Indianapolis Recorder: Black Men Under Attack

The Indianapolis Recorder has a story this week entitled, "Black Men Under Attack." Brandon Perry contends that as more African-Americans are elected to public office so have attacks on black leaders. Just who are these leaders being unfairly attacked? Perry names CCC President Monroe Gray, Councilor Ron Gibson, Councilor Lonnell "King Ro" Conley and Lacy Johnson, III.
After you pick yourself up off the floor, let's continue on.

“We have been wise stewards of the taxes and fees citizens pay, and have worked diligently to make improvements and meet needs identified by the people we represent,” Monroe Gray told Perry. Nowhere in the story does it mention: Gray failed to disclose contracts his concrete company received on city-financed projects and his efforts to block a council-led investigation of his ethical lapses; Gray was unable to document any work he does for his $83,000 a year "community liaison" job with the Indianapolis Fire Department; the lack of decorum during council meetings led by Gray; Gray visiting illegal pea shake houses in his city car; or Gray's wife's involvement in the controversial 300 East bar in the Julia Carson Government Center.

"It’s been a long, trying year — many months of pain, crying, just wondering, ‘Why me?’” Ron Gibson is quoted as telling reporters after criminal charges were dismissed against him. “I always maintained that I never did this, and I stuck with my faith in God to sustain me.” A female police officer accused Gibson of shoving her during Indiana Black Expo as he was demanding VIP admission to a popular nightclub and she was attempting to control an unruly crowd. Gibson had been charged with public intoxication, disorderly conduct and battery on a police officer. A special prosecutor dropped the charges recently after two key witnesses changed their testimony on the eve of Gibson's trial.

“I’ve supported efforts to reduce homelessness and infant mortality and been an advocate for civil rights,” King Ro Conley said. “But my attackers don’t talk about that. Instead they trump up lies about me.” That is how he responded to radio ads attacking him for voting for 19 tax increases and suggesting he never met a tax hike he didn't like. Councilor Conley, who serves as the Democrats' Caucus Chairman, aided his wife in getting a job as a hearing office for the Department of Metropolitan Development. She approved the controversial zoning variance for the 300 East bar in which Gray's wife had a financial stake.

Perry further laments that "families of local Black leaders have not been immune" from attack. "Recently conservative political partisans gleefully posted a blog showcasing the drunk driving arrest of the son of Lacy Johnson, a local attorney, philanthropist and powerful donor to Democratic political candidates," Perry writes. He omits the fact that the younger Johnson was listed as the manager for the then-proposed 300 East bar in the Julia Carson Government Center at the time of his drunken driving arrest. Johnson pleaded guilty to the charge.

The Indianapolis Recorder's publisher is Rep. Carolene Mays (D-Indianapolis), who is the niece of businessman Bill Mays, the newspaper's owner. Bill Mays was also a principal investor in the 300 East bar. Carolene Mays is vying to take Rep. Julia Carson's place in Congress if she steps aside due to her ongoing health problems as many now expect her to do. You have to wonder whether the publisher of a newspaper which promotes so much racial divide in the Indianapolis community is capable of representing all of the voters of the 7th congressional district. How do you help African-Americans if you refuse to hold those people with whom you have entrusted the leadership of your community accountable for their misdeeds? Electing people who put their community first would accomplish a lot more.

That same edition of the Recorder runs another headline entitled, "White-led development increases poverty among blacks." That story blames an economic boom in the nation's capital led by white developers for increasing poverty among blacks. The story ignores the fact that the District of Columbia has elected African-American mayors and African-American majority councils for decades. It laments the fact that the city's black population declined from a high of 70% to 57% according to the most recent census data. Many blacks, like whites, fled the city to the suburbs to escape the escalating crime in D.C., which at one time, was one of the most dangerous cities in America.

Abdul Hakim Shabazz condemns the kind of thinking espoused by the Recorder's story within the African-American community. He writes, "Some Black politicians never ceased to amaze me. They engage in bad behavior and then have the audacity to hide behind the cloak of racism when they get caught, either with their pants down or with their hands in a cookie jar." He continues, "When you are in the public light you need to conduct yourself accordingly." Behavior that might be acceptable in the hood is not acceptable where the only hoods people know are on the back of their jackets from Lands End." "These elected officials have a duty behave themselves and also engage in self-policing. When you don't, expect the criticism."

Hat tip to Indiana Barrister.