Driving 65 in a (19)50: Racism within our Roads
Photo from Pexels by Alex Midence
Jasleen Kaur
Imagine it’s mid-July, windows down, and you’re driving down I-43 through the heart of Milwaukee; the speed limit is 55, but you’re going a solid 10 over. As a society, we don’t appreciate how convenient these highways have become. They are essential to the daily lives of many in the Greater Milwaukee area, connecting families and communities; however, we have also forgotten how these keys to the city have torn lives to pieces and implemented segregation that has furthered Milwaukee’s ranking as one of the most segregated cities in the United States.
Now, I’m not saying we need to tear down the highways; what I am saying is that we need to acknowledge the beneficial parts of our history while recognizing that no system was built perfectly. The negative effects of the creation of these roads still reverberate in minority and low-income neighborhoods of Milwaukee, and living in the suburbs can cause us to overlook a lot of these implications (if we are even aware of them) as “in the past,” when that is far from the truth. Redlining, housing plans, white flight, and the highway system have all been key factors when it comes to how minority communities have been significantly systemically disadvantaged.
Redlining was a form of systemic racism that was established during the 1930s–the New Deal era. In the wake of the Great Depression, New Deal programs were created in order to prevent foreclosures by providing homeowners with insured mortgages, but only if they met certain criteria. One of the main criteria was where the home was located. Color-coded maps were created for cities across the country where neighborhoods were separated on their “risk factor” when it came to offering loans. The red areas were marked as “D” in risk level, which is the highest risk level; this meant that these were areas where property values would likely drop. The green neighborhoods, on the other hand, were marked as “A” in risk level, the lowest risk level where property values were deemed likely to skyrocket. It was observed that the neighborhoods in this red “D” level were predominantly Black residential areas whereas the green “A” levels were, you guessed it, white neighborhoods. The effects of redlining were that Black people were virtually unable to get any government-insured mortgages if they lived in these predominantly Black neighborhoods. This meant that the power of homeownership was only available to white, middle-class individuals.
The map of redlined Milwaukee with a key.
The Federal Housing Administration tried to justify this form of systemic racism by stating that if Black Americans were able to buy homes in or around these white suburbs, the property values of the homes would decline. This claim carried no backing; the opposite was actually true. When Black Americans attempted to buy homes in these predominantly white areas, property values actually increased because Black Americans were more inclined to pay more because their housing options were so limited. This isn’t the only time the FHA was blatantly racist either. The governmental administration had a manual that specifically stated that it was risky to lend in predominantly Black areas. The Underwriting Manual, a government document, specifically stated, “The degree of social and racial compatibility of the inhabitants of the neighborhood. The presence of socially or racially inharmonious groups in a neighborhood tends to lessen or destroy owner-occupancy appeal.”
These three screenshots are direct pieces of the text from the FHA Underwriting Manual. It is important to note the consistent use of “inharmonious” to describe non-white racial groups. This manual encourages segregation within neighborhoods, housing, and even schools.
This piece of writing proves systemic racism built into the housing plans of this country. The term “inharmonious” was used consistently within this over 400-paged manual in order to describe minority racial groups (specifically the Black community), in order to tag them as inferior to white people. Redlining segregated Black and white communities, essentially drawing lines that created housing segregation that would persist for generations to come; it was the first step. You may be wondering why I am even discussing the Federal Housing Administration; we’re talking about highways, right? In the Underwriting Manual of the FHA, which stated not to lend to Black individuals, this administration of the federal government also recommended that establishing highways would be an effective way in separating Black and white neighborhoods from each other. This intention was stated in writing, nearly 20 years prior to the legislation being put in place, putting an idea into action.
In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation allowing the construction of interstate highways across the nation. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 allocated a plethora of federal funds for the building of these highways to the point where states were only responsible for coming up with 10% of the remaining cost. With that, nearly 41,000 miles of highways were established in just over a 15-year span. Cities become interconnected with rural areas, allowing for easy commutes, but with that convenience came hardships for minorities. Highly concentrated Black communities generally were located in the heart of Milwaukee, as white families were able to take advantage of government-insured mortgages and migrate to the outer suburban areas; this was also known as “white flight.” Black and Latinx populations were forced to live in the city due to redlining, as previously discussed, meaning that they faced a direct impact due to the creation of I-94 and I-43.
Black Americans had been systemically forced into the center of Milwaukee, where property values were low and there was little to no political traction. Because of these factors, this area became an easy location for the interstates due to the low level of resistance they would receive; these areas carried no power. I-43 in particular is credited for destroying central city Black neighborhoods, displacing thousands and causing even further wealth disparities. Between 1960 and 1969, about 17,000 homes were destroyed while about 1000 businesses were also forced to relocate or simply cease to exist.
The South Side neighborhoods of Milwaukee were affected exponentially by I-43. The formerly Polish area became heavily Latinx during the 60s when these highways were established. Many Black and Latinx Americans were unable to find housing due to the absence of fair housing legislation until 1967. Because of this, they were forced to stay in neighborhoods that were victims of the highway system. White families in this area, including the Polish whose homes had also been displaced, were able to find housing in the suburbs because they were never refused homes. Therefore, the creation of suburbs leading to “white flight” out of the cities, went hand in hand with the construction of highways.
We can examine the same exact situation in the North Side of Milwaukee, a predominantly Black area, where “white flight” to the suburbs occurred once more as a result of these highways being built. Black and Latinx families didn’t carry the generational wealth that their white counterparts had to their access, so they were unable to leave the city. The lives of these low-income Black and Latinx communities were not taken into account when it came to the creation of these racist pieces of infrastructure. The government of the US not only systemically discriminated against these communities, but enabled state governments to do the same, furthering segregation that is still prominent in 2022. These highways were physical lines drawn between communities, leading to further segregation between minorities and white Americans in Milwaukee.
In 2021, the United States Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, himself recognized the harm that these slabs of concrete created, stating plainly, “There is racism physically built into some of our highways.” Even now, we drive into Milwaukee and can physically witness when we travel to wealthier areas compared to the low-income neighborhoods, but sometimes we ignore what is right in front of our eyes.
Take Whitefish Bay, for example; this area is astronomically wealthy and it is also predominantly white, even coining the nickname “Whiteface Bay.” Then you take a look at the Metcalfe Park neighborhood, around I-43, and take note of its 60% poverty rate and predominantly Black makeup. Now, why is this? Why is it that these neighborhoods surrounding the highways of Milwaukee are predominantly Black and low-income? Well, this is a direct result of generations worth of systemic racism through redlining and the creation of the highway system. So, the next time you drive down through Milwaukee, think about what you observe and why the city’s demographics are so segregated, why there is so much income disparity due to race. You will find the answer was right under your nose the whole time, or actually, right under your wheels.
Sources:
How the Building of I-43 Destroyed Milwaukee's Black Community - Shepherd Express
Highways and Racism: A brief history | Sierra Club
The Construction Of Milwaukee's Freeways: An Asset For Some, Detrimental For Others | WUWM 89.7 FM
Translational Applied Demography: How Redlining Continues To Shape Racial Segregation In Milwaukee.
What Is Redlining? - The New York Times
A 'Forgotten History' Of How The U.S. Government Segregated America: NPR
Milwaukee’s History of Segregation and Development: A Biography of Four Neighborhoods
