Where The Pavement Ends
Narrative Justice As Resistance When Exclusion Is Set In Stone
Written by Shijia Bobby Lu
Closing out the 2021 SF Urban Film Fest, the Where the Pavement Ends panel discussion brought together artist and educator Jane Gillooly; social justice artist, photographer, and creator of the Folded Map Project, Tonika Johnson; UC Berkeley Assistant Professor of Geography and Global Metropolitan Studies Dr. Brandi Summers; and University of San Francisco professor and SF Urban Film Fest Humanities Advisor Ronald Sundstrom (who moderated) in conversation around the film that gave this program its name.
Directed by Jane Gillooly, the Where the Pavement Ends documentary tells the story of racial and physical separation between two Missouri towns, the then majority-black Kinloch and majority-white Ferguson. Although torn down later, a physical barricade comprised of rubble, concrete roadblocks, and thorny plants separated the two towns and their resources; illustrating the point, a resident recalls a game from her childhood where with eyes closed during a car ride she would guess when they passed from Ferguson to Kinloch based on when the road turned from paved to dirt — where the pavement ended. The film offered the physical barricade as a symbol of the deep-rooted racism and racial segregation that still haunts this country, and which eventually led to the tragic death of Michael Brown in 2014 in the city of Ferguson.
Through recordings, interviews, and images, the documentary presented evidence of racial segregation and its various manifestations. First, its spatial representation: housing, infrastructure, and the blockades that function as barriers to connection. Second, its social and psychological tolls on Black communities: feeling isolated, unwelcome, and even inferior. As one interviewee said in the film, I bathe my child in blackness. Because once you walk outside the door, you are faced with white supremacy. Finally, the film discusses how segregation is represented in public policy: towards the end of the documentary, we learn that the land around the airport, which had been occupied by community residents, was designated as crash zones then sold to commercial developers. As a result, as Black residents were pushed out, their communities destroyed and vanished.
The documentary also highlights the strength and resilience of Black Kinloch residents, then and now. Architectural drawings of community-use buildings. Well-maintained streets and properties despite lack of municipal resources. A self-organized march after Dr. Martin Luther King’s death to remove the barricade. Self-organized community film events for political education after Michael Brown’s murder. All these stories illustrate the power and knowledge within these local communities, which, when contrasted with the hatred, prejudice, and ignorance surrounding them, can only be viewed as precious and extraordinary.
The panel discussion, grounded in themes of the documentary, delved into the causes and impacts of racial segregation on Black and other communities of color, such as the racist policies of redlining and predatory lending which impinged on these communities’ ability to own homes, build wealth, and access opportunities. (For more on America’s history of legalized discrimination in housing, read The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein.)
Personal. Relational. Experiential. These are key words that stood out when the panelists answered How do we move forward from here? Although the panelists agreed that policymaking plays an important role in addressing racial segregation, they believe it is not enough. They stressed that it must become personal. Personal experience and observations of different neighborhoods in Chicago led Tonika Johnson to start asking questions and create the Folded Map Project. This project, which introduces “map-twin” residents from Chicago’s North and Southsides, invites everyone to experience and understand how racist planning practices have structured our urban environment and their impact on our social networks. If you aren’t forced to drive around a neighboring city because the road through is blocked intentionally, imagine the tremendous efforts you must make in life every single day just to be at the same starting point with other people. How would you feel? What would be your visceral experience?
Professor Brandi Summers, whose research and publications center on issues of segregation within neighborhoods in both Washington, DC and the Bay Area, asked the audience to investigate the convoluted forces of race, class, space, and power that we can read from the built environment. Take for example the history of BART and how it decimated a thriving Black commercial corridor in West Oakland.
What else do we need to move forward? I believe we need artists and storytellers! More art, more stories!
This is what the panelists of this program and the film fest as a whole have been doing. Creating art inspired by their own lived experiences. Being educators to inspire others. Telling stories that connect us with one another. Creating visions that engage us in the great work of breaking down the physical and spiritual barriers. The wisdom lives within us, we just have to listen deeply, and act intentionally, in community.
Watch the panel discussion:
This event took place on February 21, 2021 and was curated by SF Urban Film Fest Humanities Advisor Ron Sundstrom and Festival Manager Kristal Çelik. For more information about the SF Urban Film Fest, visit our website.
