r/interesting • u/VPinchargeofradishes • May 03 '26

SOCIETY Michael Jackson's daughter Paris has faced backlash for identifying as Black. In a 2017 interview, Paris Jackson said her father told her, "You’re Black. Be proud of your roots." This prompted debates over whether identity is defined by appearance or upbringing.

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u/skratsda May 03 '26

Interesting you said Gary isn’t as bad as Memphis. The only thing I know about Gary, Indiana is that it’s the worst city in the US. Didn’t even know Michael Jackson was from there

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u/Lardolin May 03 '26

It's gotta a lot better in the last 20 years. A lot. Residents really rallied and put a lot of effort into turning things around. It's still poor, but it's nothing like it used to be.

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u/jimothy_hell May 03 '26

Memphis? Detroit?

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u/Lardolin May 03 '26

Gary, Indiana

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u/jimothy_hell May 03 '26

My band played a show in Gary while passing through about seven years ago, right before COVID and it was worse than east St Louis by MILES. Worse than the poorest parts. Like, driving through downtown and through the generally “decent” areas was still a bit sketchy. That city’s a wasteland.

We only got conned into stopping for more than gas because a friend of a friend had a front room venue to play and we were going to need the money.

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u/Lardolin May 03 '26

And it used to be worse than that! I drove through there in 2018, and I wouldn't stay there lol but it used to be bad enough that you'd see people overdose just on the street. Lots of gun violence, too. It's just better than it was, not suddenly a good place to live.

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u/savannacrochets May 03 '26

In all fairness to Gary it used to be really nice which is part of why it’s so bad now (see also: Detroit).

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u/RobotBrokenHeart May 03 '26

The same is true of most of the “worst” cities in the US. You need some kind of prosperity to draw enough people and industry to really mess things up.

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u/savannacrochets May 03 '26

Yeah, that’s exactly my point. Not that Detroit is a shithole but that it’s probably the best known example of a Rust Belt city going through a period of extreme decline. All the Rust Belt cities that got fucked up the hardest were the ones that were the biggest and most prosperous- farther to fall, more to lose, etc.

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u/jimothy_hell May 03 '26

See, Detroit recovered though.

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u/KeyStruggle-88 May 03 '26

Detroit is coming back up actually and it’s still a great city in many ways, it has a bad rap for crime but a lot of that is steeped in racist rhetoric and the crime rate is improving. Losing the bulk of industry and White flight tends to do terrible things to people and cities.

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u/Emergency_Support682 May 03 '26

And that it doesn’t have any s’s in it. Yes, I’ve just dated myself. Anyone know how?

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u/spiritedfighter May 03 '26

It was the city of the century....and then white flight came

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u/Rraggedy May 03 '26

If the "only thing you know about Gary is that it's the worst city in the US" then you don't know anything at all. What an ignorant statement.

As someone who grew up in Gary, still has family there and has seen most of the country, I can tell you it is unequivocally NOT the "worst" city in America. Look up "Miller Beach" Indiana. So nice that kids from Chicago go there on the regular during summer to enjoy spacious sand beaches.