The days of segregated train terminals, colored restrooms and sitting at the back of the bus are thankfully behind us.

By train, car, bus, and plane, there's been a long history of struggle for the right to travel freely by Black Americans. Almost 70 years since Rosa Parks stayed in her seat, the obvious signs of travel segregation are gone, but all is still not equal.

Mia Bay is a professor of American History at the University Pennsylvania. While writing Traveling Black: A Story of Race and Resistance, she found that travel was only the symptom. The real problem was the desire to hold on to privilege by those in power.

It even continues today, like in these 2 instances:

1. Public Transportation. It’s more than just getting from here to there. It’s access to job opportunities, affordable and reliable transport, time savings, and a chance for upward mobility. When those in power choose not to invest in public transportation, it maintains the privilege of those who don’t need it while impacting only the already marginalized.
2. Driving While Black. Racial profiling has disproportionately stopped, fined, jailed, and sadly killed far too many Black citizens. When those in power choose not to seriously address criminal justice reform, the systemic incentives to target already vulnerable Black drivers will continue.

Read this book if you want to learn more about issues like these and possible solutions.

In the meantime, we can support small businesses that have chosen to help people with transportation needs, such as:

• Charlottesville Community Bikes in Charlottesville providing free bikes for kids and adults who need one, and
• Middleton’s Village BBQ in Awendaw, SC donating old cars to people in need that the owner fixes up in his free time!

“Have you heard?” is our way of sharing another point of view on commonly held beliefs. Through this we hope to encourage curiosity, dialogue, and tolerance of diverse ideas.