Letter: Two omissions from bridge story

I noticed two glaring omissions from the Sept. 16th article celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the Cable bridge.

The green bridge postscript neglects to mention that the Pasco-Kennewick Columbia River Bridge/Benton-Franklin Inter County Bridge was on the National Register of Historic Places. It got listed in 1981.

There was also no mention of the green bridge’s racist symbolism. This Pasco-Kennewick bridge bore a sign stating that blacks had to be on the Pasco side by sunset. Kennewick was a sundown town, meaning that African Americans could not be within the city limits after dark. Pasco permitted blacks to live on the east of the train tracks. Restrictive covenants and, after those were declared illegal, voluntary practices between real estate agents and home owners prevented African Americans from buying or renting property outside of east Pasco.

The cable bridge represents a great achievement for the Tri-Cities, yet let us not forget this ugly chapter of our local history.