Video, Dayton: And The America Left Behind

[appalachiablue]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by DonViejo (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Last edited Thu Sep 13, 2018, 01:14 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: ProPublica

Sept. 13, 2018, 11:34 a.m.

In a ProPublica/Frontline collaboration, reporter Alec MacGillis tells the story of Dayton, Ohio, revealing not only the profound struggles of a former industrial powerhouse- but also the rapidly growing economic and social divide among cities.

The many woes of the Rust Belt and the industrial heartland have been frequently dissected since the election of Donald Trump (and less often, before it). Even as large portions of the country thrive, unemployment, poverty and opiate addiction continue to ravage huge swaths of the nation, including Dayton, Ohio.

Once a backbone of the U.S. auto industry, the city has never recovered from the loss of its stalwart employers. Dayton is the laboratory through which reporter Alec MacGillis, as part of a collaboration between ProPublica and Frontline, examined an America that is suffering even as the nation's economy booms.

In addition to showing the searing human cost of a long-term economic collapse, MacGillis reveals a divide that is rarely acknowledged. Beyond the often chronicled gap between urban and rural in the U.S., there is a growing chasm between cities- those that have soared in a winner-take-all society, and those that have been left behind. - Brief article, end.

Read more: https://www.propublica.org/article/video-dayton-and-the-america-left-behind

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*Watch VIDEO at the Link: Intro. & Full Program.

A well done report covering many factors involved in decline, diverse residents, and attempts at recovery by cities like Dayton.

Stream at ProPublica, now airing on PBS Frontline TV stations, and at the PBS website online.

PREVIEW. Dayton, Ohio was once a hub for innovation and industry, before businesses shut down or moved away. Then came the Great Recession. In its aftermath, part-time, low-wage work rather than full-time work with benefits has often become the new normal in cities like Dayton. FRONTLINE and ProPublica go inside one American city's struggle to recover.

[erpowers]

1. Interesting and Very Informative

I watched the show Tuesday and it was extremely interesting and informative. It discussed how Dayton became prosperous due to businesses like National Cash Register and GM having factories. It then discussed white flight, redlining, and the effects of those things had on Dayton and its black community. Next, it talked about how things started to get worse as a result of NAFTA and other changes. After that they discussed the rise and effect of the opioid epidemic. Finally, it discussed the hope of rebirth that is being brought about by immigrants.

[appalachiablue]

2. Agree, I watched and thought they did a very good job covering many

aspects in the case of Dayton and other American cities.

[Tobin S.]

3. I'm originally from Dayton.

I moved from there in 2011.

General Motors had a plant there called the Truck and Bus Plant. I think they closed it in 2006 or somewhere around there. It cost the city 6000 jobs at the plant, let alone all the people working at auxiliary facilities and the truckers supplying the parts. It was a huge deal for a town of 250,000 people. I was one of the casualties when GM moved out. I had a trucking route that delivered transmissions to the plant.

[OilemFirchen]

4. Dayton's west side, almost exclusively African American, represents about 40% of the population.

There is not one grocery store to serve them.

Then there's this:

Being black in Dayton: Can’t close the money gap

In 2015, the median annual income for white people in Montgomery County was $39,925, according to the report. Black people earned $17,000 less, or $22,197.

That chasm helps explain why about about 32.5 percent of black residents in Montgomery County live in poverty, compared to 12.3 percent of whites, the report says, citing 2015 data.

Workers of all races have had more success finding work as the economy has improved. But disparities are not significantly improving.

In the Dayton metro area, the unemployment rate last year was 13.1 percent for black workers and 5.7 percent for white ones, according to the national State of Black America 2017 report.

[DonViejo]

6. Locking...

A feature story containing opinion and analysis. The history of the who, what and why an American city collapsed economically is not LBN, it's analysis and opinion