![]() ![]() The State has taken control of the Gary schools.Ĭertainly, economics has played a part. Where eight public high schools once existed, now only three remain. While the city's population has fallen by about 50% since the mid-1960s (to about 80,000), the school population has fallen even more precipitously, to about one-eighth of its former 48,000 students at peak. This helped fuel white flight to the subuerbs, leaving Gary a predominately black city, a majority of its residents poor. Children without fathers in the home are brought up in an environment of disobedience, crime and violence, and a lack of respect for authority. In 1960, most children in the Gary schools came from two-parent familiies. Ironically, illegitimacy was higher among whites than it was among blacks by a few tenths of a percent in 1950 (it was only 14% in Harlem in 1940). But the effect among blacks was far more pronouned, rising to over 73% nationlally. ![]() With passage of LBJ's so-called "Great Society" in the late 1960s, Gary, like most urban centers, witnessed a steady rise in illegitimacy among blacks, but also among whites. Horace Mann's demise mirrored that of other schools in Gary. Call the white elephant in the room-institutionalized or implicit racism. I think there's something called a double standard applied to people of color and minorities in our society. We don't say negative things "like total disrespect for the law" to white communities that have undergone economic change, do we? We seem to have more compassion. Just call it what it is ok and don't blame on the victims of dispossessed economic opportunities. What happened to Detroit was plain out corporate disregard, racism at all levels and white flight. I believe that if these places if given attention by the powers to be & grassroots folks who care about these towns and give folks opportunities, there is progress. I grew up in one of those rust belt community about 2 hours away and we were all hard working. They didn't give a crap about hard working folks of all colors. ![]() In most communities, where they once thrived, the corporations decided long ago to abandoned for cheaper wages overseas. ![]()
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