Gary, Indiana: A Tale of Two Cities (2018)

Gary Indiana a Tale of Two Cities much like the Charles Dickens classic novel gary has two seemingly contradictory tales one story focuses on the economic success and the stability of the city the second narrative is of the trials and triumphs of its residents economic political and social changes and tensions provide the context to better understand the past present an uncharted future of Gary [Music] Gary Indiana was founded in 1906 it was a hub for the United States steel corporations operations and a place for steel workers and their families to live the proximity to waterways like Lake Michigan the 25 mile distance from Chicago's budding transportation industry and the central location to major thoroughfares positioned the city for economic growth and expansion downtown Gary stood as an example of ingenuity determination and stability as a child running through the streets of downtown Gary for major sales that they would have they had a strong Chamber of Commerce strong merchants association they ran these big cells Gary it was the hub of Northwest Indiana and people would just come from all over the whole region to shop in downtown Gary as a young child I would have to weave through people to get into the stores especially at Christmastime and he was just amazing and I never would have projected that we would be in a state that we are almost 17,000 residents called Gary home in 1910 according to the US census the population steadily grew each decade and peaked at over 175,000 residents in the 1970s early on the face of Gary was predominantly white immigrants from places like Ireland Poland Hungary and Croatia all searching for a better life beginning in the 1920s that face began to gradually change Lux began to migrate to the city to seek employment opportunities and escape the Jim Crow South I have lived in Gary I would say 67 years I was born in st. Louis moved here as an infant in my mother's arms and I've been here ever since so I grew up right here in the city I can just remember as a child when downtown was just thriving we had all of the major stores we thought they were major Broadway was just full of life from downtown all the way through a Glen Park things were just environment we had eight high schools at that time high schools all the schools we're growing a serving of the various communities we had parks that were open we had churches that were vibrant Garrett was just a robust place and everybody was working the quality of life and Gary was good progress was evident and the promise of even more success seemed just around the corner in reality even in the early to mid 1900s the city was challenged by racial segregation political corruption as well as pollution and labor disputes linked to its primary industry I have lived in Gary pretty much my 50 years I love my city I remember Gary at its best when we were growing up when the downtown areas had all the kreskis and Goldblatt's we could go down to theatres the Palace Theatre I mean it was just so much to do the shopping centers were there and I remember just walking down town with my sisters cuz we couldn't go alone that's when Gary was at its best I mean it was just so much to do you know and then it was more family oriented you know the families were together and everybody helped each other and loved each other that was Gary to me at his best the community helped shaped gary social and cultural tapestry as people ventured to this burgeoning area to build their lives and raise their children churches across many faiths began to pepper the city religion has always been an important part of gary's social fabric even as early as 1906 catholic parishes orthodox churches and church from schools helped immigrants preserve their culture and traditions they heard Baptists AME non-denominational and other churches with enable blacks to create and control their own religious practices families and faiths went hand in hand I came here as Pat to be pastor of Mount Moriah so I've been in gear at 41 years one of the major draws for me was that there were a lot of people and when I came I found the people very interested in and what I called church minded there were a lot of participation nostalgia is thick with images of bustling vibrant and growing spaces providing steel mills meant other industries sought out this legacy city a robust economy met a strong tax base strong schools and a strong the infrastructure Gary's success was indelibly tied to smokestacks and steel this long arm of US Steel even reached into the religious arena by funding and often controlling many early church's prosperity beckoned people from all walks of life to take advantage of the city's many opportunities and experiences yet Gary's success was based on a fragile relationship between the city and state by the mid 1900s progressively larger numbers of blacks were migrating into the city tensions around the tail of this city were even evident then in 1950 gary was described as one of the most racially segregated cities in the nation yet in 1956 Abadie magazine ranked gary as the best place in the country for blacks to live people wanted to move to Gary because Garrett had it going on you know jobs was good it was just good yeah a larger number of residents also meant war people competing for steel mill drugs political positions and neighborhoods that had once been predominantly white these dramatic economic political and social changes resulted in fear by many whites that they were losing control of the city early efforts in the mid nineteen twenties to 1940s by local chapters of the n-double-a-cp Urban League and UNIA would later converge as black residents became heavily involved in the civil rights movement and demanded equality on [Music] the election of Richard Gordon Hatcher Gary's first black mayor in 1968 seemed to provide the evidence to concerned White's that their