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  • Decades after the Ford Motor Company tried to tackle sexual misconduct at two Chicago plants, continued abuse raises questions about the possibility of change. The jobs were the best they would ever have: collecting union wages while working at one of America’s most storied companies. But inside two Chicago plants, the women were harassed and abused.<br />
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“A lot of women do not complain,” Shirley Thomas-Moore said. <br />
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Some women still remain at the job, but many have quit. Here, Thomas-Moore poses for a portrait.
    On Assignment: Culture of Abuse for ..es01
  • Decades after the Ford Motor Company tried to tackle sexual misconduct at two Chicago plants, continued abuse raises questions about the possibility of change. The jobs were the best they would ever have: collecting union wages while working at one of America’s most storied companies. But inside two Chicago plants, the women were harassed and abused.<br />
<br />
“We were told it’s been handled,” said LaWanda Jordan, referring to her complaint about a supervisor who was fired two years later. “The case has been closed; we can’t discuss it.”<br />
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Some women still remain at the job, but many have quit. Here, Jordan poses for a portrait.
    On Assignment: Culture of Abuse for ..es02
  • Decades after the Ford Motor Company tried to tackle sexual misconduct at two Chicago plants, continued abuse raises questions about the possibility of change. The jobs were the best they would ever have: collecting union wages while working at one of America’s most storied companies. But inside two Chicago plants, the women were harassed and abused.<br />
<br />
Tonya Exum, the Army veteran who reported being groped, recalled a union representative saying: “It’s not sexual harassment. He only did it one time.” When she asked him how he would feel if that happened to his mother or sister, he just walked away.<br />
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Some women still remain at the job, but many have quit. Here, Exum poses for a portrait.
    On Assignment: Culture of Abuse for ..es03
  • Decades after the Ford Motor Company tried to tackle sexual misconduct at two Chicago plants, continued abuse raises questions about the possibility of change. The jobs were the best they would ever have: collecting union wages while working at one of America’s most storied companies. But inside two Chicago plants, the women were harassed and abused.<br />
<br />
Christie Van said a supervisor who had been giving her easy jobs began asking her to “play hooky” from work with him.<br />
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Some women still remain at the job, but many have quit. Here, Christie Van poses for a portrait.
    On Assignment: Culture of Abuse for ..es04
  • Decades after the Ford Motor Company tried to tackle sexual misconduct at two Chicago plants, continued abuse raises questions about the possibility of change. The jobs were the best they would ever have: collecting union wages while working at one of America’s most storied companies. But inside two Chicago plants, the women were harassed and abused.<br />
<br />
Some women still remain at the job, but many have quit. Here, Charmella Adams poses for a portrait.
    On Assignment: Culture of Abuse for ..es05
  • Decades after the Ford Motor Company tried to tackle sexual misconduct at two Chicago plants, continued abuse raises questions about the possibility of change. The jobs were the best they would ever have: collecting union wages while working at one of America’s most storied companies. But inside two Chicago plants, the women were harassed and abused.<br />
<br />
Some women still remain at the job, but many have quit. Here, Constance Madison poses for a portrait.
    On Assignment: Culture of Abuse for ..es06
  • Decades after the Ford Motor Company tried to tackle sexual misconduct at two Chicago plants, continued abuse raises questions about the possibility of change. The jobs were the best they would ever have: collecting union wages while working at one of America’s most storied companies. But inside two Chicago plants, the women were harassed and abused.<br />
<br />
“The union, they really didn’t want us to call the hotline. It was going to close the plant,” Terri Lewis-Bledsoe said.<br />
<br />
Some women still remain at the job, but many have quit. Here, Lewis-Bledsoe poses for a portrait.
    On Assignment: Culture of Abuse for ..es07
  • Decades after the Ford Motor Company tried to tackle sexual misconduct at two Chicago plants, continued abuse raises questions about the possibility of change. The jobs were the best they would ever have: collecting union wages while working at one of America’s most storied companies. But inside two Chicago plants, the women were harassed and abused.<br />
<br />
Some women still remain at the job, but many have quit. Here, Orissa Henry poses for a portrait.
    On Assignment: Culture of Abuse for ..es08
  • Decades after the Ford Motor Company tried to tackle sexual misconduct at two Chicago plants, continued abuse raises questions about the possibility of change. The jobs were the best they would ever have: collecting union wages while working at one of America’s most storied companies. But inside two Chicago plants, the women were harassed and abused.<br />
<br />
“He looked at me and said, ‘You know you can have some of this too,’” Bernadette Clyburn said of a co-worker.<br />
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Some women still remain at the job, but many have quit. Here, Clyburn poses for a portrait.
    On Assignment: Culture of Abuse for ..es09
  • Decades after the Ford Motor Company tried to tackle sexual misconduct at two Chicago plants, continued abuse raises questions about the possibility of change. The jobs were the best they would ever have: collecting union wages while working at one of America’s most storied companies. But inside two Chicago plants, the women were harassed and abused.<br />
<br />
Miyoshi Morris was pressured into having sex with a supervisor while working at Ford. “No person should have to endure that,” she said of the inappropriate behavior at the plant. “You have to force yourself into a place of not feeling anything, of not having any emotion, to exist.”<br />
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Some women still remain at the job, but many have quit. Here, Morris poses for a portrait.
    On Assignment: Culture of Abuse for ..es10
  • Decades after the Ford Motor Company tried to tackle sexual misconduct at two Chicago plants, continued abuse raises questions about the possibility of change. The jobs were the best they would ever have: collecting union wages while working at one of America’s most storied companies. But inside two Chicago plants, the women were harassed and abused.<br />
<br />
“I told him no every time. He kept on going with it," Shranda Campbell Salahuddin said.<br />
<br />
Some women still remain at the job, but many have quit. Here, Campbell Salahuddin poses for a portrait.
    On Assignment: Culture of Abuse for ..es11
  • Decades after the Ford Motor Company tried to tackle sexual misconduct at two Chicago plants, continued abuse raises questions about the possibility of change. The jobs were the best they would ever have: collecting union wages while working at one of America’s most storied companies. But inside two Chicago plants, the women were harassed and abused.<br />
<br />
Danielle Kudirka, who moved to Chicago for her job at Ford, said it was the worst decision of her life.<br />
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Some women still remain at the job, but many have quit. Here, Kudirka poses for a portrait.
