East Saint Louis, Illinois
Free trade policy has decimated large swaths of formerly thriving communities. American manufacturing is simply unable to compete with the cheap labor of overseas, industrial producers. Although globalization has benefited the living standards of our international brethren, while reigning in the prices of finished goods at home; the shift of the U.S. economy from the world's leading exporter of tangible products to that of service purveyor has further decimated the fragile existence of the nation's poor.
The wealth gap separating the rich from the economically challenged has expanded to unsustainable levels. The recent credit boom, fueling stock, property, and business investment has done little to affect the living standards of America's downtrodden. In fact, I would argue that the situation has grown even more dire over the past decade.
The removal of skilled labor occupations, in exchange for minimum wage fast-food, and entry level service positions continues. Coupled with the surging housing and energy costs over this recent time frame, the psyche of the American poor has been further battered towards the nadir of absolute hopelessness.
I shall present the most economically devastated metropolitan areas that I have witnessed first-hand. I detail a list of thirteen, paralleling the hard luck status of these municipalities:
13. Benton Harbor, Michigan
Dubbed, 'The Whirlpool Ghetto,' the city of Benton Harbor was devastated by the ultimate shuttering of Whirlpool factory operations within the township. Benton Harbor is an embarrassing tract of poverty amidst the wineries, yachts, and bed and breakfast opulence of Southwest Michigan. The St. Joseph River is a natural barrier, separating the wealthy enclave of St. Joseph from this ravaged community.
The brewing rage of the disenfranchised manifested itself with 2003 rioting. The anarchy arrived courtesy of a resident being killed following a high-speed police chase. 200 homes were set ablaze, and thousands of law enforcement officials descended upon Benton Harbor to diffuse the mayhem.
12. Southwest Atlanta
SWATS: Bankhead, Ben Hill, and neighboring East Point-College Park. Hip-hop aficionados will recognize the locality as a Mecca of Southern rap music. T.I., Ludacris, and the critically acclaimed OutKast duo all hail from the area. The bravado of these artists could only have been further advanced by emerging from this section of the Atlanta metro that is bordered by The Chattahoochee, I-285, and downtown Atlanta. The prevailing SW Atlanta architecture of tattered shotgun shacks is more reminiscent of Reconstruction South - than it is of the gleaming, progressive cultural capital of the region.
11. West Philadelphia
The typical Northeast slum that has been riddled by neglect, abject poverty, and mired in the devastation of the 1980's crack cocaine epidemic. The depressed sections of the I-95 corridor are recognized by narrow avenues, incomprehensible street grids, row houses, and staggering population density. Whereas, distressed Southern and Rust Belt neighborhoods evoke the air of abandonment, Eastern seaboard poverty is remarkable for its concentration.
West Philadelphia is the grittiest section of the City of Brotherly Love. Contrary to this title, Philadelphians actually booed Santa Claus - pelting him with snow and ice at a sporting event.
10. SE Washington
Tourists and out-of-towners are advised against traveling past the Capitol Hill neighborhood, across the Sousa Bridge, and deeper into Southeast Washington. Merely speaking to, and matching stares with street toughs is often an invitation for combat.
9. South Bronx, New York
The George Washington Bridge carries I-95 motorists across upper Manhattan and into The Bronx as The Cross Bronx Expressway. The Cross Bronx is an engineering marvel. The super highway barrels through imposing geological rock formations, railroad lines, various aqueducts, and sheer New York City density as the roadway delivers traffic into New England. Whereas, The Cross Bronx represents a remarkable feat of highway construction, the surrounding city-scape is an outright disaster of city and social planning.
The South Bronx skyline is an amalgamation of intimidating high rise housing projects, smog, and imposing warehouses. The South Bronx represented the epitome of 1980's urban decay: rampant drug use, murder, lawlessness, and despair. Twenty years prior to this submission, I would have unquestioningly labeled The South Bronx as the capitol of Forgotten America.
The area is currently undergoing a yuppie renaissance - similar to all inner city sections of New York and the Northeast. Outrageous Manhattan real estate costs have led to the gentrification of sections of the South Bronx. Unfortunately, long term residents of the area have been displaced and are unable to participate in the revitalization.
8. South Side Chicago
The area has been sabotaged by a long running history of blatant segregation; and a nearer term cloud of disarray that is propagated by an outright stigma, and bias against the South Side. Windy City baseball fandom exemplifies the caricature. North Side Cubby loyalists are perceived as yuppy, BMW, wine and cheese drunks that descend upon Wrigley Field as a social meeting place, rather than as a hallowed ground of pure baseball. Whereas, South Side Sox supporters have been ridiculed as blue collar ruffians by the local media.