fears were warranted the point that made the difference was the election of marriage of Gordon Hatcher as the mayor of the city of Gary the hatch administration caused panic on the part of white citizens they never thought it would happen when it did occur because of panicking people understand how to respond to these kinds of situation they said okay you take over the political process we'll take the Lifeline from you will take the blood from you we'll take the economic based of your community and you will die now we are we on life support right now okay but that would not have happened if it hadn't been for a legislator from from Gary who live in Gary who orchestrated this whole process it seems that the city sort of went downhill and there was a um a white flight if you will when Gary had its first black mayor and so it seems as though things pretty much went downhill as a result of that white businesses left the city the steel mill with its leaving the city and quite frankly leaving the country I think that that really had a devastating impact on the city the tale of Gary's financial woes is linked to national economic restructuring around the 1970s industrial changes would ultimately affect the entire nation only the most prepared cities would weather this storm like other Rust Belt cities the decline of manufacturing jobs had a domino effect on the city's economy primary and secondary businesses as well as middle-class families left the area those changes also resulted in fewer businesses in the downtown area white flight and mounting political tensions only compounded the issue by 2002 about 7,500 steel mill jobs remained in the city and my grandchildren they had to move because it was any jobs for them my sons they had to move it wasn't any jobs and so I think that's some of the reason of course they would like to be here and to work in to just have a life like we had but they can't because of the job situation Gary's painful past and many of its current challenges are the result of political and racial conflict the tensions between the largely black run Democratic City and its predominantly white run Republican state legislature led to political pandering past decisions based on these political rifts represent a specter that continues to haunt the city today well all the dis created some bad relationship with the citizenry Gary both white and black in other group and because of that bad relationship it continued to decrease the population in the power base and Gary in the state of Indiana the law says that for second-class cities in Gary is a second-class City that you're entitled to a three-mile buffer zone where people cannot incorporate within a three mile radius around your your city well they took that away from Gary and it created Miravalle and that was beginning of the death of of Gary because they came in with scare tactics and said Gary is going to die they created this soft lake mall which became the catalyst for the development of Miravalle you know Muriel is a great place now I represent America it's a great place now but we can't forget the genesis of gear has been robbed of its tax base and it's been and that's happened through governmental action it's not something that just suddenly happened it's happened to a government of action and it's said it's the traditional thing that we've seen happen for quite a few years now is that people in government and in position where they can make a decision they've decided that they will serve the corporate interests as opposed to the people interests that's the bottom line some critics suggest that key leaders in Gary at the time could have done more to establish better relationships with the enviado state leaders and legislators however based on the historic chronic racial and political tensions most people and scholars believe it would have been fruitless the isolationism Gary felt led to further economic turmoil however Gary's suburban peers such as a miracle experienced an economic boom Gary residents were forced to shop elsewhere to meet basic household needs but this tenuous political economic and racial landscape is not overshadowed by the social fabric of the city its people almost 100,000 people left Gary largely because of his economic problems yet according to the 2013 census over 78,000 people have stayed the lives experiences and beliefs of the people who remain in Gary provide a different story of this Rust Belt city I've been blessing Gary I live here and I'm like March 11 I'll be 92 and God has allowed me to drive I'm still driving a still able come to Bible study when it's not too bad I come to Sunday school and I'm blessed Gary has a lot of untapped potential there are a lot of diamonds in the rough that people discount there are several entrepreneurs and you know different people at different places that are available in the city of Gary that I always get overlooked because of because everybody likes sir you know looking on the bad things instead of trying to find the good things that are here residents are committed to the city's resurrection but they are equally vocal and honest about Gary's problems and possible solutions the focus on economic related trials is only part of the tale of Gary Gary has a huge image issue everybody sees it as this crime riddled rundown city some of the stuff you can't really do a whole lot about as far as a run-down buildings get the owners to come out here try to fix up they build on soil just to take it from them and lock it down which is kind of what's happening now you getting a lot of these old buildings that nobody's been in nobody's taken care of the starting knocking down a little bit some of the things that needs to happen is again you gotta fix it you gotta work on your image so I get something like some of the stores we go to to come here even if it's just a Walmart or you know a reputable grocery store jobs joblessness I