    On Assignment: Culture of Abuse for ..es12
  • How Tough Is It to Change a Culture of Harassment? Ask Women at Ford |<br />
nyti.ms/2oKkxON<br />
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Decades after the Ford Motor Company tried to tackle sexual misconduct at two Chicago plants, continued abuse raises questions about the possibility of change. The jobs were the best they would ever have: collecting union wages while working at one of America’s most storied companies. But inside two Chicago plants, the women were harassed and abused. <br />
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Commissioned for the New York Times
    On Assignment: Culture of Abuse for ..es13
  • For Undark, Tyler Kelley wrote about the efforts to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes: Navigating a Sea of Superlatives in Pursuit of the Asian Carp https://undark.org/article/asian-carp-chicago-illinois-lake-michigan/ <br />
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Alex "Turtle" Seidemann casts a net in the Illinois River where he and his team would catch hundreds of silver, bighead, black, grass and common carp.<br />
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In 2010, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources began "harvesting” on a large scale using commercial fishermen. The program removes upwards of 1 million pounds from the Illinois River each year. Yet still, in some places, 75 percent of the river’s biomass — meaning the aggregate of all living material — is Asian carp.
    Asian Carp 01.JPG
  • The Calumet River spills out into Lake Michigan from Chicago. <br />
<br />
For Undark, Tyler Kelley wrote about the efforts to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes: Navigating a Sea of Superlatives in Pursuit of the Asian Carp https://undark.org/article/asian-carp-chicago-illinois-lake-michigan/ <br />
<br />
In 2010, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources began "harvesting” on a large scale using commercial fishermen. The program removes upwards of 1 million pounds from the Illinois River each year. Yet still, in some places, 75 percent of the river’s biomass — meaning the aggregate of all living material — is Asian carp.
    Asian Carp 02.JPG
  • Carp harvested from the Illinois River are piled in a fishing boat. The fishermen caught hundreds of silver, bighead, black, grass and common carp.<br />
<br />
For Undark, Tyler Kelley wrote about the efforts to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes: Navigating a Sea of Superlatives in Pursuit of the Asian Carp https://undark.org/article/asian-carp-chicago-illinois-lake-michigan/ <br />
<br />
In 2010, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources began "harvesting” on a large scale using commercial fishermen. The program removes upwards of 1 million pounds from the Illinois River each year. Yet still, in some places, 75 percent of the river’s biomass — meaning the aggregate of all living material — is Asian carp.
    Asian Carp 03.JPG
  • Jim Wurster pulls in several carp with help from Tracy Seidemann, Alex "Turtle" Seidemann and Rebekah Anderson, a biologist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, on the Illinois River. The fishermen caught hundreds of silver, bighead, black, grass and common carp.<br />
<br />
For Undark, Tyler Kelley wrote about the efforts to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes: Navigating a Sea of Superlatives in Pursuit of the Asian Carp https://undark.org/article/asian-carp-chicago-illinois-lake-michigan/ <br />
<br />
In 2010, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources began "harvesting” on a large scale using commercial fishermen. The program removes upwards of 1 million pounds from the Illinois River each year. Yet still, in some places, 75 percent of the river’s biomass — meaning the aggregate of all living material — is Asian carp.
    Asian Carp 04.JPG
  • Commercial fishermen caught hundreds of silver, bighead, black, grass and common carp in the Illinois River.<br />
<br />
For Undark, Tyler Kelley wrote about the efforts to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes: Navigating a Sea of Superlatives in Pursuit of the Asian Carp https://undark.org/article/asian-carp-chicago-illinois-lake-michigan/ <br />
<br />
In 2010, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources began "harvesting” on a large scale using commercial fishermen. The program removes upwards of 1 million pounds from the Illinois River each year. Yet still, in some places, 75 percent of the river’s biomass — meaning the aggregate of all living material — is Asian carp.
    Asian Carp 05.JPG
  • Water laps against the Brandon Road Lock and Dam about 50 miles southwest of Chicago in Joliet, Illinois. An Asian Carp was caught on the Michigan Lake side of the dam, which sounded alarms for the Illinois Division of Natural Resources.<br />
<br />
For Undark, Tyler Kelley wrote about the efforts to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes: Navigating a Sea of Superlatives in Pursuit of the Asian Carp https://undark.org/article/asian-carp-chicago-illinois-lake-michigan/ <br />
<br />
In 2010, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources began "harvesting” on a large scale using commercial fishermen. The program removes upwards of 1 million pounds from the Illinois River each year. Yet still, in some places, 75 percent of the river’s biomass — meaning the aggregate of all living material — is Asian carp.
    Asian Carp 06.JPG
  • Barge cleaner Matt Truhlar works on a barge on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal at Illinois Marine Towing in Lemont. Just a few miles south of the company's dock is an electric fish barrier, which keeps Asian carp from moving up the river toward Lake Michigan. A towboat pushing a barge carrying cargo with a low flashpoint must wait for an assist boat to pull from the other side.<br />
<br />
For Undark, Tyler Kelley wrote about the efforts to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes: Navigating a Sea of Superlatives in Pursuit of the Asian Carp https://undark.org/article/asian-carp-chicago-illinois-lake-michigan/ <br />
<br />
In 2010, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources began "harvesting” on a large scale using commercial fishermen. The program removes upwards of 1 million pounds from the Illinois River each year. Yet still, in some places, 75 percent of the river’s biomass — meaning the aggregate of all living material — is Asian carp.
    Asian Carp 07.JPG
  • The tugboat Mary C passes through the Illinois Marine Towing dock on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in Lemont. Just a few miles south of the company's dock, the barrier keeps Asian carp from moving up the river toward Lake Michigan. A towboat pushing a barge carrying cargo with a low flashpoint must wait for an assist boat to pull from the other side.<br />
<br />
<br />
For Undark, Tyler Kelley wrote about the efforts to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes: Navigating a Sea of Superlatives in Pursuit of the Asian Carp https://undark.org/article/asian-carp-chicago-illinois-lake-michigan/ <br />
<br />
In 2010, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources began "harvesting” on a large scale using commercial fishermen. The program removes upwards of 1 million pounds from the Illinois River each year. Yet still, in some places, 75 percent of the river’s biomass — meaning the aggregate of all living material — is Asian carp.
