Indianapolis Metroplitan Police have released the name and photo of the teen they beleive was responsbile for Saturday night’s shooting during Indiana Black Expo that sent 9 people to the hospital. The suspect has been identified as 17-year old Shamus Patton. He has a mugshot though and a Facebook page.
For the city of Indianapolis and Indiana Black Expo, the hard work is about to begin. What to do about that second Saturday night of Expo. While I don’t believe for a moment that Expo should be canceled or the event is more trouble than it’s worth, I do believe Expo’s Saturday night problem is a lot like the one that would face a popular bar. Although there aren’t any problems in the bar or on the bar’s property every once in a while a fight breaks out across the street. The bar did not cause the fight, but it false within the “zone of culpability.” So what’s an Expo to do?
I think there are several things Expo can do in both the long and short-term. In the short run Expo is going to have to revamp it’s Saturday night agenda. There are too many unsupervised teenagers running around. Expo should look at either canceling the Saturday night events or make it a family-oriented event (Saturday night praise and worship or other showcase shows at multiple locations) so that parents are there with their children. I still have the image of the 10-year old burned in my mind who was on the phone trying to tell his parent(s) where he was but didn’t know so I had to help him out.
My personal preference is for the family-oriented events at multiple locations throughout the city so you don’t have such a mass congregation of people all in one place and you can mitigate the problems caused by unsupervised children.
Speaking of unsupervised children, we are going to have to have a long talk about parenting in this town real soon. Because it wasn’t just the shooting that was disturbing but seeing 12 and 13-year old girls dressed like hookers on payday and listening to young men use “be” in its infinitive form is not a good sign.
Exactly how we fix it, I’m not sure yet, but we need to start having that conversation now. These problems won’t be fixed overnight, but we have until July 16, 2011. That’s when the next second Saturday night comes rolling around.
Here is the audio from today’s news conference regarding the Saturday night shootings. I’ll have a more analytical piece for you tomorrow.
As I write this blog post at 1:30 a.m. there is a 10-year old in the hospital who was shot Saturday night in downtown Indianapolis because a bunch of idiots don’t know how to behave in public.
I was there in downtown Indianapolis when nine people were shot this weekend. I was doing my annual tradition of working the door at Nikki Blaines Cigar and Martini lounge. At about 8:50 p.m. I got a call from a friend that the silliness that marks the second Saturday night of Expo weekend had begun. After making my way around the corner through the crowd of hoochies and hoodlums I found him. While we were talking several shots rang out.
People were screaming and running and we were trying to figure out what was going on. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department had cordoned off large sections of Illinois Street, Maryland, Meridian and Georgia. I was at Illinois and Maryland as a 10-year old boy was on the phone, I assumed it was his parents, trying to telling them where he was so they could come get him. He didn’t know exactly where so I helped him out. I thought to myself that should not have been necessary because he should have never been out in the first place.
And that is symbolic of the problem with the second Saturday of Expo weekend. I’ve written about this before, thousands of teenagers and adolescents running around unsupervised is just asking for trouble. And despite heavy police presence, a bunch of knuckleheads still came to a crowded public area, armed and looking for trouble.
What’s even more pathetic in all this is that the preachers who have been so quick to criticize police regarding Brandon Johnson were nowhere to be found in helping to keep the order. As one person put it to me “Now where’s Al Sharpton?”
For 9 and 1/2 days Indiana Black Expo is a great event. I was fortunate enough to attend the Corporate Luncheon, moderate a workshop designed to help women and minority-owned businesses and I emceed the Governor’s Award ceremony. But the good work of those events, as well as all the other decent work that took a lot of man hours to put together all went up in smoke, because a bunch of youth not only don’t know how to behave, but I would argue have been emboldened because of the professional protesting class.
I already told you about a teen purposefully resisting arrest so his mother could sue the Department for excessive force. And anyone who would pull out a gun and shoot at someone in area filled with law enforcement is obviously someone who doesn’t care and needs to be put away.
