This week, on State of the Re:Union: From President Carter’s famous 1977 urban decay photo-op in the wastelands of the South Bronx to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s iconic early hip-hop rhymes about growing up in poverty, the Bronx has long been a symbol of America’s failings.

It still contains the poorest urban congressional district in the nation.  For people who live in New York’s other boroughs, the Bronx is usually a place to avoid.  And for Bronxites themselves, this place is often thought of as a place to escape—somewhere you get out of if you’re lucky. 

But through the worst of the arson and abandonment of the 1970s and 80s, some reacted with determination.  They stayed, and put down roots, intent on surviving and making the Bronx better. This episode shines a light on the hold-outs and the dreamers who’ve committed their lives to keeping chaos at bay in the Bronx.

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