IBLC Protest Rally

On today's edition of Bring It On!, hosts Clarence Boone and Liz Mitchell spend the hour discussing recent Indiana Senate Bill 289, which aims to repeal provisions concerning university diversity committees and prohibit unlawful discrimination in education, public employment, and licensure.

Sen. La Keisha Jackson, D-Indianapolis, called the bill a “fight against racial equality.” Meanwhile, Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith has erroneously claimed that the Three-Fifths Compromise was a decisive step towards ending slavery.  The Indiana Black Legislative Caucus (IBLC) has condemned Beckwith's statement as inaccurate.

In summary, State Rep. Earl Harris Jr. (D-East Chicago), chair of the IBLC, condemns the Three-Fifths Compromise as a strategy rooted in Southern Slave owners' efforts to institutionalize the idea that African-Americans are less than a person while also ensuring Southern states a greater share of political power, thereby, strenthening the institution of slavery, within the U.S. Constitution in 1787. Although nullified by the 14th and 15th Amendments, ratified in 1868 and 1870, which granted equal Constitutional rights to all, the corrosive effects of systemic racism still adversely affected the civil rights of the formerly disenfranchised and their descendants.

Here to shed more light upon this controversy and to delve into the history of the Three-Fifths Compromise is Robin Winston, a political strategist and former State Democratic Party Chair.  In 1999, he made history when he became the first African American to chair a major political party in Indiana. We are also joined by State Rep Cherrish Pryor, who has served as a legislator in the Indiana House of Representatives since November 4, 2008. She is currently the Indiana House Democratic Caucus Floor Leader and is a member of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus. And finally, Leon Bates, a local Indianapolis historian who focuses on areas of Urban History, including Education, Housing, Labor, Medicine, Policing, Violence, and the Intersection of Race.



Credits:
Today’s hosts are Clarence Boone and Liz Mitchell.
Our show’s executive producer is Clarence Boone.
Our assistant producer is Liz Mitchell.
Our consultant and WFHB News Department Director is Kade Young.
Our program engineer is Chantalle LaFontant.
Our original theme music was created by Jamyl Efiom, with additional background tracks by David Baker.