Two American Families: 1991-2024

NARRATOR: We were raised to believe that each generation can and will do better than the last. But is that really true?

NARRATOR: In a Frontline special presentation – the continuation of Bill Moyers’ portrait of two families, chasing the American Dream.

The Stanleys…

Claude Stanley: It’s called Rob Peter to pay Paul. And I’m robbing Peter so much that Peter’s just standing there. I’m hitting 70 years old now, and it’s time for me to have it together.

Jackie Stanley: But we ain’t going to stop living. You know, we got to keep moving, keep going. And as we get older, we slow down, ain’t no sense in fooling ourselves.

NARRATOR: And the Neumanns…

Terry Neumann: Having money coming in consistently is more important than spending time with my children all the time like I used to. Money used to be a big thing. Now there’s so many more things that are really more important than money. You can’t lower my payments or my interest rate so I can stay in my house?

Tony Neumann: If our wages get raised, then everything else goes up. There is no wiggle room for anything.

NARRATOR: Now, 34 years in the making, the intimate and revealing story of Two American Families.

Terry Neumann: I still believe in hard work. But I will say that I think we are fooling ourselves if we believe that it’s only hard work.

Jackie Stanley: There are so many people that are in the same situation that are struggling the same way. It’s like we haven’t come very far.

Terry Neumann: Tony and I have known each other since we were probably about two years old. His mother and my mother went to school together, Pulaski High School. And our grandparents, when our parents were younger, you know, they’d play cards. So they were pretty good friends. [song continues] I don’t know, we just started seeing each other, you know, spending a lot of time at each other’s houses, and he just asked me out, so I said okay. [chuckles] We were crazy about each other. We had to spend lot of time together, you know, and I could just picture myself spending the rest of my life with him. [song continues] And our expectations were, I thought, you know, you find the man that you like and get married, and you have a family and get a house, little white picket fence. You know, all those little fairy tale-type things. Um… Some of it came true, but some of it, as far as the bumpy roads, I didn’t expect, either. You know? I knew they weren’t going to be all peaches and cream, but, you don’t think of all the bad things when you’re younger.

Bill Moyers: Once upon a time, Terry Neumann and her husband, Tony, dreamed of a good, simple life.

Terry Neumann: When we got married, we had started a family right away. He was working factory and I stayed home. And he made pretty good money when we were first married, you know, for a young couple with one little one on the way. Grab a couple and, and crack them in the pan. [voiceover]: I don’t know, we had a good time with one child, so we had another one, and there was Adam.

[babbling]

Um… You know, and then, I got pregnant with Karissa in ’86, and he had lost his job. Then he got hired at Briggs, and we thought, “Okay, this is a very stable job,” you know, “we can start saving.” And we bought the house.

Bill Moyers: Buying a home was a big step for a young couple. But Tony had a good job with the engine maker Briggs and Stratton, then the largest employer in the region.

Tony Neumann: Years ago, if you wanted a small engine, you got a Briggs and Stratton.

Bill Moyers: For decades, Briggs and dozens of other stalwart Wisconsin manufacturers had helped make Milwaukee just about the American Dream’s hometown, celebrated in sitcoms…

[TV audio]: Give us any chance, we’ll take it

Bill Moyers: …and sentimentalized in beer commercials.

Commercial voice: So when Miller time rolls around tonight, we raise a glass to you, Milwaukee. You’ve earned it.

Bill Moyers: When we met the Neumanns in the early ’90s, American manufacturers had already begun chasing cheap labor to non-union states and Mexico. Of over 40,000 good-paying jobs lost from Milwaukee in the preceding decade, about 4,000 were from Briggs and Stratton. One of them was Tony Neumann’s.

Tony Neumann: Verticals like this. Here and here.

Terry Neumann: He gets into Briggs, and we think, “Oh, this is a good company, we can buy a house.” Now we have the house, we have more bills.

Tony Neumann: We gotta drill a hole. How big of a hole do you want?

Terry Neumann: Mm, not that big.

Tony Neumann: But it’s either rent for the rest of your life or own, and we prefer to own. I mean…

Bill Moyers: That’s, that’s… That’s supposed to be the American Dream, I mean…

Tony Neumann: That’s supposed to be the American Dream. Well, where is it?

Bill Moyers: A house, a good job.

Tony Neumann: Where is it? [birds chirping]

Bill Moyers: Tony had been making up to $18 an hour, plus benefits. Now the jobs available to a laid-off union worker commonly paid a fraction of that.

Tony Neumann: I’ve applied over at grocery stores, hardware stores, there’s…

Terry Neumann: McDonald’s.

Tony Neumann: Hardee’s.

Terry Neumann: Kohl’s.

Tony Neumann: SuperAmerica, Pizza Hut, Walmart, Sam’s. Most of them will not pay six dollars an hour. They’re all less than six dollars an hour. Little did they know, I need to live, also. Thank you. Have a nice day.

Customer: Have a good day. [birds chirping]

Terry Neumann: And one of these. And then you need a business card to call Mommy up.

Bill Moyers: While her husband looked for work, Terry tried to bring in some extra money. She bought skin care products, and then tried reselling them to her neighbors door to door. [children talking in background]

Terry Neumann: Look in the mirror and feel your face and say, “Well, you know, it’s…

Customer: Soft feel, yeah.

Terry Neumann: “…softer, the complexion, the color.” Yeah. And that’s basically why I wanted to share this with you.

Bill Moyers: But she lost money on the deal, and the troubles just got worse. [children talking in background]

[sighs]

Terry Neumann: Are you gonna call them back?

Tony Neumann: Am I gonna call them back? Yeah, I’m going to have to call them back.

Terry Neumann: I mean, you talked to them before.

Tony Neumann: Yeah.

Bill Moyers: How much is your mortgage a month?

Terry Neumann: I believe it’s, like, $820…

Tony Neumann: $819?

Terry Neumann: Yeah, $820 or something like that.

Bill Moyers: Have you been able to make all the payments since…

Terry Neumann: No, I’m, we’re behind. And today the mortgage company called me again.

Bill Moyers: Again?

Terry Neumann: Yes.

Bill Moyers: What did they say?

Terry Neumann: I didn’t answer them right now, because I wanted to talk to Tony and he wasn’t home. So I wanted to talk to him.

Bill Moyers: You must dread it when the phone rings.

Terry Neumann: It… I do, I, I cringe.

Tony Neumann: It’s the same guy… [hand hits table] …who I talked to before.

Terry Neumann: Really? [exhales] I did send a $1,000 check in, um, probably a few weeks back, but the check was sent back to me with a letter stating, “We will not accept a partial payment.” I don’t really think of that as a partial payment. That, I think of that as a basic payment and a good gesture on trying to get, um, caught up. Right now, we’re going through a hard time, my husband’s out of work. He went to school and he’s looking for a job. [water running] And I’m basically just trying to buy a little time so we can get on our feet again. You know, so we can get caught up. I would think that this is just going to be a temporary thing, not a permanent thing, and I really don’t want to lose my house. Or are you just trying to tell me that you have to foreclose on the house if I don’t have that full amount? You would recommend it. [pen scratching]

Tony Neumann: Is he putting this on paper? I want to know, is he putting this on paper? [pen scratching] Dear?

[sighs]

Terry Neumann: Holding in there okay?

Tony Neumann: Mm-hmm.

Terry Neumann: Did you get the peanut butter and the honey?

Tony Neumann: I don’t like having to go and ask and say, “I have no food in the house” or something, “can you help me out?”, where, when you would go and work and get a paycheck and come home and support yourself…

Terry Neumann: And then you’d be giving this food to other people.

Tony Neumann: Right. Well, now shoe’s on the other foot. Makes me feel very uncomfortable. I’d rather be on the giving side than the receiving.

Food bank volunteer: They have peanut butter, flour, some pork here. I understand that if you put it over noodles or rice and maybe add a little onion, that it’s quite palatable.

Child: Oh, what happened to his ear? What, he wants to go back in his house? He doesn’t like all you kids.

Another child: He don’t have no house.

First child: He hates yelling– oh.

Terry Neumann: Come here.

Child: Can you reach that high, or you want me to do it?

Another child: I want to hold him all the way over there.

Terry Neumann: Okay, you can hold him all the way over there.

Child: Come on, come here.

Terry Neumann: They’ve made comments, too, like, “Mom, let’s sell the bookshelf.” They’ve got little baseball cards. “Mom, I’ll sell these.” And, and that hurts.

[grunts]: Okay, let him go in there.

Terry Neumann: Because they’re willing to sell their baseball cards to help their parents out.

Child: Okay. [bird chirping] [lathe whirring] [tool grinding]

Tony Neumann: I’ve been getting very angry lately. I’ve been losing my temper quite a bit. I’ve tried doing things. I work in the garage on woodworking things when I get angry, and that helps once in a while. I just, I’m having a hard time dealing with this. [TV playing]

[on TV]: Just kidding, big guy! [laser blasting on TV]

Terry Neumann: What are you doing today?

Bill Moyers: How do you deal with this pressure, the, the anger, the…

Tony Neumann: I can’t. It’s very difficult.

Terry Neumann: Yeah, our marriage is really on the rocks. This is a really difficult time. This is a real difficult time. I’ve been thinking about divorce now for a while.

Bill Moyers: Why?

Tony Neumann: I can’t deal with, uh, the situation. I, I’m just having a real hard time dealing with it.

[on TV]: Come on and take your medicine. Come on! This is going to be your Waterloo…

Bill Moyers: Do you feel guilty?

Tony Neumann: Yeah, I do. I feel I should be supporting my family.

Bill Moyers: You think he really wants a divorce, or is this just an escape?

Terry Neumann: So… I think it’s an escape, and I just think he figures it’s an easy way out. But really, the problems are still going to be there, because he’s still going to have to support us, and I feel it’s going to be worse. I just feel it’s just, just a tough time, and if we can just get through this, you know, then, then we’ll be back to the life that we had before.

[hymn]: We bring to serve you / That with our neighbor / We may be fed / Sowing and tilling / We would work with you / Harvesting, milling / For daily bread [hymn ends]

Pastor: Good morning, everybody.

Congregation: Good morning, Father.

Pastor: We gather on this Sunday morning in faith to praise our triune God in the name of the Father and of the Son…

Bill Moyers: As Tony and Terry pray for better times, across town, in Milwaukee’s Central City, a second hardworking family found their faith being tested. Like Tony Neumann, Claude Stanley had also been laid off. He lost his assembly line job with big manufacturer A.O. Smith.

Claude Stanley: When I got laid off, they wanted me to go on the welfare, get on the welfare, but I could not stand in that line. I just said, “It’s not me. This is not me.” They wanted to give me food… I said, “This ain’t me, I don’t want no food stamp.” I said, “I got my strength, my health. I will find me a job.” And I found me a job.

Bill Moyers: He found a job waterproofing basements for less than seven dollars an hour– not even half of what he had been making.

Claude Stanley: You got to look at it on the real side. I cannot live like I was making $20 an hour. Okay? That money is not there. So you might as well get in your mind it’s, it’s not there no more. So, okay, bring yourself down.

