Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 August 2002 — Page 10

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THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

FRIDAY, AUGUST 9,2002

EDITORIAL i Parents need to get it together

It seems as if kidnapping and leaving children in parked cars are the things to do now. Along with everyone else, I have been watching the news and discovering the rapidly increasing cases of kidnapping and child abandonment. What’s going on and what should we do to protect these children?

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Case 1: Leaving a child alone

in parked vehicles.

Of the two, this is something

that is definitely preventable. All a

parent has to do is take their

children with them anytime they

exit a vehicle. I think what’s ' faibiwt Mar

happening is that these adults are

thinking that it’s both quicker and easier to just leave the children in the cars while they run their errands. And that probably is true, but as an adult, particularly a parent-there lays a certain responsibility. Let’s look at the Indianapolis woman who left her 8-month-old son in a van while she and her 12-year-old daughter shopped at a local K-mart. She claims she didn’t know the baby was in the car. Whatever. I seriously doubt that. The sad thing is that the temperature inside the locked van was 110 degrees. Luckily, authorities got to the infant in an expeditious manner. Now both children are in the custody of Child Protective Services. I think any adult who leaves a child in a parked vehicle should be punished to the highest degree. You don’t necessarily have to have a prestigious degree to know the dangers involved with leaving a child alone in a vehicle, you just have to use common sense. Parenting is no joke. It’s a serious job, but it is optional. If people aren’t ready to become smart, responsible parents. I’d much rather see them utilize some of the vast safe sex contraceptives that are out today. At least then obtuse decisions like choosing convenience over parenthood won’t even come into play.

Case 2: Kidnapping.

There are a lotof sick individuate out here. 1 You know 1 the kiiid;*he«fteithacthirtkithey cav'tak&another life abu'ji and hold it in involuntary captivity. What gives the t k o ioH

assailant the right?

In recent months there have been several cases of girls being kidnapped. Some right out of their very homes. Unfortunately, we live in a world where we pretty much have to guard even our most comfortable areas. We must not forget that crimes happen everywhere. Whether one resides in an income-based apartment, an exclusive neighborhood, or even a rural, secluded area — crimes exist. I personally know people who have alarm systems and cameras. These cameras are not only at every entrance of their home, but throughout it as well. I don’t consider these individuals as being prisoners of their homes, I consider them as being cautious and smart — preparing for the unexpected. In addition to protecting our homes, we need to be mindful when leaving the mall or parking garages. We really need to be mindful anywhere. We also need to educate our children and teens. Sometimes parents think that once a child becomes a teen-ager, they automatically know right from wrong. Not true. Teens still need to be guided, just maybe not as much as a younger child. Writing this takes my mind to the incident in California where the two teen-age couples were on “lovers’ lane” when a man ties up the males as he flees with the girls. 12 hours later, the suspect was shot and killed by law enforcement officers and the girls (who were sexually assaulted) were treated at a local hospital and returned to their families. Although a kidnapping can happen anywhere at anytime, this one occurred in a secluded area at 2 a.m. I know it’s summer and parents want to give their teens a little freedom, but why were these kids out at that time of morning? That goes back to the aforementioned: Parents have to consistently guide their children and teens. At the time, kids might not understand their parents’ actions. But as they grow and mature, reality will set in and parents will be appreciated. Afterall, moms and dads are supposed to be parents, not friends.

INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER DIRECTORY

Eunte* Trottar william Q. Maya EdHor-ln-Chiaf Publlahar 1990-praaaiH 1969-1990

Towing bookmobiles and terrorizing whites, more tales of IPD’s downtown arrogance

The firestorm of anger over how African Americans fared at the hands of Indianapolis’ hyperactive, ticket-writing, rogue, and racist police increased last week as more details of outrageous police behavior surfaced. In their efforts to maintain order downtown during Black Expo, IPD put their mitts on a bookmobile! A reader’s e-mail reported that on Expo’s last night, she saw a policeman trying to tow a bookmobile. First motorists’ cars, then Expo limos, the WHHH Radio van,and now a bookmobile — what’s next for IPD, towing Bill Elliott’spinning Brickyard 400 Dodge? IPD’s rogue behavior wasn’t confined to Expo. It seems IPD clowned during the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) Convention in early July. The Indianapolis Star’s James Patterson, the newspaper’s only African-American editorial writer and op-ed columnist, reported an incident where a bus driver from an Omaha, Nebraska COGIC church was threatened with arrest by IPD. It seems the bus was picking up church members from the Convention Center’s Maryland Street entrance. It’s been a long accepted practice for buses to use Maryland Street to pick up delegates attending national conventions at the Convention Center. But Patterson reported that an IPD officer verbally abused and harassed the COGIC church’s bus driver, who happened to be white. There’s a connection with this inexcusable harassment and the fiasco downtown during Expo. Seems this one officer, who berated that COGIC bus driver, was responsible for writing a disproportionate number of tickets dur-

