THIRD WORLD In America__ The COLLAPSE of Jackson
.
.
#ThirdWorldAmerica
#CollapseOfJackson
#JacksonCrisis
#AmericanDecline
#UrbanCollapse
#LessonsFromJackson
#ResilienceInCrisis
#VoicesOfJackson
#ReviveJackson
#BehindTheCollapse
.
.
#ThirdWorldAmerica
#CollapseOfJackson
#JacksonCrisis
#AmericanDecline
#UrbanCollapse
#LessonsFromJackson
#ResilienceInCrisis
#VoicesOfJackson
#ReviveJackson
#BehindTheCollapse
Category
🏖
TravelTranscript
00:00Whether you agree with Joe Biden or not, he was right on when at LaGuardia Airport he
00:08noted,
00:09I must be in some third-world country. In a country as rich as ours, it's hard to believe
00:13that many parts of it can look like the developing world. From the pre-renovated LaGuardia Airport
00:19to Detroit or from Chicago to San Francisco, some parts of this country are falling apart.
00:25Leading the pack is Jackson, Mississippi. And let's be real, Mississippi is hardly a
00:29bastion of tourism and excitement. It is routinely ranked as the 50th worst state to live in,
00:35and there are more jokes about the state being backwards than there are about Alabama. Or
00:40maybe that's a tie. The state is famous for bearing the namesake of the most famous river
00:45in the country, but that is eclipsed by its fame for all the wrong reasons, like the acquittal
00:50of Emmett Till's murderers to having one of the nation's lowest life expectancies.
00:55And its capital city offers no redeeming qualities. From crumbling infrastructure and crime to
01:00government corruption and urban decay, it's hard to believe that you are still in the
01:04United States when traveling through Jackson. In this video, we'll look at the decline of
01:09Jackson and the top seven reasons that make it less than ideal, to put it politely.
01:15Number seven is for sure it's crime. It's ranked a four out of a hundred for safety,
01:20meaning that it's safer than only 4% of cities of similar size. The crime rate is three times
01:26the state average and several points higher than the national average. The homicide rate
01:31is 14 times the national homicide rate. Mississippi's capital police department, created to protect
01:37state buildings, has become Jackson's de facto second police department. This has dramatically
01:43expanded the city's police force. While some welcome the additional help, others believe
01:47the additional police feed into a racist narrative, since roughly 83% of the city is black. For
01:54the second straight year, Jackson has been named the homicide capital of the U.S. compared
01:59to cities of similar size. So take a back seat, St. Louis, because Jackson is giving
02:04you a run for your money in all the wrong ways. Despite it still topping the murder
02:09charts, crime has been dropping slightly over the past few years. So maybe there's
02:13hope on the horizon. Number six is water pollution. Like Flint,
02:18Michigan, Jackson has a water problem. As of last year, many Jackson residents refused
02:23to use the city's water due to an ongoing lead contamination and nasty discoloration.
02:28In February of 2023, it was revealed that Jackson homes that were not even under a water
02:33boil advisory still had contaminated and discolored water. Some of the sources of
02:39this contamination trace back to storms that flooded rivers, and thanks to crumbling infrastructure,
02:44which we will get to later, the drinking water supply was contaminated. Just when it seems
02:49like the water's back to normal, either the boil advisory is extended or is altogether
02:54abandoned despite questionably colored water. Speaking of crumbling infrastructure, let's
03:00get to number five. While the potholes are hard to ignore, the
03:04biggest infrastructure crisis is definitely linked to the water supply. In August 2022,
03:10a state of emergency was declared in the city because its infrastructure failed to supply
03:14water to most of its residents for several days. The lack of running water was linked
03:19to pump failures at the city's water treatment plants, which, to put it nicely, are aging.
03:24But not aging nicely like a fine wine, just aging. The city is trying to combat the problem,
03:30just last year, Jackson's mayor secured $800 million in aid to help the failing infrastructure
03:36of the city. As if the water wasn't bad enough, the roads leave little to be desired. Jackson
03:41was recently awarded as the 10th worst roads in America. There are actually maps of the
03:46worst roads in the city chronicling the potholes, crumbling asphalt, and sharp dips into the
03:52shoulder. This is a harsh reality for this capital city.