think that's really the biggest issue I think that we could work more closely together to collectively assemble the resources that I needed but a major resource that we lack in Gary is employment I think that if we had adequate employment and adequate education we would be so much better off the biggest challenge facing gearing would probably be and this is just me I don't know if this really hired falls but it would be crime they tore down all those projects in Chicago those peoples came over here oh and so crime was on the rise then you would have the school and then you need to you know create some jobs because if people don't have nothing to make money you know that can contribute to crime also as you're entering to the campus we you will find a memorial that has been placed out front that memorializes those individuals who have been murdered in our city this year we have had about 34 maybe 35 deaths and this memorial has been set out there to just draw attention to where where we are one fundamental element to battling poverty and building a stronger city is education it is also at the top of the list of challenges the city is tackling currently the educational system in Gary is under a microscope but is the glass almost empty or slowly well education is usually seen as the absolute key to quality of life and any kind of regeneration for a region and certainly something that I think is recognized by white people and particularly leaders throughout Northwest Northwest Indiana so I often times look at things as either you part of the solution or you're part of the problem you can sit back and you can complain about this it's not happening or that it's not happening but until you really understand what some of the nuances are and until you really capable are able to commit your time to resolving some of those issues then you really don't need to say as much I believe because when people begin to criticize and talk about the situation is in Geary I believe that brings back or brings about a feeling of hopelessness for people because sometimes the story isn't all told I drove down one Street that in seven years I had never been down this street and I saw one of the close schools that I and I may be exaggerating a little bit but we seem to be as tall as the building one of the assignments you know going back to my students one of the assignments that I give my students I had them walked in neighborhoods and I said I want you to see what these kids see when they walk from their house or their apartment to their school in this city there are just just so there they're just you know abandoned buildings and there's you know abandoned homes is there's homelessness there's the the aesthetics of the city are problematic the education the biggest challenge that's facing in Gary is the education system they need to revamp it if your strategies and your methods are not work it then it's time to read them go back to the table we do something outside just looking in may have written the city off as they offer simplistic remedies or point blade soul-searching and solutions are common among the people who have stayed and their views about what is needed to redeem the city move well beyond just economic solutions I believe the biggest challenge facing Gary Indiana is a sense of hopelessness or Avenue that kind of clouds I believe that once we get people to believe again that we can begin to start to build and build with such a force that we would that we will make the changes that are needed but it all starts somewhere and then starts with the heart a lot of many times and what I feel that's happening right now is that people has have kind of lost faith and when you lose faith hope soon follows and so I believe that if we can restore that hope we were restored of faith and restored began to restore to people and with that you have a valuable population of people that's willing able to serve and that also means that they're probably willing able to work and do the heavy lifting as required to return a community from the bottom to start to move them up to what we consider to be a viable community and I think there are people who would like to see Gary just fall off into the lake you know they see us more connected to Chicago then to the rest of the state so it's a mindset we've had to deal with that mindset and perception is real and so we've had to fight the battle and not just what we need but give us a chance because we're not as bad as you think we are there is this mixture of a sense of hopelessness and a sense of sense of hope and sometimes I believe that those that have a sense of hope don't necessarily know how to bring that hope to fruition and those that have that sense of hopelessness don't know how to get past the hopelessness and so you're at a there's an impasse about how to move forward because there's so many things that have to happen and they almost have to happen at the same time my position is that government can make its best effort but unless you revive the souls of the community then you don't really make as much progress as you could if the groups are working together and you know I always explain to people I said you know I'm a lawyer I understand the Constitution well and the First Amendment doesn't say that government and the church can't work together it says that the government cannot tell you who and where to worship or whether to worship and so we don't do any of that we just work very closely with the faith community despite the challenging circumstances Gary residents have not given up how do they persevere in the face of such odds the presence of local black churches provides a crucial stopgap there are a reported four hundred churches in the city of Gary today roughly one church for every 195 residents beyond the religious influence black churches are linked to the economic political social and cultural life blood of its members I