spatial imaginary, is present but hidden in the conflict over the Neponset River bridge. In the opening chapter to How Racism Takes Place, Lipsitz outlines several characteristics that define and enforce the white spatial imaginary (Lipsitz, 2011). In the 1940’s and 1950’s, homeownership in bourgeoning suburbs was a privilege reserved for whites, and staunchly kept away from black people. This is a time when the idea that, “Blacks moving into white neighborhoods constitutes a criminal transgression of its own”. I do not imply that this blatant racism is rearing its head in the Neponset River discourse, but the idea that white neighborhoods are best when they are homogenous and isolated is a byproduct of this historic racial exclusivity. Suburban property owners view themselves as, “individuals whose wealth grew out of their personal and individual success” while Lipsitz notes that
- 9. 8 many suburban homeowners have simply benefited financially from institutionalized forms of racial exclusion. In the case of the Neponset River bridge, the immediate effect is not expected to be an influx of new residents. No one on either side of the discussion expect that people from Mattapan will begin purchasing homes in the adjacent Milton neighborhood or visa-‐versa. Defense of the white spatial imaginary is not restricted to home ownership. The residents of Milton claim to be fearful, not of new black homeowners, but of crime. In the Fall of 2012, Milton Police Chief Richard G. Wells Jr. was quoted in the Boston Globe saying, “We worry about opportunities not only for those on the bike path but also for criminal perpetrators to now have an easy opportunity to cross into residential areas near the river to commit crimes. The police chief, echoing the concern of the adjacent Milton neighborhood, is attributing the negative features of Mattapan’s socioeconomic framework onto its predominantly black residents. Mattapan’s black residents have been plagued by decades of economic marginalization and exclusion, and now those features are being projected onto their blackness. Defense of the white spatial imaginary is being buffered by the criminalization of the blacks. Milton is a prime example of Lipsitz’s “privileged moral geography”, and by putting the contemporary situation in conversation with historical examples we see that bridges are a battleground for the white spatial imaginary.
- 10. 9 Bibliography American Community Survey, “Ancestry; Haitian alone: 2010” http://www.socialexplorer.com/6f4cdab7a0/explore (accessed on November 3, 2014) Bischoff, Annaliese. "Greenways as Vehicles for Expression." Landscape and Urban Planning 33, no. 1–3 (10// 1995): 317-‐25. Hoelscher, Steven. "Making Place, Making Race: Performances of Whiteness in the Jim Crow South." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 93, no. 3 (2003/09/01 2003): 657-‐86. Irons, Meghan E. "Bike Trail Plan Meant to Bridge Runs into Divide." Boston Globe, 2010 Nov 29 2010, A.1. Jackson, Derrick Z., “A Natural Link Between Communities,” Boston Globe. November 30, 2010, accessed November 4, 2014, http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/201 0/11/30/a_natural_link_between_communities/ Lewis, John, Walking With the Wind. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998. Lindsey, Greg, Maltie Maraj, and SonCheong Kuan. "Access, Equity, and Urban Greenways: An Exploratory Investigation." The Professional Geographer 53, no. 3 (2001/08/01 2001): 332-‐46. Lipsitz, George. How Racism Takes Place. Philidelphia: Temple University Press, 2011. Martin, Phillip. “Blue Hill Avenue: If A Street Could Speak,” WGBH. October 25, 2010, accessed November 3, 2014, http://wwe.wgbh.org/articles/index.cfm?cmstype=BODY&tempid=736&ud= E230734A-‐2219-‐56F5-‐6654CCA547214105&cmsStatusAdmin=0 Morrison, Toni. Playing in the dark: Whiteness and the literary imagination. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992. Ring, Richard E. "Between Mattapan and Milton." Boston Globe, 2010 Dec 04 2010. Rosso, Patrick D., “Neponset River Greenway Trail Again Denied US Funding,” Boston Globe, June 28, 2012, accessed November 1, 2014, http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/south/2012/06/27/nepons et-‐greenway-‐trail-‐again-‐denied-‐funding-‐complete-‐unfinished-‐ sections/Cp33rCcfSS2QaHDVvMLRrK/story.html Seltz, Johanna, “Keep bike trail near Neponset River, selectmen urge.” Boston Globe, August 24, 2010, accessed November 11, 2014, http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/milton/2010/08/keep_bike_trail_ near_neponset.html Solecki, William D., and Joan M. Welch. "Urban Parks: Green Spaces or Green Walls?". Landscape and Urban Planning 32, no. 2 (6// 1995): 93-‐106. Talen, Emily. "Visualizing Fairness: Equity Maps for Planners." Journal of the American Planning Association 64, no. 1 (1998/03/31 1998): 22-‐38.
- 11. 10 U.S. Census Bureau, “Total Population Race: Black or African American Alone: 2000” http://www.socialexplorer.com/6f4cdab7a0/explore (accessed November 3, 2014). U.S. Census Bureau, “Total Population Race: White Alone: 2010” http://www.socialexplorer.com/6f4cdab7a0/explore (accesses November 3, 2014) U.S. Census Bureau, “Total specified ancestries tallied: Irish: 2000” http://www.socialexplorer.com/6f4cdab7a0/explore