Author: Wake County Housing Justice Coalition

On Wednesday, 5/18/22, the Wake County Housing Justice Coalition organized a community meeting to discuss the issues surrounding the Western Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Raleigh. Unlike most meetings organized by the City of Raleigh, we shed light on the gentrification and displacement that will take place in the communities along Western Blvd for this bus lane, when there are already 6 buses coming through the area.

While designing for the Western BRT, the city has not demonstrated that they have taken into considerations for how the current residents in historic Black and Brown communities, including but not limited to: Method Community (the oldest Black community in Raleigh), Heritage Park, Kentwood. Method Community, as explained by Dr. La’Meshia Whittington during the meeting, is already experiencing the adverse effects from being an urban heat island. However, the City of Raleigh has not addressed the issue. By prioritizing instead for the Western BRT, the city is merely sweeping this ongoing environmental injustice under the rug. It is clear that the BRT is not designed for the current community, but for the gentrifiers who are coming in to displace the people.

This planning will also impact the largest Muslim community in Raleigh as there are many Muslim-owned businesses in the area, and the community come together at the Islamic Associations of Raleigh at Atwater St. for prayers and many other activities. Other properties that would be affected include Arbor Creek, where many immigrant families are renting, and rental properties along Western Blvd, Hillsborough, Gorman St, where many NC State University students are currently staying.

We thank all of the speakers from various organizations and groups who have been working tirelessly to lift the voices of the impacted Black and Brown communities: Dr. La’Meshia Whittington (Deputy Director of Advance North Carolina, Campaign Director of NC Black Alliance, Board Member of NC Dept of Environmental Quality’s Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board), Zainab Baloch (Young American Protest), Faisal Khan (Carolina Peace Center), Angaza Laughinghouse Jr. (Refund Raleigh Freedom Committee), and Yolanda Taylor (Attorney & Professor of Law).

Save the Date: The Planning Commission will review the Transit Overlay District (TOD) rezoning cases for the western and southern BRT corridors on Thursday, May 26 at 4:00 PM at the Raleigh Municipal Building (222 W. Hargett Street), Room 305. The Western Blvd TOD rezoning has the case number Z-18-22. We strongly encourage folks to attend.

A month ago, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice called for the City of Raleigh to redo their redistricting with a more equitable map by March 31, 2022.

The city has done nothing to address this issue, nor have they admitted that they made an error for claiming that they did not need to follow the Voters Rights Act, Section 2, when there was no factual or legal basis for them to say so.

The city may be trying to sweep this under the rug, but they cannot.

Because it is recorded.

Please know that there are families and communities that the City of Raleigh has harmed in their gerrymandering of the city’s districts.

The city did not listen to the people, but we hear each other.

This city council has openly undermined and harmed the voting powers of the Black, Indigenous, Latino, and Immigrant communities, and for that reason, they must be voted out on November 2022.

We also encourage folks to follow MAB Got to Go on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MAB-Got-To-Go-104160974684421

On April 5, 2022, the City of Raleigh will be have a public hearing on the Wake BRT: Western Boulevard Corridor Study & CP-10-21 Amendments. Not only will this bus rapid transit plan endanger the well-being of many Black communities – Heritage Park, Kentwood, and Method Community (The oldest Black community in Raleigh), it will also impact the livelihoods of many Muslim and immigrant families and businesses in the community.

And yet, the City of Raleigh chooses to have this hearing on the fifth day of Ramadan, which prevents Muslims from actually participating in a hearing that will directly impact their lives.

On April 1, 2022, local community organizers, Zainab Baloch (Young American Protest), Wanda Gilbert-Coker (Wake County Housing Justice Coalition & MAB Got to Go), Mary Black (Chisholm Legacy Project & Raleigh City Council District A Candidate), Hwa Huang (Wake County Housing Justice Coalition & Raleigh DSA), and Faisal Khan (Carolina Peace Center), came together for a press conference to call out the numerous injustices that the City of Raleigh has committed from gentrification, genocide and displacement of impacted Black and Brown communities to the disrespect of the Muslim community and their religious practices.

During that press conference, they demanded that the City of Raleigh show respect to the community as they would any other religious community by postponing the hearing date for the Western Blvd Bus Rapid Transit until Ramadan is over. And then provide the residents and business owners ample time to review the proposal and prepare for another hearing.

After all, the Black, Muslim and immigrant communities living near Western Blvd have have every right to be concerned and fearful City of Raleigh’s current Jim Crow tactics and policies. Fourth Ward was once a thriving Black community, and was “the only ward in Raleigh that consistently elected Black aldermen – no other ward had as much Black political influence”. However, the expansion of Western Blvd at the time marked the beginning of the end of the Black community in Fourth Ward.

Today, as the City of Raleigh is planning their Bus Rapid Transit along Western Blvd., it’s hard not to see this as another disguise to break up large voting blocs in the Black, Muslim, & immigrant communities. After all, the City of Raleigh just voted a month ago to dilute the voting power of the communities of color.

For these reasons above, we thank our community leaders for speaking truth to power, and we demand that the City of Raleigh move back the hearing date for the Western Blvd Bus Rapid Transit, and provide the local community residents ample time to review and the city should be designing the community based on what the community wants for their families and neighborhoods.

Truth is to be backed with evidence.

Truth is not truth just because you say so as the authority.

You cannot demand another to recognize your words as “Truth” if evidence says otherwise.

You reflect poorly as a leader of a city if you will only respect people as “human beings”, if people respect you as an “authority”.

See clip below of how Raleigh Mayor, Mary-Ann Baldwin, slams the gavel on Raleigh community activist, Wanda Hunter, for speaking truth to power.

It’s amazing that the mayor did not threaten to drag people out with police like she did the last time when people clapped.

Remember July 2021???

Truth must be backed with evidence.

Respect must be earned.

Neither are things you can simply “demand” from the people.

The Raleigh City’s Mayor and its entire council who actively played a part in this injustice toward the Black communities must be held accountable.