The Black town that was bulldozed for an airport

“If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree”.

— Michael Crichton

I believe this brilliant Crichton quote is why decades of street reporting brought me to a fascination with our past as a way to better understand our present. I do some of that with my “Historic Persisters” series here on Substack, but some stories don’t fit into that model. So I’m going to thank City Cast DC, for letting me continue to find other ways to explore our human tree.

If you’re not familiar with City Cast, give them (us?) a look! Some of D.C.’s beloved local journalists have joined a staff expanding to cover the huge chasm in local news that The Washington Post left open when it gutted the award-winning local staff. The executive editor and podcast host is Michael Schaffer, whose born-in-D.C. pedigree includes running Washington City Paper and Washingtonian magazine. It’s also backed by Graham Holdings — the Graham family. I like sticking with them. And I was edited by a terrific former editor at The Post who is now managing editor of City Cast DC, Kanyakrit “Yu” Vongkiatkajorn. And man, it felt great having good editing again. (Thanks everyone for helping me with my typos here!)

Here’s the second piece I wrote for City Cast. It’s about way Black communities across America were sacrificed during an epoch of the nation’s speed and sprawl.

When Trump decided to take on remodeling Dulles Airport, I remembered it wasn’t the first time a president had some overreaching ideas for that land.

It was once a thriving, predominantly Black community built by generations of descendants of formerly enslaved Americans.

Please check the full story out here! Thanks so much for coming along with me to meet so many of our fellow leaves.