03:56Number four is its legacy of racism. From the antebellum South fraught with slavery
04:01and plantations, to a city hosting its first integrated prom well into the 2000s, little
04:07has changed since the days of Jim Crow. All the problems in Jackson seem to be intertwined,
04:12and it's hard to talk about one without tethering it into others. Decades of systematic racism
04:17are often blamed for all the above-mentioned problems, like the water crisis, crumbling
04:22infrastructure, and even crime. And while the city has been making strides, particularly
04:27as racism has been a focal point on the national stage, the city is still reminiscent of the
04:32troubled times of its past. In December of 2023, residents of Jackson's NAACP took the
04:38city to federal court to try to stop the appointment of judges as opposed to elected officials.
04:44Brendan Klein, an attorney representing the NAACP, said the court was created by a discriminatory
04:50law that violates the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. Problems arose when Mississippi's
04:56majority-white legislature voted during the spring to expand the territory for the state-run
05:01Capitol Police to patrol inside Jackson, which was an attempt to help solve the crime issues
05:06at hand. Number three is poverty. Mississippi is the
05:10second poorest state, behind only New Mexico. Twice as many people in Mississippi live in
05:15poverty compared to the entire country. And that number is even higher in Jackson, where
05:20over 25% of all residents live in poverty. The median household income in Jackson is
05:26just under $40,000, compared to $50,000 in the rest of the state and about $75,000 in
05:33the nation as a whole. Of all 50 state capitals, Jackson ranks at number 50 for economic well-being.
05:40The capital city that ranked number one was Austin, Texas, with a median household income
05:45of just over $78,000. That's a disparity of nearly $40,000 per year between Jackson
05:52and Austin, which ranked lowest and highest, respectively. The city has offered many reasons
05:57for its lack of economic success, ranging from systematic racism to government mismanagement
06:03to lack of job opportunities. Number two is a bad education system. Mississippi
06:08is the least educated state and ranks 49th when it comes to K-12 education and 34th when
06:14it comes to college education. We cannot deny that Mississippi has some great universities
06:19that draw students from far and wide, like Ole Miss. But Ole Miss is a far cry and about
06:24160 miles from Jackson. The Mississippi State Department of Education audited the Jackson
06:30public school system and found that violence, poor infrastructure, and many more unsavory
06:36findings were prevalent within the district. The audit also found the district in violation
06:41of 24 out of the 32 standards that all Mississippi public school districts are required to meet.
06:47The report further states that the Office of Accreditation will present evidence to
06:51the Commission on School Accreditation, which will determine whether an extreme emergency
06:55exists in the JPS that jeopardizes the safety, security, or educational interests of the
07:02children enrolled in the schools in the district. It's a bleak report for Jacksonians with
07:07kids in the public school system. And number one is its health. Jacksonians are over 25%
07:14more likely to lack health insurance than the rest of Mississippi, which is already
07:18higher than the rest of the nation. It is the fourth most obese state in the nation
07:22with an obesity rate of 39.7%. Food deserts are prevalent statewide, and Jackson is no
07:29exception. A food desert is an area where there is little or very limited access to
07:34fresh food. Since many Jackson neighborhoods are considered food deserts, with fast food
07:39and convenience stores dominating the urban landscape, it's no wonder the city is trailing
07:44the nation in health. The city also leads in heart disease, and as already mentioned,
07:49the city lacks safe drinking water. Mississippi has moved from the 50th worst state for diabetes
07:55into 48th place, but that still leaves residents of Jackson in a precarious health desert,
08:00let alone a food desert. The city isn't all lost, though. Like the mark of any city
08:05trying to reinvent itself, Jackson has been sprouting up many craft breweries and local
08:11eateries in an effort to revitalize the area. While it may come as a shock to anyone outside
08:16of the South to learn that Charleston, Mississippi didn't hold its first integrated prom until
08:212008, it's important to note that students led the push for change. Actor Morgan Freeman
08:27offered to pay for the prom going as far back as 1997, as long as all students could
08:32attend. The school finally caved in 2008, thanks to the efforts of the students. So
08:38it is promising to see the younger generation taking the reins of change. There are also
08:43many museums, particularly the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson that offers
08:47a sobering reminder of its past, but also that it's working towards a better future.