Culture
August Wilson's Enduring Drama on Urban Renewal
Two Trains Running shows the costs and conflict of racist planning policies from a profoundly human perspective.
By the time urban renewal arrived in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, Memphis Lee’s diner was already done for. The jukebox didn’t work. The daily meatloaf special was almost never actually available. A local hang-about named Wolf made more money running numbers at the diner than Memphis did selling beans and cornbread.
Still, Memphis refused to be pushed out. It didn’t matter that Risa hardly ever bothered to cook the chicken, since nobody ever showed up to order any. Memphis demands that the city give him what he feels is his due—though the city might say it owed him nothing.