The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Highway Racism - If You Don’t Know, Now You Know

Episode Date: May 25, 2022

Highways are the vital arteries that help transport goods and help workers commute to the office, but their origins are rooted in racism. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. One of President Biden's biggest accomplishment so far, I mean, aside from allowing students to keep their debt, has been the infrastructure package. It's a $1.2 trillion dollar law that's going to help rebuild roads, expand access to clean drinking water, and finally get around to adding all the other colors to stoplights. And while most of the infrastructure package was pretty uncontroversial, there was one thing that was very deep in the package that has actually got a lot of people riled up. Democrats, led by President Biden, say now is the time to build back better.

But leaders don't just want to build in update roads. In some cases, they want highways torn down. Democrats would like to provide funding to tear down highways that had a damaging effect on urban minority communities. There is racism physically built into some of our highways. And that's why the jobs plan has dollars specifically committed to reconnect some of the communities that were divided. Critics though, slamming the secretary after he said Biden's infrastructure bill would address racism in highways. I guess now, now, according to Democrats, to to to to to to to to the Democrats, to the Democrats, the Democrats, to the Democrats, to the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their thi the, the, thii, thi, the the the the the the the the that that had that had that had that had that had that had that had that had that had that had that had that had that had that had th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thiii, thi. thi. thi. the, the the the the the the the an the an the an thean. thean. thean. thean. thean. thean. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. though, slamming the secretary after he said Biden's infrastructure bill would address racism in highways. I guess now, according to Democrats, roads are now racist and you need to apologize for it.

Roads can't be racist. You can't build racism into a road. Roads are made of sand and gravel and asphalt, ask any road builder. Roads cannot be racist any more than toasters or sectional couches can be racist. They are inanimate object, they're not alive. Okay, first of all, toasters can totally be racist. Yeah, I can't even count how many times I've put a piece of white bread into a toaster and it came out wearing blackface. That shit wasn't cool. But yes, look, the idea that highways can be racist has completely blown the minds over at Fox News. And I why. I get why. I get why Tucker is so puzzled by this. If highways were racist, then surely they would have been a guest on his show by now. It must be

very confusing for him. But there is actually a real explanation for why Pete Budajejee is so mad about America's roads. And it's not just because he keeps failing his driver's ed test. No, there's another reason. So let's find out why. In another installment of, if you don't know, now you know. Highways, they're the vital arteries that criss-cross America, helping the country's truckers, transport goods. Its workers commute to and from the office. And its OJs flee the country's truckers, transport goods. Its workers commute to and from the office. And its OJs flee the LAPD. But what you may not know is that when America first started building its highway system back in the 1950s, people were often forced to leave their homes to make room for all these fancy new roads. And guess which people were moved the most? Guess.

The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was one of the largest public works projects in American history. It added 41,000 miles to our interstate system. Pretty much every major city in the country, New York, DC, San Francisco, Philadelphia, you have major highways cutting through neighborhoods, requiring the demolition of lots of housing and other sorts of buildings. That as they're thinking about where they're going to drop highways and destroy neighborhoods, they invariably single out what they see

is the worst neighborhoods in their communities. It became a pattern in cities across the country. Poor and minority residents were displaced to make way for highways, and white residents use those highways to commute into the city for jobs and commute back home at night. Planners had an uncanny ability to pick out the black neighborhoods. The route for I-94 in St. Paul displaced one in seven of the city's black residents. Very few blacks were living in Minnesota, one critic noted, but the road builders found them. Yeah, that's right. Highway I-94 could have been anywhere in Minnesota,

but it just happened to displace the very few black people living to to to pick to pick to pick to pick to to to to to to the black to the black to the black to the black people to the black people to to the black people to the black people the black people to the black people to the black people to the black people the black people to to the black the black people to to to the black people to to the black to the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black the black, the black, the black, the black, the black, the black, the black, the black, the black black black black people but it just happened to displace the very few black people living in Minnesota, more commonly known as the Minnesota Timberwolves. And look, don't get me wrong, don't get me wrong. These highways had to go somewhere. I'm not saying no highways, but more often than not, that somewhere was right through a black neighborhood. Because you see, rich white neighborhoods, they didn't allow this to happen to them them them them them them them them themm. But them. But their their their their their their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, to, to, to, to, their, their, to, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, their, their, their, th. I. I. I. I. I, th. I. I. And, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their. And, their. And, their.a, their the, their toe.a, their toe.e.e.e.a.a.a.a.e.a.e.e.e.e.e. And, more toe.e. And, toe.a, toe black neighborhood. Because you see, rich white neighborhoods, they didn't allow this to happen to them, but brown and black families didn't have any political power to stop it.

