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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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

It Takes Time

“I can’t imagine why some forward-thinking company wouldn’t want to do something…” This story is part of our Flight Paths initiative. Produced by Rebecca Werner for the Welcome Project. Transcript for It Takes Time Anybody that I’ve ever talked to about Gary has the same view that I do: that’s it’s a total lost cause. […]

Division Road

“There can be some tension.  But it doesn’t seem to be that way, especially in this northwest area up here.” 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 […]

Dodged A Bullet

“I don’t know why I was anxious. I guess everything just looked so distressed.” This story is part of our Flight Paths initiative. Produced by Rebecca Werner for the Welcome Project. Transcript for Dodged A Bullet I took music lessons from a guy that lived in downtown Gary, so I had to get on the […]

You Have to Have Places

“We trained people to go south—to see entertainment, to shop, to eat.”   This story is part of our Flight Paths initiative. 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 […]

Iron Curtain

“You know, growing up, race was never discussed… There were no signs: ‘Whites only,’ ‘Blacks only.’” This story is part of our Flight Paths initiative. To find more stories from Flight Paths, click here. It was produced by Rebecca Werner for the Welcome Project. Transcript for Iron Curtain In my neighborhood, in Glen Park, nobody […]