COLUMBUS, Ind. — Bartholomew County earns an average C grade among Black residents for its overall racial climate, according to a local panel representing Black leaders in elements of education, business, law enforcement, racial justice and city government.
That insight unfolded Thursday evening at the virtual panel discussion “Unexpected, Unforgettable: Is It for Black Citizens?” presented via Zoom by the Bartholomew County Public Library in Columbus. The discussion, the idea of the library’s Mary Clare Speckner, was livestreamed on the library’s Facebook page, and will remain on the page for viewing.
The two-hour presentation, which took its title from Columbus’ promotional catch phrase, included everything from local Black history to current challenges ranging from racial harmony to the struggle to recruit Black teachers and police officers.
The discussion highlighted frustrations of people such as Olisa Humes, immediate past president of the Columbus/Bartholomew County Area NAACP Branch of the NAACP, who said much of the local racial climate is as it was when she graduated high school in 1990.
Two months ago, she mentioned, for example, that she still hears racial slurs directed at her as she walks on the library plaza.
On the hopeful side she added “that the people outside the African American community want to see (racial) change,” as evidenced, she said, by a crowd of 700 to 1,000 people at a local racial solidarity rally in June.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