Bill Moyers: Claude and his wife, Jackie, were raising five kids: their daughter Nicole, about to enter college when we met her; the oldest son, Keith; the twins, Klaudale and Claude, Jr.; and the youngest, Omega.

Nicole Stanley: I think the hardest time is when you have to worry about coming home. Like, like I say, always coming home. And then, there, there’s a bill on the door saying the water’s cut off, or there’s a… The guy just called saying he’s gonna cut off the phone. Or the electricity’s off, and you have to wait for a couple of days until Mom and Dad can get enough money to put it back on.

Bill Moyers: Their neighborhood, Sherman Park, was mostly African American, and had once thrived on factory jobs that paid enough to support a family. Now those jobs were disappearing, and people here were trying to figure out what to do next. People like Jackie Stanley, who had lost her job at Briggs.

Jackie Stanley: Do you have any houses in the immediate area that we could show… [voiceover]: When I was on the motor line at Briggs, I began to study my real estate. Can I shake your hand? [voiceover]: I went ten times for my real estate license. The tenth time, I passed. And I promised that, as soon as Briggs did close the door, that I was going to go on and do real estate. And that’s exactly what I did. Hi, Joe. Yeah, this is Jacqueline Stanley from Homestead. [voiceover]: It’s just like anything else, it’s really unsure. Okay, I just got into this, says A.S.A.P. [voiceover]: You only get excited when you’re sitting at the closing and have the check in your hand. You never get overexuberant, and I’m learning that every day.

Keith Stanley: Mom’s real estate is tough on her. I’ve seen her try to wheel and deal deals. They seem so good, and at the last minute, they fall apart.

Jackie Stanley: The listing is for September. It’s already October.

Keith Stanley: And that falling apart is our mortgage. That falling apart is the car noise. And that’s scary.

Bill Moyers: As good jobs left town, the number of African Americans in poverty increased from about 25% in the 1970s to over 40% in the early ’90s. The Stanleys vowed it wouldn’t happen to them, but as property values fell in the Central City, so did real estate commissions. And when Jackie tried to sell in other neighborhoods, she met resistance.

Client: Okay.

Jackie Stanley: It was on the market for a year and didn’t sell.

Client: It’s because they didn’t have someone as good as you.

Jackie Stanley: [laughing]: Okay.

Real estate colleague: People of color really have a much more difficult time in our business making a living than white people. It may be a situation where she may call for a showing and not get the courtesy of a call back. Maybe her client that she takes into a mortgage lender has a much more difficult time, even if their credit is good, getting a mortgage.

Jackie Stanley: All right, fax it to me. [voiceover]: I can’t sell suburbs. I can’t sell the most affluent areas here. And that hurts. But they’ll call me for Central City. [engine starts]

Keith Stanley: You talk to your friends, they always say, “Well, I’m going to be doing this this summer. Well, how about you?” And you’re, like, “Well, um, I’m doing… Uh, working.” That’s all you can say right now, is, “I’m working.” And they always ask me, “Why do you work? “Why don’t you go out and have fun like the rest of the kids do?” You say you can’t, just, you just can’t do it. You have to go out there and help your mom and dad.

Bill Moyers: To help out, Keith Stanley and the twins, Claude, Jr., and Klaudale, started a business. They called it the Three Sons Lawn Care Service.

Bill Moyers: How much money would you like to make when you grow up?

Claude Stanley Jr.: Probably about… [clicks tongue]: $100 million. Something like that. $300 million, something like that.

Bill Moyers: Do you think you will?

Claude Stanley Jr.: Yeah.

Klaudale Stanley: I see my mom on the phone, talking to the bill collectors, asking them when they would take… The mortgage company, when they were about to take our house, she was pleading with the mortgage company. She asked the, the bill collectors to keep the light and sometimes the gas on, and… That makes me want to do more– a lot more. [mower running]

Bill Moyers: The country was deep in recession in 1991. The president predicted it wouldn’t last.

President George H.W. Bush: We will get this recession behind us and return to growth soon. We… [applauding] We will get on our way to a new record of expansion and achieve the competitive strength that will carry us into the next American century.

Bill Moyers: But the problem was bigger than recession. By 1991, Milwaukee’s new economy depended on non-union manufacturing and service jobs, the vast majority of them offering lower pay and fewer benefits. That was still the case when we returned to the city two years later. [music playing on TV]

Bill Moyers: But by the beginning of 1993, there were expectations that things were about to turn around.

[on TV]: …do solemnly swear…

President Bill Clinton: I, William Jefferson Clinton, do solemnly swear… …and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help me God.

Official: Congratulations, Mr. President.

Terry Neumann: From the way he ran his campaign, it was more like he wasn’t going to send more jobs or factories out of the country and bring more in, and I guess that, in the next four years, maybe we might, might have openings, and maybe you might not have to film as many people, and you’re… More, more people have jobs and, and things probably work out.

Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States of America, William Jefferson Clinton. [crowd applauds and cheers]

Tony Neumann: This president, I think I can trust and relate to some, somehow.

Terry Neumann: Four more years. Four more years, buddy– you need to grow up a little bit. [laughs]

President Bill Clinton: Today, we celebrate the mystery of American renewal.

Claude Stanley: Yeah, I’ve been there with Reagan, Bush, and now Clinton. I’m not saying I don’t trust presidents. It’s that you say a lot of stuff to get on top. Even if I was running for something, I’d say, I’d be, like, “I’m… Everybody get free candy and everything,” you know? So you say a lot of stuff to get on top.

President Bill Clinton: We inherit an economy that is still the world’s strongest, but is weakened by business failures, stagnant wages, increasing…

Jackie Stanley: I think if they work on jobs first, a lot of people would probably be more energized, you know? Give people something to wake up to every morning, you know, a purpose. You know, a purpose…

Claude Stanley: A purpose and a lot more self-respect.

Jackie Stanley: Right. And I think that will change a lot of people’s attitudes.

Claude Stanley: Changed mine.

Jackie Stanley: Yeah.

Pastor: I invited the Neumanns around the Lord’s table because a year ago, they may not have had as much to be thankful for, right? You didn’t have a steady job, then, did you?

Tony Neumann: That’s a fact.

Pastor: That’s a fact. What is the fact today?

Tony Neumann: I have more than enough work.

Pastor: More than enough work. God is with us.

Bill Moyers: Tony Neumann had found a job making engine parts in a small factory. [organ plays, handbells ring]

[hymn]: Amen, amen

Bill Moyers: Like many in the new light manufacturing sector, the job was non-union. It paid $8.25 an hour with no benefits. [organ and bells continue]

Terry Neumann: More coffee for Daddy. [people talking in background]

Tony Neumann: I’m still scared, because of being laid off so many times. Some people do call me money-hungry because I eat up the overtime, but I’ve seen how a couple of months without income can do to you. I won’t feel safe enough until I have, like, $20,000 in the bank.

Bill Moyers: Tony was working the night shift. Still months behind on the mortgage, he was working an exhausting amount of overtime to try and catch up.

Tony Neumann: The kids are off to school at 8:00 in the morning, so I can see them from 7:00, when they get up, until 8:00, when they leave. And then I don’t get home until 12:00 at night, and they’re already in bed sleeping. Because it’s wet outside. [voiceover]: And it does bother me not to be able to see the kids as much as I used to. It does bother me a lot, but at this point in time right now, having money coming in consistently is more important than spending time with my children all the time, like I used to.

[laughing]

Terry Neumann: Stop giggling.

Tony Neumann: Can you make sure Daniel reads that book on the chemistry set real good?

Bill Moyers: Terry and Tony’s marriage survived, but there were still pressures.

Tony Neumann: See you tonight.

Terry Neumann: Goodbye.

Terry Neumann: Come on, let’s pray. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. [voiceover]: We are missing somebody, we’re missing Tony. Daniel’s putting the snake away. [voiceover]: So a lot of times, we’re here by ourselves, and it gets kind of lonely, because we have to do things just with the four of us, and sometimes I feel like a single parent.

Terry Neumann: In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. Bless us, oh, Lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty through Christ, our Lord, amen. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Child: This is the ham that Dad got from work. At Christmastime?

Bill Moyers: Terry still found herself having to choose between making money and staying home with the kids. The choice for now was to bring in some extra income. Selling beauty products had wound up costing her money, so she took part-time work caring for an elderly woman. She left the kids with a relative.

[on TV]: No, I think we lost power. We were between floors– those are the emergency lights.

TV character: It stopped. Wait, the shaking stopped. Is it over?

TV character: I think so.

[panting]

TV character: What, what’s wrong?

TV character: Well, the elevator’s stuck. [tool running]

Bill Moyers: In 1993, Claude, Sr., was still waterproofing basements.

Claude Stanley: I do my best. If I’m gonna come out here and do a job, I’m gonna make sure it’s done right. And I don’t care who work with me, we’re going to do it right if I be here half the night to get it done.

Bill Moyers: He was now earning about seven dollars an hour, 50 cents more than in ’91.

Claude Stanley: Now I’m putting the long hours in, you’re getting money, but it’s not that much, but you’re getting longer hours. But, you know, you… When you get home, you’re tired.

Jackie Stanley: Yeah.

Claude Stanley: Yeah, we tired, you know? And, uh, you say, “What the use?” Uh… you know… [stammering]

Jackie Stanley: What’s, why keep struggling?

Claude Stanley: Why keep going? But you gotta say, “I’m going to make it. I’m gonna, I’m gonna make it.” But a door gotta open up somewhere. It’s got to open up somewhere. [people talking in background]

Bill Moyers: In 1993, the Three Sons were still in business. Keith Stanley, now 16, and the 14-year-old twins, Klaudale and Claude, Jr.

Keith Stanley: We do a lot of offhand jobs, odd jobs, like doing this and painting rooms and pulling up carpet, taking out furniture, and stuff like that. Most of the money goes to the bank, and if it doesn’t, either we’re helping our sister out in college, um, or we’re helping out buying our own shoes, buying our equipment. So it doesn’t just get spent on whatever you want.

Bill Moyers: Keith had set a goal to become the first boy on either side of the family to graduate high school and go on to college.

Claude Stanley: I try to instill in, in them, it’s, you’re going to need to get education. You got to go to college. Without a college education, you won’t make it.

Terry Neumann: Daniel! [dog barks]

Terry Neumann: Daniel!

Terry Neumann: Daniel, look for your homework.

[calling faintly]

Terry Neumann: And your backpack.

Terry Neumann: And shut the door.

Terry Neumann: With me working and, and Tony working, we had different shifts, and we weren’t all together all the time at the same time.

Terry Neumann: Karissa, where is it?

Terry Neumann: How could he lose a backpack?

Karissa Neumann: [crying]: In the room.

Terry Neumann: Daniel started getting very quiet and kept to himself a lot, and… His attitude just changed a little bit. You know, he got really distant.

Terry Neumann: Hey, look at this.

Terry Neumann: Homework, not finished– why?

Daniel Neumann: What is this?

Terry Neumann: [voiceover]: And then Daniel started having problems with his grades in school.

Terry Neumann: There’s three pages here.

Daniel Neumann: I’m not signing none of this.

Terry Neumann: Let me see that.

