“Indy Welcomes All.”
That’s the slogan created in the wake of the RFRA emergency two weeks ago to denote a city that welcomes and embraces all people.
Well, it’s time we test that civic slogan. It’s time Indy finally embraces the one group Indy’s leaders shun most. No, it’s not the LGBT community, I believe Indy’s top leaders embrace and support them.
I’m talking about African-American males aged 14 to 24.
On Tuesday, the city’s Your Life Matters/My Brothers Keeper Initiative released a detailed 70-page Plan of Action. The plan proposes substantive action steps in five categories: education, employment, justice & re-entry, health and mentoring.
This plan was required under President Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge.
Indianapolis’ aggressive planning began last summer with a preliminary report released last November.
A recent article on The Root states the White House is commending Indianapolis and Mayor Greg Ballard for having their acts together.
The article quotes Broderick Johnson, special assistant to the president and cabinet secretary, who heads the My Brother’s Keeper effort, saying in a speech at last week’s National Action Network Convention, that “Indianapolis Republican Mayor Ballard (and) the city (have) launched a very aggressive MBK Program.”
What Johnson and the White House don’t know is while the task force assembled by Black Expo’s CEO Tanya Bell has produced a detailed action plan, Ballard has not yet energized the city’s foundations, civic and business leaders to put weight and serious funding behind the effort.
When it came time for cricket fields, bike lanes, expensive recycling, parking meters, electric cars and the ROC and justice center, Ballard was both engaged and aggressive.
But other than some remarks before a faith-based group last summer, Ballard has to date said very little that to fight crime, Indy must address endemic issues with Black teens and young adults.
The business community, along with the Indianapolis Chamber and United Way has supported funding quality pre-school programs for underprivileged 4-year-olds to stop crime.
The business community went into overdrive to fight social conservatives over bigotry against gays.
But providing funding and resources to improve education, find employment and more to help Black 14 to 24 year olds? Indy’s Chamber, business and civic leadership, even the United Way, are nowhere to be seen or heard.
Example. School ends in six weeks. Indianapolis has no comprehensive summer job program or weekend and evening activities for teens and youth. Many other major cities do, but not the Indy that “welcomes all.”
Indy’s failure in these two examples is sickening and obscene.
Even though Ballard started this Your Life Matters initiative, borrowing the trademarked term from the city’s Black radio stations, does he still care about it?
In my view, the success or failure of the Indianapolis effort, which the White House deems aggressive and great, will depend on the leadership of our city’s next mayor and civic and business leadership.
And if not, that PR slogan is a cruel, deceiving lie!
What I’m Hearing in the Streets
For 17 years, Indiana’s Education Roundtable brought educators, business and civic leaders from around the state to discuss and give input on critical education issues. (Full disclosure: I’ve been a member of this organization since 2009).
Created by Democratic Gov. Frank O’Bannon and Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Sue Ellen Reed, this organization has been a useful part of Indiana’s education debate.
So, why then did Supt. Glenda Ritz propose abolishing the Roundtable during a March 19 hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee? And why did the Senate, who hasn’t been that sympathetic to Ritz’s initiatives, agree and slip language in the state budget bill to kill the Roundtable?
Ritz says since she and Gov. Mike Pence have only called four meetings of the Roundtable, two required by law, she didn’t see the need and implied Pence didn’t either.
However, Pence’s spokeswoman vehemently denies that; saying the governor wants the Roundtable to continue.
In my view, the Indiana Education Roundtable is a necessary check and balance on a State Board of Education that’s totally unrepresentative of Indiana and its values.
It should be maintained!
Erika Smith, the only full-time African-American columnist at the Indianapolis Star, is leaving to become a columnist and editorial writer for the Sacramento (California) Bee.
Smith joined the Star from the Akron Beacon-Journal in 2005 as a reporter and became a columnist in 2011. Though she wasn’t positioned as the Star’s “Black” columnist, her voice there, particularly the last couple of years, spoke out strongly on behalf of the least of these in our Indy community.
Smith also was the most visible Star staffer in our Black community and her departure leaves a major void. That’s because the African-American journalist with the most tenure at the newspaper, veteran Leisa Richardson, is underutilized. And the paper’s other Black reporters are new to Indy and invisible in our Black community; as are the paper’s all white editors.
Indy needs more strong African-American voices in mainstream media, especially the Star. I wish Smith the best in California’s capitol.
We’ve lost another of our community’s lions—Doris Parker, who died April 2. She was 84.
Parker was dedicated to helping her community. A devoted Girl Scout volunteer and board member, she was the first Black leader to head their Central Indiana Board.
Parker was also the first Black to run Indianapolis’ YWCA.
Doris Parker helped make our community a better place to live. My sincere sympathy to her family and friends.
See ‘ya next week!
You can email Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.
