Jim Scheurich: IPS board and Indy Chamber perpetuated systemic racism

The influential Central Indiana Community Foundation and the Indy Chamber have called for Indianapolis to address systemic racism to benefit the whole community.

What is difficult about systemic racism is that, some of the time, it is not obvious or intentional. Public decisions can be systemically racist without the decision-makers consciously intending this. Thus, what always must be done is to follow a public decision through to whom it benefits and whom it hurts.

A good example of this is the recent decision by the IPS board to cancel its contract with the bus drivers’ union and enter a new contract with a private company. This was prompted by Chamber recommendations for cutting IPS costs. As a result, IPS board members have publicly said this would save $70 million, which on the surface seems like a good idea.

However, let’s think about where the $70 million comes from. For the new bus company to save that much money, it will have to make substantial cuts—primarily to salaries and benefits. It will need to cut these costs to make a profit.

Here is where the systemic-racism rubber hits the road. The bus drivers and monitors are about 85% black. Under their union contract, they were making decent wages and benefits. However, the new company will have to reduce wages and benefits. Let’s say the company is very creative and therefore the reduction in wages/benefits is only about $60 million.

Here, then, is the destructive part: The black community in Indianapolis is going to lose 85% of $60 million ($51 million) because of this decision. That is a huge loss and a truly damaging effect. This is systemic racism whether the IPS board and the Chamber understood it or not.

We can ask, then, if this was unintentional, what were their intentions? The Chamber opposed former IPS Superintendent Lewis Ferebee’s proposed $1 billion referendum last year and sought to lower the potential increase in members’ taxes. To get the Chamber’s support for a significantly scaled-down referendum, IPS allowed the Chamber to study the district to identify cost reductions. One result was evidently to outsource the bus contract and “save” $70 million. However, this was done without considering the impact of that “savings” on the black community.

Here’s the thing: Systemic racism doesn’t just hurt communities of color. It hurts the entire community by damaging racial relations and thus lowering the quality of our community. In truth, what hurts communities of color hurts white people, too.

Subtracting $51 million out of the black community in Indianapolis is horrible for the black community but damages all of us. Even as a white person, I can see this. That the leadership of IPS and the Chamber committed systemic racism because they did not look at the racialized, down-the-line effects of their decisions is inexcusable.

If Indianapolis is going to become a more racially just and equitable community—a better community—we need better decisions from local leadership.•

__________

Scheurich is president of the IPS Community Coalition and a professor in the IUPUI School of Education.