Woven Together
Seattle / Washington /1721
The U.S. interstate highway system epitomizes systemic racial inequities. It is no coincidence that highways were deliberately routed through Asian, Black, and Brown communities in many major American cities, tore apart neighborhoods and left a deep psychological scar on communities that lost homes, churches, schools, and a sense of belonging.
Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (C-ID) and the Yesler Terrace neighborhood are examples of this injustice.
When the I-5 freeway was constructed through downtown Seattle in the 1960s, it displaced blocks of residents. Since then, the community has fought against further displacements, including site selection of the Kingdome, efforts to build the R.H. Thomson Expressway, and the planned location of Sound Transit’s light rail station. Yet, as the city continues to grow, these vulnerable neighborhoods now face the looming threat of gentrification, another form of dis-placement.
