The Town That's Still In The Recession

Kai Wright, a contributor to Harper's and a reporting fellow of the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute, talks about his piece for the August issue of Harper’s magazine, “What Recovery?” Wright spent two years visiting Albany, Georgia, where the poverty rate is 39.9 percent, and among the town’s African-American residents—who account for a two thirds of its 76,000 inhabitants—almost 42 percent. White flight, shuttered businesses, underfunded schools, and overstretched food banks have left even the more optimistic residents knowing better than to expect a dramatic improvement any time soon.