A new Steward Speakers Series kicked off Oct. 29 with a panel discussion that included mostly national speakers and activists who can bring a different perspective to Indianapolis.
Adrianne Slash, one of the panelists with local ties, said in a press conference before the discussion that it’s important to get some “outsiders” into Indianapolis because they can get a better response.
“When you have children being raised by parents or folks who are always around them, they can say, ‘Don’t touch that, don’t do this, don’t do that,’ and they might not really react or respond,” said Slash, who is president of The Exchange at The Indianapolis Urban League. “… In our community, sometimes we need folks to help us get those messages across.”
George Fraser, chairman and CEO of FraserNET, said he came to Indianapolis with a simple message that won’t be easy to implement: In order to close the racial wealth gap, Black people need to stop depending on white people.
“Wherever Black people are going in the 21st century, it will be because Black people will take them there,” he said. “White people will not be saving Black people. I’m sorry. It’s been 400 years and our Black asses ain’t saved.”
Fraser warned of a “second slavery” because, according to a 2017 report from Prosperity Now and the Institute for Policy Studies, Black household median wealth will fall to zero by 2053 if current trends continue. White household median wealth will climb to $137,000.
It’s a bleak picture, but some argue median wealth isn’t the best measure because comparing the 50th percentile doesn’t account for the fact that most wealth is owned by the very wealthy, not the middle class. Closing the median wealth gap would be easier than closing the mean wealth gap, which is significantly larger.
Fraser said there is an upside to not relying on white people to be the saviors of Black Americans.
“We can fix it,” he said. “We are incredible, beautiful, magnificent people, except most Black people don’t know that they are. … If I wake up in the morning and I don’t like what I see in the mirror, there’s no way that I can love you because you become a reflection of me.”
The discussion was supposed to cover a wide range of topics, from politics to culture to religion. However, at the onset, moderator Roland Martin said the conversation will focus solely on economics.
During a press conference before the panel discussion, Lauren Simmons, who become the youngest full-time trader at the New York Stock Exchange in 2017, said it’s important to understand how those different facets of life impact each other. She used education as an example.
“If you aren’t great within the political system,” she said, “the funding for education is going to fail, and then the supporting community around it is not gonna be upholding either.”
Joseph “Rev. Run” Simmons, founding member of Run-DMC, said he wants people — especially young people — to better understand the obstacles some of their idols dealt with in their lives to get where they are.
“The best thing that I can tell anyone is, ‘The fool hath said in his heart there is no God,’” Simmons said, referencing Psalm 14:1 in the Bible. “I’m gonna talk to people about how faith in God removes ego. Ego is edging God out.”
Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.
George Fraser, chairman and CEO of FraserNET. (Photo/Jerome Brewster)
