Do a lot of cities in Ohio still have a lot of mostly White Appalachian ghetto neighborhoods ? (Columbus: foreclosure, renters)

[WakeMed]

Originally Posted by Don'tHoldBack

The Mahoning Valley (Youngstown, Warren, Columbiana and surrounding communities) is overrun with uneducated, drug addicted hillbillies and first or second generation Eastern Europeans. Many of them moved to Ohio from places like Western Pennsylvania, Kentucky, WV, and Tennessee to work the now defunct steel mills and factories.

You asked about ghetto "Appalachian" neighborhoods but I can name enclaves (read cities, townships, populated areas and villages) that are white ghettos full of dilapidated homes, drug abuse, mob activity, corruption, crime, out of wedlock children, and poor educational achievement. There is quite a bit of motorcycle culture and white supremacist activity in these areas as well, though again it goes unreported.

Dayton and Akron both have a lot of white trash neighborhoods.

Some of the worst I know of:

Campbell - A dump and a huge mob town with a long history of car bombings, murders, gambling and other "rackets" spilled out from Campbell and permeated the entire area for years. The culture of Campbell is crime.

Warren and all of Trumbull County really - Not sure where to begin on this one. The entire county is a cesspool dump. The people are grossly uneducated, racist, and backward. Very hickish. Very filthy surroundings, dilapidated buildings and housing stock (city and rural). Not sure of the exact number but the county is almost all white percentage wise. The actual city of Warren should be razed to be honest. There isn't any redeeming quality to it. The city is comprised of mostly white dope addicts and biker gangs many of whom live in trailer parks or trashy neighborhoods they don't keep up. Not sure how many of them graduate high school but most are unemployed and on some sort of government assistance to live. The city is pretty segregated but the black citizens are blamed for the cities condition. The culture is government assistance, drugs, drugs, more drugs, guns, hunting, conceal and carry, blaming the government, uneducated kids who won't do better than their parents, out of wedlock children, crime, and more drugs. There are a lot of racists and motorcycle gangs there. The place is very dirty and smells like garbage. I couldn't wait to leave. It's very run down and looks like a garbage truck threw up. They live like pigs.

The outlying areas of Trumbull County like Burghill, Johnston, and Braceville, Hartford, etc. are rural and pretty surreal. They're like places time forgot. The people are racist, backward, and mostly impoverished. They blame the government for their problems when many of them don't work, don't finish school, and don't seem to aspire to much in life. Lots of drug abuse out in those areas. People in their 20s and 30s who look like they're in their 50s for drug use. The way many of them live is unbelievable--falling apart trailer homes, houses hoarded with junk and garbage, houses that are literally falling apart inside and out from no upkeep. There are areas out in those places that are horror movie material, especially when you get off into some of the backwooded areas off the main beat.

East Liverpool - Very troubling area with a very high poverty rate. Lots of crime and of course drugs. Lots of out of wedlock children without Dads and working age men and women sitting around all day not working. Same thing with blaming the government, foreigners, and "others" for getting some supposed advantage that white residents don't get.

The culture of blaming the government, blaming others who supposedly are getting free handouts while you yourself receive quite a bit of government assistance to live on, and feeling sorry for yourself is passed down in these towns. When you speak to these folks everything is doom and gloom and don't seem to have an motivation to try to change their lives.

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”

― Issac Asimov

That is a huge threat to America, the politics of grievance that has been tapped into by greedy (supposedly) billionaire politician(s) who pretend to care about the underclass whites but for some reason you never see a single underclass white playing golf of eating lobster with the billionaire at his exclusive ocean-side resort on the coast. Never. Not in a million years.

[on3]

When underclass whites start to think that their ignorance is as good as the knowledge of non underclass whites, that's when you really start to have problems. When will people get it through their thick skulls that life isn't fair, was never meant to be fair, and never will be fair? There's a pecking order to all this and the reason why it works is because a little guppy can become a big fish if they make the right moves in life. No one stops them but themselves. Anyone that doesn't wind up with what they want in life doesn't get it because they didn't want it bad enough. They just THINK they want it bad enough.

[Khan Vozdig]

It's not that I don't appreciate every non completely mean spirited post to any of my threads , but the last two posts seem to be veering way off course to the political , which is not the intention of this thread .


So to put things back on track how does Columbus fare with respect to such neighborhoods ? I mean can the ( f.ex ) Hilltop and Franklinton neighborhoods be referred to as majority Appalachian ghettos ?

[TechieTechie]

Originally Posted by Khan Vozdig

It's not that I don't appreciate every non completely mean spirited post to any of my threads , but the last two posts seem to be veering way off course to the political , which is not the intention of this thread .


So to put things back on track how does Columbus fare with respect to such neighborhoods ? I mean can the ( f.ex ) Hilltop and Franklinton neighborhoods be referred to as majority Appalachian ghettos ?