Father Mike Strachota: Some kids almost blame themselves for what’s going on in a, in a family, and that they have to realize this is a situation, it’s a tough situation for the whole family. Everybody’s doing the best they can. You love him, you’re there for him, and you’ll always be there for him.

Teacher: Danny Neumann? [talking in background]

Bill Moyers: Deciding the children needed her full time at home, Terry gave up the job.

Claude Stanley: I think he made about $35, $40 at Smith.

Jackie Stanley: At Smith, yeah.

Claude Stanley: And I made $35 and $40.

Jackie Stanley: At Briggs. Mm-hmm.

Claude Stanley: Mm-hmm. And that’s– so we’re about half of that. If we did, made what we made at Briggs and Smith, right now, kids would at least have some kind of college funds built up.

Jackie Stanley: But, you know, like I said, we look on each other for our strength. You know, some days she have a bad day, some days I have a bad day. But like, when… If I’m not producing, she’s producing, whatever. And when I can’t get… You know, I do, she do, I do. We, we’re trying to find a way to make ends meet. You know, it’s like I said, you got some families probably saying, “How did we make it?” You know, how do we make it? You know…

Claude Stanley: We don’t even know sometimes. [both laugh]

Jackie Stanley: How do you make it, you know?

Claude Stanley: We just keep holding on. You know, we, we rummage. I love to rummage. [shop bell ringing]

Store clerk: Hi.

Jackie Stanley: How are you today?

Store clerk: Fine.

Jackie Stanley: [voiceover]: I come here because I work with a lot of people every day. I mean, they come in the offices, from their cologne to the shoes, I, they look gorgeous, and I can’t afford what they wear. My accessories that I wear, they’re, like, five, ten, to $20 earrings. I pay 99 cents. Ooh.

Store clerk: This is something you’d wear, probably.

Jackie Stanley: Something I would wear? No, I think Elvis Presley would wear it. [laughs] No, I wouldn’t wear that. [receipt printing]

Store clerk: $55.

Jackie Stanley: Okay, I’ll get hers and put mine on layaway. [voiceover]: Nobody wants to be around somebody that doesn’t have their selves together. Even if you have to, as one broker wrote me, and said, “Fake it till you make it.” And that’s what we, we do in the Stanley household. We wear exactly what the people on Lake Drive wears. [hangers moving] I’ll tell you what we’ll do.

Claude Stanley: You take his.

Jackie Stanley: I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you this one, because that’s the very same house.

Claude Stanley: Yeah.

Jackie Stanley: [voiceover]: Our family would be what you would say is what the average Americans are going through. And with my kind of work that I do, which is real estate, I get paid on commission, it goes up and down. And it’s, and it’s rough.

Home inspector: The way I do my inspection…

Homeowner: Don’t go in the back hallway, the dog’s there.

Bill Moyers: Jackie was just one of the agents working on this sale, and had to split the commission with the others. She also had to pay a percentage of her share to her employer, Homestead Realty, reducing her own take.

Jackie Stanley: Out of this one, by the time they’re done, it’ll be about $1,000. If we’re going to do the taxes, too, then you also have to remember, they take the 28% out of the $1,000 that you make, so you’re, you’re down again. There’s something that I always say, and I know you may not understand this, but it says, “So a man thinketh, so is he.” If I think poverty all the time, I’ll act that way. I can’t afford to, to talk negative, and then allow my children to see me that way, down or depressed.

Bill Moyers: Even as Jackie persevered, it seemed her neighborhood was coming apart at the seams.

Jackie Stanley: Even on this street, one block west of my house, just about every door here has the steel doors. There was “kill you” written on the back of my fence, “if you don’t join the gangs,” to my oldest son, Keith. All I could tell them is, “Keep trying.” Every day I have to encourage myself, and I have to encourage them. Many times, Keith has said to me, “What’s the use, Mom?” He did a 3.5. “What does it matter?” And I said, “You gotta keep going.” Someone called us the other day. The snow was heavy and we were out shoveling snow, and someone stood at the window and said, “Look at your family, it’s perfect.” And they called us the Beaver family. I know they meant to say Cleaver, but…

[laughs]

Jackie Stanley: And I said… They said, “We see you together all the time. It looks good,” but it looks good. But no matter how it looks on the outside, I’m concerned. [birds chirping]

Terry Neumann: Daniel, Daniel, let me see, let me see, please.

Daniel Neumann: No, no, no, I…

Terry Neumann: Oh, come on, come on. I’ve been waiting for this.

[mumbling]

Terry Neumann: You have what?

Bill Moyers: Having given up on her job, Terry was home with the kids, encouraging them and helping with homework.

Terry Neumann: As, Cs, Cs. Well, you went up in math, you had a U. You went to a C. [voiceover]: I wasn’t sure if it was the right decision, but I thought, it’s either that or my kids are just going to be having a, a worse problem. “Wow!! “I am proud of your efforts, Dan, I know you could do it. Keep up the good work.” Good job, Dan.

Tony Neumann: Julie mention what kind of plants she wanted?

Terry Neumann: Hm?

Tony Neumann: Tomatoes?

Terry Neumann: Yeah, she wanted tomatoes.

Tony Neumann: A lot of the stuff that you grow, you can eat, and just helps save money a little bit. I learned this from my mom and dad and grandma and all of these people who grew up during the Depression and figured, it makes it seem like you don’t have it that bad.

Bill Moyers: Tony continued working lots of overtime. Then he got sick and lost ten days’ pay.

Terry Neumann: He caught pneumonia and he collapsed.

Tony Neumann: Yeah, they put me on a I.V. for about a hour-and-a-half or so.

Terry Neumann: And you get the bill and it’s, like, 300-and-something dollars. And I said, “Just for a taxi service to the hospital?” I’m, like, “Come on!” And Tony’s, like, “Oh, God, there’s another bill.”

Bill Moyers: Tony’s new medical expenses hit them hard. They were still paying off the debts from when he was unemployed.

Terry Neumann: Just with the mortgage, we got, well, three months behind. And it will take us two years to get, to pay that back, because they tack on the interest and penalty charges and whatever else. You know, so that three months takes two years. That, that’s a long time. So whatever extra money we have, we send it, only because we want to make sure that in the next year, we have it paid off so they don’t take the house.

Tax preparer: Okay, let’s get these numbers down, see what we’ve got here. Looks like you’ve got a medical deduction there.

Tony Neumann: Mm-hmm.

Bill Moyers: In April 1993, the Neumanns were proud that Tony was reporting income for the first time in two years. [receipt printing]

Tax preparer: [mouthing] Uh-oh. You don’t have enough taxes paid up. [page turning] [receipt printing] You owe $900. [page turning]

Tony Neumann: $900– where am I gonna get $900?

Bill Moyers: Two years later, in 1995, getting a job wasn’t the problem anymore in Milwaukee. There was even a shortage of skilled labor.

TV news reporter: Employers in some parts of the state say they can’t find enough qualified workers, and Governor Thompson announced what he calls Operation Hire to address those shortages.

Bill Moyers: The problem still was that jobs often didn’t pay enough.

Terry Neumann: In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Bless us, oh, Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord, Amen.

Bill Moyers: In the spring of ’95, Tony Neumann finally moved on to the day shift. Now he and Terry were able to spend more time with the kids.

Terry Neumann: [voiceover]: They’re doing great. They’re healthy, they’re doing well in school. And they’re getting big. They’re, they’re growing, they’re just huge. They’re growing out of shoes and pants and cups! [talking in background]

Bill Moyers: Tony was now making around $13 an hour, still less than he had made at Briggs and Stratton. The Neumanns had managed to catch up on their mortgage, but they had no savings, and still lived paycheck to paycheck.

Terry Neumann: Why would I be waiting?

Barb: Morning– morning, Barb.

Terry Neumann: Morning, Terry!

Bill Moyers: Terry’s latest part-time job was at a school cafeteria. Paying $6.91 an hour, it let her get home before the kids.

Terry Neumann: [voiceover]: I only work three hours so I don’t get any benefits right now. [water running] I might get extra time if somebody’s sick. Any extra time that I can get I grab, because it helps. [exhales]

Bill Moyers: In a typical day, Terry took home less than $20 after taxes.

Terry Neumann: Oh, I have to go by my dad’s house. He went on vacation for three weeks and I have to go check out the house.

Bill Moyers: In the Stanley household in 1995, oldest son Keith reached a milestone, becoming the first man on either side of his family to graduate high school.

Jackie Stanley: Aw, Mommy. [crying]

Jackie Stanley: Mm. [gasping, sniffling] I’ve been talking for years, I can’t talk now. [chuckles]

Jackie Stanley: You’re the first one. [crying]

Announcer: Keith Kenyatta Stanley. [audience cheering and applauding]

Jackie Stanley: That’s my boy! That’s my son. Jackie Stanley’s son. [cheering and applauding]

Keith Stanley: I’m kind of nervous and kind of excited, but I’m ready to go on and move on now, because it’s, like, been a long four years at high school. I’m hoping that after I graduate, I really, you know, stay in college. Because I know a lot of times, people, they go out there expecting high hopes, and, like, the world let them down. I want to really go out there, make some noise in the world. [chuckles]: Yeah, that’s what I want to do.

[laughing] [exclaiming indistinctly] [people talking in background]

Tony Neumann: This is where I’m going today, Karissa. Pickup and deliveries. Must have CDL; competitive wages and excellent benefits. And that’s what we need, benefits. Apply in person. I studied and took a test at the motor vehicle department and got a CDL license. And CDL license stands for commercial driver’s license. I’m hoping to get into a, a pretty good company that’s going to offer me, like, eight hours a day and give me some decent benefits, like medical, dental, and eye exam.

Child: Dad’s home.

Bill Moyers: Knowing he wouldn’t make the living he needed at his present job, Tony had been retraining again.

Tony Neumann: What are you doing outside?

Child: I was waiting for you.

Tony Neumann: [voiceover]: I’m always learning. You always have to learn. If you, when you stop learning, then you got a problem. The Honors Program. “Congratulations on your outstanding performance on The Asset.”

Bill Moyers: Tony got near-perfect scores, this time in thermoplastic molding. Now he was up for a new job.

Tony Neumann: I went and got an interview, and I’m waiting to hear sometime by the end of the month if I have the job or not.

Bill Moyers: And that doesn’t make you happy?

Terry Neumann: It makes me happy because it’s really what he wanted. I told him he had to make the decision. And if that’s, if he felt that that’s what he wanted, to, to go ahead and do it.

Bill Moyers: But?

Terry Neumann: It’s a cut in pay rate…

Tony Neumann: It’s a cut in pay.

Bill Moyers: Oh.

Terry Neumann: They do have good benefits.

Bill Moyers: How much do you lose if you take it?

Terry Neumann: Oh, probably about…

Tony Neumann: Three bucks?

Terry Neumann: …two-and-a-half, three dollars an hour.

Tony Neumann: Yeah, a cut.

Tony Neumann: But the thing is, four years down the road, I’ll be making more money than I would ever dream of making here.

Terry Neumann: But is it going to be there when he gets out? You know what I mean?

Tony Neumann: They’re going to train you on the job for four years, and all that is going to cost them a lot of money to put you through school and train you. And why would they do all that and want to kick you out?

