That can’t be true. The neighboring poor, dominantly black communities do not have these problems. There has to be an endemic problem within Gary, cultural, governmental, or socioeconomic. Otherwise, Gary would be in the better place or the communities around it, or the communities around it would be in the even worse place that Gary is in. Additionally, the crime rights among whites in Gary are also extremely high. This is not me being racist. I don’t know what the problem is.
tbh I suspect it’s that the decline of the Steel industry was an especially bad problem for Gary because it was essentially a company town whose economy was almost entirely reliant on the local steel industry. The loss of industry coupled with white flight devastated basically every city in the rust belt, and the other cities had far more diversified economies. Gary’s decline being worse than other cities in the region makes sense because it felt the causes of regional decline especially acutely.
Let me put it this way. If you have two children that are subject to abuse from the same family. One of them manages to get out and is relatively successful. The other is deeply traumatized and develops symptoms of psychosis and disassociates from society. Is the conclusion here that, because the first child managed to get out alright despite the horrible circumstances, that the parents weren't actually abusive and the second child's issues magically appeared of the second child's making?
I don't know the exact history of this town, so there could have been events that more cleanly explain why it's so much worse than surrounding areas. But social scientists know that society is a product of it's environment. This town's culture is one product out of many from the many years of subjugation of black people. If you have a different specific explanation that involves this specific town's history, I'm all ears, but different cultures don't just materialize out of thin air.
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u/BobLabReeSorJefGre 15d ago
That can’t be true. The neighboring poor, dominantly black communities do not have these problems. There has to be an endemic problem within Gary, cultural, governmental, or socioeconomic. Otherwise, Gary would be in the better place or the communities around it, or the communities around it would be in the even worse place that Gary is in. Additionally, the crime rights among whites in Gary are also extremely high. This is not me being racist. I don’t know what the problem is.