Political Quotes

“Madam President, so many cities and towns across America have the story of a segment of highway or a railroad track that cuts ruthlessly through neighborhoods. These neighborhoods may not have been affluent, but they supported vibrant, tight-knit, supportive communities with cherished homes, schools, and small businesses. Backed with Federal funding, these highways and other massive infrastructure projects tore these neighborhoods apart and left them an enduring legacy of exclusion and diminished opportunity. To be sure, these infrastructure projects were intended to serve a purpose, and they did serve a purpose--transportation, of a particular sort. For families who could afford a car and a house in the suburbs, highways were built to whisk people in and out of our urban downtowns, without regard for the people and the communities remaining in those downtowns. In the most benign cases, these projects were designed without care or sensitivity to the people they left behind and excluded. In the worst cases, the outcome of suppression and exclusion of people of color was, in fact, deliberate. It is time to confront our legacy of racism and exclusion in infrastructure development and promote the next generation of infrastructure that heals, unifies, and reconnects--an infrastructure of inclusion, not division. Thankfully, under President Biden's leadership and the direction of Congress, we are doing just that.…”