Terry Neumann: I know– I don’t want to burst your bubble.

Tony Neumann: Okay.

Terry Neumann: But what happens if they can’t compete with a neighbor?

Bill Moyers: As you said, it’s happened twice to Tony.

Terry Neumann: Right– you know, a company can just… I mean, I’ve seen it, it can just pick up and move.

Bill Moyers: Hey, Jackie.

Jackie Stanley: Hi.

Bill Moyers: Good to see you.

[talking softly]

Bill Moyers: Thank you, good to see you. This is new.

Jackie Stanley: Yeah.

Bill Moyers: What’s going on?

Jackie Stanley: The neighborhood’s changing, and we right now feel that we should sell the house. Every year it’s getting worse. Gangs are moving in. I have $2,800 worth of steel up to my house.

Bill Moyers: Yeah, I saw the steel doors, the…

Jackie Stanley: “Protected by” the…

Bill Moyers: Alarm, yeah.

Jackie Stanley: Alarm system, “Beware of the dogs.”

Bill Moyers: Alarm system, “Beware of the dogs.”

Jackie Stanley: We have it all. And I was gonna make up a sign– “Ignore the dog, “ignore the alarm, and you’re going to make the 6:00 news.” I’m, I’ve had it, I have had it. [music playing]

Keith Stanley: [on recording]: Hey, what’s up, everybody, this is Keith. I’m inside my dorm room just trying to let you know how everything is doing.

Bill Moyers: In September of 1995, Keith started at Alabama State University.

Keith Stanley: [on recording]: …taking each step at a time. It’s kind of harder than I thought, but I can do it.

Bill Moyers: How do you afford to keep Keith in college?

Jackie Stanley: I negotiated two transactions and closed them the day before he left. And you’re talking about a prayer.

Bill Moyers: Jackie’s commissions paid for only part of the first semester.

Keith Stanley: [on recording]: …and who they’re with.

Bill Moyers: What does it take you a year down there for him?

Jackie Stanley: It’s $7,000 a year.

Bill Moyers: Is he going to be able to make it this year?

Jackie Stanley: I just received a letter that I have to pay $1,300 now or Keith will have to be put out in 48 hours. But again, God came through again. Keith had applied for a lot of charge cards before he left. Keith? Hi, how are you doing? All right. Listen, we came up with something. Oh, that’s so sweet. I could tell you’ve been down south a long time. You’re saying, “Yes, ma’am.” Your Discover card came in and we were concerned about this letter that came from your school. So here’s what we’re going to do. I called the Discover card people, and I told them we wanted a cash advance.

Bill Moyers: Most people, when they pray, expect God to give them a miracle. You, what you got was $1,000 credit with 18% interest rate.

Jackie Stanley: But it’ll tide me over until I can get the miracle. So then this semester’s taken care of. You hear me? All right. I love you.

Claude Stanley: It’s called “rob Peter to pay Paul.”

Bill Moyers: [chuckles]: Yeah.

Claude Stanley: And I’m robbing Peter so much that Peter’s just standing there.

Terry Neumann: I have a new job. I’m a driver and a guard and a messenger. My hourly pay right now is $7.50 to start. It has very good insurance benefits, which my husband doesn’t have. He gets more money and, and less benefits, and I’ve got less money and better benefits. So hopefully between the two of us…

Tony Neumann: …it kind of works out.

Terry Neumann: Yeah. I get a lot of looks from from a lot of truck drivers.

[chuckles]

Terry Neumann: A lot of double takes that, “Wow, look at that,” yeah. I love it, I think it’s great, you know?

Bill Moyers: Working?

Terry Neumann: Working, yeah. And having the power behind the big truck, you know, I, I like it.

Bill Moyers: The power behind the big truck?

Terry Neumann: Yeah, I get a lot more looks than sitting in the kitchen cooking muffins. [all laugh]

Child: Well, good morning! [laughs]

Bill Moyers: I remember you telling us a couple of years ago how important it was that as a mother, you were home with the kids.

Terry Neumann: Right.

Bill Moyers: And, you know, Daniel was having a few difficulties then.

Terry Neumann: Right.

Bill Moyers: Approaching teenage years.

Terry Neumann: Right.

Bill Moyers: You just felt it was best if you could be here.

Terry Neumann: Right– I still feel that way. But under the circumstances, we’re put into, to a situation. We don’t have a choice.

Daniel Neumann: You got any homework?

Adam Neumann: Yeah, I got a lot. I got this little worksheet. I got a couple of other things, I think.

Bill Moyers: The Neumanns now made enough from their combined income to meet their expenses. But the kids were coming home to an empty house.

Terry Neumann: See you with Ricky at 6:00?

Terry Neumann: I hope they’ve learned something from this, how hard it is and how difficult it is and how everybody needs to make sacrifices, including them– this is how it is, and this is what we have to do in order to get through this and, and make it.

[cooing]

Bill Moyers: Over the next few years, as their parents worked harder and harder, the Neumann kids were growing up. [dog barks]

Karissa Neumann: I love clothes.

Terry Neumann: She loves clothes.

Karissa Neumann: I’m a clothes fanatic. Adidas, Tommy Gear. Nike. Which I have none of, or Tommy…

[murmurs]

Karissa Neumann: I have Adidas.

Bill Moyers: Terry was making a little more money at the armored car company.

Terry Neumann: I got a raise. I did get a raise. A few of us complained, and, um, 40 cents– 40 cents more. But I mean, it’s, it’s better than what it was.

Bill Moyers: Tony continued working and trying to find a better job.

Tony Neumann: I don’t have any complaints about the job that I have now. Except for the pay. And the benefits. And you can’t seem to go no further.

Bill Moyers: The Stanleys were barely getting by. Claude remained at his job waterproofing basements.

Claude Stanley: Then they also flip out…

Bill Moyers: Jackie continued selling real estate in the Central City.

Jackie Stanley: Okay, take a look up.

Bill Moyers: They couldn’t sell their own home for enough money to afford a more stable neighborhood, so they decided to stay put.

TV news anchor: On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 98-and-a-half points.

Bill Moyers: Meanwhile, the economy was really booming. The stock market kept rising, to over 6,000 by 1997, 8,000 by ’98. Inflation was lower than it had been in 30 years and jobs were plentiful. But for working families, it was still a struggle to make ends meet. [rocks clattering] Even a full-time job didn’t guarantee full benefits. Not having enough health insurance could turn into a nightmare. And that’s what happened in 1997, when Claude Stanley got sick. A serious lung infection required an extended stay in the hospital and kept him out of work for two months. When we next saw him, it was 1998. He told us the family faced uncovered medical bills approaching some $30,000.

Claude Stanley: It will be rough, you know? It, it hit us financially, but, um, all we did was just depend on, we, you know, we depend on the Lord to make a way for us, but we ain’t going to stop living, you know? We got to keep moving, keep going.

Drive-through worker: Welcome to Burger King. Can I take your order, sir?

Customer: Can I have two small Diet Cokes…

Bill Moyers: The growing family debt meant that paying for college for their younger children was out of the question.

Photographer: Let’s see that pose again.

Bill Moyers: Omega was still in high school, but the twins had graduated. Claude, Jr., was working odd jobs, including doing some modeling. His twin, Klaudale, took a different route.

Drill instructor: A-ten-hut!

Bill Moyers: He joined the Navy.

Klaudale Stanley: I, Klaudale Lamar Stanley….

Official: …do solemnly swear…

Klaudale Stanley: …do solemnly swear…

Official: …that I will support and defend…

Klaudale Stanley: …that I will support and defend…

Bill Moyers: He went through basic training in Illinois…

Drill instructor: Pivot to the right, recruit. I said to the far right side, recruit– can you even hear? Do you have a problem hearing, recruit?

Klaudale Stanley: No, petty officer.

Drill instructor: Apparently you do! Now get to the far right side of the passageway!

Drill instructor: Get that back up the way it was when you first came aboard.

Klaudale Stanley: Aye aye, sir.

Recruits: [chanting]: Six more days and we’ll be through!

Bill Moyers: …and would soon be stationed in Washington, D.C., at the Pentagon.

Klaudale Stanley: Navy Washington operator 30. How may I assist you?

Bill Moyers: Tony had found a new job as a machinist.

Tony Neumann: There are a lot of jobs available in the paper for skilled people. Right now I’m running a boring bar, a four-inch boring bar. I’m making pretty good money there. A lot better than I have in a long time. This is really comparable to what I was making at Briggs.

Bill Moyers: The day shift paid $14 an hour, but he could make $15 working overnight, from midnight to 8:00 in the morning. He decided it was worth it.

Tony Neumann: It takes a little getting used to. It seems like you only get somewhere between four and six hours of real sleep, and you have to be able to live off of that.

Daniel Neumann: Sometimes, I like him to help me on homework. But since he’s on third shift, he can’t really help me a whole lot, because he’s normally sleeping. And when we wake him up, he gets really irritable. And he’s kind of crabby.

Tony Neumann: I already told you, food is going to be off limits in your room if I see this.

Daniel Neumann: The only time I get to see him is towards the time I’m going to bed. [machinery humming]

Tony Neumann: Actually, I would prefer to have a real life on first shift. I would really like to sit down and have a, a nice dinner with the family every day. I would really enjoy that. Terry and I are never really together for any period of time. We’re not really getting along like we used to. We don’t sleep together anymore. It’s really, it stinks.

Bill Moyers: Daniel and his brother were working part time at their church, where the pastor, Father Mike Strachota, had gotten to know them well.

Father Mike Strachota: Dan would be the quiet one who’s always thinking and has the insights. He has a rough edge to himself that he oftentimes portrays, but deep down, who he is is not only good, but it’s struggling to overcome other forces.

Terry Neumann: And if we don’t have the money, we don’t have the money.

Father Mike Strachota: Jesus said to his disciples, “You are the salt of the earth.” [voiceover]: This has always been a working-class parish. We have no wealthy people as a part of the parish. And so it’s been the struggle to maintain not only one job, but two jobs, or both parents working has become the common experience. It’s just like, there are so many other things that are occupying their time. The parents don’t have time for being with the children. And that’s why sometimes we begin to think that even their violent behavior or disruptive behavior is often their cry, “We want attention. Somebody, look at us.” Now we talk about grade-school children and what they are facing when it comes to drugs, to smoking, to the violence that fills the neighborhood.

Terry Neumann: I go to work, I expect it. I put my weapon on, my vest, and I go out there and I’m watching. But when I’m done punching the clock out, and I go home, that’s my safe haven. I want to go home, get some loose clothes on and lounge, or do what I need to do. Now I have to go home and I have to do exactly what I have to do at work. I’m taking Adam over to his friend’s house because some kids have been causing some problems and threatening their lives. So I don’t want them walking alone, because the minute they get them alone, they got a group of kids driving around in vehicles that are stalking them, that have threatened to kill them, beat them up, hurt them bad. The sergeant said, you know, “If you see anything, dial 911.”

Bill Moyers: The threats to the Neumann boys began after another teenager harassed Adam’s girlfriend at a party. Then, one evening, while Terry was on the phone to Father Mike, a rock came crashing through her picture window.