Just Tellin'lt By AMOS BROWN

ing Black Expo. This seemingly out-of-control officer was responsible for 7.6 percent of all traffic tickets and nearly 10 percent of all towed cars. How can the Indianapolis Police Department allow one Ram bo officer with itchy ticket-writing fingers to terrorize white female bus drivers from Nebraska or AfricanAmerican visitors and residents? Why is writing thousands of tickets the key paradigm in policing major downtown events? In other world class cities, police u^ aggressive tactics out in the neighborhoods because that’s where the crime is. But crime fighting in the downtowns of world class cities is different. The problems police face are different. Policing a downtown isn’t just about keeping the peace, or insuring open streets and open traffic flow. Downtown policing is a city’s first line of good citizenship. Downtown cops are the ones visitors and tourists first encounter. They are the cops who get the questions and requests for directions and assistance. Unlike other world class cities, Indianapolis has long had a practice of assigning their most disrespectful, haughty, arrogant, insensitive officers to work downtown events. Most African Americans are convinced that police they’ll meet downtown will act like

Birmingham’s infamous Bull Connor, or worse. But now some prominent white leaders are speaking out about the outrageously uncivil and arrogant police behavior seen during major

events.

Last week, at the Race Relations Network (agroupof city leaders from all racial backgrounds, who meet monthly to discuss race relations in Indianapolis), two prominent white leaders spoke out about police abuse of power and disrespect to citizens. Brian Payne, former head of the Indiana Repertory Theatre, now head of the Central Indiana Community Foundation, spoke out eloquently against those downtown metal barricades, saying it sends a negative message to him and he imagines the negative message it sends to African Americans. Payne recounted that driving downtown during Colts games, cops would yell and berate him, for no reason, “It was humiliating and intimidating,” Payne said. Community leader Margot Eccols recounted that police are not only rude during Black Expo and the Circle City Classic. “I have seen them be rude and inconsiderate at the 500 and at Penrod. This is a problem not just with Blacks.” The first step Indianapolis must take is ending the assignment of rude, insensitive, racist, arrogant police to major downtown events. We will never have a world class city until the police at major events are trained to act like real Officer Friendlys, not like Officer Evils. What I’m healing In the streets I begin my ninth year as colum-nist-at-large for The Indianapolis Recorder speaking out as I have

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the past eight years, about the actions and inactions of Indianapolis media in covering our AfricanAmerican community. The city’s Black media did our community proud with its continuing coverage of the police mess during Black Expo. Your Indianapolis Recorder has been all over this story as Mayor Peterson chose your Recorder to speak first to our community about this mess, in last week’s exclusive front page inter-

view.

WTLC-AM and FM and WHHH broadcast community complaints and encouraged the filing of complaints with the Police Civilian Complaint Board. Many have complimented Radio One for its ongoing coverage of this issue, including broadcasting this week’s Town Hall Meeting on WTLC-AM. However, the city’s white media, embarrassed and humiliated that the city’s Black stations and newspapers out hustled them on a major story, have pointedly refused (with one exception, Channel 13) to acknowledge the Black media’s role in covering this issue. Emulating the cops’ arrogance and insensitivity. Indy’s white media have given the story of police outrages during Expo (and now the .COGIC convention) cursory cov-

erage.

WTHR/Channel 13 and WISH/ Channel 8 did a couple of stories and dropped the issue while WRTV/ Channel 6 and WXIN/Channel 59 ignored it. The Indianapolis Star had a small story July 27 and a tepid, inconsequential column July 31 by Insider columnist John Strauss. The best reporting came not from the Star’s newsroom, but from the editorial page. Besides James Patterson ’ s op-ed column, there was a hard hitting editorial Aug. 1 describing IPD’s management of downtown traffic during Expo as “a disaster.” The Star’s editorial pages printed eloquent letters from African Americans describing their humiliation and anger at IPD’s racist, rogue behavior. While the Star’s editorialists shone, their reporters and general columnists stunk. I guess new Managing Editor Richard Luna is continuing the Star ’ s recent odious practice of minimizing coverage of racism directed at America’s 16th largest African-American community. See ‘ya next week. Amos Brown’s opinions are not necessarily those ofThe Indianapolis Recorder. You can contact him at (317) 221-0915 or e-mail him at ACBROWN@AOL COM.