The stark juxtaposition of multi-million dollar homes, manicured properties, one world-renowned university, along with empty lots, acres of housing projects, and shuttered businesses, is testimony to the disturbing pattern of Chicago redlining, at-large. The historical, cultural, and political divisions of the City of Chicago have destroyed entire pockets of the city, especially wide tracts of the South Side.
7. Liberty City, Miami
South Florida sun does not shine here. Liberty City is a third-world slum which happens to be in America. This is the Miami that the tourists never visit. This is the America that many refuse to acknowledge even exists.
6. Camden, New Jersey
I am unable to recall any one decent neighborhood of this depressed city laying across the Ben Franklin Bridge from Philadelphia. Camden, Jersey City, The Oranges, Patterson, and Newark exemplify Jersey grit. New Jersey is the Not in My Back Yard [NIMBY] dumping ground of Philadelphia and New York City. In fact, The New Jersey Turnpike is a roadway that is characterized by both its utility and downright industrial ugliness. I would define Camden as the roughest city within the roughest state of the Union.
5. West Side Chicago
My first 'Welcome to Chicago' moment occurred on the West Side. While receiving a haircut at a Madison Street location, a youth hastily entered the barbershop, and violently escorted another patron out of the establishment. At that point, a gang of teenagers began to ruthlessly beat the individual with baseball bats, abandoning the victim on the concrete. The bloodied adversary resembled a wild carcass that had been felled along some rural interstate.
Onlookers would not dare offer assistance, nor even acknowledge the brutality. The nonchalance was either the product of fearing retaliation, or worse yet, basic acceptance of violence and vigilante behavior as proper means to an end.
4. Baltimore, Maryland
Home Box Office's critically acclaimed drama, The Wire is not exactly accurate. Baltimore, Maryland is actually worse than the portrayal exhibited to viewers of this gritty program. Formerly, a thriving metropolis, Baltimore has degenerated into a patchwork, concrete jungle of blight following the completion of The Erie Canal and the inevitable transformation of shipping routes. The port city, once a gateway to The National Road and Middle America was then rendered obsolete, as freight traffic bypassed the Chesapeake Bay.
Baltimore, Maryland is the most economically depressed city on the East Coast. Ironically, The devastation is synonymous with the very same Northwest Territories, Steel Belt, and now Rust Belt in which Baltimore once prospered as a vital Eastern node of transportation across Appalachia into the interior of our young nation. The population decline, loss of industry, and stagnant property values continue to confound Baltimore residents.
The crime rate is unreal. Baltimore City, population, 637,455, averages roughly 300 murders per year. The per capita numbers would equate to 1,500 homicides in Chicago, and a staggering 4,000 New York City deaths.
3. Gary, Indiana
Michael and Janet Jackson rarely return, nor readily acknowledge any connection to Gary, hometown of The Jackson Five. The dismissal of this Steel City by its first megastar family, although loathsome, serves as an indicator of the complete wreckage that permeates this Northwest Indiana population center. Downtown Gary has emerged as a decrepit commercial area - featuring artists renderings of businesses, rather than actual living and breathing people.
Broadway, Gary's main drag, is a collection of shuttered buildings, gun shops, payday loan operatives, liquor stores, and fast-food restaurants.
2. Cleveland, Ohio
The Cuyohoga River, delineating East Side and West Side Cleveland has actually caught fire upon several occasions. The polluted waterway symbolizes the failures of this 'Mistake by the Lake.' The Cleveland Rocks blueprint of pumping millions of dollars into center city revitalization projects has done nothing to affect the overall landscape. The downtown Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Jacobs Field, and Cleveland Browns Stadium challenge the foolish belief that throwing money at glittering and grandiose tourist attractions is the solution to all ills affecting a major city.
East Cleveland is a wasteland of foreclosures, disarray, and abandonment. The carnage stops short of I am Legend, a narrative chronicling the trials of the last man on planet Earth.
1. Detroit, Michigan
The foibles of the U.S. automotive industry have precipitated this debacle. The postwar Big Three automakers pressured Detroit City government to embark upon an ambitious roadway buildout at the expense of public transportation. The extensive freeway network of Detroit, MI razed historical landmarks, divided neighborhoods, and encouraged Detroiters to flee from the inner city. Local roadmaps at the time actually advised commuters to avoid exiting all Detroit Freeways outside of downtown.
The recent demise of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler have decimated the state of Michigan. A government report released Tuesday, October 21 lists Michigan as the top job loser in the U.S., listing Michigan as having lost 77,900 jobs over the past year - carrying a jobless rate of 9%. As for Detroit proper, The Motor City maintains the nation's second highest unemployment level. The despair translates into an annual violent crime rate of 1,251 infractions per 100,000 residents - highest in the nation.