Terry Neumann: I told Father Mike, I said, “Call 911. “I don’t know what’s going on. “There’s, somebody’s trying to break through my house, or somebody broke my window.”

Father Mike Strachota: I said, “I’ll call 911,” and rushed over to the house. And at that point, Dan, who was home, was angry.

Terry Neumann: Dan wanted to go outside, you know, and find out what was going on and beat somebody up. And I said, “Absolutely not.”

Father Mike Strachota: So Terry is there, trying to calm him down, get him down into the basement, because they were circling. And then they started pounding on the door. I have never been more terrorized in all my life as when I was downstairs, and Dan telling me where to hide, “Stay away from the windows, they have guns.” Guns had been seen. It was an incredible, frightening experience. [sirens wailing]

Bill Moyers: The police finally arrived and arrested the leader of the assault, but Daniel and Adam would now have trouble feeling safe even in their own home.

Father Mike Strachota: Their sense was, “We better protect ourselves. We, we got to have weapons.” And I remember saying to them, “Guns are not the answer. Jesus calls us to turn the other cheek, pray for our enemies.” And Adam’s response haunted me. He said, “Look, Father Mike, this is the real world.”

Bill Moyers: With their conflicting work schedules, the Neumanns managed a rare weekend together in the fall of ’98 at Tony’s parents’ home in Northern Wisconsin.

Tony Neumann: It’s nice relaxing and get away from a lot of the stress. Enjoy time out with the kids. This is about the only time that I get to be with the kids. Hey, Adam, slow down, you’re getting too far ahead. Adam decided to take it upon himself… [gun fires] …to, uh… …go to a Catholic school this year. It’s harder than the schools he was going to. He’s putting forth a good effort, and effort to me means a lot more than the grades anyhow. It does cost, but it’s for his future, which means more than money. You got one? How close were you?

Adam Neumann: He was in a tree. He was way in a tree.

Bill Moyers: Tony’s parents retired here. His mother, Mary Lou, spent her career at the very company that laid her son off, Briggs and Stratton.

Mary Lou Neumann: I think they’re all envious of me now because I’m sitting here not– and retired at an early age, along with my husband. Enjoying life. I feel sorry for these kids. I don’t know how they’re going to get ahead to do any savings.

Jackie Stanley: It’s a good economy, but it’s just that ain’t hitting our house. You’re gonna have to help me with some of this. [voiceover]: Like I was discussing with a girlfriend of mine that just left here to start her retirement with several– $90,000 worth of CDs. And I was telling them, “We didn’t save like that, and we’re not ready for retirement.”

Client: And an office with a sink.

Bill Moyers: Sales in the Central City produced only meager commissions. But Jackie still didn’t feel welcome as an African American trying to sell in more affluent, mostly white neighborhoods.

Jackie Stanley: I’m the same color I was when you came before. I– no matter what I wear, no matter how I look, it’s still the same. And it might’ve been water in here at the time… [voiceover]: This is 1999, and it’s still doing it. As a realtor, I know. That’s sad.

Bill Moyers: In the fall of 1999, Keith Stanley began his last year at Alabama State. He had some aid and worked two jobs, as a resident assistant in his dorm and the organist at his church. But when we visited, we found him on the verge of being kicked out for nonpayment.

Keith Stanley: So what I do usually is, um, I just have to go inside the credit card and, and pay for it through credit cards, you know? And that’s the only way I can do it, you know. That’s, and that’s what it takes to stay in school, that’s what I’m going do to stay in school. My current balance for this credit card is $2,574.68. The interest on this is, I believe it’s 23%, close to 24%. “No fee first year. Apply now.” They’re everywhere.

Bill Moyers: Back home in Milwaukee, Keith’s parents had decided to strike out on their own, to become entrepreneurs. Borrowing against their home, they bought a Central City office building where Jackie could start her own real estate firm and Claude could set up shop as a home inspector.

Claude Stanley: We’re talking about those, amen, that is so quick to get rich and quick to prospering, quick to go somewhere.

Bill Moyers: They would use it on Sundays as a church. Claude had become an ordained pastor. Their faith remained as strong as their futures seemed uncertain.

Claude Stanley: God is good, he’s good, he’s good, he’s good!

Jackie Stanley: I got a article from “U.S.A. Today” where they said every person that is going to retire is going to need at least a million dollars. [chuckles]

Bill Moyers: Seeing the growing tensions in the family, Father Mike recommended the Neumanns and their children enter counseling.

Karissa Neumann: I don’t like going to counseling because I don’t want to tell him my problems. It’s like he’s… [imitating]: Hello, what are your problems? [giggling] He does… He never laughs, it’s so funny.

Terry Neumann: Well, he’s serious. He’s, he wants to get to the root of the problem.

Daniel Neumann: Daddy even said that we weren’t gonna go to any more, and then you guys scheduled another one. And I told the boys that we weren’t gonna have any more…

Terry Neumann: That’s…

Daniel Neumann: …and they got all happy. Because the boys don’t like coming to these things, either.

Terry Neumann: Goodbye!

Daniel Neumann: Bye!

Terry Neumann: Behave– be in by curfew.

Daniel Neumann: Okay.

Terry Neumann: Okay, I’m going to work now.

Bill Moyers: Terry left the armored car job for one that paid more. $15 an hour, instead of nine. But her schedule was utterly unpredictable. Sometimes she worked from 4:00 in the morning to noon, and might have to come back the same evening and work the overnight. She was always on call to report to work on just two hours’ notice.

Terry Neumann: By the time I get home, I’m, like, zonked out. I get tired.

Bill Moyers: Despite all the hard work, these two American families had barely survived one of the most prosperous decades in our history.

President Bill Clinton: We began the new century with over 20 million new jobs, the fastest economic growth in more than 30 years, the lowest unemployment rates in 30 years… We have built a new economy.

Bill Moyers: It was 12 years before we came back to Milwaukee. We found a city still struggling, with over a quarter of its people living in poverty. Some people had done very well. Parts of the city had been splendidly rebuilt, and over the previous decade, more promises had been made.

President George W. Bush: A future of hope and opportunity begins with a growing economy. And that is what we have… Unemployment is low. Inflation is low. Wages are rising. This economy is on the move.

Bill Moyers: But the promises had come with a price: two costly wars, a soaring deficit, and a housing market boom and bust.

TV news anchor: The Obama administration says it will spend billions to keep struggling homeowners in their homes.

Bill Moyers: American families had been hit by the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression.

NARRATOR: We were raised to believe that each generation can and will do better than the last. But is that really true?

Bill Moyers: We wanted to know what had happened to the two American families we knew. [talking in background] We found Jackie Stanley outside her church. How are you?

Jackie Stanley: The graduate!

Bill Moyers: I can’t believe it! Along with a grown-up Keith, now 35.

Keith Stanley: I would never would have made it through college. Never would have made it through college without Mom.

Bill Moyers: But Jackie quickly confided that when we called her to see about filming again, she almost said no.

Jackie Stanley: I was telling Kathy I thought I was a failure. I really thought I was a failure, because I didn’t do it. [voice trembling]: We went backwards.

Bill Moyers: She said that after suffering some health problems, she had quit doing real estate altogether, that her dream of having her own office had come to nothing, that she hadn’t done enough to make it happen.

Jackie Stanley: …and not, and not caring…

Claude Stanley: Sometime we’re going to go through some things– praise God– and God ain’t gonna bring it out like you think it ought to come out, the way you want it to come out.

Bill Moyers: Turns out Claude’s entrepreneurial efforts hadn’t worked out, either.

Claude Stanley: You might be on your job sometime, and you hear about a layoff fitting to happen, and you might go home and pray all week, saying, “Lord, don’t let that happen to this place, I want to keep my job,” And guess what? Guess what? You get laid off anyhow, the place close down. Guess what? You got to praise God anyhow!

Bill Moyers: Now the couple was surviving on a job Claude had taken with the City of Milwaukee.

Claude Stanley: During the summertime, I do forestry. I do work with the boulevard– all the boulevards you see out here, with the flowers. We keep the flowers intact, the grass being cut.

Bill Moyers: And the winter?

Claude Stanley: Right now, I’m in sanitation, okay? Collecting garbage.

Bill Moyers: That’s hard work.

Claude Stanley: Yes, it is, Bill.

Bill Moyers: And you’re how old now?

Claude Stanley: I’m almost 60 years old.

Bill Moyers: How long do you think you can keep that up?

Claude Stanley: Not too long. [chuckles]: Not too long. [trash bin moving]

Bill Moyers: Claude was a member of a public union, making about $26,000 a year, plus some benefits.

Claude Stanley: You talking about doing other things in between. I did work at the airport for two years.

Bill Moyers: Doing what?

Claude Stanley: I was, worked on, on the runway, directing the planes that come in, flag them down, stop, taking their luggage to the tunnel, lifting baggage. And it was all kind of stuff at the airport I was doing.

Bill Moyers: Was that a minimum-wage job?

Claude Stanley: Definitely was minimum wage– when I worked out there, they cut our salary, I mean, down to nothing.

Jackie Stanley: He carried dead bodies, too.

Claude Stanley: [clears throat]: Yes.

Jackie Stanley: He worked at the hospital.

Claude Stanley: I was a security guard at Columbus Hospital, and, uh, in the, at nighttime, if it was, like, third shift, anybody passed away or died, we had to carry, put them on the elevator and carry them down to the refrigerator.

Bill Moyers: The third shift is from when to when?

Claude Stanley: Graveyard. [laughs]

Jackie Stanley: From 11:00, from 11:00 to…

Claude Stanley: 12:00 at night to 7:00 in the morning.

Bill Moyers: Once upon a time, when people got your age, and you’re much younger than I am…

Claude Stanley: Mm-hmm.

Bill Moyers: …you’re almost 60, they started thinking seriously about retiring.

Claude Stanley: Yes.

Bill Moyers: But you’re not.

Claude Stanley: I can’t do that.

Jackie Stanley: One day he told me, he had come in from work and it was kind of cold, and he said, “By the time I get up, I’m just thawing out. “My bones haven’t finished getting warm. I can’t keep doing this.” [brakes squealing] [engine idling]

Terry Neumann: Hey, Dyl. Are you in a good mood today? [head thudding] Dylan!

Bill Moyers: When we next met Terry Neumann, we found she had lost her warehouse job some five years before. So in 2008, she had retrained to become a nurse’s assistant and home healthcare aide. Now 49 years old, she was working part-time in a suburb just west of Milwaukee…

Terry Neumann: Ready? One, two, three– there you are!

Bill Moyers: …taking care of a 16-year-old, Dylan Soper.

Terry Neumann: Oh, I’ve been probably doing this for… Probably 19 months I’ve been here.

[laughing softly]

Terry Neumann: What, you think that’s funny? What’s so funny, Dyl? He thinks he’s funny sometimes. I don’t want those stinky feet! I don’t want those stinky feet! The job paid, when I first started, eight dollars an hour, and now I’m getting nine dollars an hour. I’m at 24 hours a week. Here is my paycheck. This is a two-week paycheck. So year-to-date… What are we talking here, November? That’s what I made– $9,646.89. That’s poverty.

