I sat around a table with 15 people at the Christian Theological Seminary, prepared to talk about the three articles we’d been assigned to read before showing up to an April 10 discussion about race, mental health, poverty and housing.
It was a conversation to prepare for the seminary’s April 18 Faith & Action spring conference, featuring a keynote speaker from the Social Justice Training Institute and central Indiana leaders from multiple faiths who will talk about poverty in Indianapolis. It’s open to the public, and April 15 is the last day to register.
But instead of talking during the discussion, I sat back and listened. So here are three things that stood out to me while hearing from Indy community members who came to the event:
- Racism was written into homeowners’ deeds – and enforced by neighbors.
When Reverend Nick Peterson and his family moved to Indianapolis in July, they bought a house that came with history. They chose the home for practical reasons: It was located between his job at the Christian Theological Seminary and his spouse’s job at IU Health Methodist Hospital. And it was the right fit for their 7-year-old twins.
The 1923 home came with the original deed, which had several requirements for people living there. Owners couldn’t add structures like sheds or barns, couldn’t run a business out of their home and couldn’t make or sell alcohol from the house.
One clause stuck out: Black people and their descendants weren’t allowed to rent, lease or own the space. Black people couldn’t even live in the subdivision, unless they were servants.
[Indiana has weak renter protections — here’s a renter’s guide.]
And how was this enforced? Neighbors could sue other neighbors for violating the terms. All this for 30 years, from 1923 to 1953.
“Its intention is to be about transactions that happen for the next generation – 30 years,” Peterson said.
Through our discussion, we talked about the cycle this fed: Black people couldn’t become homeowners in some areas, so they couldn’t start building wealth through homeownership for the next generation.
- The effects of racist policies? Still here.
Peterson put up a slide, with striking numbers: 41% of Black people in Indianapolis own their homes, compared to 71% of White people.
The next sentence on the slide read: “These rates are the same as they were for Blacks 60 years ago.”
Renters are struggling, too. Peterson shared that for the Indianapolis, Carmel and Anderson areas – which include a variety of demographics – 48.7% of renters are putting one-third to one-half of their income toward rent.
What’s left over after that, to feed their families or to pay for healthcare?
[Facing homelessness? Check out this list of helpful resources.]
- Embracing nuance is a step on the way to change.
This discussion started with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Several of us were familiar with the first sentence of the quote. But a few people pointed out one phrase: “an inescapable network of mutuality.”
We spent most of the hour-long discussion learning about problems that affect that “single garment” and diving into why they exist.
As the conversation wrapped up, one participant raised a hand and asked a question I’d been thinking of, too: “Moving forward, is the discussion going to evolve toward solutions of how we can break out of these cycles and patterns?”
The seminary’s spring conference on April 18 will include both problems and solutions. After the discussion, I walked out with Lindsey Rabinowitch, director of the Faith & Action project. Since she joined to help create a speaker series, many of those speeches have focused on solutions.
As we talked, I realized how important it is to start by listening, and to try to understand the depth and nuance of problems like poverty.
The three articles I read to prepare:
- “The disproportionate burden of eviction on Black women”
- “Indiana lags in health care, community for child well-being”
- “How racism affects the mental health of Black youth”
Have a question about how things work in Indianapolis? Email Sophie Young, service journalism reporter, at sophie.young@mirrorindy.org.