Systemic Racism is by Design
We’ve taken a backseat to listen and to reflect on ways we have been complicit in institutional racism, and how we can implement more inclusive anti-racist actions. Photo by Clay Banks.
It is indisputable - Systemic racism is by design.
It should not take the senseless loss of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tamir Rice, Riah Milton, Trayvon Martin, Dominique Fells, Rayshard Brooks, Eric Garner and countless black lives for ourselves and society to reflect on how we’ve contributed to and benefited from a system that perpetuates the oppression of BIPOC (black, indigenous and people of color).
COVID-19 and other factors have caused us to scale back our operations drastically for the foreseeable future, thus directing our efforts to online content and rethinking our presence. We believe our efforts will be best suited to continue utilising our platform to share ideas on how we can make cities more lovable, livable, sustainable, equitable and accessible for all.
In order to make that a possibility, it is on us to continue to give more space to the voices and ideas that speak on the experiences and perspectives of marginalized communities. Only then can we truly conceive of a better city that is as inclusive and intersectional as possible.
We need urbanism more than ever—not just in affluent neighborhoods but in places that have are lacking the space and resources for healthy communities to develop. COVID—like every crisis—has only highlighted these disparities that are quintessentially linked to BIPOC populations. Urbanist policies should eradicate that.
A few years ago, we started the initiative #WomenMakeCities to help rebalance the gender gap that exists in architecture, design and city-making - both on the stage and in the audience. But, we didn’t go far enough. We will now bring the same force and the same rigor to BIPOC architects, designers, urban planners, artists, authors and communities at large in our future events and podcasts.
We want to co-create cities with you.
reSITE has always been about creating dialogue. Rather than having an exclusively top-down approach, we would also like to bring you into the conversation. Who would you like to hear speak at our future events and on our podcast? What work of BIPOC architects, designers and city-makers would you like to see? What ideas do you have that could help lift up more diverse sets of voices? We want to continue to co-create cities with you.
Please feel free to use this link as a space for you to put your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions into.
Photo courtesy of Clay Banks.