    Asian Carp 08.JPG
  • A fisherman holds a carp to be surveyed after it was caught in nearby waterways that day. Anderson and colleagues made note of the sampling's biological data including size and sex.<br />
<br />
For Undark, Tyler Kelley wrote about the efforts to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes: Navigating a Sea of Superlatives in Pursuit of the Asian Carp https://undark.org/article/asian-carp-chicago-illinois-lake-michigan/ <br />
<br />
In 2010, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources began "harvesting” on a large scale using commercial fishermen. The program removes upwards of 1 million pounds from the Illinois River each year. Yet still, in some places, 75 percent of the river’s biomass — meaning the aggregate of all living material — is Asian carp.
    Asian Carp 09.JPG
  • Rebekah Anderson, a biologist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, takes a survey of carp caught in nearby waterways that day. Anderson and colleagues made note of the sampling's biological data including size and sex.<br />
<br />
For Undark, Tyler Kelley wrote about the efforts to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes: Navigating a Sea of Superlatives in Pursuit of the Asian Carp https://undark.org/article/asian-carp-chicago-illinois-lake-michigan/ <br />
<br />
In 2010, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources began "harvesting” on a large scale using commercial fishermen. The program removes upwards of 1 million pounds from the Illinois River each year. Yet still, in some places, 75 percent of the river’s biomass — meaning the aggregate of all living material — is Asian carp.
    Asian Carp 10.JPG
  • Seth Love, a biologist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, toss carp in a bin after they were caught in nearby waterways that day. Illinois DNR biologists made note of the sampling's biological data including size and sex.<br />
<br />
For Undark, Tyler Kelley wrote about the efforts to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes: Navigating a Sea of Superlatives in Pursuit of the Asian Carp https://undark.org/article/asian-carp-chicago-illinois-lake-michigan/ <br />
<br />
In 2010, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources began "harvesting” on a large scale using commercial fishermen. The program removes upwards of 1 million pounds from the Illinois River each year. Yet still, in some places, 75 percent of the river’s biomass — meaning the aggregate of all living material — is Asian carp.
    Asian Carp 11.JPG
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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Karlos Denson, 9, plays an acrobatic version of football outside of his home in the Fourth Ward, one of Janesville's most impoverished neighborhoods.<br />
<br />
Amy Goldstein excerpt:<br />
Janesville, Wisconsin, lies three fourths of the way from Chicago to Madison along Interstate 90's path across America from coast to coast. It is a county seat of 63,000, built along a bend in the Rock River. It is the hometown of House Speaker Paul Ryan. It is an old United Auto Workers town in a state led by a new generation of conservative, Gov. Scott Walker (R). It is a Democratic town still, though the economic blow that befell Janesville is the kind of reversal of fortune that drove many working class Americans to support Donald Trump for president.<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle01
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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For the New York Times: School's Closed. Forever: “Officials in aging communities with stretched budgets are closing small schools and busing children to larger towns. People worry about losing not just their schools but their town’s future — that the closing will prompt the remaining residents and businesses to drift away and leave the place a ghost town.”  https://nyti.ms/2HLJj57 <br />
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The Arena Community Elementary School, which was built in 1952, will close its doors for good in June. Next year, most students will travel 9 miles west to River Valley Elementary School, which is part of the River Valley School District, in Spring Green.<br />
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Eighth grader Isabelle Roske, 13, waits for her sister before walking together to the Arena Community Elementary School on Thursday, May 24, 2018. Roske's sister, Lola, is a fifth grader at the school, but Isabelle takes a bus to her middle school in Spring Green.
    America in the Middle02
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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The goofy red sign off State Road 23 still says “Eddie’s Steak Shed,” just as it always has. But farther inside, most everything has changed in the year since Roberto Beristain, the old owner, was detained, then deported, as part of a crackdown on undocumented immigrants by a tough-talking new president.<br />
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Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle03a
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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For Mother Jones: “Addicted To Hate: What does it take to quit violent racism for good?” https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/07/reform-white-supremacists-shane-johnson-life-after-hate/<br />
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Shane Johnson, a former leader of the Kokomo skinheads, holds his son as they grab lunch in a town near his home in north central Indiana. Johnson's father was an Imperial Nighthawk of the Indiana White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. After his father's death, Johnson questioned the Klan's belief system. After renouncing white nationalism, he was beat by family members and had to go into hiding.
    America in the Middle04
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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With the Valero Houston Refinery at back, Thalia Loera kicks a soccer ball to her husband Elizardo Garcia, not pictured, in Manchester. The two have lived in the neighborhood their entire lives.<br />
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Manchester is a small and impoverished community in southeastern Houston, which does not have zoning laws. The homes are nestled between the Houston Ship Channel and several sprawling industrial facilities, including the Valero Houston Refinery, Westway Feed Products and Texas Port Recycling. The Environmental Protection Agency has identified dangerous levels of pollution in the Manchester air.<br />
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Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle05
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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Adolfo Guerra removes debris while doing lawn service in temperatures that typically reach the 90s and 100s. Guerra, a Guatemalan immigrant who has permanent residency in the United States, works six days a week and is studying mechanical maintenance and engineering.<br />
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Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle06
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
<br />
Manchester is a small and impoverished community in southeastern Houston, which does not have zoning laws. The homes are nestled between the Houston Ship Channel and several sprawling industrial facilities, including the Valero Houston Refinery, Westway Feed Products and Texas Port Recycling. The Environmental Protection Agency has identified dangerous levels of pollution in the Manchester air.<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle07
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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A cat named Zoe perches on Eva Morales's window, which is less than ten feet from Westway Feed Products structures. Morales moved to the Manchester community in the second grade and raised her children there.<br />
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Manchester is a small and impoverished community in southeastern Houston, which does not have zoning laws. The homes are nestled between the Houston Ship Channel and several sprawling industrial facilities, including the Valero Houston Refinery, Westway Feed Products and Texas Port Recycling. The Environmental Protection Agency has identified dangerous levels of pollution in the Manchester air.<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle08
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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Bub embraces his daughter Carmella at his mother's home where they live. Carmella was born with a rare chromosomal disorder that limits her mobility and health. <br />
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Bub's mother Shannon Mulcahy, the family's breadwinner, is preparing for the loss of her steel-working job and worries she will not be able to pay the mortgage for her home where she lives with her boyfriend Larry, granddaughter Carmella and son Bub. <br />
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Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle09
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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A man walks through a quiet downtown Clinton, which has struggled to keep population and employment numbers steady.<br />