Kwame Kilpatrick, once a young politician of infinite promise, has been stripped of all mayoral powers, and discredited as a philandering disgrace to the city; The Detroit Lions representing the most hapless franchise in all of sports are in danger of completing a winless 0-16 football season; and property values have not appreciated since 1998.
Detroit, Michigan is the most miserable city in The United States of America.
Conclusions
1: The gap separating rich from poor in America is unsustainable. Rampant crime, lawlessness, looting, and rioting will emerge as viscous outcrops of this wealth gap scenario. The nation's embrace of the left wing signals a reluctant acceptance of this status quo. Barack Obama tax policy to 'spread the wealth' is intended to mitigate the strife. Legislation demanding trade protectionism and heightened regulation will also manifest itself as a check to the flaws of unbridled capitalism.
2: Diversification, and the exploitation of various streams of income is all-important. All of the above cities remain ravaged by a stubborn over reliance upon a singular industry; or a systematic prejudice towards particular groups of society.
3. Appalachia, East Saint Louis, Compton / Watts / Long Beach, Richmond, CA, Memphis, and New Orleans represent areas that shall receive dishonorable mention status.
19 comments:
This is a well written article, and I largely agree with most points made. Unfortunately many of these populations are forgotten, and often people sweep memories of them under the carpet as they try to maintain their current way of living. Others simply do not know of them. I remember when I was younger and saw some of the 'Feed the Children' commercials, and as a child growing up in the middle class I just always assumed that those kids were from some foreign country.
Anyway, I don't know how much I support Obama's plan to "redistribute wealth" (I'd have to wait to see how he actually attempted that), but to me he is more in touch with these devastated communities. Forget Joe the Plumber who is trying to start a small business, what about Jamel who lives in a small apartment with 10 other family members who can't find a job and is afraid to walk his own streets at night?
As you said, this huge gap cannot be sustained. With the economy being brought to the forefront this election, I am curious to see how the next president will address it.
I agree with #4 above and you as well! I found this blog because I also wrote about Chicago's South Side today.
There are a lot of places in America that look like the developing world. The problem is not just relegated to the inner city. There are a lot of hamlets in Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta that are pretty disastrous.
I think that the political climate will encourage the following:
Trade protectionism: Tariffs on imports / subsidies on 'Made in America' goods to support U.S. manufacturing and industrial jobs.
More Taxes: The politicians will tax the wealthy and middle class in order to pay for additional social programs to close the gap.
Although these measures may appear proper on paper, they do not always work. Other countries may retaliate by shutting out U.S. goods; and tax increases generally stymie the overall economy.
Hey Zack.
I hope you stay up; and keep checking out this site. There is a lot of good stuff on here. Of course, I may be a little biased.
I need to get a picture on here, too!
I agree with your perspective of the socio-economic gap. I think one of the biggest changes in these communities is the sense of belonging and accountability. I think the sense of hopelessness in these areas have left people with an every-man-for-himself attitude. I grew up on the Southside of Chicago and am still an inhabitant. In the last 20 years, things have seemed to become more desperate and disparate from the times when it was a shame for one not to provide for his or her family and watch out for the neighborhood. Folks were still interested in working hard, having goals and leaving the world better than they found it. Fast forward a couple of decades and things done changed...I think much of the situation is a social psychological problem connected to a loss of pride in and detachment from one's social collective and, thus, a loss of pride in oneself. I push myself to do better because it's the least I can do for my grandparents that looked hardship in the face and pushed passed it. I'm not so sure that my sentiment is alive and well in today's "urban" community.
Couldnt have said it better myself Kee. My family has lived on the south side of Chicago for over 75yrs(mostly Morgan Park, where my Great Aunt still lives) and there is no more sense of pride in your community, concern for others, or simply a community at all. At times I wished I had taken more sociology classes in college because I would love to study how to undo this unfortunate circumstance.
You are right indeed that plenty of places outside of the inner-city look like the deveoping world. Now I am originally from Chicago, shoot I was born at the old Cook County hospital. I have lived all over Chicago, yet I was stunned when I moved to Maine 6 years ago and went up north near the Canadian border.
Folks is living rough, actually outside of the parts of Maine, made famous by the likes of the Bush family and Stephen King, you can finda lot of similiarities to the inner-city down to the liquor stores, only difference is all the folks is white and not people of color.
I haven't been to Maine.
Appalachia is similar to what you describe; if not worse. Those coal mining towns of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, etc are absolutely hopeless and desperate.
