StC News

Learning About Richmond's History to Affect the Future

Mike Brown of the Peter Paul Development Center talks to StC about race, poverty, public works and the history of Richmond.
Mike Brown, director of volunteer services at Peter Paul Development Center spoke to students and faculty today during Upper and Middle school chapel services about how Richmond’s history, housing policy, poverty and race are connected. 

Brown explained how redlining, the systematic practice of denying services or loans on the basis of geography, contributed to racial injustice and poverty in Richmond, particularly in Richmond’s East End. He also explained how public works projects like the I-95 corridor displaced large numbers of African-Americans who lived in the neighborhoods where the highway was built.

“City planning has one of the most lasting effects on the experience of a population,” said Brown. “If students don’t know about redlining or how poverty happens in an area, then you could make any number of assumptions. They’re living the consequences of decisions made 60 or 80 years ago.” 

Brown thinks it is critical for young people to know their history and what it means to them, and he encouraged students to consider volunteer opportunities at Peter Paul. “There’s always something we can do about our issues, but we have to look at them from an honest place. We have to be willing to listen and maybe unlearn some things that we assumed.”
 
Back