Author: Christina J Wally
Translator: Zhang Yiming
Publisher: Sanlian Bookstore for Life, Reading, and New Knowledge
Publication date: January 1, 2024
introduction
One morning when I was 14 years old, my mother walked into my bedroom and shook me awake. Don't worry, "she whispered," it's okay. They called the ore boat back, but it'll be okay. "I don't know why we have to worry about where the paddle boat went, but in a half dream, I followed her words and continued to sleep. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
Looking back now, on that cold March morning, my mother with blackened eyes wanted to both reassure me and comfort herself that everything would be okay. At that time, she didn't even want to tell me what had happened. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
In fact, recalling ore ships from the center of Lake Michigan meant the collapse of Wisconsin Steel Company. In other words, my father, who worked as a shear worker at a factory in the southeast of Chicago, has lost his job. Don't forget to share your experience!
The main lender of the factory predicts that the factory's finances are about to collapse and has reclaimed ownership of the iron ore on the cargo ship, urging the Coast Guard to intercept the ship and prevent it from docking. This caused other creditors of the factory to cancel their mortgage redemption rights, leading to the bankruptcy of Wisconsin Steel Company. What do you think about this?
At that time, there was chaos and the bankruptcy of the factory severely disrupted my and my family's lives. Our lives were instantly divided into 'before the factory closed' and 'after the factory closed'. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
It has been proven that my mother's delay in telling me what happened was due to the significant change caused by the recall of the ore ship, which will change all of us. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
Wisconsin Steel Company after bankruptcy (authorized for use by the Southeastern History Museum in Chicago)
On March 28, 1980,Wisconsin Steel Company Suddenly BankruptsThis indicates that significant events will occur in Chicago, once one of the world's largest steel production areas, and the Karumet region in northwest Indiana. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Starting from the early 1980s, other steel mills in the southeast of Chicago also went bankrupt one after another.At their peak, these steel mills employed 35000 workers. Meanwhile, another 55000 jobs have been lost near the Indiana border. Even the small surviving steel factories in Indiana have seen a continuous decrease in the number of workers. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
When the steel industry collapsed here in the 1980s and early 1990s, my family and other residents were all dumbfounded, desperately trying to figure out what was happening right now. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Some people painfully argue that this is even worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s. They said that at least after the Great Depression, steel mills would resume operations and people could continue to live. And this time, the steel plant has disappeared forever. Their collapse will also dismantle the social structure that has supported several generations. Don't forget to share your experience!
In 1982, the closed Wisconsin Steel Yard (authorized for use by the Southeastern Museum of History in Chicago)
I am currently living in a livable university town and writing this book as a middle-class professor.
Not long after the collapse of Wisconsin Steel, I began a new journey in life. On my 16th birthday, I left Chicago and went to a wealthy boarding school on the East Coast to study. I am a scholarship student at school, and the campus is filled with brick and tile buildings covered in ivy and students who are either wealthy or wealthy. At that time, my family situation took a sharp turn for the worse, while my own life seemed to be thriving. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
For a girl from a working-class background in the southeast of Chicago, this transformation is very difficult. Just as the collapse of Wisconsin Steel completely disrupted my and my family's original world, my later educational experiences once again disrupted my life. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
In a country where most people are unwilling to talk about social class, I've found that it's difficult for me to express the sense of disconnection between my family and school. These two fundamentally different worlds seem to be accelerating their pace and gradually moving away. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
In 1980, workers from the Wisconsin Steel Plant marched and protested in downtown Chicago. Copyright belongs to Chicago Tribune
Although Americans believe that individuals have the ability to reshape themselves, I find it not so easy to let go of their past. The collapse of my world and the impact of deindustrialization on my family and neighbors have always left me feeling fearful and apprehensive; The difficult transition in my teens still makes me uneasy. At that time, I was shuttling between the two poles of American class, and before that, I knew nothing about it. I can even feel my class background shaping me now: how I speak or remain silent in this world, my worldview, and even the chemical composition in my body when diagnosed with cancer (now cured). Have you tried this before? Share your story!
