Full Description
This book chronicles Robert J. McKee's active participation in a successful protest action, led primarily by black females in the historically African American community of West Las Vegas, Nevada, from 2008-2013. The residents protested the closure of a main street (F Street) in their community for the expansion of Interstate 15. The community felt the street closure was racially motivated, with the intent of further alienating and isolating this already marginalized community. The street closure was one of many instances in a protracted history of events that further exacerbated race relations in Las Vegas.
With only minimal support from the black church, courageous women mobilized their community from a neighborhood coalition into a successful community protest group, despite resistance from city officials and a racist backlash from some Las Vegas residents. The key players in this work were then-Mayor Oscar Goodman, State Senator and now U.S. Congressman Steven Horsford, and a host of local and state leaders.
The closing of F Street creates an environ for McKee to discuss the current problems of race relations, urban sociology, city planning, social action, ethnography, and institutionalized racism.
Contents
Chapter One: Be Careful, it's the Westside
Chapter Two: Welcome to Historic West Las Vegas
Chapter Three: Women Shouldn't Be Doing That Sort of Thing
Chapter Four: They Want to Wall You Off
Chapter Five: Mayor Goodman, Tear Down This Wall!
Chapter Six: A Horrible Waste of Money
Chapter Seven: Symbolic Meanings of Physical Boundaries
Chapter Eight: And the Wall Came Tumbling Down
