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| Buttigieg’s Debate Remarks on Police Shooting Don’t Satisfy Some Back Home | Buttigieg’s Debate Remarks on Police Shooting Don’t Satisfy Some Back Home |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| SOUTH BEND, Ind. — It was more than an hour into Thursday’s Democratic debate before the community activists watching back home finally heard Mayor Pete Buttigieg face the tough questions they were waiting for. | SOUTH BEND, Ind. — It was more than an hour into Thursday’s Democratic debate before the community activists watching back home finally heard Mayor Pete Buttigieg face the tough questions they were waiting for. |
| Why was the South Bend police department just 6 percent black in a city that is 26 percent African-American? How had a white officer fatally shot a black man in a routine encounter 11 days earlier? | Why was the South Bend police department just 6 percent black in a city that is 26 percent African-American? How had a white officer fatally shot a black man in a routine encounter 11 days earlier? |
| And why, after years of policing traumas like the one in Ferguson, Mo., was it taking so long to bring accountability to South Bend? | And why, after years of policing traumas like the one in Ferguson, Mo., was it taking so long to bring accountability to South Bend? |
| Mr. Buttigieg admitted to falling short. “I couldn’t get it done,” he said about failing to increase diversity on the police force. He expressed anguish for the family of the dead man, Eric Logan. | Mr. Buttigieg admitted to falling short. “I couldn’t get it done,” he said about failing to increase diversity on the police force. He expressed anguish for the family of the dead man, Eric Logan. |
| [We tracked down the 2020 Democrats and asked them the same set of questions. Watch them answer.] | [We tracked down the 2020 Democrats and asked them the same set of questions. Watch them answer.] |
| In an apartment on South Bend’s largely black Northwest Side, the reviews were mostly negative. | In an apartment on South Bend’s largely black Northwest Side, the reviews were mostly negative. |
| “He skipped over all the stuff that’s happened,” said Tiana Batiste-Waddell, referring to a history of police misconduct in South Bend, some of which led to officers being fired or found guilty of rights violations. | |
| “It’s not in his best interest to go into all of it because he knows he didn’t do anything,” said Jordan Geiger, who works for a nonprofit group. | “It’s not in his best interest to go into all of it because he knows he didn’t do anything,” said Jordan Geiger, who works for a nonprofit group. |
| “But he needs to speak to those,” Ms. Batiste-Waddell said. “That’s how I believe our department got to the point of killing a black man. Because none of the other racial things that have happened have been addressed.” | “But he needs to speak to those,” Ms. Batiste-Waddell said. “That’s how I believe our department got to the point of killing a black man. Because none of the other racial things that have happened have been addressed.” |
| [Pete Buttigieg fired South Bend’s black police chief. It still stings.] | |
| In the end, the shooting that has consumed Mr. Buttigieg’s campaign for more than a week, threatening to halt his magical rise in the 2020 field and to undermine his hopes of winning black voters nationally, was not a major narrative of the debate. | In the end, the shooting that has consumed Mr. Buttigieg’s campaign for more than a week, threatening to halt his magical rise in the 2020 field and to undermine his hopes of winning black voters nationally, was not a major narrative of the debate. |
| The 37-year-old mayor, who was third out of 10 candidates in the length of time he spoke, capably handled multiple issues, including immigration, the role that Midwest farmers could play in slowing climate change and China’s threat to dominate artificial intelligence. | The 37-year-old mayor, who was third out of 10 candidates in the length of time he spoke, capably handled multiple issues, including immigration, the role that Midwest farmers could play in slowing climate change and China’s threat to dominate artificial intelligence. |
| Even on race, he was not the big story, as Senator Kamala Harris of California confronted former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. over his past support of school busing and recent praise of segregationists. | Even on race, he was not the big story, as Senator Kamala Harris of California confronted former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. over his past support of school busing and recent praise of segregationists. |
| In the coming days, the police shooting is unlikely to fade for Mr. Buttigieg, who supports a Department of Justice investigation. | In the coming days, the police shooting is unlikely to fade for Mr. Buttigieg, who supports a Department of Justice investigation. |
| How it will affect his campaign, which expects to announce strong fund-raising results through June, remains unclear. Some critics have been quick to pronounce the end of a candidacy initially lofted up by white liberal support. | |
| There has been little polling since the shooting took place. But Mr. Buttigieg’s attempts at damage control, in the form of readily voiced contrition and community meetings that were raw and chaotic, may be more convincing to voters nationally than locally. | |
| As Ms. Batiste-Waddell, 40, watched, she and some of the other activists expressed frustration with a debate-night discourse that seemed far removed from their lived experience in South Bend, where they are part of a minority community with high poverty and violence, which has not been lifted by the economic development that Mr. Buttigieg boasts of bringing to the city. | As Ms. Batiste-Waddell, 40, watched, she and some of the other activists expressed frustration with a debate-night discourse that seemed far removed from their lived experience in South Bend, where they are part of a minority community with high poverty and violence, which has not been lifted by the economic development that Mr. Buttigieg boasts of bringing to the city. |
| [Here’s the latest data on who’s leading the race to be the Democratic nominee.] | [Here’s the latest data on who’s leading the race to be the Democratic nominee.] |
