Charlotte suffers from a disease we refuse to treat
“Segregation is a cancer in the body politic, which must be removed before our democratic health can be realized.”
Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated 50 years ago last week, used this description in a speech in Detroit. In studying Mecklenburg County and the nation, this diagnosis could not be more accurate. Despite study after study revealing the detriment of this cancer called segregation, we continually try to treat it with antibiotics, i.e., programs, because it goes down easier. King called philanthropy “commendable,” while encouraging us to look at the “circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.”
Revisionist history has been used to explain that segregation occurred organically with people simply opting to be around similar folks. However, books such as “The Color of Law” and presentations from local historian Tom Hanchett recognize national and local segregation as products of precise social engineering. In Charlotte after the Civil War, blacks and whites lived in residences amongst each other. However, due to populist politics that united poorer working classes across race, an ideology called white supremacy was introduced to divide these folks and implement Jim Crow.
From this point, the use of restrictive deeds and redlining which ranked “Negroes and Mexicans” as least desirable neighbors were used to develop what we in Charlotte now commonly call the “crescent” and the “wedge.” Economic development, educational resources and opportunity were long appropriated this way creating more wealth in the southern wedge and poverty in the crescent. To top things off, urban renewal was engineered to clear out blacks from the remaining area deemed desirable. If you think this disease is limited to the South, be clear: Its greatest prominence exists in the Midwest and northeast, but is called municipalities, townships and ethnic enclaves.
Despite knowing the history, many of us tiptoe around the segregation tumor which is repeatedly diagnosed as a key determinant in our county’s ranking 99th out of 100 for economic mobility , with only Baltimore County being worse. Why?
When I treat clients with addiction, I often tell them, you did not choose the deadly disease of addiction. It chose you. But now that you know you have it, it is your choice in how you respond. Similarly, next to none of us introduced white supremacy and its cancerous cousin segregation to Charlotte in the post-Reconstruction era. However, now that the disease has been identified, it is up to us whether we fight it or die doctor-shopping for a softer, easier way.
Whether we are bottoming out on national studies, failing to make the top 20 for Amazon’s headquarters — while “little brother” remains in the running — or perpetually sitting on a racial powder keg, the evidence of cancer is there. It even shows up in areas that are supposedly “benefiting;” as opiates and other self-medicating addictions quietly flood our wedge and our most segregated suburbs.
This community has the capacity to be great, but ignoring our biggest tumor won’t get us there. Diverse price point housing throughout the community is a necessity, as neither maintaining a wedge nor ubiquitously throwing displacement bombs are sustainable paths to recovery. Our county commission needs a shakeup like we saw on the City Council to move forward. But just as importantly, we need fresh engagement from developers, business, philanthropic and faith leaders, and residents. Timidly tackling being at the bottom of any of our fields would get us replaced. Let’s take off our tap dancing shoes and put on our work boots. It’s past time to boldly tell on our disease of segregation before it yet again tells on us.
This story was originally published April 6, 2018 at 6:30 PM with the headline "Charlotte suffers from a disease we refuse to treat."