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A transformation to a knowledge-based economy has not taken root here in Clinton, Iowa along the Mississippi River. But there has been a profound structural change of another sort: white working class voters switched from Democrat to solidly Republican in the last presidential election, upending decades of political predictability.<br />
Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle10
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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At right, Jordan Olson drinks coffee with Patrick Conley outside of an addiction recovery building across from the decommissioned Janesville GM Assembly Plant. Olson, who is from Janesville, said that the town really struggled after production ceased in 2008. His grandfather was fortunate enough to retire before layoffs, but "a lot of people moved," he said.<br />
<br />
Amy Goldstein excerpt:<br />
Janesville, Wisconsin, lies three fourths of the way from Chicago to Madison along Interstate 90's path across America from coast to coast. It is a county seat of 63,000, built along a bend in the Rock River. It is the hometown of House Speaker Paul Ryan. It is an old United Auto Workers town in a state led by a new generation of conservative, Gov. Scott Walker (R). It is a Democratic town still, though the economic blow that befell Janesville is the kind of reversal of fortune that drove many working class Americans to support Donald Trump for president.<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle111
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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Too young to vote in the 2016 U.S. presidential race, Jonathan Laflash, 17, felt that Donald Trump would make positive changes for people in situations similar to his. After dropping out of high school, he’s staying with his girlfriend, though he said that arrangement wouldn't likely last. He said he feared that he would be homeless soon, as is the case for one of his close friends. "I've been looking for a job," he said, though he admitted that he didn't have many options.<br />
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Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle12
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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Under the watchful eyes of her father Balakrishna and mother Varalakshmi, Sunayana Dumala plants okra seedlings in the garden beds built by her late husband Srinivas Kuchibhotla in the backyard of their home in Olathe, Kansas. <br />
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Kuchibhotla was murdered exactly three months prior while having an after-work drink with colleagues. After being kicked out of a bar for directing ethnic slurs at Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani, too immigrants from India, Adam Purinton returned to shoot them.<br />
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Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle13
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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Dressed in his Easter Sunday best, Omarion Johnson, 12, holds hands with his great grandmother Katrina Jiles and Edward Crisp, a mentor, during service at Antioch Baptist in East Chicago, Indiana. The community recently learned of lead poisoning in its water and soil.<br />
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Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle14
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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Yasmeen Elagha holds Palestinian flags as she cheers on the Women's March on Chicago. "I know this is a women's march, and as a woman, I want to fight for those rights, but I also want to bring awareness of the Middle Eastern struggle, of the Palestinian struggle, of the Muslim struggle, especially as a veiled woman. My representation here is to let people know that I stand with them, so I would like them to stand with me," Yasmeen Elagha said.<br />
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Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle15
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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Adolfo Guerra rests in his home after performing yard work in temperatures that typically reach the 90s and 100s. Guerra, a Guatemalan immigrant who has permanent residency in the United States, works six days a week and is studying mechanical maintenance and engineering.<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle16
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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Zion Moss, 10, and his brother Josiah, 8, play on old mattresses left on the curb for trash pickup. The Moss family plans to move to Markham on the South Side of Chicago after learning of lead contamination in the soil surrounding their home at the West Calumet Housing Complex in East Chicago, Indiana. <br />
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Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle17
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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Lauressa Joseph, 14, rides on the back of a bike steered by her brother Gregory Joseph, 13, through their Galveston neighborhood where they live with their mother Freelander Little. Little lost her house during Hurricane Ike in 2008 and now lives in a home elevated eight feet off of the ground. "We came from a broken place to a healed place -- and still striving for better," Little said.<br />
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Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle18
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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Cecilia Wooley opens the dining room at the Harbor View Inn on Mackinac Island, Mich. In addition to her role as a cook, she now does the housekeeping, a job previously done by foreign workers under the H-2B visa program.<br />
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Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle19
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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Jerryon Stevens looks in the direction of sirens and police lights while hanging out with family on the front stoop of his great grandmother's home on the west side of Chicago. A former straight-A student, Stevens was arrested last summer for selling heroin. This spring, one of his best friends was gunned down. His grandmother and mother have impressed upon him the need to change. “I can change, but I don’t know when. I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. <br />
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Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle20
  • "America in the Middle" is a collection of images showing communities and individuals personally affected by policies but often-overlooked by politicians. |||<br />
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Civilians patrol for residents in need of evacuation in the West Lake Forest neighborhood of Katy, Texas.<br />
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Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    America in the Middle21
  • A collection of life in the Great Plains.<br />
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Catcher Cuts The Rope, a Marine injured in Fallujah, leads a two-mile walk protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline, which will cut across several sacred indigenous sites and will tunnel under Lake Oahe, which feeds into the Missouri River. Cuts The Rope, who is Aoanii and Nakota, spoke of his hope for a non-violent resolution to the pipeline. "We will stop the pipeline, and we will do it peacefully," he said.<br />
<br />
<br />
An arcade of flags whip in the wind, welcoming visitors to the Oceti Sakowin Camp, where thousands have come to protest an oil pipeline. Each banner represents one of the more than 300 Native American tribes that have flocked to North Dakota in what activists are calling the largest, most diverse tribal action in at least a century, perhaps ever. <br />
<br />
In the midst of this historic gathering, a familiar storyline emerges between the U.S. government and the indigenous people who have seen treaties and promises broken repeatedly. Will their efforts and personal sacrifices stop the pipeline? As Donald Trump prepares to take office, many doubt any injunction on construction will stand. <br />
<br />
Still they flock to Oceti Sakowin. They came alone, driving 24 hours straight across the Plains when they saw news on social media about the swelling protest. Some came in caravans with dozens of friends and relatives. They came with the hope that their voices, unified and resolute, would be heard.<br />
<br />
"We say 'mni wiconi': Water is life," said David Archambault II, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux, whose reservation sits just south of the pipeline's route. "We can't put it at risk, not for just us, but everybody downstream." He added: "We're looking out for our future, the children who are not even born yet. What is it they will need? It's water. When we start talking about water, we're talking about the future generations."