But I can't let go of this history not only for personal reasons, but also because this experience sharply reflects some bigger issues. On the one hand, it reveals the cost of long-standing class divisions in the United States, and on the other hand, it also exposes the problems of increasing economic inequality in recent decades. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
My parents' generation was born and raised shortly after World War II, when the middle class in the United States was growing. They assume that narrowing the wealth gap is the future trend. On the contrary, many observers point out that this period was the anomaly of history. In recent years, the level of inequality in the United States has reached its highest level since the 1920s and even the era of "robber tycoons" in 1890. The increasing inequality has become one of the prominent features of our era. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
In the United States, conservatives and liberals have long debated the social impact of economic inequality. Liberals tend to believe that high inequality is fundamentally unjust and anti democratic, while conservatives believe that as long as I've found that it's accompanied by social mobility, inequality can bring greater vitality. But some researchers say that social mobility in the United States has stagnated. Although the United States was once known for upward mobility and the 'American Dream', today, Europe, once seen as a representative of class stratification, has more opportunities for upward mobility than the United States. Don't forget to share your experience!
So, should the desire to expand the middle class after World War II be simply seen as a historical interlude between two gilded eras? I believe that this transformation actually means that we need to pause, reassess, and reflect on how the United States has embarked on this path, and at what cost. What do you think about this?
In this book, I explore these issues from two perspectives. Firstly, I contemplate how the escalating economic inequality in the United States is linked to the consequences of deindustrialization, which is a class phenomenon opposite to Wall Street's excessive financial behavior. Secondly, I reflect on how my cross class journey reflects the widespread influence of social classes in the United States. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
These statistics are cold and cannot reveal the social reality behind them. I also came home to prepare for field research in the southeast of Chicago, and only then did I truly see this society undergoing transformation. I remember when I was a child, Karumet's factory operated day and night, with thick black smoke covering the entire area. When people drive through the Indiana Turnpike to enter the area, the pungent smell and smoke from the steel plant hit their faces. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
And now, although the remaining small portion of Indiana's steel industry is still producing steel, all the steel mills in the southeast of Chicago have disappeared. The air is much fresher, "the residents said sorrowfully," but the thriving prosperity here has also disappeared. "Despite the false prosperity of Indiana's waterfront casinos and some communities maintaining a middle-class lifestyle, large areas here are dominated by wooden houses, vacant land, and abandoned storefronts. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
The highway exit ramp leading to the old steel mill block in the southeast of Chicago is numbered "0".
My father once explained that because the boundary of the southeastern part of Chicago begins at the state border between the Indiana Turnpike and the Chicago Elevated, the exit ramp is actually located at zero miles. However, the huge "0" on the road sign freezes a feeling that this is a forgotten area. Despite the strong development of the steel plant, active community economy, and the widespread recognition of manufacturing as the economic lifeline of the country, the southeastern part of Chicago was still overlooked by other areas of Chicago. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
For most Chicagoans, this is a little-known place that flies over elevated roads. When I live in Chicago, sometimes I tell other Chicagoans that I come from a community in the southeast of Chicago - the East Side. Some people may awkwardly ask, "What's the East Side? Chicago doesn't have an East Side! Do you live on Lake Michigan?" This impression will only become more extreme after deindustrialization, as toxic brownfields have replaced active industries. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
The sign on ramp 0 aptly summarizes the feeling of a deindustrialized no man's land, with nowhere to go. Nowadays, residents in the southeast of Chicago continue their lives off the exit ramp. Old residents often cling to memories of the past, while the younger generation brings another kind of history and hope. What do you think about this?
However, those huge abandoned industrial spaces will still be empty decades later. This is a striking reminder of how the past continues to dominate the present. The half-life of deindustrialization is becoming increasingly long and unbearable. Have you tried this before? Share your story!
