“They put a spirit of justice in me.” Editing by Welcome Project intern Brandi Casada. Hold a Conversation Can you imagine leading a conversation about this story? Where? With whom? What kinds of questions would you pose? (See How to use the questions for reflection for one approach.) Please email your questions to us or post them […]
Racism Is a Disease
“Until you change inside, all the laws you can pass ain’t gonna do a bit of good.” Produced by Emmanuel Higgins for Flight Paths. Thanks to Mr. Allison for sharing this story. Transcript for Racism Is a Disease I grew up right here in Gary. I was born here in 1938. Gary used to […]
Wrong Side of the Tracks
“When he found out we were from Aetna, he never spoke to us again.” Produced and edited for the Welcome Project by Rebecca Werner and Brandi Casada. Transcript for Wrong Side of the Tracks The different areas of town, that was something that folks took a big pride in, we all did. Of course in […]
Demonized Community
“… people bought into this notion that no one wants to live in Gary…” Editing by Welcome Project intern Brandi Casada. Transcript for Demonized Community The first neighborhood that I remember growing up in was on the East Side of Gary on Massachusetts Street. And my parents brought me home from the hospital there, […]
Black Mecca
“That period of time—growing up in Gary, Indiana, I would not want to be anywhere else in the world.” Editing by Welcome Project intern Brandi Casada. Transcript for Black Mecca 1967 is when Mayor Hatcher won. And I was at Bailey then. That was an exciting time for me because on the weekends, we would […]
Veiled Racism
“It was legislated white flight… this was actually extremely deliberate.” Produced by Rebecca Werner with interviews recorded by StoryCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives. Storytellers in Veiled Racism are volunteers with Gary’s […]
We Just Want to Run
“…it is actually possible for something so wrong to go on with everybody just assuming it’s normal.” This story is part of our Flight Paths initiative. Produced by Rebecca Werner for the Welcome Project. Transcript for We Just Want to Run Race was never discussed around me. Nobody on the block would ever talk about […]
Homestead
“They came in their covered wagon to Merrillville…” Transcript for Homestead Well, I just did my DNA thing, and it’s basically Western European. That’s traced back to 212 AD. This is the family history; this is the oldest house – my great grandparents. It was homestead in 1852. He came from Erie, Pennsylvania. He […]
Really Nice Subdivision
“I think that a lot of the affluent white people here, if you really got inside their heads, they’d just prefer it to be lily-white.” This story is part of our Flight Paths initiative. Produced by Rebecca Werner for the Welcome Project. Transcript for Really Nice Subdivision In my neighborhood, in Glen Park, nobody had […]