Indianapolis Foundation Finds Systematic Racism In Our City

The Indianapolis Foundation is a notable community foundation that plays a vital role in supporting and enhancing the quality of life in Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana. Established in 1916, it was one of the first community foundations in the United States and has since become a model for similar organizations nationwide.

IBJ.com recently posted the article “Indianapolis Foundation unveils strategic plan aimed at addressing inequality”, stating that “racism that is baked into our systems”. 

Tony Katz wondered if the problem was systematic with Indianapolis, why the foundation was not holding Joe Hogsett accountable.

Listen here:

Tony Katz:

I must admit, until I read this article, I had not heard of the Indianapolis Foundation, part of the Central IN Community Foundation. I had not heard of it. It’s OK, I haven’t heard of everything yet. So when I saw this story in the Indianapolis Business Journal, Indianapolis Foundation unveiled. Strategic plan aimed at addressing inequality. I said “ohh, we’re doing this again. Let me take a look. ” The Indianapolis Foundation. Equity is economic opportunity. Equity is justice. Equity benefits us all. That is on their website. May I ask why in the world this is happening? And how this is funded there, there is no, Don’t tell me there’s any city funds for something like that. Maybe, maybe it could be explained to me, Jennifer Bartenbach, the CEO. Or someone else who sits on this board here. Maybe someone could explain what this is. What does this group do? What is the the philosophy here? The story says that the Indianapolis Foundation rolled out a 5-year strategic plan that’s going to push for equity and housing, healthy in housing, health, the environment and the economy. They’re going to push for equity. They are.

Indiana Foundation President Lorenzo Esters:

Racism is expensive for those who are victimized by it and those who are projecting it.  But more importantly, we need to understand and acknowledge that racism that is baked into our systems, the systems that determine our opportunities for schooling, where we can buy a house, our ability to secure an investment in a new business or access to quality healthcare, these systemic barriers can and do hold people back.

Tony Katz:

OK? Um ohh allow me. I have multiple phone lines. I have multiple microphones. I’ll come downtown to have the conversation, show me where Joe Hogsett or the Indiana General Assembly have systemic barriers in place and together we will RIP them out.

Show me, please show us, show this audience, show Hoosiers. I want the Indianapolis Foundation, to show us where this is taking place. You stated. You stated that there are these barriers, correct? Look at the statement being made. These systemic, systemic barriers can and do hold people back. Show us. The whole show you need 3 hours fine. Let me start with the statement as a matter of just clear understanding. Every time the conversation a systemic barrier has come up prior, it has not been shown to be something that is actually in law. You know this is about for example this election and I had posted.

The other day that when it shows that Trump has more working-class support than any GOP presidential candidate in a generation. Um, he’s 17 points better among non white, non college voters than in 2020. This was a report from Harry Enton and it showed that Kamala Harris is having the worst level of union support for the past four Democratic candidates. Al Gore not and Barack Obama are not in this for some reason, but they went to Clinton in 1992 where he was 30 points ahead with unions. Hillary Clinton was 12 points ahead. Joe Biden was 19 points ahead. Kamala Harris is only 9 points ahead. Why in the world is that the case? And the response I got from Roland Martin and others? It’s racism. And Roland Martin shared a copy of his book, White Fear How the Browning of America is Making White Folks Lose Their minds. It’s not possible that Kamala Harris is incompetent. It’s not possible that she’s fake. It’s not possible that she can’t connect. It’s not possible that people hear. This. And they say to themselves, “Good Lord, I want no part of this as president of the United States.”

And you say to me, Tony, that’s not that’s not really the right thing to do. That’s kind of kind of being cheap there. OK, OK. All right, that that’s being cheap. You got it. How about a presidential candidate refusing to do hard hitting? Uh, commentaries are hard hitting interviews instead going on a podcast with two former basketball players to let everybody know that her guilty pleasure is Doritos.

Maybe it’s that? But everybody wants to jump to my gosh, so racist as I have made the argument that sounds like a Kamala Harris problem. Screaming racism doesn’t solve anything because the days of guilt are over. Prove the barrier. I can’t help Roland Martin thinking that everything is about racism and white fear if my concern with Kamala Harris is about her race if she was president. But I don’t have the same concern about Thomas Sowell?

Does the conversation now disappear? Or is Thomas Sowell now not really black? Which is of course. How they answer, that’s how they go about doing the thing, which is why they need to be so dismissed. So now I go to this and I invite Lorenzo Esters on to the show. You could put any member of of the foundation board on the show that you like. Explain the mathematics here. Where exactly are these systemic barriers, and why hasn’t Joe Hogsett removed them in at least the last eight years?

He’s in his third term, by the way. Was he impaired when he was slurring his words and screaming at an audience? We’ve just forgotten about that. Was he, was he under the influence of something? Was it their medication? Is he not OK? Nobody does an interview anymore.

We, we gave up on this. We don’t put microphones in his face. Good job, Indianapolis Press. You’re, you’re crushing it right there. I got to tell you. It points to the shortage of affordable rental housing. It said more than 920 evictions and 110 foreclosures were recorded at Indianapolis each month in 2022 due to job loss and lack of income. May I ask how that is about a systemic barrier? Do landowners have rights? Just some of the questions I’m going to ask you based on the article not having read the full five-year strategic plan. This is just off the cuff trying to get an understanding. Trying to get an understanding. Marion County ranks 82nd out of 92 counties and health outcomes. Is that because Joe Hogsett Marion County is so bigoted?

… or is that because when you’re the capital city, you have more people, therefore you have more transient people. You may have more of a homeless population. People come here because they’re certainly not going to be an easier chance and maybe some of the rural areas so therefore by. A level of, uh, population and the type of population we have more issues in Marion County. I don’t know, it could just be that the mayor is a bigot and you elected him three times. I’m not sure, but I’m certainly not going to sit by and listen to this and say, “Oh yeah.. racist Indianapolis. You gotta stop. But first, maybe we have to be more clear. You gotta prove it. Come prove it. Come prove the systemic issues so together we can RIP them out. Together we can destroy them. That would be wonderful. I’m all in. But you have to be prepared to show your work. Otherwise, we’ve just got a problem.

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