Yikes, I definitely opened a can of worms with my comment...
To clarify, by "racist white people" I meant the types that not only object to new developments because they're new, but because you often hear their rhetoric in online communities about how there are too many dark people coming (students), that Canada is for Canada, that it'll be nothing but rich Asians and Indian people buying these units up. I've heard such prejudice in real life community meetings too when I've had to go to them to defend new projects I've been involved in. While it's not always overt, it sometimes is.
There is also a strong historical aspect to this too, proof of which you can easily find thanks to a library, DuckDuckGo, or Google if you're a masochist. There is a long, long history of white people objecting to new developments in cities because they are worried about who might move in. This is one thing that contributed to white flight. Its why they made highways and railroads basically act as walls between the different classes (racial, economic). Hell, this country exists because it was white people that came here and tried to exterminate us Indigenous people. Even still, many think the job needs to be finished. There is racism in all aspects of our society, which is why we call it systemic racism and that's why over the last few years, there has been a strong fight to oppose it...we know it's still deeply embedded in everything from our education systems to policing to city planning to community groups (NIMBYs). It would be naïve to think that it doesn't also exist in those, where predominantly white people hear of new developments and start to worry (but granted, most don't bring up racial issues then).
Now, are all NIMBYs in Cambridge white? Surely not, but the majority of them are. Look up news paper articles, news clips, visit their webpages, visit their social media groups, watch them talk in community consultation meetings about new developments. Most are white. Is there a racial aspect to it? Hard to say for sure, but I'm sure it occurs at times.
To clarify, by "racist white people" I meant the types that not only object to new developments because they're new, but because you often hear their rhetoric in online communities about how there are too many dark people coming (students), that Canada is for Canada, that it'll be nothing but rich Asians and Indian people buying these units up. I've heard such prejudice in real life community meetings too when I've had to go to them to defend new projects I've been involved in. While it's not always overt, it sometimes is.
There is also a strong historical aspect to this too, proof of which you can easily find thanks to a library, DuckDuckGo, or Google if you're a masochist. There is a long, long history of white people objecting to new developments in cities because they are worried about who might move in. This is one thing that contributed to white flight. Its why they made highways and railroads basically act as walls between the different classes (racial, economic). Hell, this country exists because it was white people that came here and tried to exterminate us Indigenous people. Even still, many think the job needs to be finished. There is racism in all aspects of our society, which is why we call it systemic racism and that's why over the last few years, there has been a strong fight to oppose it...we know it's still deeply embedded in everything from our education systems to policing to city planning to community groups (NIMBYs). It would be naïve to think that it doesn't also exist in those, where predominantly white people hear of new developments and start to worry (but granted, most don't bring up racial issues then).
Now, are all NIMBYs in Cambridge white? Surely not, but the majority of them are. Look up news paper articles, news clips, visit their webpages, visit their social media groups, watch them talk in community consultation meetings about new developments. Most are white. Is there a racial aspect to it? Hard to say for sure, but I'm sure it occurs at times.