    01a-Great Plains01
  • A collection of life in the Great Plains.<br />
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<br />
<br />
Veterans and tribal leaders return to Oceti Sakowin after marching along Highway 1806 as heavy snow and wind hit the area where thousands have gathered to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. With the North Dakota winter setting in, protestors at the Oceti Sakowin Camp have dug in as the pipeline, which they have been protesting since early 2016, nears completion at the confluence of the Missouri and Cannonball Rivers.<br />
<br />
<br />
An arcade of flags whip in the wind, welcoming visitors to the Oceti Sakowin Camp, where thousands have come to protest an oil pipeline. Each banner represents one of the more than 300 Native American tribes that have flocked to North Dakota in what activists are calling the largest, most diverse tribal action in at least a century, perhaps ever. <br />
<br />
In the midst of this historic gathering, a familiar storyline emerges between the U.S. government and the indigenous people who have seen treaties and promises broken repeatedly. Will their efforts and personal sacrifices stop the pipeline? As Donald Trump prepares to take office, many doubt any injunction on construction will stand. <br />
<br />
Still they flock to Oceti Sakowin. They came alone, driving 24 hours straight across the Plains when they saw news on social media about the swelling protest. Some came in caravans with dozens of friends and relatives. They came with the hope that their voices, unified and resolute, would be heard.<br />
<br />
"We say 'mni wiconi': Water is life," said David Archambault II, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux, whose reservation sits just south of the pipeline's route. "We can't put it at risk, not for just us, but everybody downstream." He added: "We're looking out for our future, the children who are not even born yet. What is it they will need? It's water. When we start talking about water, we're talking about the future generations."
    04-02Mon-9092.JPG
  • A collection of life in the Great Plains.<br />
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<br />
<br />
Maida Le Beau, of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, embraces Bobby Robedeaux, of the Pawnee Nation, after learning that the Army Corps of Engineers denied a permit to drill underneath the Missouri River. Le Beau and Robedeaux's tribes were once enemies with histories of violence between them. Robedeaux said it was a time of healing, adding, "we all came back together."<br />
<br />
<br />
An arcade of flags whip in the wind, welcoming visitors to the Oceti Sakowin Camp, where thousands have come to protest an oil pipeline. Each banner represents one of the more than 300 Native American tribes that have flocked to North Dakota in what activists are calling the largest, most diverse tribal action in at least a century, perhaps ever. <br />
<br />
In the midst of this historic gathering, a familiar storyline emerges between the U.S. government and the indigenous people who have seen treaties and promises broken repeatedly. Will their efforts and personal sacrifices stop the pipeline? As Donald Trump prepares to take office, many doubt any injunction on construction will stand. <br />
<br />
Still they flock to Oceti Sakowin. They came alone, driving 24 hours straight across the Plains when they saw news on social media about the swelling protest. Some came in caravans with dozens of friends and relatives. They came with the hope that their voices, unified and resolute, would be heard.<br />
<br />
"We say 'mni wiconi': Water is life," said David Archambault II, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux, whose reservation sits just south of the pipeline's route. "We can't put it at risk, not for just us, but everybody downstream." He added: "We're looking out for our future, the children who are not even born yet. What is it they will need? It's water. When we start talking about water, we're talking about the future generations."
    03-01Sun-8523.JPG
  • A collection of life in the Great Plains.<br />
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<br />
<br />
Elsie Eiler is the sole resident of Monowi, Nebraska's smallest town. She has been the mayor, the bartender, the tax collector and the settler of disputes for the town's tavern since her husband's death more than a decade ago. The once-booming railroad town now reflects the century of American life it contained: books collect dust in the one-room schoolhouse, tourists discard an empty beer case in the tall grasses along main street and old photographs reveal a glimpse of the people of the Great Plains.<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    01-_R1A9917.JPG
  • A collection of life in the Great Plains.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
Elsie Eiler is the sole resident of Monowi, Nebraska's smallest town. She has been the mayor, the bartender, the tax collector and the settler of disputes for the town's tavern since her husband's death more than a decade ago. The once-booming railroad town now reflects the century of American life it contained: books collect dust in the one-room schoolhouse, tourists discard an empty beer case in the tall grasses along main street and old photographs reveal a glimpse of the people of the Great Plains.<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    10-108Monowi.JPG
  • “The Great Plains” is a collection of images examining life in what is often considered flyover land. |||<br />
<br />
Susan Leopold, a member of the Patawomeck tribe of Virginia, watches the sun rise over an encampment where thousands have come to protest. "Never in my lifetime did I think I would bare witness to a gathering of indigenous people speaking such diverse languages who have come together to stand united for the one thing we all so deeply care about," she said.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
An arcade of flags whip in the wind, welcoming visitors to the Oceti Sakowin Camp, where thousands have come to protest an oil pipeline. Each banner represents one of the more than 300 Native American tribes that have flocked to North Dakota in what activists are calling the largest, most diverse tribal action in at least a century, perhaps ever. <br />
<br />
In the midst of this historic gathering, a familiar storyline emerges between the U.S. government and the indigenous people who have seen treaties and promises broken repeatedly. Will their efforts and personal sacrifices stop the pipeline? As Donald Trump prepares to take office, many doubt any injunction on construction will stand. <br />
<br />
Still they flock to Oceti Sakowin. They came alone, driving 24 hours straight across the Plains when they saw news on social media about the swelling protest. Some came in caravans with dozens of friends and relatives. They came with the hope that their voices, unified and resolute, would be heard.<br />
<br />
"We say 'mni wiconi': Water is life," said David Archambault II, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux, whose reservation sits just south of the pipeline's route. "We can't put it at risk, not for just us, but everybody downstream." He added: "We're looking out for our future, the children who are not even born yet. What is it they will need? It's water. When we start talking about water, we're talking about the future generations."<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Documentary Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    z02-11.JPG
  • “The Great Plains” is a collection of images examining life in what is often considered flyover land. |||<br />
<br />
In Wisconsin, the Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah football team has enjoyed a new-found popularity since converting its 11-man team to 8-man. This resort town school joined a statewide trend toward this style of play, which allows small schools -- many of which are shrinking due to rural population decline -- to compete with each other on a level playing ground.<br />
<br />
The community -- small thought it may be -- behind the school has wholeheartedly embraced the new style of play. "The student section is phenomenal," head coach Barry Feldman said. "Our players feel it. They hear it, and they see it. And it makes them play even harder." <br />
<br />
--<br />
<br />
Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah senior wide receiver and defensive back Logan Knepfel, at left, and senior Meghan Clemens prepare to take part in the Homecoming parade as part of the Homecoming Court before the Resorters' homecoming game against Valley Christian. Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah won 55-12 and finished the season undefeated.<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Documentary Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    zGreat Plains07
  • “The Great Plains” is a collection of images examining life in what is often considered flyover land. |||<br />
<br />
At the family's home in Humboldt Park, everyone sings "Happy Birthday" to Jacques Williams on his 18th birthday. Also pictured is Williams's brother Jerryon Stevens, a former straight-A student who was arrested last summer for selling heroin. This spring, one of his best friends was gunned down. His grandmother and mother have impressed upon him the need to change. "I can change, but I don't know when. I don't know what's going to happen," he said.<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Documentary Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    zGreat Plains08
