上周三，一位不太可能的游客穿过阿拉巴马州的乡村，参观了通常远离公众视线的夏伊洛社区。美国交通部长皮特·布蒂吉格和他的两名高级官员应当地土地所有者的要求来到夏伊洛他们说他们经历了频繁的洪水自从州政府在他们家旁边拓宽了一条高速公路。
自奴隶制结束以来，组成夏伊洛社区的许多黑人家庭一直拥有自己的土地。现在，当他们看着自己的财产被洪水淹没时，他们告诉ABC新闻，他们担心他们150多年来建立的世代财富将被洪水摧毁。
蒂莫西·威廉姆斯牧师的家人世代居住在夏伊洛，自2017年高速公路建设期间以来，他一直在谈论洪水和对他家的破坏。但直到上周，威廉姆斯说他觉得当权者没有倾听他的声音。
威廉姆斯在访问前夕对美国广播公司新闻说:“能够到达顶点并让他们倾听，这感觉很有希望。”“我相信救援马上就到。”
布蒂吉格的访问是在去年10月美国广播公司新闻调查和一个夏伊洛居民和官员在华盛顿会晤上个月。与此同时，一项民权调查也在进行中——联邦公路管理局正在调查阿拉巴马州交通部是否歧视以黑人为主的夏伊洛社区。
奥尔多否认在公路拓宽或其后果中有任何歧视。该机构坚持认为夏伊洛的洪水不是由该项目引起的，并表示它一直在与FHWA合作“提供有关84号公路拓宽项目的事实和夏伊洛社区居民表达的担忧。”
然而，美国广播公司新闻调查发现的电子日记显示，奥尔多承包商在扩建高速公路时知道夏伊洛的洪水和居民的投诉。
上周，联邦政府官员亲眼目睹了现场的情况，并对其进行了评估。
Buttigieg走在被侵蚀的泥泞地上，下雨时地面会积水。他看到威廉姆斯房屋外部的砖砌裂缝，财产保险公司认定这些裂缝是由频繁的洪水造成的。他从居民那里听说，在紧急情况下，急救人员需要更长的时间来帮助他们，因为洪水阻止了消防车和救护车到达他们的家。
布蒂吉格说:“我不可能忘记刚刚听到的事情。
夏伊洛市的房主蒂莫西·威廉姆斯告诉美国交通部长皮特·布蒂吉格...显示更多
美国广播公司新闻 再也没有私刑和绞刑了。它是冲着你的财务来的。
蒂莫西·威廉姆斯的女儿梅丽莎·威廉姆斯说，下雨时她在家里没有安全感。
她在接受美国广播公司新闻采访时说:“你要睡觉了，你不知道第二天早上是否会醒来。
威廉姆斯一家表示，水并不是威胁他们在夏伊洛生活的唯一力量。自ABC新闻最初的调查于10月份播出以来，蒂莫西·威廉姆斯说他的两家公司失去了客户，一家清洁服务公司和一家餐馆。
“在阿拉巴马州，再也没有私刑和绞刑了，”蒂莫西·威廉姆斯说，相反，“他们盯上了你的钱和财务，并试图榨干它们。”
尽管如此，蒂莫西·威廉姆斯说，他并不后悔说出夏伊洛的困境。
“他们想让我们闭嘴，”他说。“当他们说闭嘴时，你会尖叫。“
但居民们说，该州似乎更听一些人的声音。
当蒂莫西·威廉姆斯向奥尔多表达他的担忧时，他觉得该机构试图让他保持沉默:他们没有解决洪水问题，国家签署了和解协议蒂莫西·威廉姆斯和他的一些邻居，向他们每人支付不超过5000美元，以放弃他们对洪水损失提起诉讼的权利。
从夏伊洛沿路而下，一家日托中心在公路拓宽后遭遇了前所未有的洪水，不得不关闭。老板是一对白人母女，失去了家族企业，非常伤心。在他们的案件中，奥尔多以165，000美元的价格购买了他们的一部分土地，这也阻止了他们将来对国家提出索赔。
日托店主朗达·罗宾逊说，她同情夏伊洛家庭，“因为这场斗争很艰难。"
她的母亲佩吉·卡彭特说，一些夏伊洛居民收到的5000美元只是杯水车薪。
“你厌倦了战斗，”她补充道。
罗宾逊和卡彭特说，虽然他们不知道他们得到的交易和向夏伊洛房主提供的交易之间的差异是否与种族有关，但他们“不认为这是过去的事”。
在夏伊洛居民呼吁额外帮助多年后，美国最高基础设施官员听到了他们的呼声。
“他听取了人们的意见，”蒂莫西·威廉姆斯在谈到布蒂吉格时说。“他听完了我们的话，就参与了进来。“
布蒂吉格的访问发生在他的部门最繁忙的一周，此前巴尔的摩大桥坍塌和港口业务的中断。
然而他就在这里，一个远离任何主要人口中心的小社区，大多数美国人都不知道他。
布蒂吉格说:“在这个夏伊洛社区，一个房主的经历和美国最富裕地区的其他人一样重要。”“出现在雷达上是一回事，真正被看到又是另一回事。”
正义之旅
蒂莫西·威廉姆斯带领官员和居民挨家挨户走访，给每个夏伊洛居民一个扩音器，让他们有机会分享自己的洪灾经历——这一次，他们的声音被听到了。
蒂莫西·威廉姆斯(Timothy Williams)带领人群穿过高速公路，参观了排水系统，该系统将水直接引向夏伊洛的房产，并引向奥尔多承包商挖掘的沟渠，以阻止径流，径流经常溢出到威廉姆斯家的前院。
