In a survey of rural Americans released on October 16, 2018, researchers found rural people are most worried most about drug addiction and the economy, but that they remain hopeful about the future. The study comes to us from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and reveals nothing new to those of us who are working in and dedicated to rural America.
The manner in which NPR reported this story today, however, was a bit off-putting. The reporters are overwhelmingly shocked and surprised by these findings. On the outlet’s new morning podcast, “Up First,” reporter Alison Kodjak discusses the survey findings with hosts Steve Inskeep and Rachel Martin. Inskeep is surprised to report that despite rural American’s facing real challenges where they live, they “also have optimism for their future.” Kodjak also expresses surprise that the survey found optimism, most especially in the result showing that rural adults expect their children to be better off economically and financially than they are now. Martin interjects at this, incredulously asking, “Why do they think that?”
In other words, if you read between the lines, they are baffled that any rural Americans could possibly think their children will have a future that will be better than the present. Of course, Appalachia gets singled out as a “really distressed” area with very little hope.
I’m not necessarily surprised that national reporters have had their preconceived notion that rural America is a monolithic depressed place full of depressed people blown apart only after conducting a survey to prove to them that rural America is a diverse place with a diverse set of challenges inhabited by hopeful people.
But that’s because I know better.
In my work, I see hope every single day. I see it in Gwen Johnson, manager of Hemphill Community Center in Letcher County. Not only is Johnson keeping the community center open and providing activities in which her community can participate, but she is also providing jobs to people who are recovering from drug addiction at Black Sheep Brick Oven Bakery and Catering.
I see hope in the students at Hazard High School who opened a coffee shop, The 606, on Main Street in Hazard so they could provide a place for their community to gather, while learning entrepreneurial skills.
I see hope in the artists of Appalachia, who are painting murals to beautify their Main Streets, performing in community-produced productions with Higher Ground in Harlan County, and opening galleries like the Moonbow Gallery in Corbin, where other artists can display and sell their work.
I see hope in local farmers and chefs and other people surrounding the local food industry in eastern Kentucky. People like Kristin Smith, owner and chef at The Wrigley Taproom & Eatery in Corbin, and those who make up the Appalachian Food Summit, which preserves and promotes Appalachian food culture through annual gatherings, events and writing.
I see hope in the people living and working in the region who are becoming politically motivated and engaged, some to the point of running for state office themselves. They want better leaders who will fight for their communities and help them build a brighter future.
Yes, we face serious challenges in eastern Kentucky – drug epidemics, health crises, lack of job opportunities handed to us. But to assume we are hopeless people in a hopeless place is irresponsible, and just plain wrong. I see hope all around me in this place, and it is a hope that reaches far back into our history of community support and mutual survival.
We know what it means to thrive in this place because we have had to survive and thrive and build our future for ourselves from the very beginning. What often gets lost in national media about our place, though, is that we will be here long after it is trendy to talk about rural America in the national news as a monolith. We will keep surviving, thriving and building, because contrary to what mystified national reporters might think, we don’t need a survey to tell us that we will always have hope that tomorrow will be brighter.