I mean, what were they going to do? Take to the streets? It was impossible. They hadn't been built yet. And look, black people are used to enjoy Shake Shack for a few months first. These highways on the other hand they didn't provide any improvement to the neighborhood. They slashed a hole through it and whatever was left of that neighborhood just withered and died. From the beginning the Rondo neighborhood was a haven for people of color. At its peak from the 30s to the 50s it had black-owned grocery stores, credit

unions and social clubs. During construction from 1956 to 1968, Rondo lost 700 houses, 300 businesses, and the population declined by 61 percent. In Florida, Overtown was the center of Black Miami. The I-95 tore through the neighborhood, wiping out countless homes as well as its thriving business district. Kansas City, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, New York City, Montgomery, Los Angeles, the list goes on and on. And it's actually pretty heartbreaking to see how devastating these highways were for the black communities that they ran through. Streets that were once filled with black people are still empty to this day.

And of course, of course these communities crumbled once a highway ran through it.. I, I, I, the, I, the, the, the, the, the, their, the, their, the, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, New, New, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, their, New, their, their, their, their, their, theiry. New, theiry. New, theiriiiiiii. New, theiri. New, theiri. New, theiri. New, their their their to to their to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to their new their theirc. New, their empty to this day. And of course, of course these communities crumbled once a highway ran through it. I mean, highways, think of all the things they bring. Highways bring noise, they bring pollution. And if you're really unlucky, spontaneous musical numbers, I'm trying to get to work. I mean, have you ever looked on the side of a nice place to live. No, you probably thought, I wonder if I can use the bathroom in that gas station without being murdered. And the fact that they destroyed black neighborhoods wasn't the only racist thing about how highways were designed. You see, around the time the highways were being built, segregation laws were being struck down in America. But lucky for the racists, they didn't need the laws to enforce segregation, because

now the highways did it for them. Infrastructure didn't just break up black communities. It reinforced segregation. The 1938 Federal Housing Administration underwriting manuals said an artificial barrier like a highway could protect a neighborhood from quote, adverse influences like quote, inharmonious racial groups. They laid the interstate down right on the black white line, bam. And what that meant was that it'd be much harder to have school integration.

I mean you couldn't have kids walking across the interstate for heaven's sakes. A report from the Georgia Historical Society says that while deciding the route of I-20, the Atlanta Bureau of Planning said it would be the boundary between white and African-American communities. Because the highways in Atlanta were laid down primarily with regard to keeping the races apart rather than keeping traffic moving efficiently, it laid them down in a way that today, traffic in Atlanta is incredibly snarl. I-20 zigzags from east to west and a route that makes no sense, unless you know it was laid down with a desire to segregate. to to to to to segreg.........a.a.a.a.a.a, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, the the to, the the to, the the the the the to, the the the the the the the their, because, because, because, because, because, because, because, because, because, because, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because their, because thiiii. Because their, their, their their their their their their theaugh, because, because, because, their their their their their their their their their their their the route that makes no sense unless you know it was laid down with a desire to segregate.

Man, racism is a hell of a drug. I mean, think about it, instead of designing the most efficient highway, they instead made it zigzag around the city like some kind of racist Mario cart. Although if you feel real about it, Mario Cart is pretty racist. Because in real life when Italians get in a car accident, they don't yell, Mamma Mia, I love the spaghetti. Do you have any insurance on you? And guys, I don't know about you, but there is nobody that I hate more than I hate traffic. Like, I will literally shake hands with my worst enemy if it means I can get where I'm going 30 minutes faster.

I'm still not friends with you, Winter, but at least we're both going to get home at five. And I'll make the sun set at five. I hate you so much! Oh, can you turn on the AC please? So, yes. Highways might not be following black people around department stores or turning them down for loans, but the way that highways were built in America was in arguably racist. In ways that still affect American society to this day. And I know, like, I know that people like Takah and Sean Hannity, they love to make

it seem like talking about the racist history of highways means that you're somehow calling people racist today because they still drive on those freeways..... toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. th. th. th. Are their their their th. th. th. th. their th. th. th. their their th. th. th. th. tho, tho, thi. their, thi. the, their, their, their, their, their, the way, the way, the way, the way, the way, the way, the way, the way. And, the way. And, the way. And, the way. And, the way. And, the way. And, the way. And, the way. And, the way. And, their. their. their. their. their. their. their, their thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thii. the way, the way, the way, the way, the way, the way, the way, the way. the way. the way. the way. the racist history of highways means that you're somehow calling people racist today because they still drive on those freeways. Wow are you racist? You're right? No, that's not the case. Nobody's telling you to walk to your next family vacation. What we're saying is, if we can try to understand the history of how a thing came to be, then maybe we can figure out how to make it better when we build new roads in the future. And if you don't know, now you know. Watch the Daily Show, Weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.