, sits on the southern shore of Lake Michigan not too far from where I am on the South Side of Chicago. I know that city well and my Project H.O.O.D. has done many events and good works there.
The one thing everybody knows about Gary is that it is the birthplace of , a place where one of the biggest stars the world has ever known was forged. In the years before Jackson was born, Blacks moved to Gary from the South to work in the steel mills and many made good livings. But today, Gary sits in the middle of the Rust Belt, and it faces high poverty, widespread vacancy and a long population decline. Its population fell from more than 80,000 in 2010 to an estimated 67,289 in 2025.
Gary is one of those places where the streak of bad luck never seems to run out. I say this with a heavy heart because I know that many people there are good people and theyre trying their best to make some kind of fortune out of their citys misfortunes. What no one could have predicted is what hit them next â literally.
THE MACHINES THAT KEEP AMERICA ALIVE ARE FAILING. WE FORGOT HOW TO REPLACE THEM
The weather people on TV call it a derecho. Unlike a tornado that spins in a circle, a derecho consists of winds running straight through with great force. On Aug. 11, a derecho swept through Northwest Indiana, bringing widespread straight-line winds of 70 to more than 100 mph. A 99 mph wind gust was recorded at Gary/Chicago International Airport. Those gusts were comparable to the winds associated with a Category 2 hurricane.
While many of the nearby towns and suburbs felt the derecho, Gary was among the communities hardest hit. I heard from my contacts there that trees that stood for generations had been uprooted and fallen into power lines. The poles holding these lines snapped. The storm brought down trees and power lines across Gary, causing widespread outages. More than 20,000 Gary customers were affected at one point. Within a few hours, it appeared as if nearly everybody in Gary lost power. The city that once powered Americas steel industry was now sitting in darkness.
HURRICANE KATRINA TAUGHT ME HOW TO PREPARE FOR ANY STORM
For nearly two weeks, thousands of Gary residents remained without power. The suffering on the ground was terrible. There was no air conditioning to combat the sweltering heat. Senior citizens who needed breathing machines had to do without. Parents had to take what food they had in their warm fridges and save what they could by cooking the meats at the nearby parks. Some families who were fortunate enough to have generators were soon reporting them stolen. People couldnt charge their phones and businesses couldnt stay open. Life in Gary came to a literal standstill.
NIPSCO now says it has restored power to 99% of affected customers, though some residents still need repairs to privately owned equipment before they can safely reconnect.
FORGET POLITICS. THIS IS WHAT I FOUND HELPING VENEZUELAN QUAKE VICTIMS
In the nearby towns, the lights began to flicker back on and the people in Gary thought they would soon be next. But the days went by and there was still no power.
My Project H.O.O.D. team drove into Gary along with many other nonprofits and churches, and we lent a helping hand wherever needed. After the derecho hit, we got calls and texts from our friends in Gary and we knew we had to help in any way possible.
We brought people produce, hot meals and the basic necessities such as soap, shampoo, toothp
