The revolution is in your heart
A response to the NPR report on Tuesday
By Jim Youngquist
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[November 13, 2013]
Kelly McEvers' article about Lincoln struck
like a big bomb. Emails were flying back and forth, and Facebook was
alive with comments asking how she could do this to her hometown.
Most were concerned about how she only portrayed Lincoln's seedy
side, about how she said everything was in decline, and how could
she simply miss all the good things that were happening here. Seth
Goodman said that if she came back and spent another week here, he
could show her all the positive things that were happening in her
former hometown.
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We cannot know McEvers' motivation for this article. But if we
carefully trace the trajectory of her shot across our bow, we can
see that she wasn't aiming at Lincoln or its citizens. Her critiques
weren't for our ears or to cause damage here. She isn't saying we
did anything wrong or could help what she sees happening here. The
shot she fired was aimed far from our local citizens and
politicians, and even beyond our state politics. McEvers fired her
shot at Washington, D.C., and used her hometown of Lincoln to
criticize the policies of our national government and how this has
affected the Midwest. The result, however, is that we feel like her
victims. Perhaps she had really done us a great favor. We have
seldom felt that the Washington bureaucracy was paying any attention
to us at all. Now we are in the national news, and the reality that
there are real needs here has finally come to light.
WHAT SHE GOT WRONG
-
Lincoln isn't a
boarded-up town, and the Depot doesn't have any boards on the
windows or the doors. It has been locked up for about five
years, but it isn't falling down or boarded up. The Depot seems
frozen in time, awaiting a new purpose, a renaissance if you
will, and new owners.
-
Perhaps it was a
piece of creative journalism or the catch of the century, but no
one can seem to remember seeing anyone sleeping on the benches
around the Depot since Harold the bicycle man left Lincoln. It
is not a commonplace experience to see any homeless citizens
lying on park benches catching z's. That is not to say there are
not homeless people here, but most of Lincoln's homeless go from
couch to couch in someone else's home rather than spending their
days and nights in the great outdoors. Lincoln's social services
network is alive and well and serving the needs of our
community.
-
McEvers wrote that
she met up with a former schoolmate who said that every member
of his family now had a gun and was trained to use that gun for
protection because these were dangerous times. Perhaps a number
of Logan County citizens legally own firearms, but there is no
current movement to arm the populace because of any paranoia
that we are all in danger and what you have might be taken from
you unless you can protect it with deadly force. The fact is
that the law just changed in Illinois, allowing trained citizens
the right to conceal carry. This is a good advancement in
self-protection, bringing Illinois on par with most of the rest
of the nation.
-
McEvers seemed to be making a point
that there was a drug bust during her stay in Lincoln. The
Midwest is awash in drugs, like every other area in the U.S. She
pointed out that the recipient of the marijuana was to be a
14-year-old male. This doesn't mean that every 14-year-old
Lincoln male is now receiving drugs and selling them. McEvers
seems to be inferring drama where none really exists. What she
really saw is how good Ken Greenslate is for this community and
how good he is at his job. Law enforcement and drug enforcement
is at work here in Lincoln.
[to top of second column] |
-
McEvers cites that
Lincoln is just another example of the long, slow decline of
Midwestern small towns. She quotes, the escalator is broken, but
it isn't an escalator or an elevator, but rather a pendulum. And
the pendulum in Lincoln swings back and forth. We experience
growth, and change, and decline and change, and so forth. Right
now the census is down about a thousand citizens, but small
Midwestern towns experience drops in population when major
upheavals happen. Lincoln lost that thousand citizens when
then-Gov. Ryan closed down Lincoln Developmental Center because
of some petty political rivalry, and then he went to prison. The
former developmental center awaits a new use and a revival. The
real story: People follow jobs and money.
-
McEvers touched on the fact that the
middle class is in decline in America and in the Midwest, that
people may be going back to work, but it is at lower wage jobs.
What she failed to get right is that although national
economists say that making $16-$18 an hour is barely making a
living wage, in our local economy $16-$18 an hour is really a
pretty good wage. The median household income in Illinois in the
last census was $56,576 (and the national median household wage
was $52,762), usually with two wage earners. At the lower $16
per hour, that is a full-time income of $33,280 per year. If
there are two wage earners working full time in a household here
in Lincoln, they exceed the median income cited in the last
census. It takes less to live in Lincoln, Ill., than it does in
Peoria, Chicago or New York City, which is where the so-called
national economists certainly must be thinking about.
WHAT SHE GOT RIGHT
- What McEvers seemed to be saying is that she cares about
what is happening in her hometown and wants people nationwide to
know that she cares. What she failed to notice and write in her
article is that we care, too.
Facebook was alive with comments from citizens of Logan County
who care. We are a people who stand up and work hard to make things
happen and make things improve. We are proud and patient and
hardworking and kind. We work hard for the revival of our community
economically and strive to bring about a renaissance in every sense.
Rather than criticize, we invite McEvers to visit again. The next
time, as Seth Goodman says, we will surely help her see all the good
stuff.
[By JIM YOUNGQUIST]
Click here to respond to the editor about this
article.
Article by Kelly McEvers:
Reinventing The Dwindling Middle Class May Take A Revolution |