  • “The Great Plains” is a collection of images examining life in what is often considered flyover land. |||<br />
<br />
Olivia Salm shares a secret with her boyfriend Mitchel Jensen during the homecoming dance, which took place in the school's cafeteria.<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    zGreat Plains09
  • “The Great Plains” is a collection of images examining life in what is often considered flyover land. |||<br />
<br />
Cambridge's Jack Perdue, at center, rests during halftime of Cambridge's game against Perkins County at Perkins County High School in Grant, Neb. on Friday, Sept. 23, 2011. Cambridge won 33-7. | On assignment for the Omaha World-Herald<br />
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Chicago Freelance Documentary Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    zGreat Plains10
  • “The Great Plains” is a collection of images examining life and love in what is often considered flyover land. |||<br />
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Taylor Rudd of Lubbock, Texas, kneels to pray with his horse, White Horse, during the funeral services for Marine Lance Cpl. Hunter Hogan at St. Joseph Cemetery in York, Neb. Hunter, 21, died while serving in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    zGreat Plains11
  • “The Great Plains” is a collection of images examining life in what is often considered flyover land. |||<br />
<br />
Elsie Eiler is the sole resident of Monowi, Nebraska's smallest town. She has been the mayor, the bartender, the tax collector and the settler of disputes for the town's tavern since her husband's death more than a decade ago. The once-booming railroad town now reflects the century of American life it contained: books collect dust in the one-room schoolhouse, tourists discard an empty beer case in the tall grasses along main street and old photographs reveal a glimpse of the people of the Great Plains.<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    zGreat Plains12
  • “The Great Plains” is a collection of images examining life in what is often considered flyover land. |||<br />
<br />
Nine-year-old McKayla McCarville stands in the staging area outside of the Burwell arena where the 85th annual Nebraska's Big Rodeo is held. McKayla's father, Kirk McCarville, brought her to the rodeo and McKayla said that she nervously watched him compete in the rodeo's wild horse race. "This may be a small town, but it's got a big rodeo, and it's got a really big heart," Miss Burwell Rodeo Olivia Hunsperger said. In its 92nd year, the rodeo continues strong and serves as an economic stronghold for a small community in the Sandhills of Nebraska. <br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    zGreat Plains13
  • “The Great Plains” is a collection of images examining life in what is often considered flyover land. |||<br />
<br />
"This may be a small town, but it's got a big rodeo, and it's got a really big heart," Miss Burwell Rodeo Olivia Hunsperger said. In its 92nd year, the rodeo continues strong and serves as an economic stronghold for a small community in the Sandhills of Nebraska.<br />
<br />
Nebraska's Big Rodeo board member Mike Burnham and Jessa Reinwald, 3, share a saddle as they prepare to go through the Grand Entry during Nebraska's Big Rodeo. The rodeo owes much of its success to board members and other volunteers who give of their time and resources.<br />
<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    zGreat Plains14
  • “The Great Plains” is a collection of images examining life in what is often considered flyover land. |||<br />
<br />
"This may be a small town, but it's got a big rodeo, and it's got a really big heart," Miss Burwell Rodeo Olivia Hunsperger said. In its 92nd year, the rodeo continues strong and serves as an economic stronghold for a small community in the Sandhills of Nebraska.<br />
<br />
Members of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association hold their hats as Miss Burwell Rodeo Olivia Hunsperger passes by during the opening ceremonies.<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Documentary Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    zGreat Plains15
  • “The Great Plains” is a collection of images examining life in what is often considered flyover land. |||<br />
<br />
In Wisconsin, the Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah football team has enjoyed a new-found popularity since converting its 11-man team to 8-man. This resort town school joined a statewide trend toward this style of play, which allows small schools -- many of which are shrinking due to rural population decline -- to compete with each other on a level playing ground.<br />
<br />
The community -- small thought it may be -- behind the school has wholeheartedly embraced the new style of play. "The student section is phenomenal," head coach Barry Feldman said. "Our players feel it. They hear it, and they see it. And it makes them play even harder." <br />
<br />
--<br />
<br />
Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah students and band members, from left, Sydney Shovan, Eliza Meyers and Riley Winter prepare for their halftime performance during the first half of the Resorters' game against Valley Christian. As is tradition, students covered the town with toilet paper leading up to the big game. Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah won 55-12 and finished the season undefeated.<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Documentary Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    zGreat Plains16
  • “The Great Plains” is a collection of images examining life in what is often considered flyover land. |||<br />
<br />
Members of the Onondaga Nation, including Tristyn Jock, at right, listens to a member of her nation speaking about their mission during the on-going protests near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.<br />
<br />
An arcade of flags whip in the wind, welcoming visitors to the Oceti Sakowin Camp, where thousands have come to protest an oil pipeline. Each banner represents one of the more than 300 Native American tribes that have flocked to North Dakota in what activists are calling the largest, most diverse tribal action in at least a century, perhaps ever. <br />
<br />
In the midst of this historic gathering, a familiar storyline emerges between the U.S. government and the indigenous people who have seen treaties and promises broken repeatedly. Will their efforts and personal sacrifices stop the pipeline? As Donald Trump prepares to take office, many doubt any injunction on construction will stand. <br />
<br />
Still they flock to Oceti Sakowin. They came alone, driving 24 hours straight across the Plains when they saw news on social media about the swelling protest. Some came in caravans with dozens of friends and relatives. They came with the hope that their voices, unified and resolute, would be heard.<br />
<br />
"We say 'mni wiconi': Water is life," said David Archambault II, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux, whose reservation sits just south of the pipeline's route. "We can't put it at risk, not for just us, but everybody downstream." He added: "We're looking out for our future, the children who are not even born yet. What is it they will need? It's water. When we start talking about water, we're talking about the future generations."<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Documentary Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    zGreat Plains17
  • “The Great Plains” is a collection of images examining life in what is often considered flyover land. |||<br />
<br />
Howard Eagle Shield, with his family's horse Shonta, looks out over the Sacred Stone encampment. "This is my home, and my granddaughters are going to be here long after I'm gone." Water management has long affected the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation where Eagle Shield grew up. Of his youth, he said, "There was trees all the way through here, all the way down to the Nebraska border. There were trees big enough that it would take five or six guys to hold their hands around to circle those trees. And they're all flooded out; they’re gone after they put this dam up."<br />
<br />
An arcade of flags whip in the wind, welcoming visitors to the Oceti Sakowin Camp, where thousands have come to protest an oil pipeline. Each banner represents one of the more than 300 Native American tribes that have flocked to North Dakota in what activists are calling the largest, most diverse tribal action in at least a century, perhaps ever. <br />
<br />
In the midst of this historic gathering, a familiar storyline emerges between the U.S. government and the indigenous people who have seen treaties and promises broken repeatedly. Will their efforts and personal sacrifices stop the pipeline? As Donald Trump prepares to take office, many doubt any injunction on construction will stand. <br />
<br />
Still they flock to Oceti Sakowin. They came alone, driving 24 hours straight across the Plains when they saw news on social media about the swelling protest. Some came in caravans with dozens of friends and relatives. They came with the hope that their voices, unified and resolute, would be heard.
