Page 8 - The Fayetteville Press Newspaper March 27, 2026 Edition

Page 8a The Fayetteville Press March 27, 2026 Edition

Most Americans Now Live at the Same Address

By Ben Jealous
Recently, I drove from my father’s birthplace in we needed to make, what kind of work would sup-
Biddeford, Maine, to my mother’s birthplace in Petersburg, port families and what kind of country we wanted to
Virginia. Two different towns. Two different states. Two dif- become. Then we trained our people, built our
ferent regions. And yet, oddly, just different ends of the same strength and did the work.
sad street.
Most Americans now live at the same address: “We live We need that spirit again.
where there used to be a factory. And when it shut down, We need an industrial plan county by county,
what shot up was joblessness, hopelessness, meth, opioids, state by state and for the nation as a whole. We need
homicide and suicide.” to know what jobs will be needed 10 and 20 years
That is not just the story of one town. It is the story of a from now, where they should be and how we will pre-
wounded nation. pare our people to do them. Our schools are still too
Factories were never just factories. They gave whole often preparing young people for an economy that is
towns their rhythm. They filled lunch pails and church pews. already gone. They need to do a better job preparing
They paid the mortgage. They kept the corner store open. them for the jobs of the future. And as artificial in-
They let a mother or father look a child in the eye and say, telligence starts doing more of the work people once
“You can make it here.” thought would always need a person, we need to be
Then the factory closed. The people did not disappear. ready to rethink the future for every worker and ev-
They stayed. They stayed by the same schools, the same ery community.
porches, the same churches, the same graves of the people Ben Jealous is a professor of practice at the University A nation is not a stock chart. A nation is not a
who raised them. They stayed and watched storefronts empty, of Pennsylvania and former president and CEO of the NAACP. quarterly report.
tax bases shrink and hope grow thin. Families are burying
their too-young dead again and again. Meanwhile, the pun- NAFTA was not the only reason. Automation mattered. A nation is built on belief — belief in each other
dits who get rich dividing the nation keep working overtime. China mattered. Corporate consolidation mattered. But and belief in our future. And in America, we believe
The suffering caused by deindustrialization does not stop NAFTA still stands as a warning bell in our history. It re- that if life has knocked you down, you deserve a
at racial lines, state lines or the old border between North minds us what happens when we confuse what is good for chance to rise again.
and South. It reaches across most of the lines that people on corporate profits with what is good for the country.
television and social media work so hard to inflame. This one Most Americans now live at the same address:
stokes racial resentment. That one blames immigrants. An- Communities lose. The nation suffers. “We live where there used to be a factory. And when
other turns rural against urban, white against Black, native- Most Americans now live at the same address. They it shut down, what shot up was joblessness, hope-
born against newcomer. And most Americans suffer for it. live in the places the economy left behind. They live where lessness, meth, opioids, homicide and suicide.”
Divide and conquer has always been the surest way to the factory closed, the jobs vanished and the pain stayed.
blunt the ability of working families to rise together. It keeps The question is whether we will keep accepting
our votes divided and canceling one another out. But there is a road to a better day. that as normal. Or whether we will choose to love
Since NAFTA took effect in 1994, the United States has We became a great nation because we planned. We this country, our children and each other enough to
lost well over 65,000 manufacturing plants and factories. looked ahead. We decided what we needed to build, what make sure we all rise again.

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH Power & Praise Ministries Fayetteville Cumberland County

302 Moore Street* Fayetteville, NC 28301 Ministerial Council, Inc.
“For nothing will be impossible with God. Luke 1:37 www.fayettevillemincouncil.org
Sunday 1360 HWY 401 Business * Raeford, NC Be Hold, how good and how
Morning Wednesday pleasant it is for brethren to
dewell together in unity!
Worship Service Bible Study PSALM 133.1
10:15 a.m. (7:00pm )
Wednesday Sunday School -10am Fellowship Breakfast
Meets Every 3rd
Study on Wednesday Sunday Service Saturday 8:00am at
(S.O.W.) 6:30 p.m. 11:00am
Transportation Solid Rock Bible Church
5464 Muscat Road
WIDU 99.7 FM Available Hope Mills, NC 28348
Rev. Dr. Fredrick Culbreth Senior Minister Radio Broadcast Church (910) 797-5879 * 424-9444
(910) 483-6505 Sunday at 10a.m. Bishop Dr. Jenson McFadden (910) 920-4038 Apostle Georgia Walker
Pastor Dr. Doretha McFadden President Any Minister of Christian
www.1st-baptist.com JensonMcFadden @yahoo.com 910-624-0929 Faith is Welcome to Join Us.

Masjid Omar Ibn Sayyid Abundant Life Church of God

2700 Murchison Road *Fayetteville NC 220 Pelt Drive * Fayetteville, NC 28301
All are invited and welcome!

Friday Prayer
(Jumuah) 1:30 PM
Sunday Public Lecture
1:30 PM
Sunday
www.masjidomaribnsayyid.org
Morning
Worship
Monthly Food (10:00am)
Distribution Sunday School Founder & Pastor
Imam Bobby Thomas Facecooklive
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Wednesday Night - Family Training Hour (7:00pm)
WIDU 1600 Radio Broadcast Saturday 2:30 pm

Heal The Land Outreach Ministries

414 Hall Street * Fayetteville, NC 28301
Church Phone (910) 491-0738

Sunday Morning Prayer:10:45- 11:00 am

Morning Worship:
11:00 am

Christian Education:

1st & 3rd Wednesday: 7:30pm
Bishop Larry O. Wright, Sr.
Pastor & Founder Joy Night:2nd & 4th Wednesday: 7:30 pm
Elect Lady Minister Deborah Wright