在附近的徒步旅行中，官员们看到了一只水鹿皮鞋——这是夏伊洛经常看到的蛇和青蛙之一——以及一条作为高速公路项目一部分被移到威廉姆斯家附近的天然气管道。
这个社区的经历共同构成了一个关于恐惧、损失和过度负担的故事。
另一位重要成员是罗伯特·布拉德博士，他是当地居民和德克萨斯南方大学的教授，帮助创造了“环境正义”一词，并就此主题写了18本书。去年与蒂莫西·威廉姆斯联手后，他帮助夏伊洛登上了国家舞台。布拉德称这种情况是环境种族主义的“教科书案例”。
“他们从奴隶制中幸存下来。他们在种族隔离中幸存下来，”布拉德谈到夏伊洛社区时说。“但现在他们正在与一条高速公路、一项基础设施进行斗争，这在某种程度上窃取了他们的财富和遗产。这是不对的。”
参观结束后，布蒂吉格会见了几位夏伊洛居民，并与他们单独交谈。他向他们保证，他会把他们的担忧带回华盛顿。
对聚集在威廉姆斯家附近的人群，布蒂吉格说:“我想让你们知道，不仅你们被看到了，我们部门的最高层也在努力。”
他告诉夏伊洛居民，他们中没有人对洪水及其影响负责，没有人应该忍受他们现在所经历的一切。
在演讲后的独家采访中，布蒂吉格告诉美国广播公司新闻高级国家记者史蒂夫·奥松萨米，他的部门“对高速公路对这个社区的影响以及这个社区的成员正在经历的事情感到严重关切。”他说，这就是为什么正在进行调查并“积极与阿拉巴马交通部接触”
尽管高级官员很少访问夏伊洛，但它并不是FHWA民权调查关注的唯一社区。该机构的公民权利办公室的目标是在180天内完成这些调查。但夏伊洛人民已经等待了三倍多的时间——将近600天，他们声称受到歧视，也没有解决洪水问题的办法。
奥尔多新闻发言人在给ABC新闻的一份声明中写道，该机构已与一家工程公司合作，“制定计划进一步控制奥尔多通行权的雨水径流。”
但是在给ABC附属公司的一份声明中WDHN奥尔多否认有任何不公平待遇，并声称该机构认为夏伊洛的业主已经“因奥尔多84号公路项目造成的任何不便得到了充分补偿。”
奥尔多向WDHN提交的声明提出了该机构计划向夏伊洛居民提供的两种选择:向奥尔多出售他们的房产，或者让该机构实施一项保留额外水源的项目。
声明写道:“这将是他们的选择。”
对蒂莫西·威廉姆斯来说，这根本不是一个选择:出售他的财产将结束几代人的社区和财富积累遗产。他说奥尔多以前试图保留径流并没有解决洪水问题。
相反，蒂莫西·威廉姆斯想要钱来重建他的家庭住宅，以更好地抵御洪水，包括在更干燥的土地上建立更高的地基。他想创造一个像他的社区一样有韧性的房子。
蒂莫西·威廉姆斯说:“我们在这里是长期的。“无论付出什么代价，我都愿意，但我们不会放弃。”
对于夏伊洛社区来说，一些人说这场斗争不仅仅是对不便的补偿。
布拉德说:“当人们在对抗道路和洪水时，他们不仅仅是在对抗高架公路。”“他们在为自己的遗产而战，为他们的孩子和孙子以及后代而战，所以这就是为什么这是一场重要的战斗。”
但蒂吉格希望将这场斗争转化为联邦行动。
他说:“我想确保我们收回这些话，并让我们的姐妹机构参与进来，以取得成果。”“住在这里的人需要得到照顾。”
威廉姆斯一家认为上周的访问是朝着正确方向迈出的一步。
“它仍然不能修复我们正在经历的事情，”梅丽莎·威廉姆斯说，“但它确实让事情有所好转。”
Buttigieg visits predominantly Black Alabama community following ABC News investigation about neighborhood flooding
An unlikely visitor made his way through rural Alabama last Wednesday to visit the community of Shiloh, a place usually far from the public eye. U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and two of his top officials came to Shiloh at the request of local landownerswho say they've experienced frequent floodingever since the state widened a highway alongside their homes.
