"I worked for Pete Buttigieg. He did not respect black resident's struggles" [View all]

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HENRY DAVIS JR.: Well, thank you for having me. My time working with Mayor Buttigieg was — at best, it was contentious. It was very difficult to get across to him, and also to his administration, how African Americans were living in South Bend and some of the issues that confronted him on a daily basis. You’re talking about double-digit unemployment. You’re talking about a very high poverty rate, over 40%. You’re talking about high crime. You’re talking about schools shutting down and closing. And even some of his policies, when it came to “a thousand houses in a thousand days” program, when he decided to go through the hood or, you know, in the black and brown areas, and he wanted to demolish these homes, and the homes were demolished. But it wasn’t the fact that some of those homes didn’t need to come down; it was the fact that there was no affordable housing program that came behind it. And so, now we’re still dealing with, you know, empty lots, high weeds and a lot of varmints that are living in those empty lots. And so, when you talk about right now even with the police force, you have the lowest numbers serving of African-American officers in the police force in South Bend.

So, you know, there are a number of issues that confronted the African-American community and that he really chose not to deal with. And so, as a councilman and having a predominantly black district, a lot of those fights were held and had on the council floor, and I did as much as I could to satisfy the residents and the constituencies, but it was very hard going back and forth and not getting that money invested back in the community like it should have been. And so, here we are now, you know, dealing with a presidential idea of a Pete Buttigieg, and even back in South Bend, how do we correct some of these social ills in its environment.

AMY GOODMAN: You know —

HENRY DAVIS JR.: African Americans — go ahead, I’m sorry.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to say, the whole country learned about the murder of Eric Logan, a black South Bend resident who was shot and killed by a white police officer, Ryan O’Neill, because, of course, at the time, Mayor Pete Buttigieg was running for president. Can you talk about how he handled that, and also about the firing of the first black police chief, Darryl Boykins?

HENRY DAVIS JR.: Well, just like I was just talking about, he didn’t handle it. And if he did handle it, it was a fumble. Eric Logan was a culmination of events that took place since he took office back in 2012. Right after he took office, there was a young man by the name of Michael Anderson that ended up dying under suspicious circumstances with the South Bend Police Department. There was another young man named DeShawn Franklin, who happened to be asleep in his home, and he was attacked and brutally beaten up by South Bend police. And, you know, none of those officers were even disciplined. Then you had Eric Logan. And a lot of things happened in between there, as well, but then you have Eric Logan, who died at the end of a gun. And so, you know, it just has not been a good ride. South Bend needs a do-over.

And this is like, you know, the thing that has happened right now with the Democratic Party as a whole. You know, blacks, African Americans, is the backbone of the Democratic Party. And we desire good schools. We desire safe neighborhoods. We desire good jobs. We desire the same thing that most people desire and need and want to live in America. And if we are planning on beating a Donald Trump this coming November, we have to have an organized and unified attack that’s going to make sure that there’s a candidate out in front that’s going to be interested in making sure that we not only vote, but those things that we’re voting for are going to happen. And right now you have a slew, a slate of candidates. They’re everywhere. They’re not talking about the hardcore issues that you would talk about at your kitchen table, at your local diner or even at church. They’re not talking about those things. They’re talking about just like a lot of different wild ideas on how this is supposed to work. This is not a student council race. This is for the presidency of the United States of America. This is the ruler of the free world. And African Americans are Americans, and we desire to have our priorities as a part of someone’s platform.

Full Interview at Democracy Now!