In October, Bike Durham sponsored member Shaina Nanavati’s attendance at the Untokening conference in Durham. Here’s her report on what she found there.
Centering Community Voices for Mobility Justice
Shaina Nanavati
In October, I attended Untokening: Durham, a convening of mobility justice advocates that centers BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) experiences and voices. Though I met a lot of awesome young transportation planners from around the country, the focus of the weekend was on Durham. I’m not a planner myself; I am a climate activist turned community organizer. I love being outside and hate fossil fuels, which is why I advocate for safe transportation alternatives to cars.
There are many reasons why people rely on methods other than driving a single passenger vehicle to get from place to place. Mobility justice is the concept that all of these people and their reasons must be accounted for within our transportation systems. If you want an exact definition, I recommend going directly to the source: the Principles of Mobility Justice were drafted after the first Untokening convening in Atlanta in 2016. While transportation planners around the country should be using this framework as a starting point for re-thinking their systems of design, the concepts themselves seem obvious to any person of color who has tried to travel from one point to another using a car or otherwise. Mobility justice necessitates shifting the conversation away from modes of transit to the identities of the people using those modes by centering the experiences of vulnerable communities.
Centering the voices of marginalized people means listening to us. It means calling attention to our life experiences and learning how to create solutions to meet our communities’ needs. Historically, cities have been planned by white men for white men. The majority of people in Durham who walk, bike, and take the bus do so because they cannot afford to drive. Our current transportation system glorifies the individual by creating a car-centric society. A truly comprehensive roadmap for the future of Durham has to take a community-based approach.
As Durham begins to update its comprehensive plan, the City-County planning department has been trying to figure out how to make sure it takes into consideration the voices of as many of Durham’s residents as possible. It’s not just about the numbers, it’s about making sure they’re hearing from a sample that accurately represents the experiences and demographics of the city. Advocacy groups such as Bike Durham have the ability to speak on behalf of many residents. These conversations must center the voices of marginalized communities.
The easiest way to reach any community is to go to it. What else matters to people who can’t afford to or can’t legally drive? Social and political issues such as living wages, affordable housing, immigration, and mass incarceration are very real day-to-day issues for a lot of black and brown people. We also care about the same things as everyone else – the safety of our children’s schools, our neighborhoods, and the places we work and have fun. We’re already having conversations about our streets. Usually they’re about more than just bike lanes.
Real community involvement starts with letting communities set their own agendas. When you ask people what they want to see changed within their neighborhoods, you are not asking them to support a vision they had no say in defining. You’re giving them space to voice their own visions, and you’re trusting their expertise. Earlier this year, the city of Durham put out a draft Equitable Community Engagement Blueprint that has some great recommendations. Knock on doors and talk to people at bus stops. Attend their celebrations and speak their languages. Be intentional and be willing to put resources toward such outreach. On the way out to meet them, you’ll start to see the streets the way they do.