Pete Buttigieg is mocked for claiming 'racism is built into US highways'
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has claimed racism is built into the very infrastructure of America - in its highways.
'There is racism physically built into some of our highways, and that's why the jobs plan has specifically committed to reconnect some of the communities that were divided by these dollars,' Buttigieg said to theGrio last week while referring to the racism as a 'conscious choice.'
But Republicans were quick to mock Buttigieg and blast him for his comments about the highway system.
'Highways are not racist,' embattled Rep. Matt Gaetz said on Sunday, while the Young America's Foundation tweeted: 'This is not parody.'
In the past, some city planners targeted black communities by building highways through them or using them to keep an area segregated.
Pete Buttigieg is drawing some feedback for his comments about 'racism' in infrastructure
Buttigieg listed specific cities that were racially impacted by the construction of highways.
'Well if you're in Washington, I'm told that the history of that highway is one that was built at the expense of communities of color in the D.C. area,' Buttigieg said.
'There are stories and I think Philadelphia and Pittsburgh [and] in New York, Robert Moses famously saw through the construction of a lot of highways.'
The Transportation Secretary under Barack Obama, Anthony Foxx, agreed with Buttigieg's assessment.
Pictured: The Interstate 95 bridge through downtown Richmond, Virginia which divides the city
Pictured: The Cross Bronx Expressway which carves through the New York borough. Joe Biden's infrastructure plan could pump around $2 billion into bridges, roads, highways and other infrastructure needs in the country
'There is a long history that has not been fully excavated on the interstate system, our airports and different modes of transportation that in one way or another has divided this country,' said Foxx.
As for what Buttigieg plans on doing about it, he points towards the $2.7 trillion infrastructure plan laid out by Joe Biden.
Part of his administration's goal is to give 40 percent of the 'overall benefits of relevant federal investments to disadvantaged communities,' according to their Justice40 Initiative.
'The history of highway construction shows that race was a significant factor in the placement of new roadways in the 1950s and 1960s,' Princeton University history professor Kevin Kruse said to Forbes, concurring with Buttigieg.
'New interstate highways weren't built on a blank landscape. They had to be routed through existing neighborhoods, which were largely destroyed in the process of construction.'
'This is not parody,' tweeted Young America's Foundation in criticism, including Buttigieg's quotes.
Biden is currently in the midst of bipartisan negotiations on the infrastructure plan
Meanwhile, former U.S. ambassador Susan Rice will lead the distribution of minority contracts for the infrastructure plan.
Biden's infrastructure plan calls for the modernization of 20,000 miles of roads and highways, as well as repairs for ten significant bridges.
'Look, I very much believe that all of these things are infrastructure, because infrastructure is the foundation that allows us to go about our lives,' Buttigieg said Sunday on CNN's 'State of the Union.'
'But if there are Senate Republicans who don't agree, we can agree to disagree on what to call it. I'm still going to ask you to vote for it.
'To me, it makes no sense to say, I would have been for broadband, but I'm against it because it's not a bridge. I would have been for eldercare, but I'm against it because it's not a highway. These are things the American people need,' he argued.
The New York Times reports Biden made with a bipartisan group of lawmakers about the bill on Monday, which is facing resistance from Republicans and even some Democrats.
It's not clear how long negotiations on the bill will continue before it is put up for a vote in either chamber of Congress.
Debate over the plan is expected to consume Capitol Hill over the next few months. Biden has indicated he's open to changing his original proposal as it moves through the legislative process.
The White House is pushing for the plan to be passed by Memorial Day, although Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted it will likely take until Fourth of July.
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