Many of the Black families that make up the Shiloh community have owned their land since the end of slavery. Now, as they watch their properties flood, they tell ABC News they fear the generational wealth they’ve built over 150 years will be destroyed by the water.
Pastor Timothy Williams, whose family has lived in Shiloh for generations, has been speaking out about the flooding and damage to his home since 2017, during the highway construction. But until last week, Williams said he did not feel heard by those in power.
“It feels promising just to be able to reach the top of the DOT and for them to listen,” Williams told ABC News on the eve of the visit. “I believe help is on the way.”
Buttigieg's visit followed anABC News investigation last Octoberand ameeting between Shiloh residents and officials in Washingtonlast month. It came amid a civil rights investigation, too – a probe by the Federal Highway Administration into whether the Alabama Department of Transportation discriminated against the predominantly Black Shiloh community.
ALDOT denies any discrimination in the highway widening or its aftermath. The agency maintains that the flooding in Shiloh was not caused by the project and says it has been working with the FHWA "to provide facts about the Highway 84 widening project and the concerns expressed by residents of the Shiloh Community."
However, the ABC News investigation uncovered electronic diaries that showed ALDOT contractors were aware of the flooding in Shiloh and residents’ complaints as they were expanding the highway.
Last week, the feds got to see the situation on the ground and evaluate it for themselves.
Buttigieg walked on the eroded muddy ground that fills with water when it rains. He saw the cracks in the brick exterior of Williams’ house, which the property’s insurer determined were caused by frequent flooding. He heard from residents who said it took longer for first responders to help them during emergencies because the flooding had prevented firetrucks and ambulances from reaching their homes.
“There’s no way I’m going to forget what I just heard,” Buttigieg said.
‘There’s no more lynchings and hangings. It’s coming after your finances.’
Timothy Williams’ daughter Melissa Williams said she does not feel safe in her family’s home when it rains.
“You’re going to bed, you don’t know if you’re going to wake up the next morning,” she told ABC News.
The water isn’t the only force the Williams family says threatens their life in Shiloh. Since the original ABC News investigation aired in October, Timothy Williams said he’s lost customers at his two businesses, a cleaning service and a restaurant.
“In Alabama, there's no more lynchings and hangings,” Timothy Williams said, but instead, “they come after your money, your finances, and try to drain it.”
Still, Timothy Williams said, he does not regret speaking up about Shiloh’s plight.
“They want us to shut up,” he said. “When they say shut up, you scream.”
But the state has seemed to listen to some voices more than others, residents said.
When Timothy Williams brought his concerns to ALDOT, he felt the agency tried to silence him: Instead of addressing the flooding,the state signed settlement agreementswith Timothy Williams and some of his neighbors, paying them each no more than $5,000 to give up their rights to ever sue for flood damages.
Down the road from Shiloh, a day care center saw unprecedented flooding after the highway widening and had to close. The owners – a white mother-daughter duo – were devastated to lose their family business. In their case, ALDOT bought a portion of their land for $165,000, also preventing them from bringing future claims against the state.
Day care owner Ronda Robinson said she feels for the Shiloh families, “’cause the fight was hard.”
Her mother Peggy Carpenter said the $5,000 some Shiloh residents received was like a drop in the bucket.
“You get tired of fighting,” she added.
Robinson and Carpenter said while they don’t know whether the difference between the deal they got and what was offered to Shiloh homeowners had to do with race, they “don’t put it past” the state.
After years of Shiloh residents advocating for additional help, the nation’s top infrastructure official heard their call.
