“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality”.
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
My grandfather had six children, and five married. Regarding race and ethnicity, of these eleven, three are African-American, one is Jewish, and one is Native-American. His remaining sons and daughters are Caucasian.
Imagine one day my grandfather declared, rather than sharing his possessions equally, they would be distributed by an “executive committee”.
Our family, 27% African-American, 9% Native American, and 9% Jewish, would not receive equal representation; the “executive committee” would be almost entirely Caucasian.
But there would also be a “minority board” to focus on concerns of the African-American, Jewish, and Native American children.
His possessions amount to a million dollars. The “executive committee” meets. It somehow decides that the three African-Americans will split $7.88. The “minority board” does not meet.
We, his many mixed-race grandchildren, would think our grandfather off his rocker.
In some ways, South Bend has been run as if my grandfather went off his rocker.
South Bend, according to 2010 Census Data, is like my grandfather’s children: 26.4% African-American. Our city’s public schools, where my sons attend, are even more diverse, with African-Americans comprising 35% of all students.
Does South Bend’s government share and sustain the diversity of its city?
Some important investigative reports by Alexis Gray aired years ago on local television. Gray is a Columbia-trained journalist who worked at the now-defunct Fox 28 News station. She filmed a series on diversity in city leadership. One story noted how the pay accorded to the city’s newly created “Diversity and Inclusion” position was in the low range, comparatively speaking, to other cities.
In another report, she interviewed Mayor Buttigieg about diversity, and he stated that he was proud of the diversity in his administration’s leadership. Gray then placed on the screen photographs of Mayor Buttigieg’s department heads. Visibly, all but one of the ten were white men. As Faran Fronczak, the news anchor, said after Gray’s report, “that doesn’t look very diverse to me.” It was a striking contrast with the leadership of the Luecke administration, prior to Buttigieg’s, in which the heads of the largest city departments, Police and Fire, as well as the Assistant Mayor, were African-American men.
Then came an investigation by Taurean Small, journalism graduate of Northern Illinois University, and a reporter for ABC 57 news. He aired a story in 2018 entitled “Breaking Down South Bend’s Diversity Purchasing Report”. In 2017, Buttigieg’s sixth year as Mayor, the city of South Bend spent over $101 million dollars on procurement of goods and services. $773,120 went to minority-owned business. As Small notes, “that is just 0.76 percent of the total amount spent.”
“Justice too long delayed is justice denied.”
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The city of South Bend has a board, called the Minority and Women Business Enterprise Diversity Board. It was begun in 2011, by the Luecke administration, as a way to monitor and encourage opportunities for Minority and Women Owned Businesses, especially with city procurement spending.
It has nine members, with three seats appointed by the Mayor, three seats appointed by the city council, a seat appointed in consultation between the Mayor and city council, a seat appointed by the local Chamber of Commerce, and another seat occupied by the head of the city’s Public Works department, or that person’s designee. The city’s Diversity Compliance Officer is meant to collaborate with this Board.
What has not been reported about this Board?
The Minority and Women Business Enterprise Diversity Board did not meet in 2017. It did not meet in 2016. A member of the committee, Karen White, stated that it met in 2015, but there is no agenda or posted record for that meeting.
In 2014 the board met nine times. The last several meetings recorded in 2014 describe board members and members of the community presenting complaints about the lack of administration support. One topic of contention was Mayor Buttigieg’s 2015 budget proposal to reduce the hours of the City Diversity Compliance Officer by 42%.
According to the archive of posted minutes, following the September 29th, 2014 session, the board did not convene again until March 27th, 2018.
I noticed that the Board was not meeting in 2017. I emailed the Mayor’s Office on July 31, 2017 to find out why. I received no reply. I tried again and again. There was no response. I assumed the Board had been eliminated.
Beneath the surface, what has yet to be reported about the city’s purchasing?
By ordinance, the city of South Bend should produce a report on procurement and the utilization of Minority and Women Owned Businesses annually. Yet South Bend’s archives have just two such reports posted since 2011.
When it convened for the March 27th, 2018 meeting, the Minority and Women Business Enterprise Diversity Board discussed 2017. In that year the city entered contracts with 4 certified Minority Owned vendors, and 1 uncertified Minority Owned vendor, out of 1,349 contracted businesses.
MBE VENDOR PO / CONTRACT AMOUNT / RACE
Emnet LLC $280,581.60 MBE-HIS
DLZ Indiana $63,500.00 MBE-AIN
Sanco Distributing $707.88 MBE-AFA
Source: 2017 Annual Diversity Purchasing Report, City of South Bend, Page 10
What was not explicitly discussed? According to the report on 2017 city purchasing, of these five Minority Owned Businesses, only one, Sanco Distributing, was listed as an African-American Minority Owned business. In 2017, of over $101 million dollars spent by the city of South Bend, it was awarded a contract for $707.88.
South Bend must think on our reality. Our community is like a millionaire father who gives it all to his children. $7.88 is given to his African-American children.
