More from Black Lives Matter South Bend:
Black Lives Matter-South Bend fully supports the actions of our members and allies at the Pete for America press conference held in South Bend, IN yesterday. This protest represents only a fraction of the longstanding pain many Black, Brown, and poor citizens endure in Mayor Pete’s South Bend. Mr. Buttigieg’s pattern of mismanagement and disregard for issues that affect many Black citizens include zero accountability for the police department and its Chief, zero implicit bias testing for officers, zero effort toward a democratically-elected Civilian Review Board with subpoena power, zero urgency in addressing housing the homeless, and zero effort in releasing “The Tapes.” We have called for these necessary changes, but Mr. Buttigieg has not answered sufficiently. If he truly cared about these issues -- if he cared about justice -- Mr. Buttigieg would have first been present at the meeting, and secondly have stood in the back of the room with us. Also, Black Lives Matter-South Bend does not espouse simplistic narratives of what someone must look like to stand up for injustices against Black, Brown and poor people. This is a fact that Mr. Buttigieg and his supporters should already know if they in fact support his so-called “Douglass Plan.”
Pete’s campaign team is pushing a false narrative that this was a violent act committed by a white, Bernie Sanders supporter, who snatched the microphone and pushed black women. Video clearly shows that he did not push anyone nor did he snatch the microphone from anyone’s hand. He grabbed it from the podium as the speaker and audience members attempted to stop a woman from hitting him with a cane. It is important to note that this man is a person of color. This man is also someone who lives in one of the poorest communities in the City of South Bend, sees homes being demolished, asbestos and debris from these demolitions spreading in the air without being properly sprayed (which is an environmental hazard), and the Mayor and his staff are doing little about it.
The event was a perfect example of Pete’s campaign strategy for Black America: 1) Prop up “Black Leaders,” most of whom are on his payroll, to speak on his behalf; 2) Speak about incremental changes at the end of his second term without addressing his years of neglect; 3) Ride his savior complex to the White House, while leaving his South Bend community broken and in disrepair.
What transpired last night is what participatory democracy looks like. It’s easy to focus on the particular protesters, but it takes courage to ask why there is still so much pain in poor communities. We ask people to embody this courage, to not be fooled by false promises and photo ops, and to understand the struggle our community continues to endure from the legacy of Mayor Pete Buttigieg.