🏙️ Beyond Neon Signs: Examining Selective Preservation and White Liberal Racism in Tucson
As preservationists focus on nostalgic neon signs, the pressing issues facing marginalized communities like Old Pascua struggle to gain visibility and support.
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
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In Tucson, a community college decided to tear down some old motels 🏚️, but they want to save the cool neon signs ✨. Even though all the board members agreed ✅, some people are blaming the only Hispanic 🇭🇺 and Native American members 🌾. This highlights how people often focus on pretty signs 🎨 instead of the real problems facing communities, like homelessness 🏠 and schools that need help 📚. The article talks about how we should care more about helping people today 🤝 than just saving old buildings 🏛️.
🗝️ Takeaways
🌟 Tucson's decision to demolish historic motels raises questions about who gets blamed in preservation debates.
🏚️ The public outcry reflects a selective focus on historic structures rather than addressing pressing issues like homelessness and educational inequity.
📉 Community colleges face significant challenges, making the push to preserve condemned buildings seem misplaced.
❗ Preserving history should include supporting marginalized communities and addressing their current struggles.
🤔 The disproportionate criticism of minority board members points to an underlying bias in public discourse around preservation.
The Politics of Preservation and Prejudice
In December 2024, the Pima Community College governing board made a decisive and unanimous vote to demolish three historic motels along Drachman Street, including the iconic Tucson Inn which has been condemned.
The board clearly outlined significant safety risks associated with these abandoned properties and highlighted the prohibitive estimated restoration costs of over $35 million as crucial factors in their decision. Importantly, the board committed to preserving the neon signs from these motels, including the recently restored Tucson Inn sign, which stands as a symbol of mid-century Tucson.
However, in the wake of this unanimous decision, a concerning pattern has emerged. Despite the collective support of all five board members, public criticism from white liberals has disproportionately targeted two outgoing members— Garcia and Gonzales, the board’s only Hispanic and Native American representatives.
Blaming only these two board members despite a unanimous vote suggests a common source for their complaints, similar to how conservatives often echo distorted Fox reporting, but this time coming from liberal white men.
This skewed attribution of blame for a unified board action raises critical questions about the biases shaping public discourse in Tucson's preservation debates. It is imperative that we confront these underlying issues head-on to ensure a fair and inclusive conversation moving forward.
📜 The Reality Behind the Nostalgia
Two parallel stories unfold in Tucson's northern corridor, where Oracle Road (Highway 77) forms part of the once-celebrated Miracle Mile.
The often romanticized tale of mid-century motor lodges and neon signs captures the narrative of White Americana, continuing to spark imaginations and preservation debates.
The other is the living history of Old Pascua, a Pascua Yaqui community that still stands today, bordered by I-10 on the west and Oracle Road on the east.
Preservationists may prioritize saving neon signs, but they cannot ignore the urgent issues surrounding Old Pascua and the substantial population experiencing homelessness in the area. This selective visibility and concern clearly manifests the injustices that must be addressed.
🏚️ A History of Displacement
Tucson's urban development pattern unmistakably prioritizes particular histories while disregarding others.
The construction of Interstate 10 did more than alter traffic patterns; it forcibly severed Old Pascua and Barrio Anita from the Santa Cruz River and their neighboring communities, El Rio and Barrio Hollywood, to the west. This separation was not merely a physical barrier; it represented a calculated strategy to disrupt these communities, profoundly shaping the trajectory of Tucson's development.
The destruction of Tucson's historic downtown barrio is perhaps the most egregious example of this alarming pattern. This vibrant Mexican American community was ruthlessly bulldozed by Democratic leadership, notably under the direction of SALC's Si Schorr, to pave the way for the Tucson Convention Center (TCC). This so-called urban renewal project, championed by self-proclaimed liberal politicians, starkly illustrates how progressive rhetoric often conceals fundamentally flawed approaches to community development.
😡 Selective Outrage and Liberal Racism
The controversy surrounding the Tucson Inn on Drachman Road reveals a troubling form of liberal racism characterized by selective outrage and performative preservation efforts.
The intense reactions to the building's condemnation raise important questions:
Why did these preservation advocates allow the Tucson Inn to deteriorate if they truly valued it?
Why are they insisting that a financially strained community college take on the responsibility of preserving a condemned hotel while conveniently overlooking the college's more pressing challenges?
This situation highlights a clear instance of liberal racism, which prioritizes certain historical structures over the legitimate needs and struggles of contemporary communities.
The college is grappling with several critical challenges that demand urgent attention and have a direct impact on the community:
Declining enrollment rates
Struggling graduation rates
Financial instability
Moreover, there is a troubling history of administrative misconduct that cannot be overlooked, including:
Questionable sweetheart deals made by a former chancellor
Retaliatory firings of whistleblowers
Hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted on wrongful termination lawsuits
These pressing issues, which significantly undermine educational access and community well-being, deserve far more outrage than the disproportionate response to the demolition of a condemned building. It is time to prioritize what truly matters.
🤔 The Paradox of Progressive Preservation
The fixation on preserving neon signs along roads exposes a glaring disconnect between aesthetic nostalgia and the community's harsh realities. Many advocates for preservation avoid walking past these signs in unsafe areas at night, when the neon glow is most prominent, highlighting their hypocrisy.
This selective preservation epitomizes a form of liberal racism that prioritizes white narratives of history while blatantly disregarding the lived experiences of contemporary communities of color. We must acknowledge and confront this disturbing trend.
The mathematics of the recent board vote clearly exposes this bias. Despite the requirement of at least three votes from a five-member board for any decision, the focus of criticism has unjustly targeted the board's only two minority members: a Chicana widow and a Pascua Yaqui tribal member.
And the vote was unanimous to top it off!
This targeting starkly illustrates how even so-called progressive spaces can perpetuate racist patterns of blame and accountability. It is unacceptable that the minority members are often held responsible for decisions that necessitate a majority vote.
🏬 Beyond Aesthetic Preservation
The true preservation crisis in Tucson is not about neon signs or mid-century architecture; it directly involves the alarming erosion of community spaces, educational opportunities, and economic stability for marginalized populations.
Defending condemned buildings while ignoring pressing issues like homelessness, educational inequity, and community displacement exposes the superficiality of much liberal advocacy. It's time to prioritize the needs of our community over mere aesthetics.
The outrage over the demolition of the Tucson Inn highlights a broader issue: white liberals in Tucson and in other places often decide which histories to celebrate while ignoring current injustices.
This selective perspective—cherishing the aesthetic aspects of a segregated past while disregarding present-day inequalities—can be a form of racism, even if it is often concealed by progressive talk about historical preservation.
⏩ Moving Forward
If Tucson genuinely aims to honor its history, it must confront the entire breadth of that history, including the lasting impacts of past decisions and the urgent challenges facing historically marginalized communities today. This requires moving beyond superficial concerns about neon signs and addressing critical issues such as:
Educational equity and access
Housing stability and homelessness
Community connectivity and preservation
Indigenous rights and recognition
Institutional accountability and reform
Real preservation is not simply about maintaining empty buildings or restoring signs; it is about fiercely advocating for and supporting living communities, their institutions, and their opportunities for growth and stability.
Until white liberals in Tucson acknowledge this undeniable truth, their preservation efforts will only serve to reinforce the very patterns of marginalization they profess to oppose.
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It's too bad both the neon signs AND the motels can't be preserved. It would be great if they could house some homeless people. I'd also like to see some non-white history celebrated.