Pete Buttigieg, the US Transportation Secretary, promised to fix the “racism” that went into making America’s roads and bridges by tearing them down and building a new one. He did this with money from the New Infrastructure Act.
Buttigieg spoke to the White House press on Monday, explaining how “Justice40” agenda of President Joe Biden agenda would apply to “equity” in infrastructure, providing at least 40% of the advantages for “Disadvantaged communities”.
“Can you give us a plan for how you are going to take down the racism that was built in the streets?” You can tell us how that could be broken down from there. April Ryan is now working for the African-American newspaper The Grio after having been a partner with CNN.
The streets are racist. We have to free ourselves of streets. https://t.co/nde3mJHn37
– Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 8, 2021
While some lawmakers, like Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), laughed at his question, Buttigieg gladly answered it.
He said, “If it were a highway built with the intention of dividing a black neighborhood with white ears or an underpass built so that a bus carrying mostly black and Puerto Rican children to a beach in New York was too short to pass from, that clearly shows the racism that is present in those design choices.”
Reporter @aprileDRyan to @PeteButtigieg: “Can you give us the construct of how you will deconstruct the racism that was built in the streets? . you can talk to us from how that could be deconstructed? ” photo.twitter.com / FXXEq5tuQL
– Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) November 8, 2021
This appears to have been a reference to a charge made in 1974 by Robert Caro in his biography of Robert Moses, the New York official responsible for much of the street-building And development between the 1920s and 1960s.
However, Buttigieg said, “Sometimes it really is the case that an overpass has gone in a certain way; it is so harmful that it must come down.” He also said, “Your department may need to add rather than remove.”
He also mentioned the mentioned the Interstate-81 viaduct in Syracuse, New York—also repeatedly denounced as racist—and said the DOT was taking into consideration the wishes of the local community.
When asked about the US supply chain problem last month, Buttigieg famously sidestepped the question by saying he was on paternity leave because he and his wife had adopted twins. He then blamed the COVID-19 pandemic, which he did again on Monday.
Transport Secretary Buttigieg explains how great demand, insufficient supply, lack of infrastructure and the pandemic are all intertwined in the problems of the US supply chain photo.twitter.com / iC6dSiGqDf
– NowThis (@nowthisnews) November 8, 2021
With the help of 13 Republican votes, the mostly Democratic US House of Representatives passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill on Friday. This gave Buttigieg more than $100 billion for construction projects in the US, with about $16 billion set aside for “major projects” that the government can choose how to use.