“He listened to the people,” Timothy Williams said of Buttigieg. “He heard us out and he got involved.”
Buttigieg’s visit came during one of his department’s busiest weeks, following thebridge collapse in Baltimoreand disruptions to port operations.
Yet here he was, in a tiny community far from any major population center and unknown to most Americans.
“The experiences of a homeowner here in this Shiloh community matter just as much as anybody else in the wealthiest ZIP code in America,” Buttigieg said. “It is one thing to be on the radar, it is another to actually be seen.”
Journey to Justice Tour
Timothy Williams led the group of officials and residents from house to house, passing a loudspeaker to each Shiloh resident and giving them a chance to share their experiences with the flooding – and this time, to be heard.
Timothy Williams led the crowd across the highway to see the drainage system, which funnels water directly onto Shiloh properties, and to the ditches ALDOT contractors dug to hold the runoff, which frequently overflow into the Williams’ front yard.
On their trek around the neighborhood, the officials saw a water moccasin – one of the snakes and frogs that have become a frequent sight in Shiloh – and a gas pipeline that was moved next to the Williams’ home as part of the highway project.
Together, the community’s experiences formed a narrative of fear, loss and disproportionate burden.
The tour group crosses Highway 84 to see its drainage system.
Another prominent member of the tour was Dr. Robert Bullard, an area native and Texas Southern University professor who helped coin the term “environmental justice” and has written 18 books on the topic. He helped bring Shiloh to the national stage after joining forces with Timothy Williams last year. Bullard called the situation “a textbook case” of environmental racism.
“They survived slavery. They survived Jim Crow segregation,” Bullard said of the Shiloh community. “But now they’re fighting a highway, an infrastructure, that is somehow stealing their wealth, their inheritance. That’s not right.”
After the tour, Buttigieg met several Shiloh residents and spoke with them individually. He assured them he would bring their concerns back to Washington.
Addressing the crowd gathered near the Williams’ home, Buttigieg said, “[I] want you to know that not only are you seen, but this is being worked at the highest levels of our department.”
He told the Shiloh residents that none of them are responsible for the flooding and its impacts, and that nobody should have to live with what they are going through right now.
In an exclusive interview following his address, Buttigieg told ABC News Senior National Correspondent Steve Osunsami that his department has “a significant and substantial concern about the impact of the highway on this community and about what members of this community are going through.” He said that concern is why there is an ongoing investigation and “active engagement with the Alabama DOT.”
The Secretary makes his rounds to meet Shiloh community members after the tour.
Although it received a rare visit from top brass, Shiloh is not the only community that is the focus of a FHWA civil rights investigation. The agency’s Office of Civil Rights aims to complete these investigations in 180 days. But the people of Shiloh have been waiting more than three times that long – nearly 600 days without an answer to their claims of discrimination or a solution to their flooding.
In a statement to ABC News, an ALDOT spokesperson wrote that the agency has partnered with an engineering firm to “develop plans for further controlling stormwater runoff from ALDOT’s right of way.”
But in a statement to ABC affiliateWDHN, ALDOT denied any unfair treatment and asserted the agency’s belief that Shiloh property owners had been “adequately compensated for any inconvenience caused by ALDOT’s Highway 84 project.”
ALDOT’s statement to WDHN presented two options the agency plans to offer Shiloh residents: selling their properties to ALDOT or having the agency implement a project to retain additional water.
“The choice will be theirs,” the statement read.
To Timothy Williams, this isn’t a choice at all: To sell his property would be to end a multigenerational legacy of community and wealth building. And he says ALDOT’s previous attempts to retain the runoff have not solved the flooding.
Instead, Timothy Williams wants money to rebuild his family home with better protection from flooding, including a higher foundation on drier ground. He wants to create a house as resilient as his community.
“We’re here for the long haul,” Timothy Williams said. “Whatever it takes, I’m down for it, but we’re not going nowhere.”
For the Shiloh community, some said this struggle is about much more than compensation for an inconvenience.
“When people are fighting a road and the flooding, they're not just fighting that elevated highway,” Bullard said. “They're fighting for their inheritance, for their children and their grandchildren and future generations, so that's why this is an important fight.”
Buttigieg hopes to turn that fight into federal action.
“I want to make sure we take that back and engage our sister agencies to get results,” he said. “People who live here need to be taken care of.”
The Williams family saw last week’s visit as a step in the right direction.
“It still doesn’t fix what we’re going through,” Melissa Williams said, “but it does make it a tad bit better.”