    zGreat Plains18
  • A collection of life in the Great Plains.<br />
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<br />
<br />
Wild hogs run through flooded farmland northwest of West Columbia, Texas after Hurricane Harvey caused wide-spread flooding in the region south of Houston.<br />
<br />
Chicago Freelance Documentary Photographer | Alyssa Schukar | Photojournalist
    05-2017-1741-SchHarvey-7153.JPG
  • American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
British Petroleum expanded its refinery to the northern boundary of Marktown, a 100-year-old workers' village in East Chicago, in 2013. Well within a disaster blast zone, the oil and gas company has offered between $4,545 and $30,000 for the properties, which is not enough to buy an equivalent home. Residents say they have felt more vulnerable with each of the nearly 20 buildings demolished in the past year.
    The Most Industrialized City 01
  • Taylor Collins, 11, lifts her 5-year-old sister Chloie up to an ice cream truck so she can choose her dessert as their sister Gianna, 6, at left, watches. Marktown, an East Chicago neighborhood, is bordered by steel mills and a British Petroleum refinery, seen at back.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 02
  • Near BP's refinery in Whiting, leaked oil sits on the surface of the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, which feeds into Lake Michigan.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 03
  • Though the home's future is uncertain, Michael Unger installs a new sink and cabinets in the kitchen of his childhood home where he lives with his sister Kim Rodriguez.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 04
  • A mile and a half from the Marktown neighborhood, Happy Jacks Liquors in Whiting is one of the few stores within walking distance of the neighborhood.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 05
  • Sand covers a dead migratory bird along the shore of Lake Michigan. The cause of the death is unknown, though much flora and fauna suffered after a malfunction occurred at the BP Whiting Oil Refinery a month earlier. At least 15 barrels of crude oil spilled into the lake.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 06
  • Lamont Anderson embraces his 8-year-old son Lamont Jr. at the West Calumet Housing Complex where families are scrambling to find new housing after nearly 1,200 children tested positive for poisonous levels of lead. The public housing community was built on an old lead smelter site. <br />
<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 07
  • Michael Unger rests alongside a collection of My Little Pony dolls, which his niece Leilany Rodriguez placed in the wheel well of a family vehicle.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 08
  • From left, lifelong friends, Janae Peyton, 13, Ashanti France, 12, Irene Wooley, 13, and Tniyah Foxx, 12, swing at the park near the West Calumet Housing Complex where families are scrambling to find new housing after nearly 1,200 children tested positive for poisonous levels of lead. The public housing community was built on an old lead smelter site. <br />
<br />
"All my memories are here. I've got to move away from my friends," Peyton said.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 09
  • The Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, the largest integrated steelmaking facility in North America, juts out into Lake Michigan and lays 20 miles southeast of Chicago. The peninsula is completely manmade, using landfill and industrial byproduct for its foundation.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 10
  • A peach tree blooms in the Marktown neighborhood.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 11
  • The Rodriguez family spends time together after a backyard barbecue.  Kim Rodriguez raised her six sons and four nephews in this home. Today she watches her grandchildren from the same front stoop. "How much money will replace 56 years' worth of memories?" she asked. "I am rich in history here."<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 12
  • British Petroleum expanded its refinery to the northern boundary of Marktown, a 100-year-old workers' village in East Chicago, in 2013. Well within a disaster blast zone, the oil and gas company has offered between $4,545 and $30,000 for the properties, which is not enough to buy an equivalent home. Residents say they have felt more vulnerable with each of the nearly 20 buildings demolished in the past year.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 13
  • Tatianna Muñoz poses for a portrait during her quinceañera at Club Ki Yowga in East Chicago, Indiana.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 14
  • Marktown residents celebrate the Fourth of July. <br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 15
  • Kevin Fitzpatrick, a member of the United Steelworkers Local 7-1, pickets on Indianapolis Boulevard, which runs alongside BP's Whiting Refinery, the largest inland oil refinery in the United States. Despite bitter February and March temperatures, the union has demonstrated for more than a month outside of the refinery, calling for safer working conditions, including shorter shifts with breaks. Refinery employees complained of exhausting 24-hour shifts and voiced concern over the under-trained contractors who have replaced them during the strike.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 16
  • Logan Anderson, 19 months, plays with his older brother Lamont Anderson Jr., 8, at the West Calumet Housing Complex in East Chicago, Indiana. Anderson Jr.'s blood tested positive for lead poisoning. After living in the complex for more than a decade, the family moved to Gary, Indiana earlier this summer. <br />
<br />
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<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 17
  • Kim Rodriguez gardens in her back yard where she grows tomatoes and other vegetables. "I've been growing tomatoes since I was a little girl," she said. Rodriguez, who suffers from the chronic, autoimmune disease lupus, has lived in Marktown her entire life.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 18
  • Contractors for the Environmental Protection Agency test soil in a home near the West Calumet Housing Complex in East Chicago, Indiana. The EPA has classified three zones of concern related to the 79-acre superfund site where a USS Lead facility once stood.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 19
  • Flowers die at the end of summer in Marktown.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 20
  • Andre Jones, who grew up in the West Calumet Housing Complex, prays with others as their time in the community draws to an end. Housing and Urban Development had ruled that the residents could stay through the end of the school year, but residents learned earlier in the week that they had 14 days to evacuate their homes, which are located on a 79-acre superfund site where a USS Lead facility once stood.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 21
  • Stephanie King visits the East Chicago Housing Authority's West Calumet Management Office as she prepares to move her five children out of the neighborhood. Two and a half years ago, King left Chicago's South Side to find a safer environment for her children, but her youngest son, Josiah King, 3, pictured at right, tested positive for lead poisoning.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 22
  • Zion Moss, 10, gets an assist from his 6-year-old sister Za'Kaiya Moss as they help their parents move old furniture to the curb for trash pickup. The Moss family plans to move to Markham on the South Side of Chicago.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 23
  • Claudette Jackson grew up in West Calumet. In 1983, she moved her young family to the housing complex where they still live. After a fruitless search for an apartment in Northwest Indiana, she's stopped looking. "Everybody's trying to move out of here at one time. Where are you going to go? There's nowhere," she said.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 25
  • Balloons and toys remain in an abandoned West Calumet Housing Complex home. In July 2016, nearly 1,200 people in the West Calumet neighborhood learned that children had blood-lead levels six times what the Center for Disease Control considers poisonous. As mandated, residents began to move, but some remain as they struggle to find housing in the city of 29,000.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 24
  • On a nearly abandoned street, a single house shows signs of life in the West Calumet Housing Complex home. <br />
<br />
In July 2016, nearly 1,200 people in the West Calumet neighborhood learned that children had blood-lead levels six times what the Center for Disease Control consider poisonous. Housing and Urban Development had ruled that the residents could stay through the end of the school year, but residents learned earlier in the week that they had 14 days to evacuate their homes, which are located on a 79-acre superfund site where a USS Lead facility once stood.<br />
<br />
|||<br />
<br />
American industry disproportionately affects the health of low-income communities. East Chicago, Indiana — known as the country's "most industrialized municipality" during the 19th century — offers a glimpse into environmental inequities plaguing the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Nearly 80 percent of the city is zoned for heavy industries that pollute the air, water, and soil. These industries, which once bolstered citizens’ economic futures, now threaten their existence.
