For the past several years it’s been my tradition to write about the second Saturday night of Indiana Black Expo’s Summer Celebration. It started back in the days when that evening turned into a John Singleton version of Lord of the Flies. Remember Shamus Patton, who shot several people? Of course. It took a while, but through the efforts of Expo, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD), good parenting and, much to the chagrin of the professional agitator class, Ten Point Coalition, there were no major problems this year. Except for a couple of minor issues, the cops and kids were all good, and that Saturday night looked like any other Saturday evening. So what’s a political pundit to write about? Easy. The “Black” activist DON’T SLEEP rally that took place at the Indiana Statehouse earlier that day.
When I walked over after finishing my Saturday afternoon radio show at WIBC, I thought I was at the wrong rally, because there were a lot more white people there than Blacks. In fact, there were so many white people there (a three-to-one ratio) by some counts, that I thought I was at a Mumford and Sons tribute band concert in Fountain Square. I am not making this up. In other words, there were a lot more white people “caring” about Black lives than Black people. And there’s a certain amount of irony in that.
Let’s face it: The whole point of Saturday’s rally was to protest the police-action shooting of Aaron Bailey by two IMPD officers. Heck, the leader of the group, Dominic Dorsey, even said the officers should have been charged with murder. If Dorsey and his crowd were hoping to ignite a “Black consciousness” movement, they failed miserably. If they were trying to rally a bunch of aging baby boomer hippies and part-time baristas, then it was mission accomplished.
The rhetoric was typical, although I will say putting IMPD and State Police officers in the same sentence as the slave patrols of the 1800s was a new twist. Otherwise, it was pretty standard stuff.
If they wanted a bigger crowd, they should have bought a booth at Indiana Black Expo down the street at the convention center. That’s where most of the Black people were, indoors and with air conditioning. They were either checking out the state’s colleges and universities that were there, participating in the health fair, enjoying the rap concert or talking to the hundreds of vendors there.
Nope, instead the DON’T SLEEP/Black Lives Matter crowd drew the hipsters and people most likely to serve you a tall latte, with skim (or almond milk), and no sweetener. FYI, there was no food truck with kale sliders (gluten free) and arugula juice.
There’s a certain amount of irony that just makes you want to chuckle if it weren’t so serious. Granted, I did get a little nervous when the white people in the crowd did the raised-fist Black-power salute. While I thought someone was going to start speaking German, my fears were unfounded.
And I also had to express some disappointment that there was no call to get the facts first in the Aaron Bailey shooting and let the chips fall where they may. And later that evening, none of these folks were anywhere to be found doing any of the faith patrols, which were crucial in keeping things going smoothly. But that requires work, and if folks are too intellectually lazy to get the facts first, why should I be shocked that physical exertion would also not be on the agenda?
Maybe these guys will draw bigger, “less diverse” crowds when all the facts come out, but until then the revolution has been culturally appropriated by progressive white privilege. And when that white privilege drove home, it didn’t have to worry about getting pulled over in a traffic stop.
Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is an attorney, political commentator and publisher of IndyPolitics.org. You can email comments to him at abdul@indypolitics.org.
