As they moved about their celestial home, what were Denmark Vesey, Nat Turner, Stokely Carmichael, Whitney Young, Frederick Douglass, Roy Wilkins, Medgar Evers, Emmett Till, Sojourner Truth, Mary McLeod Bethune, Coretta Scott King, Booker T. Washington among others saying?
Were there smiles on the faces of Malcolm, Martin and DuBois?
Was Ed Bradley, Max Robinson, John H. Johnson and Marcus Stewart Sr. interviewing JFK, RFK, Lincoln, both Roosevelts, Reagan, Nixon and the Founding Fathers to get their thoughts?
What hymns of joy were James Cleveland, Mahalia Jackson and Thomas A. Dorsey singing?
I wish I knew those answers as heaven jumped for joy, along with 41 million African-Americans on Earth, on June 3 when a man of African and American parentage assumed a position all Americans dream of, but only white males attained — representing one of America’s two political parties for the presidency of the United States.
Sen. Barack Obama’s triumph, in the long, closely contested Democratic primaries, is a monumental achievement in history. Not African-American history — but history.
Not only did Obama break barriers, so did Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Like Obama, no woman has ever received more votes, been more successful running for the highest position in this republic. Despite the temporary antipathy that many Blacks have for both Hillary and her husband Bill, let’s not forget that women felt the same pride and excitement in Hillary Clinton’s accomplishment that Blacks feel about Barack Obama’s accomplishment.
Clinton understood that. She knew Democrats must be united for the coming campaign against John McCain. Her Saturday speech strongly and unequivocally endorsing Obama is a major step. Clinton understands that if the racial glass ceiling for president is broken, the female glass ceiling will also be.
So, now it’s the finals, the Super Bowl of politics — Obama vs. McCain. A race that’ll be rough, tough and down and dirty.
Usually, presidential finals ignore Indiana. Republicans think they have Indiana locked up so they don’t come and Democrats stay far away.
But, perhaps not this year.
Already Obama’s asked Indiana media for advertising rates. That and reports Obama’s bringing staff back here leads some to think that the Obama campaign will campaign in Indiana. A first for a Democratic presidential candidate in decades.
Our community can’t wait.
What I’m hearing in the streets
Whether you’re mayor of Ingalls, Indiana (pop. 1,585) or Indianapolis (pop. 876,804) part of the job requires visible, public leadership, especially in times of travail and natural disaster.
The morning after the May 30 tornado on the far Eastside, Mayor Greg Ballard toured the hardest hit neighborhood and visited a shelter. That visit received little media attention because media wasn’t alerted in advance. A second mayoral visit Sunday, June 1 received no media attention because the mayor’s office didn’t tell media.
As a result, many felt that Mayor Ballard hadn’t visited the neighborhood most affected; a neighborhood that in 2000 was 73.4 percent Black, but which is Blacker and browner (Hispanic) today.
Interviewed on our WTLC-AM (1310’s) “Afternoons with Amos,” Ballard press secretary Marcus Barlow admitted the mayor’s hesitant about wanting media attention directed to him. That’s admirable, but in natural disasters people want to see their mayor showing his concern. That concern is conveyed not just in person but also through the media. And when a minority-majority neighborhood is devastated, it’s paramount that a mayor communicates that concern through the media most minorities hear, watch and read.
In the wake of the tornado, top members of the Ballard administration spoke to Black media as did Barlow. But Ballard continued his self imposed aversion to speaking with Black media; sending no mayoral statement, granting no mayoral interview.
I’m all for letting subordinates do their jobs. But being mayor means visible, active leadership. Something in this case we didn’t see from this mayor.
The first question to Metro Police Chief Michael Spears on our radio show last week was direct and biting. “I’m afraid to come to Black Expo this year,” a woman told Chief Spears, “Because I’m afraid of what your police will do.”
In the wake of the whitewashed punishment of the IMPD officer accused of kicking on videotape a Black youth handcuffed on the ground outside last year’s Black Expo, a good number in our African-American community fear a return to police misconduct and misbehavior at this year’s event.
Chief Spears was stunned at the question and the virulent community reaction to the slap on the wrist punishment the officer received (10 days suspension and more training). It didn’t help that Spears’ appearance was the first time anyone from the Ballard administration had publicly told the Black community what the officer’s departmental discipline was.
Indiana Black Expo has a number of serious challenges this year. An Indianapolis Recorder editorial two weeks ago outlined some of them. Others include projected $4.50 a gallon gas, rising air fares, a tough economy and, more ominous, community fears of police misconduct.
IBE President/CEO Tanya Bell and Board Chair Arvis Dawson must quickly assuage community fears. That means joint Black media interviews with Public Safety Director Scott Newman, Chief Spears Mayor Ballard to address community concerns about police misbehavior during Black Expo.
If not dealt with quickly, the community’s fears will grow and could cause Expo to be filled with empty seats and hallways next month.
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.
