You spend 5 yrs driving around America & some towns linger in your mind, their history, images, & the stories told in them bubbling up to the surface. For me, one of those is Cairo Illinois. (Pronounced Kay-Ro, by locals) (1/N)

A tiny town on a small V shaped wedge of land at intersection of the Mississippi & Ohio rivers, it has dwindled from a peak population of 15,000 in 1920 to 2,000 now. And almost all of them are black & many live in subsidized housing complex that is falling apart (2/N)

Cairo is now a proverbial "ghost town" or the classic "town left behind", but with 2,000 people living there.

Its history is a stark metaphor for a story that has played out across all of the US, one filled with an interviewing of economic upheaval and racism. (3/N)

Here the Economy fell apart prior to de-industrialization as its role as shipping hub was bypassed

But the lessons on what happened after are damningly similar

After the decline, much of the white population left, leaving behind a black population with little chance (4/N)

This process escalated dramatically after July 16th 1967, when Robert Hunt, a 19-yr old black man, died in police custody

Already frustrated from decades of intense racial inequality, the protest became “riots”. Eventually armed groups took aim at each other (5/N)

The phrasing, riots or protest, depends on race of who you ask, or who is doing the writing. 



You can read some of what took place on Wikipedia, but there are wonderful books that also talk about this period. Like, "Let My People Go" (6/N)

https://www.amazon.com/Let-My-People-Go-1967-1973/dp/080932086X

Most black residents didn’t have resources to leave or a place that would accept them

Some stayed because family was more important than fighting for a career against long odds

But businesses left & revenues collapsed & nobody could get a bank to loan them $s anyways (7/N)

So now Cario has no jobs, beyond working for the city or state, and few stores ("The nearest WalMart is over 40 miles away!")

There is a gas station/Bodega (run by a recent Jordanian immigrant) and a Dollar store. That is about it. (8/N)

If you read my book you will have read the short poetic rant of this young woman who lives in the "projects". It is a rant in the best sense of that word, a rant that I will never forget (9/N)

I think it is a fitting way to end this. But please, and I rarely say this, it is worth your time to read deeper into Cairo’s history.

It really is a sad & depressing metaphor for so much of our country (10/N)