I tend to be enthusiastic about diversity and inclusion, but this article strikes me as — well, I'll be polite and say "a unique and challenging viewpoint."
To wit, by restoring Denver's old Union Station to its former architectural glory, we have apparently created a new bastion of white privilege that doesn't attract a racially diverse crowd because … um … the Denver of 1914 had racial problems, and the 1914 architecture is very European, and this just apparently reminds people of all that. Or something. Including a lack of Mexican murals or sushi bars or a basketball court keeping Latinos and Asian-Americans, and Blacks away. And the restaurants are expensive, so only white people will go.
It's a very odd article. But if someone can explain the underlying issues to me a bit more clearly, I'd welcome hearing them.
Originally shared by +The Denver Post:
Denver's rehabbed Union Station isn't drawing a diverse crowd and it may be the building's fault. http://dpo.st/1nvckac
Did diversity miss the train in Union Station’s architecture?
Denver’s rehabbed Union Station isn’t drawing people of color and it may be the building’s fault.
facepalm
I can tell you why, cause I know I wouldn't be there either.
Why? MONEY.
I just idly checked the link highlighting the stuff to do there, and….really, most of the shops and restaurants are outside my ability to pay. I might go there once after saving (I mean, dang, there's an Anuschka store there, I have long said I'd kill for one of those purses, they're gorgeous) but those stores are aiming at a weathier clientele than I qualify for. 🙂
+Gretchen Sher Okay, and the article refers to that in passing, but that seems to me to be a class issue, vs. a racial issue per se (which is the real thrust of the article). Granted, wealth and race sometimes can serve as proxies for each other, but the article itself notes that there are significant portions of the black and hispanic communities in Denver that are well-off. "Because today's Denver has a growing middle-class of minorities. Plenty of blacks and Latinos could afford to play at Union Station." That's doesn't seem to fit with how the project "has defined us narrowly, darkly, negligently" (as the article also puts it).
No, I dont think it's racial at all. I do not think any changenin architecture would fix that eitherm
wow. My texting sucked, didn't it. But yeah. That was confusing me. It's not a matter of the architecture….it's just an old building that's been rehabbed! And very well, to boot. That is not going to keep PoCs away – what will, though, is if we have the sense that the location/environs/what's IN the building is unwelcoming. And IMHO, it doesn't – it's more of a "This is the class of people we want coming here" aspect that would keep me out.
Okay — thanks for the reality check. 🙂