Even as an increasing number of African-Americans feel that Indiana Black Expo isn’t relevant; Hoosier politicians still do.
The two biggest names on the Republican ballot this year – U.S. Senate candidate State Treasurer Richard Mourdock and governor candidate Congressman Mike Pence – attended Black Expo.
How they handled their Black Expo appearances made a major statement on how they may view our African-American community, if elected.
On Twitter, the Indiana Republican Party tweeted that Mourdock would attend Black Expo’s corporate luncheon. But, when I visited their table, an aide said Mourdock wasn’t planning to attend, but was visiting the Expo later.
I invited him to stop by our broadcast location for an interview. No response. I only learned Mourdock attended Expo from last Sunday’s Star.
Pence was accompanied by the Star and WTHR/Channel 13 as he toured the Exhibit Hall meeting and greeting.
Pence and I haven’t seen each other in two decades. Last Saturday was our first opportunity to sit and talk face-to-face. And that resulted in that photo in Sunday’s Star of us talking.
Mike and I talked frankly during our conversation that aired Wednesday on our WTLC-AM (1310) “Afternoons with Amos” program.
Addressing the negative perceptions Blacks have because of Pence’s social conservative credentials and fierce denunciations of President Barack Obama, Pence said, “I understand that the job I’m applying for today is to be governor of all the people of Indiana. We’re gonna continue to put out a positive message that’s about aspirations. It’s about saying that every community in this state ought to be able to build a better life and be a part of an even better Indiana.”
Pence declared, “What I would say to folks is stay tuned. I hope they have a chance to get to know me, get to know my family and even if they don‘t agree with me on every single issue, I hope they get a sense of our heart. And it’s a heart of aspiration for every community in this state.”
In this campaign Pence has mixed his deep belief in family values with a message of aspiration for all. That includes education. Pence told me, “Whatever circumstances kids face in life, (I want) them to have access to the broadest range of opportunities through a world class education and to the kind of college or career path (our kids) feel called to.”
Pence says his views on education have been shaped by his wife Karen, who has been a classroom teacher for some 25 years. During our interview, Pence said some things about education that are a marked contrast to what we’ve heard from other Hoosier Republicans, notably Gov. Mitch Daniels and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett.
Said Pence, “There’s nothing that ails our schools that can’t be fixed if you don’t give our teachers more freedom to teach. Right now what I hear from teachers too often, and there are many times these are federal mandates, is for heavens sake we’re testing and we’re testing and we’re testing and we’re imposing instead of saying to our teachers ‘Look, we want to evaluate your progress at a logical time at the end of the year or the beginning of the next year.’”
“But,” Pence concluded, “For heavens sake the rest of the year let’s treat teachers like the professionals that they are. Let’s let ‘em teach.”
When it came to Black Expo, Pence followed the Mitch Daniels reach out playbook, while Mourdock adhered to the Mayor Greg Ballard keep away game plan.
What I’m hearing in the streets
I get leery when well meaning whites think they know best how to deal with African-Americans. Especially in education. The dustup with The Indianapolis Project School, which had its charter revoked by the mayor for academic and fiscal sins, is an example.
Mostly white parents at the 64.3 percent Black school are fiercely defending the educational quality of the school, even though based upon ISTEP, the school has the worst Black student performance of any Indianapolis area public school.
The school’s defenders have been waging a fierce Facebook and Internet campaign defending why our community should ignore the horrid Black ISTEP scores and take the school’s word that Black kids are doing well.
Some 32.6 percent of The Project School’s Black students passed ISTEP English/Language Arts (ELA) and 25 percent passed math. But 81.8 percent of non-Hispanic white students at the school passed ELA and 73.9 percent passed math.
That abysmal achievement gap is indefensible; yet the school’s defenders try. Outrageous!
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Though the Sunday Star said I’m “a fixture” at Indiana Black Expo, I’ll comment in a future column on the serious issues facing Indiana Black Expo.
However let me say, as emphatically as possible, that after standing at Illinois and Maryland streets for three hours last Saturday night, I saw the severe danger Black Expo is facing.
The crowds in the streets downtown last Saturday were the smallest in a couple of decades.
Last Saturday night, at 8:30 p.m., 30 minutes before the mall closed, I could see the bare sidewalks of Illinois and Maryland. Twenty minutes after the mall closed at nine, the intersection flowed freely with cars with a light crowd of pedestrians.
All during this 42nd Expo events underperformed. From the Ecumenical Service, business conference events, media reception, and education conference, attendance was down.
Sources tell me that at Health Fair, a good barometer of Expo’s attendance, participation was down. To me, Friday’s Exhibit Hall crowd was the smallest ever. Saturday’s crowd was one of the most anemic Saturday crowds ever. The celebrity basketball game couldn’t draw 2,000. The Sunday worship service had its lowest attendance ever; though it seemed overall Sunday attendance might have been even or better than 2011.
Indiana Black Expo is seriously ill. Summer Celebration is dangerously close to needing an intervention. Those of us “fixtures” see it. IBE’s longtime volunteers and sponsors see it. The only ones blind to it is IBE’s leadership.
When a patient refuses to acknowledge their problem, isn’t that when loved ones stage an intervention?
Well, an intervention needs to be staged for Indiana Black Expo, before its weaknesses and institutional illnesses bring it down; and reputation of our community with it.
See ‘ya next week.
You can email comments to Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.