    The Most Industrialized City 26
  • Fort Recovery, Ohio -- With low milk prices and a flooded market, the Huwer-Grube farm, owned and operated by Charles and Karen Grube, is losing money. The land has been in the family for five generations, but the Grubes are overleveraged and unable to pay the bills necessary to stay in operation.<br />
<br />
Ray Grube, 9, on vacation from school, walks through the Huwer-Grube dairy farm, which includes the white barn at back, in western Ohio. Grube said he'd like to work the farm when he's grown up but that he knows his family is struggling to get by.
    American Dairy 01
  • Claire Grube, 6, embraces her father Charles after dinner at the family's home in western Ohio. The Grubes have rented their home since 2009 but the house belongs to a relative who needs it, so they will have to move out soon. They don't know where they will live.<br />
<br />
With low milk prices and a flooded market, the Huwer-Grube farm, owned and operated by Charles and Karen Grube, is losing money. The land has been in the family for five generations, but the Grubes are overleveraged and unable to pay the bills necessary to stay in operation.
    American Dairy 02
  • Nine-year-old Ray Grube, the eldest of the Grube's three children, made a sign posted on the Huwer-Grube dairy farm in western Ohio.<br />
<br />
With low milk prices and a flooded market, the Huwer-Grube farm, owned and operated by Charles and Karen Grube, is losing money. The land has been in the family for five generations, but the Grubes are overleveraged and unable to pay the bills necessary to stay in operation.
    American Dairy 03
  • Driving a tractor, Charles Grube feeds cattle on the Huwer-Grube dairy farm in western Ohio.<br />
<br />
With low milk prices and a flooded market, the Huwer-Grube farm, owned and operated by Charles and Karen Grube, is losing money. The land has been in the family for five generations, but the Grubes are overleveraged and unable to pay the bills necessary to stay in operation.
    American Dairy 04
  • Charles Grube talks with John Reichert, of W.G. Dairy Supply Inc., as he installs a compressor pump, at bottom right, that keeps the fresh milk cold at the Huwer-Grube dairy farm in western Ohio. The new compressor cost about $4,500, an unexpected but necessary expense.<br />
<br />
With low milk prices and a flooded market, the Huwer-Grube farm, owned and operated by Charles and Karen Grube, is losing money. The land has been in the family for five generations, but the Grubes are overleveraged and unable to pay the bills necessary to stay in operation.
    American Dairy 05
  • Karen Grube, who takes care of bookkeeping for the Huwer-Grube farm, organizes bills at the family's home in western Ohio on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018. Grube said that there are several bills that they cannot pay and that they've run out of financing options from banks.<br />
<br />
The Grubes have rented their home since 2009 but the house belongs to a relative who needs it, so they will have to move out soon. They don't know where they will live.<br />
<br />
With low milk prices and a flooded market, the Huwer-Grube farm, owned and operated by Charles and Karen Grube, is losing money. The land has been in the family for five generations, but the Grubes are overleveraged and unable to pay the bills necessary to stay in operation.
    American Dairy 06
  • Claire Grube, 6, prays with exuberance with her family including, clockwise from bottom left, Josh, 5, Ray, 9, Charles and Karen, as they sit down for dinner at the family's home in western Ohio on Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. The Grubes have rented their home since 2009 but the house belongs to a relative who needs it, so they will have to move out soon. They don't know where they will live.<br />
<br />
With low milk prices and a flooded market, the Huwer-Grube farm, owned and operated by Charles and Karen Grube, is losing money. The land has been in the family for five generations, but the Grubes are overleveraged and unable to pay the bills necessary to stay in operation.
    American Dairy 07
  • Charles and Karen Grube have rented their home since 2009 but the house belongs to a relative who needs it, so they will have to move out soon. They don't know where they will live.<br />
<br />
With low milk prices and a flooded market, the Huwer-Grube farm, owned and operated by Charles and Karen Grube, is losing money. The land has been in the family for five generations, but the Grubes are overleveraged and unable to pay the bills necessary to stay in operation.
    American Dairy 08
  • Josh Grube, 5, says goodbye to his mother Karen Grube before she leaves the family's home to work a 12-hour overnight shift as a nurse at a long-term care facility on Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. Out of financial necessity, Grube has returned to nursing work. The Grubes have rented their home since 2009 but the house belongs to a relative who needs it, so they will have to move out soon. They don't know where they will live.<br />
<br />
With low milk prices and a flooded market, the Huwer-Grube farm, owned and operated by Charles and Karen Grube, is losing money. The land has been in the family for five generations, but the Grubes are overleveraged and unable to pay the bills necessary to stay in operation.
    American Dairy 09
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