What year was that? MW: 2005. And then the next morning at 8:00, literally 12 hours later, I was at my first (Metropolitan Planning Organization) meeting working on transportation. I mean, I just jumped right in. In a way that must have just kind of felt OK, I guess. Right, and I think we all know abstractly that lives are different for different kinds of people in different places, but knowing more specifically what these contexts are can be a challenge. So, you saw neighborhoods and their people sharing context together, which showed the nuance. MW: Yeah, you’d think, “Our side of town has the same challenges.” No, they don’t. You know, just a couple neighborhoods away is a very different situation. Where I live is Watts Hospital. Walltown is next to me. And Broad Street. A predominantly, overwhelmingly white neighborhood, a historic black neighborhood. And you could look at the differences in how things were invested. My relatively small neighborhood had two city parks in it within about five blocks of each other. Walltown, a much larger neighborhood, and mostly black residents, had no city parks area. They had built a building, the neighbors had built a building and had their own little space, but it wasn’t a city-run park. And until you know some of the history and recognize those things, you know, you might say, “They could just come over and play in our parks.” Well, that’s not quite the same. And so I was real proud—four, five, six blocks away from me, where I lived, is getting a sizable recreation center in their community… You don’t continued from page 19 Legislator Q&A: Senator Mike Woodard I hope people will approach living in community together with an open mind, with open ears, maybe an open heart. And, like I said, just understanding what’s going on in that other community, what their needs are, not coming into that community with preconceived ideas based on race or class or income or any other human thing that divides us. And just being open to hearing how we can live and work together in community. » Sen. Mike Woodard, 22nd District, Durham County SOUTHERN CITY Quarter 2 2024 20
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