The very word “greater” is emblematic of the reversal of the 1960’s vision of equality for all. Everyone and everything is now categorized and treated differently: according to the dictatorial vision of a government that refuses to answer the questions of citizens; or acknowledge their individual worth.
Important. There, I said it. “Important” is the slide-to-the-side avoidance of openly announcing the corruption and cronyism at the heart of our government’s decision making process. “They are important because . . .” And while Tompkins County’s corporations, institutions, and selected groups are Important – Cornell is IMPORTANT.
But how can they get away with this “methodology of muchness”?
There is no room here for even a discussion of “Urban Colonialism” and its practices – but I’ll give you one example: Environmental Justice. Environmental Justice is mapped to Census Tracts; but Census Tracts are mapped to population: so, in rural areas, these tracts are very large. Large enough to contain the rezoned lakefront homes of Cornell’s affluent elite – and the rural poor living in a trailer park miles away. [By “trailer park” I mean a row of single-wides in a field with a dirt road.] It’s an urban methodology that blends away rural poverty and marginalization into non-existence — and it’s an important tool in Urban Colonialism’s expansion.