believe the role of the churches especially the black churches in Gary Indiana it's going to be critical to the revitalization the churches serve many different roles in this community one role is that they serve as the I'm going to say the heart of the voice of the people in many cases another world at the church serves as a way to get the message out to the people life ain't fair and and and there's a problem that you don't know exactly how to go about changing it I think that churches should and need to they can step up and show the community how to fight nonviolent action non-violent civic action I think that that would be a just a huge thing that churches could do and that could help to end a lot of the issues that the city is having right now I think based on the number of churches that there are in Gary Indiana I really believe that we as pastors and leaders and church members we really need to come together to really form the community that Christ has called us to form than one and I think if we form that community we can really help to create industry within this city so that we're not always looking out to the government to provide assistance to the city but maybe we can put our funds together my church makes me happy the Trinity makes me Baptist Church which is my church my family makes me happy the the memories that we have you know up in here you know sledding out at Marquette Park and I'm going to the beach and you know different things that we've done what I've done with my with with my parents you know those memories make me happy about the city of Geary you know it gives me hope for the future the things that I've that I did as a child I hope to one day do with my own children in the city of Gary because I want them to see where they came from because it's where I came from faith the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen that is what has enabled many Gary residents to see past the reality of its 10,000 abandoned buildings and high poverty rate to a brighter future for the city Church involvement can provide encouragement organized communication about citywide programs plus it serves as an historic model for social action gradual improvements can be seen through many of the church initiatives my father started in about 1980 with a program called Operation needy which was the first program feeding the hungry he would feed at least at least 2,000 people every week home-cooked fresh meals cooked right there in the kitchen of the church and so here I am some years later now 20-some odd years later doing the same thing we're part of the Northwest Indiana Food Bank so we give food out we cook meals and give clothes out on or at least once or twice a month at our church missionary group has sponsored giveaways where we give school items away in August for the children in December we have a Christmas giveaway spending thousands of dollars and getting stuff for the kids or families that they might have a cheerier Christmas season and also be able to even go back to school and then have the appropriate things that they need for school I'm real proud of our food pantry I want to take it to a higher level and really do more the one church one school was founded by Reverend Henry Williamson senior it is to become a character building program to enrich lives to get parents and the politician the P principle all involved in the school if we can get all of them involved in the school and will churches going into the school houses with foreigners who are committed to go in there not to teach religion but to teach how to empower the boys and girl to become good students building that character a good relationship respect for all people how the maintain the home principle community principle the church principle and all of the understanding that would make the child a toll child who can become a child in the community then go forth and represent the community 11 years ago we saw this need to make our presence more in our community so what we did we more or less organize what we call SWAT as a Street witnessing action team and so the purpose of it is to go out into the community and share what we believe you know and respect to Jesus you know we've got to do something to force more or less some of the changes that we need and that's going to come from like it always has traditionally the churches have been a bedrock of that maintaining hope and in some cases restoring it means turning the tide this means more than just economic improvements many faith-based communities are doing their part to accomplish this Herculean task churches are providing outreach programs for the hungry hurting and homeless yet residents agree that congregations could still the black church has always been a part of the big change in the black communities I think that there's so much that the churches in theory can do we need we need after-school programs like in every church in Gary should be open every day of the week until 9 o'clock at night and there should be programs and I know that there are people in the community who would be happy to help run those programs and the programs are teaching black history they're teaching cooking they're teaching reading they're teaching all the things that these kids need and it's also something for the you know children to do when schools are out well for one I believe that of every church were to take care of of they're all members then it wouldn't be too many you still don't have some that's not coming to church but this shouldn't be a person in church that's need anything or lacking anything I believe that the churches can help Gary become better by becoming the church beyond the four walls Jesus's ministry was not in the temple it was on the streets the woman at the well the woman with the issue of blood they never would have gotten to Jesus in the temple but they did get to him on the street I'm a street pastor I