The times they are a changing...and/or we really don't remember right.

Hazleton was another former coal mining town slipping into decline until a wave of Latinos arrived. It would not be an overstatement to say a tidal wave. In 2000 Hazleton’s 23,399 residents were 95 percent non-Hispanic white and less than 5 percent Latino. By 2016 Latinos became the majority, composing 52 percent of the population, while the white share plunged to 44 percent.

This article, partially profiling Hazleton PA, is from National Geographic's race issue.  There is a quote later on too:

White Hazletonians consistently recalled a city that was “close-knit, quiet, obedient, honest, harmless, and hardworking” and described newcomers (Latinos) as “loud, disobedient, manipulative, lawless, and lazy.”  

The Hazletonians interviewed are wrong.  Interesting how they falsely glorify those days.  

Hazleton has always been a pit during my lifetime -- over many years.  My parents were fron there, and couldn't wait to flee.  I still go back to visit relatives.  

Hazleton was a mining city.  It fell apart in post WWII - when the mines started to close and strip mining took over.  The strip mines required many fewer people, and Hazleton had no other industry.  It was a depressed place for many years following.  

Even before that it was a harsh town -- my dad used to tell the story of his mother's first husband dying in the mines one day and the workers simply brought his body back to her porch, left him there, and that was that.