P.G. Smith Author

I just read a very interesting and well researched book called The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee. It details the history of discrimination against Blacks up to the present day and shows the costs it has levied on all of us. All this is laid out in great detail and convincingly argued. Division hurts us all. Prejudice is bad for everyone.

Here’s one trenchant example. In the 1950s, when the economy was booming, many towns and cities built beautiful parks and municipal pools for public use. By the late 50s and 60s, integration laws required that these public facilities be available to all the public, i.e. to be integrated. All across the country, north and south, this set off a huge and sometimes vicious struggle. In many cities, parks were privatized, pools were leased to private entities and became member only facilities. Some pools were actually filled in (as an act of defiance.) The result: rather than share the public pools, they were eliminated as public goods. Everybody lost. A valuable common asset and source of community pride and social interaction was lost.

Many people today long for a nostalgic notion of “the old days” when neighbors were neighborly, children were safe, and local businesses were honest. I am actually old enough to remember those days. One thing they all had in common was the availability of public space. Public parks, pools, school yards, markets where children and adults could mingle, interact, and get to know each other. Where all could develop a sense of community pride and ownership. The idea of a common good. This is OUR park. OUR pool. OUR town.

In order to restore that idea, as McGhee concludes, we have to get rid of the zero-sum economic model that became prevalent in the late 20th century. The idea that for one person (or group) to win, someone else has to lose. This is a fallacy that sparks division and impedes cooperation that could benefit all. It is the opposite of community.

Where I live now in the small town of Jeffersonville, In, and right across the river in Louisville, Ky. efforts are being made to restore the idea and reality of public space with considerable success. I hope this time we can remember that common space has to mean ALL of us. I am cautiously optimistic. The events and spaces seem to be inclusive. It is one small step. Maybe this time we can do it right.