When Martin Luther King Jr. came to Marks, MS in March of 1968, he wept. At the time Marks was the poorest community in the poorest county in the poorest state in all of America. King was heartbroken after seeing shoe less African American boys and generations of families stuffed into tiny shotgun houses together. It was here that King's Poor People Campaign started as a crowd of townsfolk took to covered wagons to march to Washington to highlight economic injustice. The group grew bigger and bigger before reaching Washington, but ultimately it never had the impact King intended it to have. Today Marks no longer holds the title of poorest city in the country; however, things haven't necessarily gotten better for the small town. Here we are flying over the scarred, almost war-torn ground, of what was once the city's largest employer, Bunge. This massive facility once served as a soybean crush and a grain elevator. From late 2007 to 2013, Bunge slowly shut down portions of the plant until there was nothing left. Bunge quoted plant inefficiency and insufficient year round supply of local beans as reasons for its decision to close the plant. Numerous other warehouses and factories in the area shut down in the late 90's and early 2000's due to increased competition from NAFTA. Many smaller local farms have also had to sell out to larger ones. The town lost its only hospital two years ago, the same time it lost its only grocery store, a SupeValu. Today an opiod epidemic rages in town, unemployment soars at 6.7% and 30.2% of the small town's population lives below the federal poverty level. The only recent help Marks has received is a $500,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration to build a platform to allow the City of New Orleans to stop in hopes of fostering jobs through a shuttle service. The message is clear - the only hope for a better life is to leave Marks. Many resist the call to leave feeling they would be giving up on small town America and King's dream; however, every day that group gets smaller and smaller as the days pass without change. Today #59 led by AMTK #4 accelerates out of Marks, Mississippi after picking up one man on the platform. In the words of Merle Haggard/Freddy Powers "Will the future farmer board this train to nowhere? Is there nothin' we can do to help him stay?"
