When people think about March in Austin, Texas, they probably think about tacos, brisket, listening to music in the park, South By Southwest and drinking craft beer from a local brewery. This March has been different.
News broke on Monday that two package bombs had exploded in our community. One killed Draylen Mason, 17, and critically injured his mother. The second struck 75-year-old Esperanza Herrera. Even more terrifying: It quickly became apparent that these bombings were connected to the package bombing that killed Anthony Stephan House, 39, in northeast Austin on March 2.
Amidst heated debates on gun control and terrorism on U.S. soil, the Austin package bombings feel like one more chapter of violence in the story of our increasingly dangerous country. They also invoke another aspect of our national history that too many Americans are hesitant to acknowledge: our history of racial terrorism.
In a city with a black population that hovers around just 6 percent, two black residents killed by package bombs feels like much more than coincidence.
All four victims of this month’s bombings were people of color. Mason and House were both African-American. Mason’s mother is African-American, and Herrera is Latina. The families of Mason and House are prominent in the black community, and they both attend the historic Wesley United Methodist Church, which was founded by freed slaves in 1866. In a city with a black population that hovers around just 6 percent, two black residents killed by package bombs feels like much more than coincidence.
For many people of color in Austin, particularly black people, the recent attacks have been an alarming reminder of the city’s deep-seated racial tensions. Although Austin is known for festivals, hipster culture and “keeping it weird,” racial tension has always been a prominent part of the city’s identity.
Austin is deeply segregated. The physical and cultural dividing line is Interstate 35, which separates the East Side and the West Side. The East Side is the district where African-Americans and Latinos have traditionally lived; it is also where both of us live, and where all three bombings occurred. Austin’s geographic and cultural layout was designed to segregate and marginalize people of color.
In 1928, the city of Austin created a master plan that detailed the creation of a “Negro District,” where all black residents were to live. This displaced the Freedman Towns once located west of Interstate 35, the highly coveted part of the city. In this area, black residents were forced to move east and their land was purchased by white residents. As the city grew, land close to downtown became an even more precious commodity, and land speculation expanded into the East Side.
The East Side is now one of the most intensely gentrified areas of the city, and African-American residents are being pushed out ― again.
Research from University of Texas professor Eric Tang reveals that although Austin has grown by leaps and bounds over the past eight years, its black population has been on the decline — a trend that only recently began slow down. Austin’s recent growth has made it extremely difficult for working-class people of color to find housing in the city. Coupled with tensions with the police and economic degradation, the lack of affordable housing leads people of color to feel increasingly unwelcome in their own city.
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