Bill Moyers: For Terry Neumann, survival had been difficult since the last time we saw her, and not just because of her paycheck. What happened to you and your husband?

Terry Neumann: I think we just grew apart and went separate ways. And the love wasn’t there anymore.

Bill Moyers: Tony Neumann told us he had lost his factory job, and had been doing construction and handyman work in and out of Milwaukee. He declined to talk on camera.

Terry Neumann: Dylan, we’re getting into our chair. Back up. Good job.

Bill Moyers: Terry was working for a for-profit agency receiving money from Medicaid for Dylan’s care. Positions like hers are often part-time or temporary.

Terry Neumann: Are you ready? So they don’t have to pay for the benefits. Vacation time, sick time. Or health. Drink– drink.

Bill Moyers: You kept the house at the time of the divorce. You were able to keep the house.

Terry Neumann: Yes.

Bill Moyers: You were determined to hold on to that house.

Terry Neumann: Oh, yeah.

Bill Moyers: Terry had survived the wave of home foreclosures that hit some 16,000 Milwaukee property owners between 2008 and 2010. But by 2011, divorced and working part-time, she simply couldn’t afford to make her home payments anymore.

Dylan’s mother: She was real quiet, and, you know, I could tell that she was down. And I finally came to her and I said, “What’s going on?” You know, “You seem like you’re really down, “like you’re really tired, like you’re exhausted, “like you just have a really heavy– something’s heavy on your mind.” I said, “Is everything okay with your family?” I think she felt embarrassed, but she shouldn’t have. I think that she didn’t feel like she wanted to talk about it. But as the summer went on… [voice trembling]: …it was a horrible time for Terry.

Terry Neumann: “Dear occupant, “You are hereby notified that possession “is demanded by JP Morgan Chase Bank, which now owns your property.” They wanted $120,000 for the buyout of it. And I’m, like, “Where am I supposed to find that?” You know? So it goes into foreclosure. And you can sell it for, what, $30,000? Are they, are you serious? You can’t lower my payments or my interest rate so I can stay in my house?

Bill Moyers: With nowhere else to go, Terry moved in first with a relative, then with a friend. At the time Terry lost her home, both her grown sons, Daniel and Adam, were living with her.

Terry Neumann: I want to hold him all the way over there.

Child: Okay, you can hold him all the way over there.

Military instructor: Adam Neumann has passed uniform inspection.

Bill Moyers: We found Adam Neumann, Terry’s middle son, working for a lawn care company.

Adam Neumann: I’ve been doing it for about a year now, and I like this job– it’s, it’s nice, I like being outside. Keeps me in shape. I get paid, like, nine bucks an hour, usually 40 hours a week. Right now, there’s no benefits or insurance. So that’s, that’s the downfall of the job. [exhales] That’s Piggy.

Bill Moyers: Adam, we learned, had dropped out of school in the tenth grade after fathering a daughter who now lived with her mother.

Adam Neumann: I wish I would have, you know, stayed in school and, you know, found something that I was good at, and, you know, for a stable job in that sense. But after I had my kid at a young age, I had to work, and I couldn’t work and go to school at the same time.

Scout leader: And Daniel has earned the handyman activity pin.

Bill Moyers: Adam’s brother Daniel, Terry’s oldest, was now 29, an auto mechanic.

Daniel Neumann: I’ve seen it done before, too, where you pull up the syringe with the brake fluid…

Bill Moyers: Like so many Milwaukeeans of the past few decades, including his father, Daniel was looking to upgrade his skills to help him get work, so he went back to school for retraining at one of the region’s many technical colleges…

Instructor: How are we doing here, young man?

Daniel Neumann: All right.

Bill Moyers: …studying automotive technology. [yelling]

Bill Moyers: Daniel had three kids of his own to help support. They lived with their mothers.

Daniel Neumann: The world is just going all downhill right now. All this stuff going on here in Milwaukee, and all these shootings and all that. I mean, they just had another shooting out there, even in a nice neighborhood, over there in Brookfield. I have my concealed carry. I carry everywhere I go. You really don’t have to, want to use it, but you have to, you have something to protect yourself and your family and friends around you.

Bill Moyers: How about Karissa? How’s she doing? And she’s how old now?

Terry Neumann: 26. You have one of these. And then you need a business card to call Mommy up.

Karissa Neumann: When I was younger, I just knew we didn’t have money. And money is how the world goes round. A lot of people have clothes every, every school year– they have a new pair of shoes. Or several pairs of shoes. And I wanted to be able to say, “I have money in the bank.”

Bill Moyers: We found Karissa working for a hospital in the large Aurora chain, one of the biggest employers in the region in one of the biggest economic growth sectors, healthcare. She had an associate’s degree, and also recently took courses to get certified as a professional insurance coder.

Karissa Neumann: I do the physician billing, so all the physician services, I do those.

Bill Moyers: She earned about $15 an hour plus benefits. She supported herself and her husband, Anthony LeFebvre.

Anthony LeFebvre: You going in, too?

Karissa Neumann: Yeah, but she, uh, she had to walk in the garden.

Bill Moyers: Because they didn’t earn enough to have a home of their own, they live with Anthony’s relatives.

Karissa Neumann: Drive around any neighborhood, see how many people are living in the houses to try to help support each other. There’s a lot of vacant houses. You know, a lot of people lost their houses. You know, my mom being one of them.

Bill Moyers: We asked Terry to take us back to her old house.

Terry Neumann: So this is it.

Bill Moyers: The people living there invited us in.

Khou Yang: We recently just got this place, um, and, um, early September. And so we just got it fixed up. It’s still, we still need a lot of repairs, but…

Bill Moyers: Khou Yang and Lu Lao bought Terry’s house in a foreclosure sale for about $38,000.

Bill Moyers: Can I take a look around?

Khou Yang: Go, go right ahead.

Lu Lao: Yeah, go ahead.

Terry Neumann: This was my room. And this was my spare room. And this is where my grandkids would sleep when they’d come to visit me.

Bill Moyers: Jackie Stanley, serious about her community role as the pastor’s wife, tried to remain upbeat.

Jackie Stanley: Everything’s free, my dear.

Bill Moyers: On this day, there was a charitable giveaway at their church.

Jackie Stanley: If anybody has a queen size bed, I have a down comforter. We got furniture coming in just a bit. It just went crazy. We can’t even finish getting rid of everything, ’cause every time we get rid of a table or two, another table comes in.

Bill Moyers: We went along to one of her volunteer projects, a drug and alcohol recovery group. The woman who had once told us, “You have to fake it till you make it,” was still spreading that gospel.

Jackie Stanley: And I’mma show you the 45-degree angle walk. And women, I want you to hear this. Do not walk with your butt. When you want to be successful, when you step out– and don’t do those timid walks. That means, “Uh…” You know, it’s, like, “Whichever way the wind”– no! “I have somewhere to go, my name is Jae Rene.”

[murmuring]

Jackie Stanley: You see that?

[applauding]

Bill Moyers: But the private Jackie was less self-assured. Do you feel like a failure today?

Jackie Stanley: Yes.

Keith Stanley: No, she’s not a failure.

Jackie Stanley: He’ll always say that.

Keith Stanley: You’re not a failure. You raise… You know, in this day and age, you raise five kids, you, that’s success. Get jobs and make their own decisions…

Jackie Stanley: But even the Bible says leave heirs… You got to, you must leave something, you know?

Bill Moyers: Do you think your children feel that you’re a failure?

Jackie Stanley: I think they love me enough not to tell me if they did feel it.

Alderman: The chair recognizes Alderman Bauman.

Alderman Bauman: Yeah, thank you, Mr. President.

Bill Moyers: At Milwaukee’s City Hall, Keith Stanley earned about $45,000 a year as an assistant to the Common Council president, Alderman Willie Hines. Hines’s district was in Milwaukee’s Central City, near where Keith grew up.

Keith Stanley: Neil! How’s that thing going, how’s that thing going with you? You know, if you can, give me a call. It’s Keith Stanley with Alderman Willie Hines’ office… We do get the calls about jobs. They’re looking for a job, “I need a job.” Sometimes, that’s difficult to have that conversation, because I, I, myself, I’m in no position to offer a job, and my boss, we, that’s just– we’re policy makers. My heart goes out to them, because I know I can share that same story with them. I can understand their pain. Now, they may not want to hear that, lot of times, you know? “Oh, you work in that, the city, and you don’t understand.” And lots of it, I wish I could stop and say, “No, I definitely understand.” You know? “I definitely understand “dealing with struggle when, you know, your parents just don’t have enough.”

Keith Stanley: My parents spent a lot of time and energy just in making us who we are. You know, there are people that look like me, that live where I live, and who are now dealing with situations and struggles that I’ve never have seen. I’ve never seen the inside of a jail. I can’t tell you what a gun looks like. I don’t know what drugs or even alcohol looks like. And I have to give all that credit to my dad, along with my mom. And they put the fear of God in us, you know? You have to work hard. You have to look people in the eye.

Claude Stanley: He’s beyond our expectation. But Keith has told me a lot of times, “Mom, I don’t want to be like you and Dad.

Bill Moyers: Meaning?

Jackie Stanley: Bill, when it’s time to eat, they want to eat. They don’t want to do like Dad and I, and start, you know, saying, making excuses why you’re not hungry. We’re going to keep filling the racks– go by color. Not by size, go by color.

Keith Stanley: It’s inspired by my parents, but that’s also made me make a lot of tough decisions where I say, “I’m not going to make those decisions, because I don’t want that to affect my life.”

Jackie Stanley: Look for the blue one, look for the brown one. [chuckles]

Bill Moyers: One of the decisions Keith made is to hold off on getting married and having kids.

Keith Stanley: I want to make sure I can control my destiny. And that’s including not having children at a certain age. I would love to say, “I want to bring in a child in the world,” but until I have myself together, and I’m confident and believe that I have myself together– and people say there’s no perfect time to have a kid– I know that, but there’s been too many struggles I saw. And for me, it’s, like, can I make that sacrifice? And if I do, I, man, maybe, maybe one kid, maybe a dog right now. That’s why I got Spike, so that’s it. [barks]

Claude Stanley: Sometime you gonna to go through some things to get where you’re trying to go. Do all that you can, but still praise God.

Bill Moyers: How much has your faith been an anchor for you during this difficult time?

Claude Stanley: Oh, it’s, it’s a big anchor. [clapping rhythmically, church music playing] That’s what gets me up in the morning, Bill. That’s what keeps me going. [clapping, organ playing] I believe that something going to happen.

[hymn]: Can’t nobody do me like Jesus / Can’t nobody do me like Jesus / Can’t nobody do me like Jesus / Can’t nobody do me like Jesus [song continues]

Claude Stanley: Come on! Come on!

Bill Moyers: But you’ve had so many setbacks. I mean, since I first met you.

Claude Stanley: That’s true.

Bill Moyers: You were fighting hard after you lost those good-paying jobs.

Claude Stanley: That’s right.

Bill Moyers: And you’ve been fighting ever since. And yet you still…?

Claude Stanley: Still, Bill. Still praise the Lord. I still believe there’s, there’s something for us.

