Galesburg | Shafkat Anowar

A BNSF freight train passes a Galesburg, Ill., water tower in downtown Galesburg late Wednesday, June 16, 2021. Galesburg, in the heart of the Midwest, the second largest railway hub in country, the fights in Washington over the filibuster and creating a commission to investigate the events of Jan. 6 seem distant and detached. But in interviews with close to 30 people in Galesburg, conversations are dominated by issues much closer to home, like rising crime, racial strife and whether life can return to an approximation of normal after a deadly pandemic.

Galesburg, an American crossroad, tunes out feuding Congress

Published for the Associated Press

Midway of my internship with the AP, I was assigned, alonside reporter Tom Beaumont to a small town called Galesburg where people will pretty much know you from roaming around downtown for a couple of hours. For me, it was stepping out of my comfort zone as I never lived in a small town before and never worked on a deadline where I must produce something in fours day. I had to take some portraits, shadow some notable people, and most importantly, paint the town's picture, which I have never done before.

Pickup trucks and cars rumble north across East Main Street’s railroad tracks into Galesburg, Illinois, past the red-brick Lindstrom’s appliances building that has occupied the same corner for more than 100 years.

An edifice from more prosperous days, the Orpheum Theater near the remodeled Amtrak station anchors one end of a downtown lined with banks, antique shops, eateries and empty storefronts. The bronze likeness of Galesburg’s most famous native, the poet Carl Sandburg, stands watch at the other end. A plaque commemorates the spot where Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas drew thousands to their 1858 U.S. Senate campaign debate.

In this town in the heart of the Midwest, the fights in Washington seem distant. On cable TV, Democrats and Republicans feud over things like abolishing the filibuster in the Senate, creating a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol or whether Democrats should use a complicated budget process to ram through President Joe Biden’s agenda.

Words by Tom Beaumont; Photograph by Shafkat Anowar

Photo Edit by Charles Rex Arbogast, Kim Johnson Flodin and Camilla Forte Silva

View Story on apnews.com

Pamela Davidson, a Knox County Board member, stands for a portrait in her yard in Galesburg, Ill., Monday, June 14, 2021. Davidson, 57, would love to see a federal infrastructure bill pour millions of dollars into the south Galesburg district she represents but she'd rather see that district redrawn for the first time in 60 years.

Brad Clark, President of Tompkins State Bank, poses for a portrait, Tuesday, June 15, 2021, in Galesburg, Ill. Clark says he has struggled to fill teller positions, a common theme among the local businesses his north-side branch serves and blames extended unemployment benefits that were part of the federal Covid response for encouraging workers to stay idle, and fears they are nudging inflation upward.

A freight train yard is separated from a neighborhood by a row of trees, Tuesday, June 15, 2021, in Galesburg, Ill. Settled more than 180 years ago, Galesburg was built around Knox College, founded by Presbyterians from upstate New York seeking a Christian school on the western frontier. The city soon became home to Illinois' first anti-slavery society.

Ross McIntire, technical director of the Orpheum Theatre, also known as the "Jewel of Galesburg," updates the marquee Thursday, June 17, 2021 in downtown Galesburg, Ill. Before 1969, Blacks and Hispanics were relegated to the balcony of the Orpheum. Decades before, Mexican immigrants and their families coming to work on the railroad were barred from the city and settled in tent camps outside of it.

Banners in support of former President Donald Trump still hang in the windows of the Shotts Auto Machine Shop Monday, June 14, 2021, in Galesburg, Ill. Like so many places, Galesburg, a city of about 30,000 people in western Illinois, is starting to emerge from the fog of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to address longs-festering conflicts from the Trump era.

Musical memorabilia line the walls and shelves of the Glory Days Corner Barber Shop as Katie Hennenfent, cuts Ryan Hardwell's hair in Galesburg, Ill., Wednesday, June 16, 2021.

Brittany Grimes, president of the local NAACP, works in her Carl Sandburg College office Thursday, June 17, 2021, in Galesburg, Ill. Grimes, pressed Mayor John Pritchard with a report that most of Galesburg's 14-percent Black population, thousands of citizens, were living in poverty and that local Black residents were being under tested for coronavirus and victims of other public inequities. Pritchard fought a resolution sought by the NAACP to acknowledge "institutionalized racism" in policing, hiring, public health and other facets of community life.

The steeple of the Corpus Christi Catholic Church is silhouetted against the evening sky, Monday, June 14, 2021, in Galesburg, Ill. Settled more than 180 years ago, Galesburg was built around Knox College, founded by Presbyterians from upstate New York seeking a Christian school on the western frontier. The city soon became home to Illinois' first anti-slavery society.

Cora Anderson, 9, from Macon, Ill., is silhouetted as she walks through the Galesburg Antiques Mall, Wednesday, June 16, 2021, in Galesburg, Ill.

Knox County State's Attorney Jeremy Karlin is reflected alongside a portrait of former President Barack Obama on a television screen, Tuesday, June 15, 2021, in his county courthouse office, in Galesburg, Ill. By early February, Karlin, a Democrat elected in November, was juggling four Galesburg shootings, three of them deadly and in April, he added another non-fatal shooting. "Here, it's meth. Meth touches half the cases I have. And it's not the meth you make in your house. It's the meth that comes across the border in 90-to-100-percent-pure form," Karlin, 52, said.

Tianna Cervantez, Assistant Dean of Diversity and Inclusion at Knox College, points out a framed photograph of her family in her office, Wednesday, June 16, 2021, in Galesburg, Il. Cervantez, a member of the school board and legacy of the Mexican railroad camps, saw in people she and her family had known for generations, the angry opposition to a resolution acknowledging "institutionalized racism" in policing, hiring, public health and other facets of community life.

Tianna Cervantez, Assistant Dean of Diversity and Inclusion at Knox College, stands for a portrait on the college campus, Thursday, June 17, 2021, in Galesburg, Ill. Cervantez, a member of the school board and legacy of the Mexican railroad camps, saw in people she and her family had known for generations, the angry opposition to a resolution acknowledging "institutionalized racism" in policing, hiring, public health and other facets of community life.

A BNSF rail terminal worker monitors the departure of a freight train Tuesday, June 15, 2021, in Galesburg, Ill. The terminal is the city's largest employer at about 1,300 workers and the second-largest rail yard for the nation's largest freight carrier. Galesburg handles 150 to 200 trains per day, sometimes eclipsing traffic at its main terminal near Kansas City, Missouri.

Passengers on the last Amtrak train of the day, head to the station in the evening of Monday, June 14, 2021, in Galesburg, Ill. Settled more than 180 years ago, Galesburg was built around Knox College, founded by Presbyterians from upstate New York seeking a Christian school on the western frontier. The city soon became home to Illinois' first anti-slavery society.

Boy Scouts with a Downs, Ill., troop prepare their luggage before boarding a westbound Amtrak train for a 14-day camping trip in New Mexico, Tuesday, June 15, 2021, Galesburg, Ill.

Municipal workers and storefronts along Main Street in downtown Galesburg, Ill., are reflected in a storefront window Thursday, June 17, 2021. A edifice from more prosperous days, the Orpheum Theater near the remodeled Amtrak station anchors one end of a downtown lined with banks, antique shops, eateries and empty storefronts. The bronze likeness of native poet Carl Sandburg stands watch at the other end.