The New Orleans neighborhood of Tremé was torn apart by an expressway in the 60s. Now, the community is trying to right the wrongs of the past.
New Orleans’s Tremé neighborhood is one of the oldest Black neighborhoods in America, and at the heart of that wasClaiborne Avenue. In the 1960s, construction of the I-10 highway cut through the community.
But now, thanks to funding from the recent infrastructure bill, community residents might have the resources to heal. Proposals for the Claiborne Expressway have included everything from tearing down the freeway completely, to taking the federal grant funding and investing it into the community.
Raynard Sanders a lifelong New Orleanian and the Executive Director of the Claiborne History Project. He says the most important thing is that the community have a say in what happens next. On this bonus episode of Into America, he talks to host Trymaine Lee about the history of the Tremé neighborhood, and the fight to save it.
This conversation is part of an MSNBC town hall on racial equity and healing, hosted by Trymaine Lee, Joy Reid, and Chris Hayes, and sponsored by the Kellogg Foundation.
Follow and share the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, using the handle @intoamericapod.
Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at intoamerica@nbcuni.com.
For a transcript, please visit our homepage.