The Repair Lab

Friendship Malcolm Jones and Lathaniel Kirts are lifelong friends who to deal with harmful coal dust that clouds the air in their hometown. The source: coal terminals that together form America’s largest coal export system. For decades, residents in two Black neighborhoods in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia have complained of coal dust that coats the interiors of their homes, cars and playgrounds in a fine black dust. Dust they also breathe. A study found asthma rates in one of these neighborhoods to be more than double the city and state-wide averages. Some residents are deeply concerned about the impact of the dust on their lives. Others are unaware of the dust and its effects. Crosswinds puts residents in the center of the story of coal dust in Hampton Roads, and what's unfolding now in efforts to build healthier neighborhoods and lives.

Crosswinds People struggle to breathe in two predominantly Black neighborhoods on Virginia's east coast. Toxic coal dust clouds the air in Southeast Newport News and Lambert’s Point in Norfolk, Virginia. The source: two terminals that together form America’s largest coal export system. For decades, residents in both neighborhoods have complained of coal dust that coats the interiors of their homes, cars and playgrounds in a fine black dust. Dust they also breathe. A 2005 study found asthma rates to be more than double the city and state-wide averages in Southeast Newport News. Some residents are deeply concerned about the impact of the dust on their lives. Others are unaware of the dust and its effects. COALDUSTKILLS.COM X: @therepairlab IG: @coaldustkills Crosswinds is a project of the Repair Lab. The Repair Lab is part of the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute for Democracy. Find out more at https://wading-between-two-titans.pinecast.co

A live panel takes us deeper into themes of housing, race and sea-level rise particular to Norfolk, VA. This panel features Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Monét Johnson and Kim Sudderth. Some highlights: Dr. Newby-Alexander quotes from "Frozen 2"Monét doesn't hold back Kim gives some solid advice This was recorded live at the Attucks Theatre as part of our Community Listening Party on August 5, 2023. Transcript coming soon at twotitans.org. Find out more at https://wading-between-two-titans.pinecast.co

“If we are to save our city, we're going to have to throw everything at it.”   Different approaches to resilience in Norfolk reflect different ideas about what resilience means. Big solutions have big effects, but leave some residents behind. Others aim to fill gaps left behind by the big ones.   www.twotitans.org @therepairlab on Twitter   Archival selections via the City of Norfolk.   Read the City of Norfolk’s report on the Floodwall Extension Plan here.   Learn about the Environmental Justice Policy Clinic here.   Learn more about Wetlands Watch and their work on their website.   Read about sea-level rise and explore maps, projections and impacts at the National Climate Assessment.   This episode was written, recorded, produced, edited, mixed, mastered and hosted by Adrian Wood. Show art by Adrian Wood. Story editing by Kelly Jones. Music by Sugarlift.   This episode features the voices of Vincent Hodges, Vernell Fields, Johnny Finn, April Hatfield, Skip Stiles, Dr. Kenny Alexander, Chip Filer, Kim Sudderth, and workshop participants.   With support from the Karsh Institute of Democracy.   Find out more at https://wading-between-two-titans.pinecast.co

“What is gonna happen for us – or to us – with this project?”   April lives in Grandy Village in Norfolk, VA. Her waterfront neighborhood floods a lot, but that’s getting fixed with the Ohio Creek Watershed Project. The project is a dream come true, but the reality is more complicated.    www.twotitans.org @therepairlab on Twitter   Archival selections from the Virginia General Assembly and via the City of Norfolk.   Sea-level rise estimates are drawn from a 2017 NOAA report, cited in the 2021 Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Plan.   Read WTKR’s coverage on the Ohio Creek Watershed Project here.   Here is the City of Norfolk’s page on the Ohio Creek Project, and the project’s official website.   Learn more about Wetlands Watch and their work on their website.   Read about sea-level rise and explore maps, projections and impacts at the National Climate Assessment.   Here’s Andrew Kahrl’s work on coastal real estate development in the US.   This episode was written, recorded, produced, edited, mixed, mastered and hosted by Adrian Wood. Show art by Adrian Wood. Story editing by Kelly Jones. Music by Sugarlift.   This episode features the voices of April Hatfield, Skip Stiles, Ashley Hobbes, Del. Mark Keam, Sen. Lynwood Lewis, Andria McClellan, Paul Riddick, Andrew Kahrl, Kim Sudderth and Vincent Hodges.   With support from the Karsh Institute of Democracy.   Find out more at https://wading-between-two-titans.pinecast.co

A redevelopment flood-proofs a mostly Black neighborhood, but it’s not the families who dealt with the construction, the multiple forced moves, or the chronic flooding who get to reap the benefits of the new infrastructure. The St Paul’s quadrant in Norfolk, VA, gets redeveloped in a historical pattern that disperses Black and poor residents.   www.twotitans.org @therepairlab on Twitter   Archival selections via ODU’s Digital Collections and WTKR.   Read coverage on the St Paul’s Transformation Project here, here, here and here. Watch Soledad O’Brien’s BET feature on the St Paul’s Transformation Project. More about the gentrification of Ghent in this article.   Here’s a PBS documentary where you can learn more about Section 8 housing choice vouchers.   This episode was written, recorded, produced, edited, mixed, mastered and hosted by Adrian Wood. Show art by Adrian Wood. Story editing by Kelly Jones. Music by Sugarlift.   With support from the Karsh Institute of Democracy.   Find out more at https://wading-between-two-titans.pinecast.co