love the streets I'm one who believes that ministry goes beyond the four walls of the church the church is us it's not the building it's us I teach everybody and leadership in our church John Maxwell leadership 101 that makes the statement people don't care how much you know till they know how much you care the efforts of local congregations are helping but many churches are addressing the symptoms and not the underlying causes the root of these issues must be handled for long-term solutions to be found the forward thought is churches to join forces to discover more answers for Gary and their communities to me I feel need to you know come together and and this will work through pastors getting together because you know one church you know it can tackle this community but if pastors can sit down and you know brainstorm think of things that we can see that could help our city then we all can benefit from it Gary leaders and residents are particularly proud of the five by five by five project this initiative unites local government congregations and other volunteers to clean clean and revitalize blighted areas this offsets limited social services and represents an example of broad-based efforts to harness human and economic resources in Gary it would be great as we continue our five by fives because we tend to do six or seven a year to have those churches heavily involved but not to just have one or two churches and communities work together if you look in any neighborhood in the city there are about 10 or 12 churches and so to have those churches work together if they're members out to volunteer then that would really allow us to make a greater impact in the community and very often people say well isn't that the city's job and what I always explain to them is that yes and in a perfect world you would have a city that is able to provide services and do all of those things without any assistance but because Gary has been a challenge City because we lost half of our property tax base then we have to look at other ways to get those essentials done and we found that one of those ways is through the five by five by five projects and it depends heavily on residents and in the faith community as well as our corporate supporters to be involved perfect city that I would like to leave for my children will be clean parks safety better schools a good education jobs beautiful homes and safety as a whole Gary's story has multiple layers because the history of the city is linked to economic and non-economic transformation remedies must also come from more than just one source you know quite honestly I think Gary is and Gary is in the perfect location with you know what ninety or ninety four on one end and you've got eighty right here you're not very far from sixty-five with all of the interstate around the city it just shocks me that the city has had the amount of devastation for the length of time that it's had the devastation I really think it's in a great place hopefully the mayor will capitalize and I'm sure she's working to capitalize on the location of Gary I mean with with one of the Great Lakes right here in the city it's in the perfect location but it's really just a matter of industry or the lack thereof we believe that our job is really to diversify the city's economy I think one of the challenges of being too dependent on industry was that once industry went down the city went down and so now we're looking at transportation we're looking at recreation we're looking at medical and educational institutions as being a part of Gary's resurgence and all of those are existing institutions that make perfectly good sense for Gary to to be a part of Gary's new economy and and then we have had some demolition it's also you know in works now where they demolish and a lot of old buildings you know so they no longer be an eyesore and in downtown the Sheraton it's in the process of being torn out finally so so so those are some things I'm really glad to see because it just says that I'm mayor she has a vision and and she do believe that the infrastructure you know abandoned buildings and and things like this just need to be removed so we can have the city presented you know in a better light infrastructure improvements are being coupled with several innovative educational partners Indiana University in Northwest Ivy Tech and the city are working together to provide current residence at interested non residents with education and training to better position them for an increasingly more competitive job market they are also providing graduates with employment incentives to stay in the city city leaders suggest the success of these partnerships is slowly but sure the University Park plan is about revitalization of our neighborhood and takes advantage of the fact that along 35th Avenue there is an education corridor at one end is Indiana University Northwest at the other is the Gehry campus of Ivy Tech Community College Northwest the the idea is to develop more commercial investment more more housing more diverse housing for potential residents and as part of that Indiana University has committed to building a 45 million dollar building on Broadway at Broadway and 35th which will also serve Ivy Tech they will occupy part of the building and partnership with us and being able to secure that building was a good example of partnership with the city because in addition to Indiana University assigning priority to securing those funding from the state for this building the city were along with the Northwest Indiana legislative delegation was very active you know in in working in its behalf with the legislature and I think it was a good example of a team effort we've been an integral part of the Gehry community for about 50 years now and doing that over that 50 years we've seen the ups and downs of the community and more than one way whether it was from work force being at his