Kasandra Negrete
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Angela Carlberg
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Community Development Advocates of Detroit / NonUM
Program: UROPF
Session: Session 7 (4:40pm – 5:30pm)
Authors: Kasandra Negrete, Angela Carlberg
Abstract
Structural and systemic racism guarantees a legacy of discrimination that is pervasive and deeply ingrained in systems, laws, written or unwritten policies, entrenched practices, and entrenched beliefs and attitudes that result in, justify, and sustain widespread unfair treatment of people of color. Reparations are intended to address the harm caused by systemic racism. We can support the need for reparations in Detroit and across the nation by identifying who was responsible for the disparate conditions experienced by African Americans, why and how that shaped wealth accumulation and life outcomes. This research considers the ways to redress the harm of slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, police brutality, and other instances of injustice impacting Black people on an economic, physical, and psychological level. Drawing on the work of The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit by Thomas J. Sugrue which examines the role of race, housing, job discrimination, and capital flight played in the decline of Detroit, this research connects urban planning to the movement for reparations taking place in cities like Asheville, Boston, California, Evanston, Washington State, and Minneapolis-St.Paul to support reparative practices in community development.
