“The Region (the area surrounding Gary, Indiana) was a great place to grow up, because I learned about every lesson I could possibly learn. I knew every possible ethnic person. It was a melting pot. When the mills opened up, they didn’t care if you were white, black, green, purple, if you could do your work.
The mills at one time were a great institution as far as labor. But now it’s declined. So there’s all these people who came there living in their cardboard houses hoping they’d make more money, and all of a sudden they’re cut off at the wrists and bleeding. And they’re still in the cardboard house and all of a sudden that cardboard house is costing more and you’ve got kids, so you’ve got to learn a lot of things just to get by. And the easiest way to get by is to devote yourself to bad. The easiest way to something is always the bad way, more than likely.
