Doubled. In four decades.
That’s what’s happened to our Indianapolis African-American community as over four decades our community’s population doubled in size. In 1970, Indianapolis/Marion County’s Black population was 134,486; in the metro area 137,865. Today, based on 2007 Census population estimates, the city/county’s Black population is 236,136; metro 261,249.
Since 1970, city/county population rose by 84,505; metro population climbed 547,696. Black population in the city/county rose 101,650; 123,384 in the metro.
When UniGov began, Indianapolis/Marion County was 17 percent Black; today its 27 percent. In 1970, the Metro was 12 percent Black, today its 15.4 percent.
Forty years ago, the Black population was segregated into an area of roughly 40 to 50 square miles of this county’s 396 square miles. Today, Blacks live everywhere, including places that were home to the Klan and John Birchers.
Forty years ago, you could count Indianapolis’ Black elected officials on 10 fingers. Today’s it’s five times that.
In the professions, 40 years ago, Blacks weren’t partners in major law firms; they were scarce at the major hospitals and other critical institutions in Indianapolis. Today, the major law firms all have Black partners, two major hospitals are run by African-Americans and the number of Black professionals in significant decision making positions in Indianapolis business and institutions number in the hundreds.
Don’t forget the proliferation of Black churches and clergy, including churches in the township and suburban neighborhoods.
Our large, growing at higher than the national average for Blacks, Black community is prospering in so many ways. So, why then is there seemingly a vacuum of leadership in our African-American community?
Why do Blacks here feel their leaders have forsaken them?
Why, with more Black elected officials, professionals and decision makers than ever, does it seem like our community is leaderless, adrift, wandering aimlessly in the wilderness like the children of Israel?
With this column, Just Tellin’ It begins its 15th year in the pages of the Indianapolis Recorder. And leadership in Indianapolis’ Black community has been on my mind in recent weeks.
The perceived lack of leadership in our Black community is something callers to our talkshow constantly talk about. At first, I dismissed it as rhetoric, but these past weeks, I’ve begun to think that perhaps the caller/critics may have a point. How can our community be the largest ever, living everywhere, with successful leaders in business, religion, politics, professions, yet it seems that our Black community is stagnant, dysfunctional, directionless.
This column will be talking about this in the coming weeks. And I encourage your views and feedback.
Do we have a crisis of leadership in Indianapolis’ Black community? What caused it? What can be done to solve it? Do we have leaders? Where are they? Why does our community feel or perceive that they’re silent?
In many communities, the backbone of Black leadership are grassroots and neighborhood leaders. Indianapolis used to have some great grassroots Black leaders. Where are the Snookie Hendricks, Mozel Sanders, Mattie Coney and Andrew Browns of today?
I sincerely welcome your feedback. E-mail me at acbrown@aol.com. Your comments will be shared as this dialogue on leadership for our community of 262,000 continues.
What I’m hearing in the streets
After telling media that Indianapolis was $26 million in the red, Mayor Greg Ballard’s budget wizards have introduced a proposed 2009 nearly $1.1 billion dollar “balanced” budget that spends $3.4 million less than this year.
One big savings is not having to spend nearly $110 million in child welfare costs the state now picks up; part of this year’s property tax deal. But it’s in spending priorities where we begin to see what’s important in Mayor Ballard’s world and what’s expendable.
The big winners in Mayor Ballard’s budget and their budget increases: police ($12.6 million), Metropolitan Development ($5.2 million), Public Works ($4.4 million), Fire Department ($7.2 million) and the Information Services Agency ($6.4 million for software).
As expected Indy Parks was cut by $3 million. But Ballard took a meat cleaver after Sheriff Frank Anderson. During a media briefing, Ballard’s brood compared the privatized Marion County Jail II’s $42 a day cost per inmate to an alleged $107 a day per inmate cost for the sheriff run Marion County Jail I.
So Ballard’s budget busters arbitrarily cut Sheriff Anderson’s budget $5.5 million. I guess they want Anderson to run his department on the cheap, while Ballard’s police department gets all the cash and more they want.
And despite Public Safety being the mayor’s “Job One,” the county courts budget was cut $2.4 million, despite the cost of a new judge and courtroom. “Less grants” was the reason for the cuts.
But for an administration stressing Public Safety, cutting courts, the jail, along with public defenders tells me Mayor Ballard wants to lock people up without proper courts, defense and jails.
So, the budget debate begins. And one question will be how vocal Democratic City-County Council members will be, especially the council’s six Black Democratic members. Will they continue their silence about the Ballard administration’s priorities? Will the publicized troubles of Councilmen Monroe Gray and Paul Bateman cause the rest of the council Democrats to hide in the sand?
And what about the council’s two Black Republicans Kent Smith and Barbara Malone. Since taking their seats, Smith and Malone have been silent and invisible. Our community needs to hear their voices, and those of Black Democrats, as the fight on city/county spending priorities and cuts begins.
In 1981 when then WTLC Radio owner Dr. Frank Lloyd sold the station to concentrate on becoming president of Methodist Hospital, he found a soul mate Black owner — Ragan Henry. When Henry bought WTLC, he already owned a bunch of radio stations from coast to coast and was the first African-American to own a network affiliated TV station.
Ragan Henry broke barriers, first as a Philadelphia lawyer, and then as the country’s first major Black broadcasting entrepreneur. Soft spoken, quiet and intelligent, Henry was just like Lloyd. A groundbreaking pioneer in his profession.
Ragan Henry’s pioneering efforts as a Black broadcast owner, paved the way for Bob Johnson’s BET and Cathy Hughes’ Radio One and TV One.
Ragan Henry died July 26, but his death was only revealed last Friday.
Ragan Henry was one of my mentors in my profession and I learned many lessons from him. My industry, my profession and I will deeply miss him, but his contributions will endure forever.
See ‘ya next week.
Amos Brown’s opinions are not necessarily those of the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. You can contact him at (317) 221-0915 or by e-mail at ACBROWN@AOL.COM.