Jackie Stanley: And I would interject, saying, “What else?” We have no other choice.

[hymn]: Can’t nobody do me like Jesus / Can’t nobody do me like Jesus / Can’t nobody do me like Jesus / Can’t nobody do me like Jesus

Bill Moyers: What you’ve lost, people say to me, “How does she keep going? Where does she get that spirit? How does she do it?”

Jackie Stanley: My grandfather always said, “You never let the devil win.”

Bill Moyers: [chuckles]

Jackie Stanley: “Never let the devil win.” I’m still determined. [chuckles] You know, I’m not going to give up.

[crowd cheering and whistling]

President Barack Obama: We believe that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class… When the wages of honest labor liberate families from the brink of hardship…

President Donald Trump: America will start winning again… We will bring back our jobs… We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring…

President Joe Biden: We can right wrongs. We can put people to work in good jobs… and rebuild the middle class and make healthcare secure for all.

Bill Moyers: A dozen years and three presidential terms later, we returned to Milwaukee. Tax cuts had made the wealthy richer here and across the country…

TV news anchor: The stock market has been blasting through record after record…

Bill Moyers: …and Wall Street was living it up.

TV news anchor: …recently crossed a new threshold, the 5,000 mark, for the first time ever.

Bill Moyers: By 2024, wages had been rising faster than they had in decades.

TV news anchor: Income adjusted for inflation has been rising above the cost of living.

Bill Moyers: But that proved little comfort to those who had lost and never regained their sense of economic security.

TV news anchor: They see prices in the grocery store, at the gas tank…

Bill Moyers: Terry Neumann was once again working in a warehouse.

Terry Neumann: I was making nine-something taking care of Dylan. You know, I had to move on because I, I needed more money to sustain me.

Terry Neumann: My current job, I load and unload trailers and wrap pallets and get product to the other department. With all my physical jobs, my joints, my knees, shoulders… The foot that I fractured, the weather changes, and it aches. I mean, I hurt every day, but I keep pushing through. But there are days where it’s like, “Oh, God!” [keys jangling] I work from 4:00 p.m. to 12 midnight. I make $19.10 an hour. And then, because I work a night shift, you get extra three dollars more an hour. [pan sizzling] If our wages get raised, then everything else goes up: gas goes up, groceries goes up. There is no wiggle room for anything.

Jackie Stanley: And she takes a lot of other stuff, supplements and stuff, so, vitamins. I takes those, too, so she just…

Claude Stanley: This is the one with the ladies dancing on the commercial, for God’s sake.

Bill Moyers: Since we last saw Jackie, she had developed some new health problems.

Jackie Stanley: I was getting fluid on me and didn’t understand, where was this weight coming from? And then that’s when they told me that the diabetes was full-blown. And I take that one twice. And then later on, congestive heart failure. I tell you no lie, when I was in the hospital and they rushed me in… [voice trembling]: I knew I would cry.

Claude Stanley: Oh…

Jackie Stanley: When they rushed me in… …this guy had rolled into the bed with me when I went to sleep. I didn’t even know who he was. I should have died, but I’m coming back. You guys, I’m telling you, you have no idea, I… I’m talking to– I literally walk through here at night talking to God. [chuckles] You feel like going by 5801?

Bill Moyers: Claude Stanley retired from his sanitation job with a small pension in late 2023. Now he helps Jackie, who’s back in the real estate game. They plan to supplement their retirement income with commissions.

Jackie Stanley: We’ll both be 70 this year. He’s 71 and I’ll be 70. There you go.

Claude Stanley: All right.

Jackie Stanley: I’ll wait on you.

Claude Stanley: I’m going in. Can I go in?

Jackie Stanley: Yeah, yeah.

Claude Stanley: All right.

Jackie Stanley: I can’t breathe.

Claude Stanley: All right. Right now, like, giving her insulin and whatever, it just is part of our life now. You know, we just got to do it until she, she get better. And she’s going to get better. Even when I was working in different jobs and stuff, if I lost it, it’s another one. I can get another one, you know? This is not where I’m gonna be, you know? I’m gonna keep going. And when I looked at my wife’s situation, I said, “We can work with that.” “We can, we can work with that.”

Jackie Stanley: Flowers.

Jackie Stanley: I’m not giving up. I’m not playing, I’m fighting. [people talking in background]

Tony Neumann: What would I tell my younger self? Should have probably saved a little bit more money more often. I did buy a trailer. It needed a lot of work. It’s convenient ’cause it’s real close to the expressway. [lighter clicks]

Bill Moyers: Tony Neumann is now 62.

Tony Neumann: I worked at a lot of factories. Briggs and Stratton. And then there was machining that I did at another company. Tool and die maker at another company, maintenance worker at another company. A machinist at another company. Smaller ones seem to take care of your employees better. The bigger ones, you’re just a number, and you come and go just as they please. You just gotta roll with the punches. You gotta do what you gotta do when you, when you can. That’s all you can do. Nowadays, it’s painting, drywall, plumbing, electric, tile, roofing, little bit of concrete, maybe. Almost anything. I’m a handyman. [laughs] It’s what I do. [drill whirring] And I’m good at it. [laughs] [tool whirring] My job cannot be outsourced overseas because you can’t do this remotely. You actually have to be at a certain particular place in order to do this.

Tony Neumann: I know I will always have a job.

Keith Stanley: If you expect to hear Claude said he, “I saved a million,” he didn’t save a million. We couldn’t do it all. If you’re gonna have five kids, but look at those five kids now. I’m beyond proud. Aren’t you proud?

Claude Stanley: Yeah, I’m proud of them.

Keith Stanley: There was a word back in the ’60s or ’70s. We called it “braggadocious.” I’m braggadocious.

[chuckles]

Keith Stanley: I, Klaudale Lamar Stanley…

Keith Stanley: Klaudale, Klaudale is United States Navy, retired. He has a son and a daughter. He’s I.T., and he’s moving and shaking. Claude has stayed near home. He stays near Mom and Dad at all times. Nicole went to Virginia. She got married in Virginia. She went to Missouri, got her master’s.

Bill Moyers: These days, Nicole lives in Augusta, Georgia, with her husband and 14-year-old son. She has an older son in the Navy.

Nicole Stanley: I desired to complete college, because I saw the struggle of my mother. I have my undergrad in I.T. infrastructure, and I have my master’s in cybersecurity. I also have four I.T. certifications– Network Plus, Security Plus, ITIL Foundations, and Cybersecurity. Come here, T! Look! I love it, but economically speaking, I have $90,000 in student loans. There you go. That was my only option, was the loans.

Keith Stanley: Then there’s Omega. And I gotta say that, with my Omega, Omega’s a go-getter.

Bill Moyers: Omega became a single mother at 21, and life got harder as her bills got larger. Now she believes she’s landed on her feet.

Omega Stanley: Okay, I love you, too.

Omega’s child: Be safe.

Omega Stanley: I will.

Omega’s child: Be cool, Mama.

Omega Stanley: All right, love you. I’m a certified nursing assistant. I work for the state. I take care from age 29 all the way up to 80, with autism, dementia, other mental and physical disabilities. I think I was about ten years old when it started. I just didn’t realize that my parents went through that.

Claude Stanley: It’s called rob Peter to pay Paul. And I’m robbing Peter so much that Peter’s just standing there.

Omega Stanley: And back then I was trying to realize, okay, are we really robbing someone to pay somebody else? I had to grow and understand what that meant.

TV host: Joining us this morning, we have Keith Stanley…

Keith Stanley: Then there’s Keith.

TV host: …of Near West Side Partner.

Keith Stanley: The Near West Side is one of the most historic parts of the city of Milwaukee, in my humble opinion, Grace.

Bill Moyers: From 2014 to 2022, Keith worked as an executive for nonprofit organizations in Milwaukee.

Keith Stanley: It’s your time, it’s your mind, it’s your energy, it’s your resources.

Event coordinator: Here, get the pinwheel in the background, maybe…

Keith Stanley: He’s gone to North Carolina. He’s doing what he did here.

Keith Stanley: Hey, this is Keith Stanley with University City Partners. It is live, it is happening right now, we are celebrating, it’s Charlotte Kids Fest. I got a call from a headhunter about an opportunity here in Charlotte. And I figured that this is a way for me to grow and to learn. …on U.N.C.-Charlotte’s campus.

Bill Moyers: Now he leads University City Partners, a Charlotte community development group.

Keith Stanley: And we want to make sure that Charlotte’s a place where our kids are being nurtured… When I describe what I do, there’s a term I use: the common good. And it’s a little bit of everything. It’s safety and security. It’s economic development. It’s connectivity and public transportation. And how do we work together to make a difference? You have a list you think that we can run through?

Jackie Stanley: He’s doing what the president of the United States did, Obama, is, he’s recreating the communities.

Claude Stanley: Yes.

Jackie Stanley: He’s also married, ladies. [laughs]

Keith Stanley’s wife: I’m originally from Boston, and I am a I.T. manager, and work in professional and managed services. I watched the last installment of this documentary. I was really struck by the vulnerability of the families, and what I think it must have taken to put yourself out there that way.

Jackie Stanley: I was telling Kathy I thought I was a failure.

Keith Stanley’s wife: I recognize as a person of color that oftentimes we tend to be more private and keep things inside. And the vulnerability that they showed over that time frame was just striking to me. Um, and so I reached out to Keith, and it was just like, “Hey, thank you for doing this.” Um, “I really enjoyed it. Thank your family for doing it.” And that was 2013?

Keith Stanley: 2013.

Keith Stanley’s wife: 2018, I had moved from Boston to Dallas, and then he was coming down to Dallas for a visit. I wasn’t sure why. I thought he was coming for work or church or something like that, and he came down, and we hung out, and that was pretty much it.

[car chiming]

Terry Neumann: Oh, this thing is digging in my back. Okay, I think I got it. [chiming stops] [exhales] [seatbelt clicks]

GPS voice: Turn right, then turn left.

Terry Neumann: My British guy– I love his accent.

GPS voice: Turn left onto East Moreland Boulevard.

Terry Neumann: [imitates accent]: Boulevard.

Terry Neumann: Uh, I’m driving to go see Father Mike.

Tony Neumann: More than enough work. God is with us.

Terry Neumann: Because he’s had some health issues and he’s retiring. [organ and handbells playing] [car door closes] I’ll be 61 in July. So I have, like, six years to go before I can retire. So, with the cost of everything that’s going up, you know, are we going to be able to afford retirement and live comfortably?

Father Mike Strachota: Mm-hmm. The challenge as you get older is beginning to feel your worth. Why did I do, work all these years, and this is all that I get? But it isn’t the end of the road, it’s the beginning of something new. And when we go back to our trust in God, I have found and I’ve been amazed… God has done things that I could never have imagined. But it’s in very subtle ways. So, our strength will inspire others and sustain us.

Terry Neumann: So, how do you like it here?

Father Mike Strachota: Very much so. They feed me well, good people, and I’m one of the youngest, so… How is life with the family?

Terry Neumann: It’s going good.

Father Mike Strachota: Going well?

Terry Neumann: Going good.

Father Mike Strachota: Excellent.

