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18 Jun, 10 tweets, 5 min read
SPECIAL REPORT: Constructed inequality: The lasting repercussions of America's highway system.

nbcnews.com/highways

(1/10) #NBCNewsThreads
During the largest public works program ever attempted in the US, the American interstate highway program demolished homes and bisected communities, driven by the promise of prosperity and jobs.

From 1957-1977, it displaced over 475,000 households and 1,000,000 people.

(2/10)
In Syracuse, Interstate 81 and a 1.4-mile stretch of raised highway plowed through a community that was home to many Black residents, wiping the 15th Ward off the city’s maps.

(3/10)
The noisy highway raining down smog depressed property values on the streets below.

State health data shows that asthma-related hospitalizations are twice as high in Syracuse as the county as a whole.

(4/10)
In New Orleans, an expressway cut through the historically Black neighborhoods of Tremé and the 7th Ward in 1968.

Hundreds of residences and dozens of businesses along the vibrant economic corridor were destroyed.

(5/10)
Since the expressway’s construction, levels of poverty, violence and negative health outcomes have increased in the New Orleans neighborhood.

(6/10)
In Los Angeles, the Boyle Heights neighborhood was home to Jews, Japanese Americans, Latinos, Black Americans, Russians and others.

Decades of highway construction cleaved the community, demolishing homes, evicting homeowners and renters, and increasing pollution.

(7/10)
Before the pandemic, about 2 million vehicles a day, including diesel trucks, traveled on the interchange, spewing exhaust and sickening residents in Boyle Heights and unincorporated East Los Angeles, according to a calculation of 2017 California transportation data.

(8/10)
Now, the federal gov't and many states/cities are recognizing the harm the highways have caused, and are working to design alternatives.

But in many cases, those plans are reopening old wounds and leading to debates politicians and engineers are struggling to solve.

(9/10)
The future of what lies ahead in each community varies and, for many, remains uncertain.

But what’s clear is that many residents in each of these neighborhoods are working to ensure the same harm doesn't come to their communities.

nbcnews.com/highways

(10/10)

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More from @NBCNews

18 Jun
LIVE: @joefryer hosts #TransAmerica, a one-hour #Pride special examining issues facing the transgender community, presented by @NBCNewsNow and @NBCOUT twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…
WATCH: This year alone, 8 states have passed anti-LGBTQ laws, several others are considering bills that will impact the community.

An overwhelming majority of those laws target transgender individuals.
#TransAmerica: Remembering transgender lives lost in 2021.
Read 5 tweets
17 Jun
BREAKING: President Biden signs legislation making Juneteenth a federal holiday.

nbcnews.to/3gHi8ft
Juneteenth — also known as Emancipation Day, Black Independence Day and Jubilee Day — is the 11th federal holiday and the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created in 1983.
Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery and commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and informed enslaved African Americans that the Civil War had ended and they were free.
Read 4 tweets
16 Jun
SPECIAL REPORT: How critical race theory moved from Fox News to school boards.
Reporting by @tylerkingkade, @BrandyZadrozny, @oneunderscore__

nbcnews.to/35DsXdz

(1/8) #NBCNewsThreads
@tylerkingkade @BrandyZadrozny @oneunderscore__ Conflicts are playing out in cities and towns across the country, amid the rise of at least 165 local and national groups that aim to disrupt lessons on race and gender, according to an NBC News analysis of media reports and organizations’ promotional materials. (2/8)
@tylerkingkade @BrandyZadrozny @oneunderscore__ Reinforced by conservative think tanks, law firms and activist parents, these groups have found allies in families frustrated over Covid-19 restrictions in schools and have weaponized the right’s opposition to critical race theory, turning it into a political rallying point (3/8)
Read 8 tweets
10 Jun
They own the soil where the potatoes in McDonald’s french fries grow, the carrots from the world’s largest producer and the onions that Americans sauté for dinner.

But they’re far better known for their work in tech.

By @aprilaser. #NBCNewsThreads (1/7) nbcnews.to/3zg3Ivi
@aprilaser Bill and Melinda Gates, who recently announced they’re getting divorced and are dividing their assets, are deeply invested in American agriculture, having accumulated more than 269,000 acres of farmland across 18 states — more than the entire acreage of New York City. (2/7)
@aprilaser A survey of the Gateses’ farmland holdings shows that a broad range of the vegetables that Americans eat can be traced back to his land and that some of this land has also been owned by other billionaires. (3/7) nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news…
Read 7 tweets
7 Jun
As US troops leave Afghanistan, the Taliban say they won't harm Afghans who worked for the US. nbcnews.to/2RwsBBP
The Taliban on Monday called on Afghans who worked as interpreters or in other jobs for U.S.-led forces to show “remorse” for their actions but said they were not in danger now that American troops are leaving the country.
Since 2014, at least 300 Afghans who served as interpreters have been murdered by the Taliban, according to No One Left Behind, a veteran-led nonprofit devoted to helping Afghan and Iraqi interpreters.
Read 4 tweets
27 May
9 people were killed Wednesday after a public transit employee opened fire on his co-workers at a Northern California rail yard.

Here is what we know about the people who lost their lives. nbcnews.to/2SCl3NZ
Taptejdeep Singh's family said the married father of 2 was trying to warn colleagues that there was a shooter when he was gunned down.

"Even in the last moments, he wasn't looking for his own safety, per se, he was trying to save people. That's who he was," his cousin said.
Paul Delacruz Megia started working with the VTA in 2002. At the time of his death, he was an assistant superintendent in service management.

"Paul was a wonderful husband & father who was full of love, jokes, energy for life and always up for new adventures," his wife said.
Read 6 tweets

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