A distorted picture of Black progress

Once again the National Urban League has released its report on the state of Black America. Unlike in past years, the league says that Blacks have much to cheer about. They are better educated, make more money, live in better neighborhoods, own more businesses, and hold more elected offices. This is exactly the point that many conservatives delight in making. They repeatedly admonish civil rights leaders to stop playing the victim game, and instead exult at how much progress Blacks have made. They point to Bush cabinet appointees, Colin Powell and Condeleezza Rice, the astounding wealth and success of celebrities such as Halle Berry, Denzel Washington, Michael Jordan, Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, the rash of topgun Black corporate heads, and recent census figures that show a record low Black poverty rate, and record high Black income. This is ironclad proof that Blacks are better off than ever. But as the league warns, this is only part of the picture. The videotaped beating of 16-year-old Donovan Jackson by a white Inglewood, Calif., police officer was a cold slap in the face reminder that young (and not so young) Blackscan still be stopped, searched, interrogated, and harassed on the streets solely because of their color. They are abused because many cops are still convinced, despite much evidence to the contrary, that most of the crime, the drug trade.

The Crisis

in Black

and Black

By UH Ofari HitdriMM

and violence in America comes with a Black face. Then there are the subtle forms of discrimination that are still pervasive. Many Blacks are subjected to poor (or no) service, bad seating, long waits, special cover fees and prepayment requirements in restaurants. Even if the lousy service has nothing to do with race, since it’s difficult to determine whether it is deliberate discrimination by management, inattentive waiters, or short-handed help, the experience is deeply unsettling for many Blacks who suspect that the mistreatment has everything to do with race. Many Blacks still shake with rage as cabs ignore their signals then stop a few feet in front of them to pick up whites. Some cab drivers privately admit that they won’t pick up Blacks. They claim they fear being robbed or assaulted. But when was the last time a cab driver was assaulted by a Black businesspenon dressed in a suit and tie or designer dress with an attacte case in their hand? In many retail stores and resi-

dential neighborhoods Black customers are often shadowed by security guards and ignored by clerks and sales personnel. Many are frequently required to produce IDs or driver’s licenses to verify checks and credit cards even when they have accounts. In residential neighborhoods. Black contractors, plumbers, electricians, gas and telephone service employees are often watched and followed by residents and, harassed by police. In many corporations, the glass ceiling is far from shattered. The overwhelming majority of senior managers and middle level managers are white and male, and the number of Black CEOs can still be counted on both hands. And many Blacks receive less pay, fewer promotions and are subject to greater harassment on the job than whites. According to the Urban League report, less than 1 percent of CPAs are Black. Many Black entrepreneurs are still forced to go through hoops to get loans and credit from banks and savings and loans to start up or keep their businesses afloat. Many real estate agents still have an arsenal. ‘'tactics toevade renting apartments or selling homes to Blacks. Banks and saving loans still engage in subtle redlining that prevent prospective Black home buyers from getting loans. More Black students are trapped in crumbling, dilapidated public schools with ill-prepared teachers, indifferent administrators, and out-

dated texts and equipment than two decades ago. Worse, many of these students are in urban public schools that are even more segregated than those schools were two decades ago. The plague of AIDS/HIV affliction has also reached near pandemic proportions in many Black communities. Blacks now make up nearly half of all new AIDS cases in America. The response from public and private agencies to this appalling health hazard has been weak and vacillating, if not straight out indifference. Even the much-vaunted Black prosperity that conservatives claim show that discrimination is mostly a thing of the past, has been grossly uneven among Blacks. Their unemployment rate is still double that of whites, and the net worth of even those considered middle-class is only a fraction of whites. And that was before the dot-coms went bust, and the current spate of economic gloom. B lacks have certainly come a long way since the bad old days of segregation when poverty was chronic and widespread. But rhapsodizing that America is now a land of economic plenty and racial nirvana is a dangerous, and self-serving delusion. The Urban League’s report makes that very clear. ' Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and columnist. Visithisnews and opinion Web- site: www. thehutchinsonreport. com He is the author of The Crisis in Black and Black (Middle Passage Press).