I saw several teenage girls arrested for fighting and a number of young men carted away in handcuffs. And what gets under my skin to absolutely no end is the fact that I have been complaining about the behavior of some of these young people for weeks.
This is going to sound really bad, and maybe it’s just the anger talking, but as far as I’m concerned after Saturday night, if an officer has to use excessive force to keep young people like the ones who did the shooting under control then so be it. That is not my problem and I frankly don’t care. There is a 10-year old who was shot because somebody decided to demonstrate they have no home training.
And that sentiment is being shared by a lot of people I spoke to this evening. The good work of Black Expo is going to be tarnished because a bunch of people don’t know how to behave. This is behavior is totally uncalled for.
And for those of you think this is about race, it isn’t. It’s about people being taught how to act in public. And if their parents won’t do it, which was pretty obvious Saturday night, maybe it’s time society did. I’ve always said that they only thing some people understand is a good you-know-what kicking. I think I have a pair of boots in the back of the closet that are up to doing the job.
As the City gets ready to meet next week with a group of local pastors to talk about building better relations between police and certain segments of the community, they may want to look at addressing false allegations of excessive force.
Already in the wake of the Brandon Johnson case word of false accusations have started to surface. One of the most recent ones was on June 28. An officer was called to the 8100 block of Siear Terrace to investigate a disturbance involving a group of teenagers at a playground.
The officer told the teens to leave because the teens were there after hours. One teen refused to leave after being told two times to do so. The officer told the teen that if he did not leave he would be arrested. The teen refused, used profanity and the officer placed him under arrest. As the cuffs were put on him the teen reportedly pulled away. The officer grabbed the young man’s hand and ordered him to the ground. Although the teen went to the ground he continued to resist arrest. The officer was forced to pepper spray him twice. He also called for back up as a crowd was gathered.
Shortly after the teen was placed in the car, my sources tell me, his guardian who appeared upset over the altercation came over yelling threatening to sue by saying “Oh look, IMPD has money, I am going to get some.” The teen later admitted to police that his family members told him to resist by not listening to police so they could later file a lawsuit. He was later taken to Wishard to be treated for the pepper spray. He was later charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
There have been lots of little things that popped up this week that are worth mentioning that I didn’t get a chance to comment on, so here they are.
Happy Friday.
I’ve just finished listening to an interview with Rev. Stephen Clay, the President of the Baptist Ministers Alliance, the organization that brought Al Sharpton to town and has been “leading” the protests involving Brandon Johnson.
Although I am not of the Judeo-Christian persuasion I think the good Reverend may be breaking the commandment that has something to do with bearing false witness.
In the interview Clay responds to a question concerning the credibility of the BMA by saying it has been around for 141 years serving the city. Rev. Clay might have wanted to choose his words more carefully because the BMA hasn’t been serving Indy since 1869, it’s only been serving the city since March 23.
The BMA of Indianapolis is a not-for profit organization licensed with the Secretary of State’s Office this past Spring. The national chapter may have been around since the 1800s, but these guys have only been in existence for about four months. And lot of these problems in the black community such as murder, high drop out rates, crumbling infrastructure and economic development have been around for a while. But I guess it’s easier to protest when the weather gets warmer.
In addition to defending his credibility, Clay also complained that the City was trying to dictate who the ministers should bring to any meeting. He neglected to mention that the group has told City Hall that it cannot include Mmoja Ajabu from Light of the World church in any meetings, even though Light of the World organized the protest march around city hall.
And just for the record, I moderated a panel discussion this week at Indiana Black Expo regarding business opportunities for women, minority and veteran owned businesses and didn’t see the good Reverend there. Of course it was a seminar about putting to people to work and creating economic development in your community. But that takes effort and there are no cameras so I guess I can see why he skipped out on that one.
I can completely understand citizens who are opposed to the deal reached between the Indiana Pacers and the City of Indianapolis over Conseco fieldhouse’s operations. Frankly, I would have liked to have seen the City take over the facility and the Pacers pay rent and Indy collect the non-Pacer revenue. However, the deal is what it is.