prime with the steel mills to currently where we're kind of on a decline but inching up that upswing where we're looking at new and innovative ways and techniques of not only training but also as we look at new careers an industry that's been formed we're actually going into the schools right now with our dual credit program in our early college and just this year alone we had seven graduates from a failing school and Gary graduated with their associate's degree before the high school diploma so I think that we're making tremendous inroads and actually dispelling the myth that Gary schools are failing and I like to say how can you have a failing school we have a college graduate that no other schools in Northwest Indiana or in the state of Indiana well that fact has graduated students with associate's degrees before their high school diplomas I've seen many improvements in Gary I thank God we most of our streets are paved it now which has been a complaint for our community and I guess my biggest issue is that while yet we were complaining now that it's being done let's start rejoicing about it let's talk about the good things that are happening rather than always focusing on the bad I've seen major things the building's old dilapidated buildings me down which is gonna make a better scenery forget going up and down Broadway some things are being torn down parks are being cleaned up people are being helped our youth are being helped we need to find more functions for them but I use a being come more things are being geared towards the bringing up of our youth so that they won't leave I am thankful that I came back to give happy whites me will you ever leave yes when I retired I retire I want to go someplace where it's worth but now I'm called to this place I've had other offers to go other places but this is where I'm caught because I see it becoming a greater city like so many people of color historic Gary residents today refused to be defined in economic terms despite prevailing stereotypes and very real financial challenges they know they are more than the coins in a purse figures on a ledger or numbers on a page Gary's poverty rate of 38 percent stands in stark contrast to the state at national rates of around 15 percent yet views about what makes someone cool so just a deeper understanding of humanity suffering and resumes as far as officer when we were growing up they say that we're poor but we never knew it you know because we never went out we never went like it for nothing we always have food we always had this well we might have not had the best but in our eyes we were rich but from somebody else's perspective we were poor and it's like so to me being poor is not having the basic needs because you can have the basic needs and still be just as rich in my eyes you know that's how I'm looking at me because if I got what I'm okay if I got you know peanut butter crackers you can eat you know then it's shelter that's survival so to me being poor is not having the basic necessities food shelter water you know it's amazing that when you poor you don't know you're poor that and I just always say in front of the legislation there's a difference between being poor poor and being cold I think we were polled cause it was even though future poorness was so so pronounced that you could you didn't have all the letters of the word you at the poll part of it well I like the Bible say you can be poor in spirit you know you just don't have nothing on the inside of you whether you realize it or not you can not have anyone to care about you you know all of that is still in a poor state of mind but you know we don't usually look at things like that as being poor poor is lack of hope not being able to do what you need to do I guess we can be poor financially we can be poor spiritually we can be poor emotionally there different levels of being poor but they all have in common is lack of hope being poor as a state of mind I believe that being poor is what your mind perceives not what your pocket believes I believe that to be poor says that I don't have all that I need but I have the things that are a necessity for me to live on a daily basis not just as in much quantity as I desire it to be and so do I believe that the city of Gary is poor no I just don't I don't believe that we're poor I don't believe that we're broke for one reason I just believe in speaking something different than what everybody else is trying to make us speak I don't believe we're broken I don't believe we poor because we're rich in heritage rich in property we're where this city is it has the ability to be great and greatness is here you know for me when I think of the word poor I really think about being poor in spirit it's not about money it's not about whether or you have resources or not but it's really about how you view yourself and so when you look at Gary I don't think about poor I think about resilience I think about opportunity I think about really looking towards the future to rebuild and I think that when we look at it that way then you can't be anything but excited and hopeful and optimistic about our future strong bonds are being forged with people and organizations in surrounding Northwest Indiana that believe in the city and continue to support its revitalization efforts the hope for harvest walk and run is just one example of the people of Geary and surrounding areas uniting around the common cause of community engagement the food bank of Northwest Indiana's 5k Hope harvest walk run what that means for us here in our community is today we're raising over sixty thousand dollars it also means that we're going to be able to put meals on the table in our community it means that the agencies will participate in this on walk run one hundred percent of those proceeds actually go back to those agencies and they use that money to ensure that there's food on the table that their pantry