Photo by Lorie Shaull courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Rich Texts is a series where I share quotes and why they made me stop and reflect. Not short, pithy, one- or two-sentence quotes, but whole paragraphs or poems, rich texts that I think are worth sharing and digging into. It’s only available to paid subscribers.
From “Poverty by America” by Matthew Desmond
“Most Americans want the country to build more public housing for low-income families, but they do not want that public housing (or any sort of multifamily housing) in their neighborhood. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to champion public housing in the abstract, but among homeowners, they are no more likely to welcome new housing developments in their own backyards. One study found that conservative renters were in fact more likely to support a proposal for a 120-unit apartment building in their community than liberal homeowners. Perhaps we are not so polarized after all. Maybe above a certain income level, we are all segregationists.”
After I read this I started doing back-of-the-envelope calculations of how much it would cost to print this and mail it to every home in Madison. It’s striking that this extremely segregated city, the legislative heart of a state with the worst racial disparities in the country—for income, incarceration rates, maternal mortality rates, and more—is so fully secure in its liberal bona fides. Then propose building a multifamily apartment complex—especially one with affordable units—in their neighborhood and watch what happens.
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