You can take one step on U.S.Highway 80 in Alabama, as it passes over a sliver of water called Steep Creek, and you'll move from a relatively healthy statistical place to live, to one that may as well be called Third World Alabama.
On the right side of the line you are in Montgomery County, home to Alabama's State Capital.
On the left side you are in Lowndes County in the "Black Belt" of Alabama, home to some of the poorest, least healthy and least educated residents of the state. The term "black belt" refers to the color of the soil, not race, though Lowndes was the center of plantation and slave era Alabama.
Lowndes County is ranked 67th---dead last in the state---on more than one website that charts well-being statistics.
Montgomery County is ranked 20th, low, but a virtual health heaven in comparison to its poor neighbor.
Stand on the bridge over that creek and you can have one foot in a place where the unemployment rate is 7.4%, and the other in a county where it is14.1%...one foot where the "quality of life" ranking is 64 and the other where it is 31.
The largest toxic waste dump in the U.S. is in the Black Belt. So is the largest commercial landfill east of The Mississippi.
Governors for decades have tried to improve the quality of life there. You could stack a small library with the task force reports and government studies on Alabama's Black Belt troubles.
Isn't it time for someone to do something that produces actual results?
[The Saturday Status Report is an occasional feature of TimLennox.com.]
On the right side of the line you are in Montgomery County, home to Alabama's State Capital.
On the left side you are in Lowndes County in the "Black Belt" of Alabama, home to some of the poorest, least healthy and least educated residents of the state. The term "black belt" refers to the color of the soil, not race, though Lowndes was the center of plantation and slave era Alabama.
Montgomery County is ranked 20th, low, but a virtual health heaven in comparison to its poor neighbor.
Stand on the bridge over that creek and you can have one foot in a place where the unemployment rate is 7.4%, and the other in a county where it is14.1%...one foot where the "quality of life" ranking is 64 and the other where it is 31.
The largest toxic waste dump in the U.S. is in the Black Belt. So is the largest commercial landfill east of The Mississippi.
Governors for decades have tried to improve the quality of life there. You could stack a small library with the task force reports and government studies on Alabama's Black Belt troubles.
Isn't it time for someone to do something that produces actual results?
[The Saturday Status Report is an occasional feature of TimLennox.com.]
No comments:
Post a Comment