Quiet dignity. That’s what I’ll remember most about Rev. Landrum Shields, one of our African-American community’s lions, who died last week at 84.
Like Dr. Frank Lloyd, Sam Jones, Rev. Andrew Brown, A.D. Pinckney and many others, Rev. Shields was part of our Black community’s “greatest generation” who fought racism, bigotry, and worked for justice and tolerance by bridging racial chasms.
Rev. Shields was not only pastor of Witherspoon Presbyterian before forming his own Covenant Community Church, but he was also a community/servant leader extraordinaire.
His work with United Way impacted its agencies working with our community. The United Way’s entire diversity efforts wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for this gentle giant’s art of persuasion and moral suasion.
Rev. Shields worked with so many community organizations – Flanner House, Red Cross, Church World Service, Head Start, the old CAAP and so many more I’d need an entire column just to mention them all.
Shields served on the IPS School Board when the brutal fights over desegregation and busing were breaking out. Just as Indianapolis was entering the UniGov age, Rev. Shields broke a psychological barrier becoming the first African-American elected IPS Board president in 1970-71. We take that for granted today. In 1970 that was as radical as believing a Black man would be president of the United States.
But most of all, Rev. Shields was a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Remembering him last week on WTLC-AM (1310’s) “Afternoons with Amos,” Bishop Tom Benjamin put it best saying whenever Rev. Shields prayed at a community function, (and he did thousands of such prayers in his ministry), he always managed to be inclusionary, no matter your faith.
Whenever I saw Rev. Shields, he always had a kind word to say, words that were encouraging and comforting. My deepest, deepest sympathies to his children Landrum Jr., Sharyn, Laurita and Andrea, his grandchildren and his church family.
To them, on behalf of our community, “Thank you” for sharing him with all of us these many years.
Indianapolis will deeply miss Rev. Landrum Shields, but we know he’s reunited with his beloved wife Marjorie in heaven where Rev. Shields will grace God with his quiet dignity.
Hopefully, history will accurately record Rev. Shields’ impact on Indianapolis. Sadly, the initial chronicler of civic history, the Indianapolis Star, did Shields and our community an injustice.
Two days after Black media told the community of Shields’ passing, the Star published a hastily written 395 word obituary that didn’t do justice to Shields’ life and contributions. On Sunday, though, the Star wrote a 546 word obituary on someone (white) far less distinguished than Shields. Why?
Star columnists ignored Shields’ contributions, demonstrating how out of touch they are with our city and community’s history. When the Star virtually ignores the passing of a community giant, it visibly demonstrates how the paper’s deteriorated in recent years.
What I’m hearing in the streets
When I’ve gone to Mayor Greg Ballard administration’s media briefings on their annual budgets, I constantly asked why their revenue estimates were so rosy when the state was falling behind in income tax collections. They never gave me a good answer.
I can’t wait for this year’s briefing since this week’s Indianapolis Business Journal (where increasingly powerful stories on city/county government appear first) reported the city’s 2012 income tax revenues could be down some $19 million.
The mayor has not unveiled his 2012 budget, but it’s already looking dire, says IBJ, with more cuts in services already sliced to the bone.
But, will Ballard take a hard look at public safety spending? In Washington, the sacred cows in the Pentagon aren’t escaping the budget cutters. It must be the same here.
Starting with the ballooning expenses in public safety spending that doesn’t help the cop on the beat. Especially the bloated, overly expensive staff in the Department of Public Safety directorate.
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Note to Marion County Republican Party. I noticed you’re running candidates in all City-County Council districts, including the seven that are at least 40 percent African-American. Are any of those candidates Black? If so, why aren’t you telling Black media that?
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I’ll be attending my 37th Indiana Black Expo this coming week.
By now I’d feel the expectant energy and excitement of the coming events. Not this year. In my household, even among my teenaged granddaughter, there’s no excitement or even desire to attend. The same with friends and acquaintances who in past years have pestered me with requests for Expo event info or tried to get tickets.
I’m not sure I’d be attending Expo, if I weren’t there for work reasons.
The Expo buzz seems non-existent. Last year’s violence downtown outside Expo doesn’t help. Nor do Expo’s serious internal problems which blew up publicly last month. Strong resentment still exists among some over Expo’s decision to give a major award to Mayor Ballard so soon into his, for many Blacks, controversial tenure.
Five weeks ago, I put the onus on Black Expo’s Board of Directors to take a hard look at the organization they have legal and moral authority over. I implored them to get out and talk with sponsors and key stakeholders.
Expo weekend’s a great time for them to do that.
Over 37 years, I’ve not hung out at the Expo VIP spots. (I’ve never even sat in those maligned VIP seats at the free concert). Instead, I’ve hung out with those who pay to get in, either as exhibitors or patrons.
I’ve walked more in Expo’s exhibit halls and Convention Center corridors than the entire Expo board combined (and multiplied by a bit). During those years, hundreds of exhibitors, sponsors and just plain folks have come up to me sharing their brickbats and bouquets about IBE.
So this year, I challenge the IBE board, include those I know like John Thompson, Karen Lloyd, LeRoy Lewis, Mickey Maurer, Dr. Woodrow Myers, Tony Kirkland and other board members. Come walk around IBE with me. See what I see. Hear what I hear. Then make your conclusions.
Just go to your IBE information booth in Hall B, have me paged, and I’ll come meet ‘ya.
I’ll be waiting!
See ‘ya next week at Expo.
You can e-mail comments to Amos Brown III at acbrown@aol.com.
