By condemning the big projects Moses favored, planners excuse their own involvement in perpetuating the idea that some neighborhoods and some residents are more valuable than others.
Pete Buttigieg's remarks racism in urban planning were informed by Robert Caro's biography of Robert Moses. Some historians say that while Moses's projects harmed minority communities and his prejudices well-known, the specific anedcote about using parkway bridges to keep buses full of Black New Yorkers from Long Island beaches may be apocryphal.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's references to racism in design and planning drew mockery from Republicans but reflect the history of political choices that shaped America's transportation networks.
Research shows that it’s not just political candidates who continue to feel they have to hide their true selves to reach their full potential, as even the openly gay presidential candidate apparently did.
“I would imagine we’ve probably had excellent presidents who were gay, we just didn’t know which ones,” Pete Buttigieg told Axios. Historians weigh in.