With that said, the Pacer deal did get me thinking about the idea of government subsidies for private enterprise. Subsidies come in a number of different forms, direct cash assistance, tax abatements, exemptions, credits, etc.
Governments are notorious for using tax policy for social engineering, by taxing behavior and activities it doesn’t like and giving a break for behavior it wants to encourage. So if we want to eliminate a subsidy for the Pacers (a private business) then shouldn’t we do it for all private businesses.
And why stop with private business? Individuals get a number of tax exemptions, children, home mortgage interest, charity, medical expenses, education, casualty and theft loss. The list goes on and on.
And while we’re at it, let’s also look at financial aid, Medicaid, Medicare these are also subsidies in the sense that the government helping defray the true costs of these services. And remember the average Social Security recipient is getting back 12 times more than what they paid in, when adjusted for inflation.
So, I ask you. Are you willing to give up your subsidies? Are you willing to have grandma move back in? Are you willing to give up those tax exemptions you get for the kids and your home-based business ventures? If you are, I’m proud of you. If not, don’t complain about corporations taking advantage of the same opportunities that you do.
By now you’ve heard the City and the Indiana Pacers have worked out a 3-year deal with the Indiana Pacers to take over the costs of operating Conseco Fieldhouse. The terms are pretty basic, the city “loans” the Pacers $33 million and change and the longer the Pacers stay, the less they have to payback over time.
All parties say this will get the team through the next three years until a new NBA collective bargaining agreement can be worked out and it will also give revenue from a new convention center and hotels to kick in, thus giving all parties a better idea of what there finances will be.
This is one of those moments where my ideological nature runs contrary to the practical side of my personality. I am not a fan of bailing out private businesses, however whether the Pacers were there or not the City was going to have to spend an estimated $12 million on maintaining the building.
The only other bit of “good news” in all this is the fact the money to operate Conseco is coming from existing revenues which the Capital Improvement Board says are up and from already made budget cuts. There are no general sales, income or property tax increases. Only money from the hotel and food and beverage taxes are going towards the operation, as well as a loan from the state.
Like I said, I’m not crazy about, but this is the world we live in and the reality that we face. Now if after three years, the Pacers come back and say they need more help, then I’ll be the first person to go get some plywood and start boarding up Conseco.
You can hear comments from CIB President Ann Lathrup and Pacers CEO Jim Morris below.
I have to admit, I did not stay for all of Al Sharpton’s address last night, I left about 15 minutes before he ended. I’m on Channel 6 at 5 a.m. on Monday mornings and had a lot of work to do before bed. And to quote my grandfather, “that Negro was not worth losing sleep over.” I stayed in touch with a number of people who stayed until the end so I think I can write this with a pretty informed opinion.
To be honest, the event was a wash. Al got the crowd riled up over excessive force by police and he spent time talking about personal responsibility. Al repeated the demands of the ministers (most of were already in place before they asked for them). But as I sat there and watched the event, I did finally have a revelation; it must of had something to do with being in a church for the 3rd time that day. This was not about Al, this was about the pastors who brought him.
Al Sharpton is as Al Sharpton does, so nothing he does should really surprise me or anyone. What is more telling is the ministers who claim to be the “official voice of the African-American community” are so politically impotent that they had to pay someone to come to town to try to make their case to the public. And to be honest, Al Sharpton only appeals to a certain segment of the African-American community.
If these guys had the “juice” that they claimed, they would have been able to accomplish this on their own. If they had the “juice” they would have addressed the 30+ young black men who’ve been victims of murder by other young black men without Sharpton’s help. If they had the “juice” they would have been able to address the abysmal minority drop out rate. If they had the “juice” they would be at the forefront of economic development and helping to rebuild portions of this city that have plagued with crumbling streets and abandoned homes.
But instead of having the acumen to solve their own problems, they had to go get hired help. But I guess I can’t be too upset, I do the same thing when I have no idea what I’m doing either.
Oh, and before I forget. To my detractors who are livid about what you just read, please remember the following: Al Sharpton is gone and I am still here. Please make a note of it.
