On this week, we delved into a rather interesting topic, housing, in particular housing disparities and the part racism has to do with the occurrence, and continued persistence of such an inequality.
We started off with a brief history on housing inequalities in the US and also covered the smaller area of Buffalo. Together with the youth, we had a really fruitful discussion on the demographics of Buffalo and they got to identify the segregation that existed in Buffalo, mainly, people of color being concentrated on one side of the City. Statistics such as around 30-40% of the population in Buffalo being black and yet around 85% living in the same region/community, the community itself being underserved and considered to be where the less wealthy people in Buffalo live was quite a revelation to us all. After bringing the issue close to home and the youth’s interest on the matter being sparked, we delved into the history that brought about such segregation.
Through lessons, activities and games, we were able to introduce topics such as redlining, restrictive covenants, blockbusting, and prevailing composition as some of the causes of the geographic structure that they see in their communities and that spans other parts of the nation as well. We then discussed the impacts this segregation had on individuals, and communities at large. This two way communication allowed us to peer into the minds of these young youth as they spoke of consequences related to health, law enforcement, transportation, and education. They shared their lived experiences of things they might not have previously necessarily attributed to racial inequalities in housing and were now illuminated into the nuances of the state of their community and what impact that would have on them and others in the long run.
To cap off our topic of the week, they presented what they had learned in front of their peers and were able to practice their public speaking skills, and some were able to overcome their stage fright which was meaningful progress. What caught my eye was how they chose different ways to present, with some doing video presentations, others talking presentations, while others led the rest in an activity that served to highlight consequences in housing inequalities. I myself was privileged to work with a small group of students who had the idea of harnessing technology in a creative way by using a chatbot. By feeding the chatbot with basic information on what they had learned that week and training it on possible prompts and responses, they came up with a tool that could go beyond the classroom presentation and also be used by others in the future to senstize others on the seriousness of the matter of simply answer their questions on the nuances that are involved in racism and how and where we all can play a part in the change we would like to see.
Till next time.