| “To me it’s all been a big dumpster fire,” Mr. Geiger, 28, said of the mayor’s response to the shooting. “I hate to be so negative, I’m sure he has his good points. But I’m speaking from a Northwest Side point of view.” | “To me it’s all been a big dumpster fire,” Mr. Geiger, 28, said of the mayor’s response to the shooting. “I hate to be so negative, I’m sure he has his good points. But I’m speaking from a Northwest Side point of view.” |
| Another activist, E-Lexus Thornton, 23, a graduate student in industrial management, said there was a sharp divide in the perspectives of black and white residents in the city, just as there was economic segregation by neighborhood. “I go to the middle-class neighborhoods, I see people saying he’s done good things,” he said of the mayor. “But when I come back to where I live, in the Northwest, it’s the same old thing: broken-down housing, no businesses, shootings.” | Another activist, E-Lexus Thornton, 23, a graduate student in industrial management, said there was a sharp divide in the perspectives of black and white residents in the city, just as there was economic segregation by neighborhood. “I go to the middle-class neighborhoods, I see people saying he’s done good things,” he said of the mayor. “But when I come back to where I live, in the Northwest, it’s the same old thing: broken-down housing, no businesses, shootings.” |
| Ms. Batiste-Waddell, a middle school principal who voted for the Green Party candidate in 2016, said she was largely indifferent to presidential politics these days. | Ms. Batiste-Waddell, a middle school principal who voted for the Green Party candidate in 2016, said she was largely indifferent to presidential politics these days. |
| “I don’t understand how you can believe in this process anymore,” she said, while Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York spoke on the TV screen about her plan to transition to “Medicare for all.” “As an African-American person, I just don’t believe in this.” | “I don’t understand how you can believe in this process anymore,” she said, while Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York spoke on the TV screen about her plan to transition to “Medicare for all.” “As an African-American person, I just don’t believe in this.” |
| She suggested the entire debate should be about police misconduct and reparations to black people for centuries of racism. | She suggested the entire debate should be about police misconduct and reparations to black people for centuries of racism. |
| Minority residents of South Bend are not monolithic. In Mr. Buttigieg’s 2015 re-election, he faced a primary challenge from a black member of the City Council, and the mayor won decisively, winning even the councilman’s district. | Minority residents of South Bend are not monolithic. In Mr. Buttigieg’s 2015 re-election, he faced a primary challenge from a black member of the City Council, and the mayor won decisively, winning even the councilman’s district. |
| The N.A.A.C.P. president has been a Buttigieg supporter in the wake of the police shooting. So was the host of the debate-watch gathering, Vernado Malone Sr., who had been a close friend of Mr. Logan, the man who was shot by a white officer responding to a call of someone breaking into cars. The police said Mr. Logan, who left behind five children, had raised a knife, but the officer failed to turn on his body camera. Activists want a special prosecutor to investigate. | The N.A.A.C.P. president has been a Buttigieg supporter in the wake of the police shooting. So was the host of the debate-watch gathering, Vernado Malone Sr., who had been a close friend of Mr. Logan, the man who was shot by a white officer responding to a call of someone breaking into cars. The police said Mr. Logan, who left behind five children, had raised a knife, but the officer failed to turn on his body camera. Activists want a special prosecutor to investigate. |
| Mr. Malone provided takeout fried chicken to his guests, four of them black and one white, as well as a contrasting view of Mr. Buttigieg, whom he supports. | Mr. Malone provided takeout fried chicken to his guests, four of them black and one white, as well as a contrasting view of Mr. Buttigieg, whom he supports. |
| On Friday, Mr. Malone, 47, organized a march against police violence attended by Mr. Buttigieg and the police chief. He criticized some community members who showed up two days later at a town hall, where they blasted the mayor, but then failed to attend a City Council meeting the next day to follow up on police issues. | |
| “You can’t yell at somebody when you’re not putting in the work yourself,” Mr. Malone said. | “You can’t yell at somebody when you’re not putting in the work yourself,” Mr. Malone said. |
| Mr. Geiger told him that entering the County-City Building downtown for official meetings was intimidating for some minority residents, “especially people who have criminal backgrounds or they’re behind on their child support.” | Mr. Geiger told him that entering the County-City Building downtown for official meetings was intimidating for some minority residents, “especially people who have criminal backgrounds or they’re behind on their child support.” |
| Mr. Malone, who runs a livery business that drives people to visit family members in prison, said that was no excuse. “I’ve been locked up five times, I’m in the system,” he told Mr. Geiger. “The County-City Building shouldn’t be a threat to nobody. They don’t ask you your name or for your ID.” | Mr. Malone, who runs a livery business that drives people to visit family members in prison, said that was no excuse. “I’ve been locked up five times, I’m in the system,” he told Mr. Geiger. “The County-City Building shouldn’t be a threat to nobody. They don’t ask you your name or for your ID.” |
| Early next week, the activists expected Mr. Buttigieg back in South Bend, where they said he had promised to meet with them. | Early next week, the activists expected Mr. Buttigieg back in South Bend, where they said he had promised to meet with them. |
| Ms. Batiste-Waddell expects to tell the mayor about a questionnaire that can measure police officers’ ability to adapt to people of different cultures. | Ms. Batiste-Waddell expects to tell the mayor about a questionnaire that can measure police officers’ ability to adapt to people of different cultures. |
| “This isn’t about whether I like Mayor Pete or not,” she said. “I just want to solve the problem.” | “This isn’t about whether I like Mayor Pete or not,” she said. “I just want to solve the problem.” |