John Krull commentary: An assault on justice and truth
Patricia Payne remembers the moment. The moment when she began to grasp how pernicious systemic racism was and is. It was in the early 1960s. She was just out of Indiana University, a fresh, young second-grade teacher in the Indianapolis Public Schools. An energetic young Black woman—both product and member of a tightknit Indianapolis Black community—she was eager to teach the children in her charge. This was at a time when Indianapolis and IPS were different than they are now. The urban restructuring that came with UniGov was still nearly a decade away, as was the desegregation order by federal…
Black Legislative Caucus hosts Call to Action days
After some of its members became the targets of booing, jeering and altercations in the House session on Feb. 18, the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus is hosting call-to-action days at the Statehouse. The IBLC hopes those who were involved with the heckling and ignoring of Black legislators as they spoke from the House floor will be reprimanded and that there will be mandatory implicit bias training for all legislators. “I want people to stay engaged. I don’t want them to just be engaged for two weeks, but I want them to stay engaged throughout the rest of the session and throughout…
John Krull commentary: Lawmakers behaving badly, again
Something about Black people speaking their minds scares the heck out of conservatives who like to present themselves as staunch defenders of liberty. These rightwing tough guys are so freaked out by free speech that they melt down even when the people who are calling them out don’t have the power to do anything but … speak. The Feb. 18 debacle in the Indiana House of Representatives is but one example. That episode of tragedy and farce began when Rep. Greg Porter, D-Indianapolis, spoke about a bill that would allow students from racially diverse South Bend Community Schools to transfer to a…
Booing, jeering, hallway altercations mar House debate on school district boundaries bill
[caption id="attachment_1468" align="alignnone" width="300"] Rep. Gregory Porter (right), D-Indianapolis, questions Rep. Jake Teshka, R-Mishawaka, during floor debate in the Indiana House Feb. 18.[/caption] A bill concerning school district boundaries that some are calling racist sparked an emotional and angry debate in the Indiana House Thursday. GOP legislators jeered from their seats, several walked out of the chamber and a few even clashed in the halls after Black legislators spoke out against the bill. The confrontations broke out on a day when Black members were celebrating Black History Month by wearing traditional African garb. “We kind of felt like it kind…