Whenever a person suggests that poverty is a staple of inner city 'minority' life; I direct them to research the region of Appalachia.
I take issue with your claims that "Free Trade Agreements" have caused the collapse of these cities. If we think about the United States in global terms - our growth as an industrial power in the Post WWII world came as much of the rest of the world lay in ruin, colonized or stuck in the mud.
When Japan and Western Europe came back on line our industrial base took a hit in the 1970s and 80s.
When Asia, South America and parts of Africa began to do textiles and commodity manufacturing - those industries took a hit.
Now Asia is not only capable of doing high tech assembly - they are also doing the original design and engineering.
Simply put - America which was once an isolated container above all else that was boiling with economic growth is now moving slightly toward "room temperature".
Last month I saw a documentary about a Nigerian woman who worked at a textile plant who was paid $150 per month to make uniforms, 70% of which were shipped to the United States. In this context the $150 allowed her to rent a nice apartment and have some money left over to send to her mother.
To an America who does the exact same job - even $1,500 per month would be a pittance according to their expectations.
How can you justify establishing trade barriers in which the labor costs of these commodity objects are now valued at 10 times the amount that can be expessed on the world market? With bulk shipping capabilities and global communications - the costs of coordinating business around the world is less than ever.
I am NOT from Cleveland. lol. I'm from Amherst, Ohio.
But, I'm not mad--I can handle the truth. There is an awfully lot of money pumped into tourist sites within Cleveland but you look a mile down the street adn see the devastation--ahh foolish spending. My young mind tells me it's makes more sense to make the ENTIRE city look decent but I'm no brainiac.
Both parents are from Ghana. Born and bred in Ohio but where I am from depends on what when/why the question is asked. I like to have my cake and eat it too.lol
~bSa~
Constructive Feedback,
You have presented very informed commentary. I am impressed.
This is why I am glad that I am not a politician.
I am not against free trade, per se. I know that international commerce keeps costs and inflation low for all. Millions of jobs have been created overseas and lifted people out of desperate poverty.
Still.
The 1982-2000 boom left these Rust Belt industrial cities behind. The skilled labor jobs that were the backbone of the middle class in the Upper Midwest have migrated overseas - in exchange for minimum wage employment.
These communities are absolutely decimated. We can research population statistics, real estate values, education figures, employment stats dating back to the Civil War. The decline of these cities all correspond to the rise of free trade.
Again, I could not be a politician. Who is to make the claim that controlling costs is a proper return for job losses to overseas competitors?
Sesi,
When I first wrote this - I thought that I would be flooded with angry Clevelanders and Detroiters.
They have been eerily quiet. Maybe they solemnly agree with my comments.
Aqaba.
As a Detroiter - not one of those that live in the outlying suburbs, but one who actually lives downtown - I can say that we're too busy dealing with the sense of hopelessness our last mayor has bestowed upon us.
Also, we're all on edge about what is happening to the Big 3.
Frankly, I blame the UAW for much of the loss but most of it came from lack of foresight. As an environmentalist; I have been calling out the end of the world for a long time. Now, however, I'm much too disheartened to say 'I told you so'.
Jonathan,
I hope that you will check out my article that I submitted yesterday on Pauslon's testimony regarding the auto industry:
Paulson to Detroit: Drop Dead
Thanks for reading and commenting. Detroit really needs a break.
You're right. Detroit is pretty messed up.
I was born and raised in the city of detroit. not downtown. not in the burbs. highland park, then northeast detroit. the city is terrible, even from the inside looking out. the downtown area is built up and protected so those suburbanites feel safe spending their money in the city. the neighborhoods are sickening. there's an abandoned field in my neighborhood that we used to play in that used to be a brick factory that was blown up when i was a kid. it's still there, passed down to the next generation of neighborhood kids. the city is bad.
Detroit is alright in certain areas but you can go onto the next street where things get totally decrepid. I do live on a good street, but I take my dog out to play in abandoned lots and buildings. If there is a barrier, it's rice-paper-thin.
I don't know what can be done about the Detroit situation.
The U.S. has become a service economy. Hence, access to waterways and natural resources is no longer vital to workers. Weather and aesthetics is the calling card for a service based workforce.
The Sun Belt thrives while the Rust Belt - Great Lakes region continues to stagnate.
I don't know what can be done about the Detroit situation.
The U.S. has become a service economy. Hence, access to waterways and natural resources is no longer vital to workers. Weather and aesthetics is the calling card for a service based workforce.
The Sun Belt thrives while the Rust Belt - Great Lakes region continues to stagnate.
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