Happy New Year!
Just Tellin’ It begins 2012 asking seven questions of vital importance to our African-American community.
1 How will our new generation of Black elected officials govern?
A new generation of Black elected officials is now moving to the forefront. In the City-County Council, President Maggie Lewis and Councilors Leroy Robinson and Vop Osili will be in the forefront of how Democrats positively confront the administration of Mayor Greg Ballard. They, along with Council Majority Leader Vernon Brown and veteran grassroots politician Councilman Joe Simpson, will be the leaders our community will be depending on to deal with the many problems our community faces.
2 Will Mayor Ballard move towards a more conciliatory attitude and behavior towards Black elected and civic political, religious leaders?
Ballard’s first term showed he was the most disconnected mayor in dealing with Black leadership in the UniGov era; maybe going back to before 1960. If his “us against them” posture regarding our Black community continues, Ballard’s second term will be more contentious than before.
If our re-elected mayor really cares about helping our community, one of his first steps would be convening a mayoral level commission to examine improving employment opportunities in our Black community. That would force the mayor to sit down with those he’s treated as pariahs during his first term (NAACP, Black elected officials, Black media, ministers of the largest Black churches and denominations).
Ballard campaigned as a non-politician. With divided government, he has to grow up fast and become a politician if he expects a successful, harmonious second term.
3 Will Indianapolis’ job developers really start tackling our city’s obscenely high Black unemployment?
Last year wasn’t a good year for the city’s job creation folks. Mayor Ballard’s rhetoric about job creation fell on deaf ears among Blacks because, among our community, no one knew anybody who got jobs the mayor alleged he’s brought to town.
Then the Litebox debacle, disowned last week by Gov. Mitch Daniels, fuels the strong perception that Mayor Ballard’s job creation efforts are bypassing our community.
4 Will city leaders in 2012 face the reality that Indianapolis, once a city with lower than normal Black unemployment, has fallen behind in providing job opportunities to its largest minority community?
Will Indianapolis’ white civic and business leadership move to begin to heal the city’s serious racial divisions?
Despite a record Black population, race relations in Indianapolis are worse than they were a generation ago despite the progress Blacks have made.
That deterioration begins at the top where there are virtually no efforts anymore for the top civic and business leadership of both the Black and white communities to sit down and find common ground to heal Indianapolis’ serious racial chasms.
A generation ago, Tom Binford, Don Tanzelle, Bill Hudnut, Carl Dortch and Jim Morris were among those in the white power structure who tried to bridge Indianapolis’ racial divide. Where is the next generation?
The failure of current white leadership to step up to the plate to bridge Indianapolis racial divisions marks a serious moral crisis our city and community must come to grips with.
5 After the Super Bowl, will Indy’s leaders finally turn attention to Indy’s neglected neighborhoods?
It’s nice there’s been an infusion of millions of dollars in development and investment in the Near Eastside areas that benefitted from the Super Bowl’s Legacy Project. It’s great that a community center will be open seven days a week with programs and services.
Yet most other Indy community centers don’t operate seven days a week or at their full potential because they’re starving for funds.
From our African-American community’s perspective, while some Black folks who live on the Near Eastside benefit from the Super Bowl investments, it doesn’t impact the mass of our Black neighborhoods.
The 2010 Census documented that the Near Eastside area (I-70/Emerson/the Conrail Tracks south of Washington Street) is 26.1 percent Black, 13.8 percent Hispanic, 58.3 percent non-Hispanic white. But only 4 percent of Indianapolis’ Black population lives in these neighborhoods.
Meanwhile scores of other neighborhoods, including many where Black unemployment and poverty are epidemic, remain untouched by government and private investment and services.
Its great one neighborhood got healed because of the Super Bowl. The sin is when will our other distressed neighborhoods be healed?
6 Can Indiana Black Expo heal its divisions and wounds with our Black community?
In fairness, new staff leadership at Black Expo could signal a desire by the organization to leave the divisive past few years and move forward. To do that, Expo must simultaneously reassure and repair burned bridges with both the business community and with our Black community.
At the same time, Black Expo must reverse its declining revenues.
Expo and the Circle City Classic’s problems are solvable. With resolve and some humility on the part of the IBE Board and staff, Black Expo could regain much of its luster and the trust of our community. How they behave and operate this year is critical to Indiana Black Expo’s future survival.
7 When will Indy’s mainstream media hire Blacks for top management positions?
Just Tellin’ It hasn’t concentrated the past few years on Black upward mobility in the city’s television stations and its major newspapers. We will in 2012.
I’m stunned and saddened that the city’s mainstream media can’t find qualified African-Americans to occupy top management positions at Indianapolis’ television stations and major newspapers.
There’s never been an African-American general manager, news director or program director at Indy’s major TV stations. There’s not been an African-American sales manager or executive news producer at a TV station in over two decades.
I could understand the lack of racial diversity if this were Salt Lake City or Des Moines. But not Indianapolis.
There are just three Black editors at the Indianapolis Star (who’ve been stuck in their positions for years). And no Blacks in management at NUVO or the Indianapolis Business Journal.
The excuse you can’t find qualified folks doesn’t wash in 2012. And this year this column renews its close monitoring of media diversity.
See ‘ya next week.
You can email comments to Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.