shelves are full and that's really what it's all about it's making sure that there's ample food nutritional food healthy food that we're able to give out to our family friends and neighbors here in Northwest Indiana the wealth of Gary lies in its people it lies in its churches in its alliances with other local organizations and institutions inside the city and in Northwest Indiana the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few however those who have remained in Gary seem ready willing and able they have rolled up their sleeves to do the hard work necessary to rebuild their city they realized that hope and faith without works is dead and they are ready to work together on behalf of the city of journey the greatest strength will be the churches because we it's a lot of Christians in the city of Cary and we joked but it is and I think I greatest strength is our spiritual foundation our churches you know the praying sisters and brothers and praying pastors you know I think prayer is there's power in prayer and I think that that's really was keeping the city going to peak the praying people yes one of the greatest strengths of Gary is his people and I believe that the people are the greatest strength that we have as a nation but also Gary has something that's I believe a second tonight and it is its infrastructure and that infrastructure in terms of transportation technology educational institutions if you look at the way that Gary is laid out and the way that Gary was built it was built on a grid system there was a planned city and with that we have rail highways that can take you from New York to California will take you from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico so we are true crossroads of America the strength I think is the fact that we still have a lot of people I was there great majority other people in here in the city that are lower body.that [Music] believe in family and believe in friends that believe that the government can work for all of its citizens people who believe in and in the basic worth of humanity and we'll put that belief into practice I have faith and hope in the city of Gary I believe that the prayers that I prayed another set free the faith and hope that we have that the city will bounce back I may not be here to see it but I do believe it will because we have so much potential we have so so many natural resources here and that that the majority race once and they're gonna come back at some point the resilience of an oppressed people those poor who are here and are trying in a positive way to be successful we can work towards making things better for us here in the city if we are strong together if we are unified together if we're coming together to do those things that need to be done and it has to start with all of us you know doing whatever we can to support the leadership to do whatever we can't even our own communities you know to make sure we keep you know them clean and so everybody has a part in it Jay I think Gary's gonna come back it has to come back again because there are folks here who want to see it happen there are people here that are trying to work to make it happen I think it can happen when all of those people come together not only do I think Ares going to come back I believe you're gonna it's gonna come back and I see it coming back it seems like no matter how hard the city gets kicked and kicked and stepped on and stepped on it fights back it's still here people are still living they're still making make in a way when you think about being an American and you know anyway Americans are even when I was in the military you're always talking to keep fighting until you can't do it anymore and the city is just it keeps fighting every time it seems like everybody's counted us out we found another way to advance to do something else to make it a little bit better as we were going that road to coming back to hopefully coming back to prominence the greatest strength in the city I believe are those who have stayed through the struggle and have kept the faith the faithful is our biggest strength what does help Gary survive the faithful what I like to call the remnant those who struggled and stayed those who did not like what happened but stay it's almost like having grandma's quilt the pieces that a lot of people thought weren't worth anything the scraps that grandma took and knitted them together and made a cook that kept us warm the one thing that the late Rudy clay said about this city which I thoroughly agree is that scary is a city with people who have strong faith that's our strength strength of our churches strength of our community strength of our neighborhoods to believe to have faith that things he'll get are getting bigger right residents and families that love Gary sacrifice their resources from the path to city wide Redemption this story cannot fully capture the lives legacy experiences struggles and joys of the people who still call Gary Indiana home but it does provide a glimpse of the soul and structure of this urban space the tale of this adaptive resilient city poised on the brink of resurrection is still [Music] why no Gary will come back when I look at all of the people who come to help whether they're Gary residents or Gary natives or not when I look at the sense of hope that is building and the residents of our community I know that Gary is on its way back [Music] Amazing Race persley the sound let's say rich like but now was fine [Music] dangerous I [Music] was crazy [Music] and when we [Music] mm bright side [Music] No to see not ray we first be [Music] many changes [Music] through [Music] it was a pain [Music]

Channel: Vanderbilt University

Views: 492,726

Keywords: Vanderbilt University, anderbilt Peabody College, Religion, Urban Poverty and Remedies, Race

Id: uVNKiGCD9r0

Length: 56min 36sec (3396 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 14 2018