Indiana has been blessed with great African-American elected officials and lawmakers, but William A. Crawford, or Bill as we knew him, was unquestionably the most distinguished African-American elected official in Indiana’s nearly 200 year history.
His relatively sudden death last Friday at 79 took our community by surprise, shocking and saddening us all.
His death is a Grand Canyon-sized loss to Indianapolis, Indiana and our nation.
Sometimes when the word revolutionary is used in connection with a person of color, whites believe that’s someone who would be dangerous to their interests.
It’s fair, though, to say that Bill Crawford was a revolutionary. He believed in using the system to achieve revolutionary goals for his people and community. Bill adhered to the principles of America’s revolutionary Founding Fathers who created a political system where, with the support of the people, one man (or woman) can make a difference in people’s lives.
That’s what Bill Crawford did for decades as he fought on behalf of the common person, those struggling for a living or those who endured racism and life’s hard knocks to succeed.
But Bill also helped Blacks who’d been successful or were striving to succeed.
During the reigns of Mayors Bill Hudnut and Steve Goldsmith, each of those Republican mayors needed the support of Democratic lawmakers from Indy to get key proposals through the legislature.
Bill knew that and would leverage his support to benefit his community and people.
Bill was zealous in pushing for goals, including Black-owned and women-owned businesses to get a share of projects. Without Bill’s advocacy, MBEs and WBEs wouldn’t have helped build the domed stadium, Lucas Oil, the Pacers’ fieldhouse, the new airport and Circle Centre Mall.
During his legislative career, Bill vociferously battled the entrenched bureacracies and leadership of our state’s universities — IU, Purdue, Ball State, Indiana State — to get them to increase hiring of minority faculty and staff; increase enrollment of minority students; make adequate student aid available to minorities; and create ways to increase the numbers of minority teachers.
Bill battled entrenched interests that tried to scale back financial aid for low-income students through changes in 21st Century Scholars and the Frank O’Bannon scholarships.
Education was Bill Crawford’s lodestar. Though Bill was a high school dropout who earned a GED, his thirst for knowledge and learning was lifelong. Bill battled tirelessly to protect and preserve public education, to make sure our public schools were providing quality education for all.
Bill was one of those pushing the IPS School Board in the early ’70s to increase opportunities for minorities. He helped change how school board members were elected, creating a system of electing members by district, opening opportunities for a minority-majority school board. This opened the door to hiring IPS’ first Black superintendent.
Bill’s political interests weren’t just local. They were national and international as well. As a young activist inspired by Robert Kennedy’s words on that historic April 4 at 17th and Broadway, Bill cut his political teeth working with the Black Action Project here in Indy and with Rev. Andrew J. Brown’s advocacy efforts.
Bill attended the first National Black Political Convention in Gary in 1972 and two subsequent national meetings.
Bill and Julia Carson co-chaired Indiana’s efforts on behalf of Rev. Jesse Jackson’s run for the presidency in 1984. Jackson won Marion County that May, becoming the first African-American to win a countywide race. Jackson’s victory set the stage for future wins by Black candidates.
Bill was an early supporter of Barack Obama’s bid for the White House.
For someone who never went to college, Bill Crawford understood the intricacies of government better than accomplished lawyers. Despite his intellect, sharp wit and razor-sharp mind, Bill Crawford was comfortable talking with plain folks in the streets while speaking truth to power in the suits.
Despite his strong views, Bill could find common ground with Republicans — sometimes more easily than in his battles with White Democrats — in getting them to understand the power and importance of his issues and the people he served.
The measure of the power and influence of Bill Crawford?
In nearly 50 years, there wasn’t any initiative, program, crisis, problem, solution the Indianapolis African-American community faced, that Bill Crawford wasn’t in the room involved in tackling the problem and helping come up with the solution.
In my 40 years here, I don’t know how many meetings, perhaps hundreds, that I was in with Bill Crawford and others discussing community concerns, issues and solutions.
Bill taught many of us who are servant leaders in Indianapolis, not just about the plight and condition of Black people, but about the virtues, potential and hope of our people.
In his speeches — on the floor of the legislature, in community meetings, on the radio — Bill Crawford would routinely inject the words of Black revolutionaries from Frederick Douglass to el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz (aka Malcolm X).
My favorite Crawford quote he took from Frederick Douglass: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
Bill Crawford’s passing is a major loss for our community, our city, our state and nation.
Bill Crawford can’t be replaced. God broke the mold when He sent Bill to us. As we mourn his death, let us thank God for allowing Bill Crawford to be part of the community he loved and served for 79 years.
Our community thanks Bill’s wife Bernice and Bill’s children Michael, Darren, Monica and Kimberly for sharing Bill with us.
Lots will be said and written about Bill Crawford. But the best came from House Democratic Leader Rep. Scott Pelath, who served with Bill for 15 of Bill’s 40 years in the legislature. Said Pelath of Bill, “He was a giant among men.”
That Bill was.
Bill, we will miss you terribly. Godspeed!
You can email Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.