How are East coast urban landscapes complicated by 1930s home loans? In this short interview, hear how racist and classist redlining policies are just one example of the American home finance system working exactly as it’s supposed to. LaDale Winling is an award winning urban and digital historian and an expert on redlining and housing discrimination.     Explore redlining maps for your city, or any city in the US, on the “Mapping Inequality” project here. This project is one of many by Ladale. See more of his work on his website, ladalecwinling.com.   www.Twotitans.org @therepairlab on Twitter   This episode was written, recorded, produced, edited, mixed, mastered and hosted by Adrian Wood. Show art by Adrian Wood. Story editing by Kelly Jones. Music by Sugarlift.   With support from the Karsh Institute of Democracy.   Find out more at https://wading-between-two-titans.pinecast.co

“I have only lived where white folks have allowed me to live.” Historically racist patterns in the housing market are built upon and replicated by new climate resiliency plans in Norfolk, VA. This episode takes us from an early hub for Black community in Norfolk to a white neighborhood on the outskirts of town, hostile to Black newcomers. We’ll hear how Norfolk’s Vision2100 document reinforces the dangers that Black residents have endured through de facto and de jure segregation. And, how the government has worked hand in hand with the free market to shore up harmful patterns of segregation. Quote above from Paul Riddick. www.Twotitans.org @therepairlab on Twitter (for now!) Featuring original research by The Repair Lab. Learn more about what went down in Coronado at the interactive storymap that details the events here. Featured at the beginning of this episode, “In Their Own Interests” by Earl Lewis is a great history of Black community in Norfolk, VA. Alease Balmar Brickers’s interview selection is from Duke University’s “Behind the Veil” Oral History Project. Johnny Finn’s project “Living Together/Living Apart” provides a rich multimedia window into the past and present of racial segregation in the Hampton Roads area. Explore HOLC’s redlining maps firsthand through the University of Richmond’s “Mapping Inequality” project here. “Mapping Inequality” was co-created by Ladale Winling, who fact-checked the redlining part of this episode. This episode features the voices of: Eric Hollaway (Earl Lewis, “In Their Own Interests”); Alease Balmar Brickers; Barbara Faison (as the voice of the Journal and Guide); Paul Riddick, former Norfolk City Council member; Johnny Finn, CNU; Cassandra Newby-Alexander, NSU; Kim Sudderth, Practitioner-in-Residence and Norfolk Planning Commissioner; Andria McClellan, Norfolk City Council Member; Jackie Glass, Virginia State Delegate With support from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Music Theory Studios in downtown Norfolk, WTJU, the UVA Race, Religion and Democracy Lab, and the Karsh Institute of Democracy. Find out more at https://wading-between-two-titans.pinecast.co

The ocean is Norfolk’s greatest ally and worst enemy. It bore enslaved Africans to the city’s shore and hid them as they escaped bondage. The ocean supports the region’s biggest industry: Naval defense. And the ocean creeps into the homes of Norfolk residents, as well as the Naval station—threatening livelihoods, histories and futures. Transcriptions for this and all episodes are available at www.twotitans.org. Follow the Repair Lab on Twitter for updates @theRepairLab. This episode features interviews with Tommy L Bogger (Norfolk State University), Cassandra Newby-Alexander (NSU), as well as the voices of Johnny Finn, Jackie Glass, Vincent Hodges, Monét Johnson, Andria McClellan Skip Stiles, Kim Sudderth, and Paul Riddick. Voice actors are reading memoirs and interviews of John Thompson, Ishmael (Virginia Gazette), and interviews with formerly enslaved people originally recorded in writing through the Works Progress Administration Virginia Writers Project. The names of the WPA interviewees are Charles Grandy (Norfolk), Matilda Carter (Hampton Roads), and Fannie Nicholson (Hampton Roads). Sources: Blackjacks: African American seamen in the age of sail. Jeffrey L Bolster. Free Blacks in Norfolk, Virginia, 1790-1860: The Darker Side of Freedom. Tommy L. Bogger. Slavery and American Sea Power: The Navalist Impulse in the Antebellum South. Matthew J. Karp. Weevils in the Wheat: Interviews with Virginia Ex-Slaves. Thomas E. Barden and Charles L. Perdue Jr. Find out more at https://wading-between-two-titans.pinecast.co

A new podcast from The Repair Lab about place, race and power in the time of rising tides. This limited series investigates climate gentrification, sea-level rise and historic processes of racism. The podcast aims to tell the story of these processes and imagine potential solutions. As sea level rises and shorelines shrink, who gets to stay? Who has to leave? How did we get here? And what can be done? Follow @TheRepairLab on Twitter for updates: twitter.com/TheRepairLab The Repair Lab: https://repairlab.as.virginia.edu/ Find out more at https://wading-between-two-titans.pinecast.co