Khan, I think you are getting into trouble with the phrasing "Appalachian and ghetto". Ghetto here is the states has a very negative connotation.



If you are asking if there are pockets of areas that have a high % of residents that both



1. Recent transplants from the Appalachian Region
2. And are low income


it would be a better way to phrase the question. And, also, unless someone is directly involved in population studies, all you are going to get here are opinions ranging from well informed to not informed at all. If you are really serious about this, best to contact the universities listed and broach the question to the experts.



My 2cents

[Khan Vozdig]

Originally Posted by TechieTechie

Khan, I think you are getting into trouble with the phrasing "Appalachian and ghetto". Ghetto here is the states has a very negative connotation.



If you are asking if there are pockets of areas that have a high % of residents that both



1. Recent transplants from the Appalachian Region
2. And are low income


it would be a better way to phrase the question. And, also, unless someone is directly involved in population studies, all you are going to get here are opinions ranging from well informed to not informed at all. If you are really serious about this, best to contact the universities listed and broach the question to the experts.



My 2cents

Yeah I realize the term ghetto may very well not be the best , it's just that it's more convenient ( for the sake of fitting into the thread title ) to use than low income neighborhood ...


Thanks for the answer though !

[Tobias C]

My two main thoughts are....

Do people really associate neighborhoods in cities with people of Appalachian roots? Like obviously some Appalachian whites live in the cities, but that fact isnt something anybody can really know about anybody in particular without knowing that person's life story. Most people dont dive that deep. Like plenty of people have described an area as being a white ghetto or white trash or other pejorative things like that but I've never heard someone say something like..."Yeah that's a heavily "Appalachian" neighborhood."

2. Besides a few remaining elderly folks who still have connections to their culture...I dont think being of Eastern European descent has any bearing on ones social mobility for most generations alive today. EEs arent viewed as being anything lesser in status than other white people really, even by the most racist/prejudiced person. Some of the most prominent political figures in my city are Polish. Their last name doesnt mean much for their prospects when it comes to climbing the social ladder.


Like TechieTechie said, these kinds of details about white culture in America arent going to be obvious or well known to most of us. The kinds of information you seem to be seeking is completely valid and reasonable, but I think you'd have to find someone who truly researches this kind of stuff for answers.

[Khan Vozdig]

Originally Posted by Tobias C

My two main thoughts are....

Do people really associate neighborhoods in cities with people of Appalachian roots? Like obviously some Appalachian whites live in the cities, but that fact isnt something anybody can really know about anybody in particular without knowing that person's life story. Most people dont dive that deep. Like plenty of people have described an area as being a white ghetto or white trash or other pejorative things like that but I've never heard someone say something like..."Yeah that's a heavily "Appalachian" neighborhood."

2. Besides a few remaining elderly folks who still have connections to their culture...I dont think being of Eastern European descent has any bearing on ones social mobility for most generations alive today. EEs arent viewed as being anything lesser in status than other white people really, even by the most racist/prejudiced person. Some of the most prominent political figures in my city are Polish. Their last name doesnt mean much for their prospects when it comes to climbing the social ladder.


Like TechieTechie said, these kinds of details about white culture in America arent going to be obvious or well known to most of us. The kinds of information you seem to be seeking is completely valid and reasonable, but I think you'd have to find someone who truly researches this kind of stuff for answers.

Yes I imagine the term Appalachian isn't widely used , but does that mean that the term " hillbilly " isn't either ? For example do certain people in Ohio refer to parts of cities or even towns as hillbilly ghettos ?

Thanks for the answer by the way !

[Khan Vozdig]

Also what do you all think of the work of JD Vance ? I'm asking because even though I haven't read his book in its entirety , I have taken a glimpse at snippets of it on Google Books and the fellow seems to be making the claim that many Appalachian/Appalachian descended people in Ohio still retain distinct cultural patterns ?

Is the man onto something or is he mainly exaggerating ?

[Count David]

I know it's not Ohio (but within sight of it), but Covington and Ludlow, KY both seemed to have some elements similar to what OP is describing. Are there other parts of metro-Cincinnati or other Ohio cities like that? (dense, poor, white).

I myself have only been to Cincinnati and Toledo within Ohio, and the poor parts of Toledo seemed fairly diverse to me.

[WakeMed]

Originally Posted by Khan Vozdig

Also what do you all think of the work of JD Vance ? I'm asking because even though I haven't read his book in its entirety , I have taken a glimpse at snippets of it on Google Books and the fellow seems to be making the claim that many Appalachian/Appalachian descended people in Ohio still retain distinct cultural patterns ?

Is the man onto something or is he mainly exaggerating ?

I ordered a used copy off Ebay and it will be here in a few days.

If I remember, I'll try to get back on this thread and let you know my views on his "Hillbilly Elegy"