Terry Neumann: Adam’s working, working. His hours are, like, 7:00 till, like, 5:00, 6:00 in the morning. He’s working at Amazon, he’s making good money. Karissa. Sometimes she’s like her mother. [laughs]

Bill Moyers: Karissa recently received a promotion at her hospital job. During the pandemic, she began working full-time in the two-room apartment she shares with her husband.

Karissa Neumann: My office was in our living room. And it was quite difficult, you know, when two people are trying to share a space, and you can only have me in the room, and he’s not allowed in there, because I deal with patient medical records. When they offered the position, I said, “I need to talk to our landlord to see “if he would be willing to rent me a second apartment that I could use as an office.” Previously I was saving. We had a little bit of extra money to go out and do a few activities, and now we won’t be able to do that because of the additional expense of the office. [bottle spraying] When we go to the store, pick up fruits and vegetables, and it’s…

Anthony LeFebvre: Expensive.

Karissa Neumann: So we’ve decided to start a raised garden.

Karissa Neumann: This part with the seeds reminds me of when the basement was just full of lots of seeds and plants. That was 30 years ago. And when I talked to my dad about, you know, gardening, he’s, like, “I can drop off some pallets and you can work on building some planters.” And I said, “I would love to do that.”

Tony Neumann: I know my daughter used to love coming out and helping me do the woodworking, and she learned quite a bit. She seems to enjoy it a lot. I finished cutting these other ones up a little bit, and then I’m gonna cut…

Karissa Neumann: That one, okay.

Tony Neumann: That one that’s leaning down that way.

Karissa Neumann: I did get permission from the landlord to trim up some of the trees to allow more light in. [starting] [running] We do want our own place. I don’t want to be here long enough to see an apple tree grow and bear fruit. [chipper running]

Terry Neumann: Dan, well, he’s my oldest. I had him when I was 18. He’s got a good work ethic. Works hard.

Daniel Neumann: Long day.

Terry Neumann: I know. He called me the other day and said that he found some property up north. He’s, like, “I’m just done with the city, Mom.” A month ago, he says, he went to the car wash and there was, like, 15 bullets, just pop-pop-pop-pop-pop -pop-pop-pop, you know, right across the street.

Bill Moyers: Gun violence has long been a scourge in Milwaukee. It’s often ranked among the country’s most dangerous cities.

Daniel Neumann: Milwaukee’s getting more rough and rough as the days go. Got a car wash in the middle of an intersection, a shoot-out at 11:00 in the morning, right in the middle of an intersection. And I was, like, “Yeah, it’s time to go.” I’ll see you later, I gotta hit this highway here.

Terry Neumann: Take care of Kate.

Daniel Neumann: Yeah.

Terry Neumann: All right. People are getting angry. They’re getting frustrated, they’re getting violent, because they don’t see no way out. There are so many people that are struggling the same way, with the cost of everything and not getting enough on your paycheck to cover your monthly expenses. It’s like, we haven’t come very far.

Keith Stanley: I’ve got to give them a cull.

Keith Stanley: I always have my parents at the top of mind, and I’m always thinking about, you know, how they’re doing and making sure they’re okay. But I know that there are some health considerations. My dad has done it all as much as possible, as I can see, and I know that it takes a toll, so I know he’s not as fast as he used to be, but he’s still getting around. I mean, just, like, “I’mma cut the grass.” I’m, like, “Dad, really?” [laughing]: He’s doing it, too. [mower starts]

Nicole Stanley: I never thought that retirement for my dad was gonna come. You know, because he’s a worker. My dad works.

Keith Stanley: I think for Mom and Dad, as they think about retiring and what that means, I would love for them to be out traveling, even possibly a different neighborhood.

Nicole Stanley: I worry every day. I worry every day with them over there. There’s more violence. It’s not safe.

Claude Stanley: He always walks me down.

Keith Stanley: They cannot afford to leave that area. Everything’s expensive. Real estate have rocketed. And what does that do to a senior citizen couple? It devastates them. Because they could be in a dangerous area, and have to be subjected to it, because they have no other option.

Keith Stanley: Just from my understanding, there’s a monthly pension that’s coming, right?

Jackie Stanley: Mm-hmm.

Keith Stanley: And then both of you have your Social Security.

Jackie Stanley: Yes.

Keith Stanley: We should be working on what the budget looks like in your day-to-day and what your needs are. I know you were talking about still doing some working.

Jackie Stanley: Mm-hmm.

Keith Stanley: But because…

Jackie Stanley: Yeah.

Keith Stanley: Because of your health…

Jackie Stanley: My health.

Keith Stanley: Because of the market…

Jackie Stanley: I was just saying that that’s a problem for me, because yesterday, I had five houses I had to go into.

Keith Stanley: Mm-hmm.

Jackie Stanley: But I can only make it to two because of my heart. I couldn’t go up the steps.

Claude Stanley: As we get older, we slow down. Ain’t no, ain’t no sense in fooling ourselves.

Jackie Stanley: I just don’t want to see…

Keith Stanley: That’s the only thing.

Jackie Stanley: Yeah.

Claude Stanley: I planned… I planned for growing old.

Jackie Stanley: Mm.

Claude Stanley: But I didn’t plan for getting sick.

Keith Stanley: Right– nobody plan for that, ain’t it?

Jackie Stanley: Yeah.

Keith Stanley: And you’re very independent, let’s just be honest.

Jackie Stanley: Yes.

Keith Stanley: You’re very prideful, you have always taken care of yourself.

Jackie Stanley: I have a G.E.D., so tell me something.

Keith Stanley: [chuckles]: Oh, my goodness.

Jackie Stanley: What does that mean? I’m prideful? [all laugh] No.

Keith Stanley: Because you don’t want to ask for help, and you don’t ask for help. No one’s given you anything. I’m not saying that we don’t work to leave children things, but your, you’ve made sure that your children are able to be self-sufficient, so you need to think about what it looks like for you, because time is not promised, but what time we have, I really want to see you guys be able to do the work you want. You still want to do ministry. Most of that’s come out of your pocket, though. And we talked about that.

Jackie Stanley: Mm-hmm, yeah.

Keith Stanley: That’s come out of Pastor’s check. That’s come out of you putting funds to the side. And then, again, sitting down and talking about what your expenses are, because right now, you’re paying taxes and you’re paying utilities, and you have to think about insurance, as well, because you don’t have life insurance…

Jackie Stanley: And I don’t want to lean on my kids for nothing, unless it’s what color are you wearing to the funeral-type thing.

Keith Stanley: Oh, my goodness. [chuckling]: Oh, my goodness.

Jackie Stanley: You know, I’m serious. I don’t want to bother them. They, they have a life. There I go.

Keith Stanley: [chuckles] But you know what? You, you raise your kids, and, for them to be independent.

Jackie Stanley: I know, Dad, but I looked up and I’m gray-haired, and… [clicks tongue]

Claude Stanley: But listen…

Jackie Stanley: [voice breaking]: And I’m tired, and I don’t know how to rest.

Keith Stanley: Mm.

[moans]

Keith Stanley: Where I want to see them right now is somewhere in a beach. They never really been on a vacation, a real vacation. Swimsuits, the beach, the… You know, and I want them to live.

Keith Stanley: When’s the last time you actually had a vacation?

Jackie Stanley: Whew! When Keith went to college. That was the weekend in 1995.

Keith Stanley: They paved the way. Their name is stamped all over Milwaukee. They’re very known, you know, as good people. Big hearts.

Keith Stanley: It’s wonderful that we’re buying foods in bulk and taking it to neighborhoods. It’s wonderful that we’re out ministering to people. But when our health isn’t there and when our finances are not there, we can only do so much. That’s not being selfish, it’s being realistic.

Claude Stanley: Yeah, but we were in motion. It’s not a badge of honor to be sick in, in our community. It’s– you know, you’re weak. And I’m, I’m Jackie Stanley.

Jackie Stanley: [crying]: I refuse… Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, that shall be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Lord, do give us this day our daily bread…

Keith Stanley: I would say the key word that I think that is not spoken enough of is sacrifice in this country. We cannot point to a lot of indicators of how great the economy is. [reverse signal beeping] Our productivity of the past 40, 50 years in this country has skyrocketed. But there’s a sacrifice to that. The sacrifice of not being home to see your kids go to school, the sacrifice of always putting work before everything else. I still believe in hard work. But I will say that I think we are, are fooling ourselves if we believe that it’s only hard work. [jump rope whooshing] So as much as I believe what my father and my grandfather taught me about rolling your sleeves up and getting the job done, I know it’s not just hard work that you need to succeed. Many times, it’s about luck, it’s about who you know, it’s about your ZIP code. And I think sometimes that’s conflated within our society that you’ve worked really hard, that you will be successful. And I think there’s a lot more to that equation. [whistle blows]

Bill Moyers: For now, these two American families expect they will have to keep working as long as they can.

Tony Neumann: …the entire run of the house.

Client: Okay.

Bill Moyers: Even in an economy that long ago stopped working for them.

Tony Neumann: [yawns] The inside walls are pretty much all done up to about here. I’m waiting on a door. It should be in almost any time, and then I can finish the rest of it… I used to expect a lot more of myself when I was younger.

Tony Neumann: But as I got older, it’s kind of, like, certain things mean more than others. Money used to be a big thing. Now there’s so many more things that are really more important than money. Don’t stop it…

Child: Uh-huh.

Tony Neumann: …until it’s totally clean.

Child: Empty.

Tony Neumann: You got it. You just gotta live within your means. [motor starting] All the way. Personally, I am not going to retire. I am going to slow down a whole lot. Go for a ride? Come on. Get in. Who knows? Maybe in the future, I get a big bus and put all my tools on there and just travel around the country. Kind of like them guys on “This Old House.” [laughs] [griddle sizzling]

Bill Moyers: On weekends, Terry Neumann entertains the grandkids when she can. There are five in all, plus a great-grandchild.

Terry Neumann: Everybody probably thinks this, “Yeah, you got married young,” and, I mean, maybe I should’ve went to school and did something, you know? But after I had my kids, I mean, I became a mom.

Terry Neumann: And I’m still a mom to this day. I don’t regret anything I did, you know? I wouldn’t change my kids for anything, because they’re my world. Here we go.

[coos] [people talking in background]

Terry Neumann: There was times I put $12 in my account savings. There was time I put $40 in there.

Claude Stanley: I feel good, you know. I’m not a millionaire or whatever, but I’mma, I’mma feel good.

Jackie Stanley: If I have to, you know, I’ll stay. It, it’s fine. I’m– he’s here.

Claude Stanley: [chuckles] We’ve been together, be 50 years.

Jackie Stanley: Been 45, 45.

Claude Stanley: We’ve been married 45.

Jackie Stanley: Yeah, we’ve been– yeah.

Claude Stanley: And together 50 years.

Jackie Stanley: It’s been a while, maybe. [laughs]

Claude Stanley: A little while.

Jackie Stanley: [laughs] Been a while.

CREDITS: Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org

CREDITS: For more on this and other “FRONTLINE” programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

CREDITS: FRONTLINE’s “Two American Families 1991 – 2024” is available on Amazon Prime Video.