WHEN PLAYING THE RACE CARD, IT’S BEST TO DEAL FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE DECK
I understand the philosophy that “all is fair when it comes to love, war and politics” however, if you are going to try to play the game, at least do it with some modicum of sophistication. I am referring the whisper campaign being lodged against the Ballard Administration that it is full of racists.
This first started with the argument that Greg Ballard was trying to take away control of the police department from the Sheriff because Republicans did not want a Black man running IMPD. However the people who were promoting this theory “forgot” that Frank Anderson had already endorsed the very white Kerry Forestall for the position when Anderson steps down. So since that line of attack didn’t work, two new bogus arguments are being circulated.
The first is in regards to the number of promotions of Blacks in the police department. There were no promotions of Blacks to Sargent in the last round so some are throwing the racist charge again, little do they know, or publicly acknowledge that there were Blacks promoted in the previous round, and some over whites who were much higher on the promotions list and IMPD was playing catch-up. For example some individuals who were ranked in the 30s on the list were promoted over officers who were in the top 10. It’s one thing to take an officer who is a tenth of a percent lower on a test score over another, because statistically there is no difference, however to pull someone from who is clearly ranked lower than another does no one any good, especially the officer who should not have received the promotion.
The second argument, and in my opinion the more egregious, is that incidents of police brutality and excessive force against African-Americans are on the rise since Ballard took over IMPD. There is no evidence to support this nonsense, however not only is it being promoted in the Black community, my very reliable and trusted sources point to one of the authors of this rumor as Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson himself. Anderson, my sources say, is still upset over losing control of IMPD and has been pushing the idea to members of the Concerned Clergy, a group of African-American pastors.
This is the same group where City-County Councilor Bill Oliver insinuated that Ballard and his administration were racist for not attending the annual Indianapolis NAACP dinner. The Mayor did not let that charge go unchallenged and a very heated discussion ensued.
I would like to think that all these examples are isolated incidents and just part of life in big city politics, but I don’t buy that for a second. My instinct tells me this is all part of an organized effort to take back the Mayor’s office in 2011. Remember, Ballard won in part because large contingents of Blacks stayed home. And one way to get those voters out is to play the race card and play it early and often. Despite all the evidence to the contrary that Ballard is a racist; his high-level appointments of women and minorities, his frequent visits to all communities and neighborhoods in the city, and the fact his wife is from the Philippines, just to name a few.
If there is going to be a referendum on the Ballard administration at least have the decency to do it on his record. There will be plenty of missteps and plenty of opportunities to go after the man on legitimate issues of public policy. If the race card is all you have, expected your bluff to be called every time you play the hand.
