https://progressiveindiana.net
SUMMARY:
Back together after a week off, Rev. Tony Alexander and Pastor David W. Greene Sr. spend a dense, wide-ranging hour on two connected fronts: the gutting of minority business opportunity in Indiana and the parallel dismantling of Indianapolis Public Schools. On the business side, Governor Braun’s elimination of the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program triggers the first extended discussion — both hosts trace a pattern of actions since Braun took office (Martin University funding, the Indiana Black Expo name change, the DBE cancellation) that they argue reveal an intentional, racially targeted agenda. Caller Imhotep adds a street-level observation: watching road paving crews work 30th and 29th Streets near Riverside with zero Black laborers — under a Chicago-based contractor, Meade, Inc. — and invokes Attorney General Todd Rokita’s role as the legal catalyst for the DBE elimination. Caller El Amin poses the oldest question in Black political thought: the Farrakhan vs. King debate on integration vs. self-determination, his grandfather’s maxim that Black freedom has always depended partly on good-willed white allies, and asks where those allies are now. Both hosts pivot in the second half to the breaking announcement — mid-show — that Karega Rausch, president and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, has been named as the first executive director of the IPEC (Indianapolis Public Education Corporation), the new body overseeing both IPS and charter schools. Callers Joyce and Guy engage on charter school accountability, the IPS November referendum, and who controls the narrative when The Mind Trust has a marketing budget and IPS does not.
WHAT’S INSIDE
00:00:00 Station ID and program open
- Announcer legal disclaimers and station open for Concerned Clergy weekly town hall on Praise AM 1310 / 95.1 FM.
- Rev. Alexander and Pastor Greene back after a week off; Pastor Greene opens in prayer.
00:02:29 Governor Braun eliminates Indiana’s DBE program
- Governor Braun announced the elimination of the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program — ending goals, tracking, and good-faith effort requirements for minority contractor participation on state contracts.
- The goals weren’t being met even before the cut; no disparity study was done to justify the decision.
- The Baptist Ministers Alliance and Concerned Clergy issued a joint public statement calling the action egregious.
- Pastor Greene: equal opportunity is not discrimination — opening doors to qualified people who found them historically closed is fairness, not favoritism.
00:04:32 The post-George Floyd reversal
- After Floyd’s death, corporations and governments nationally acknowledged discrimination and disparity — now the same administration is calling those remedies illegal.
- Pastor Greene connects this directly to Trump and the MEI (Merit, Excellence, and Intelligence) framework replacing DEI: no metrics, no goals, no accountability — just a charade.
- Rev. Alexander: at least DEI had measurable percentages — 15, 8, 3, and 1. MEI has nothing but rhetoric.
00:06:16 Minority contractors in practice — crumbs and cutoffs
- Rev. Alexander details how the DBE system already worked against minority contractors in practice: accepted below-market rates just to get in the door, then cut off once dollar thresholds were met.
- Studies every five years by the state, city, and minority groups have consistently confirmed disadvantage — IU, Purdue, IUPUI, Ball State all built major projects with under 5% minority participation.
- All Trump had to do was say “it’s not fair” to override decades of documented data. No new study, no evidence.
00:08:22 Governor Braun’s pattern — IBE, Martin University, and the DBE
- Pastor Greene catalogs the pattern: from day one, Braun has targeted predominantly Black institutions — Martin University funding, renaming the Black Health Fair, the IBE reception dynamics, and now the DBE elimination.
- Receiving an award from Indiana Black Expo one day, then signaling to his base the next: Pastor Greene calls this blatant, offensive, and degrading.
- With no DBE requirement, large white-owned firms have zero profit motive to subcontract with minority firms. The argument that MEI will produce more opportunities for Black businesses is, in Pastor Greene’s words, a charade.
00:11:19 Rev. Alexander — the IBE reception and a missed opportunity
- Rev. Alexander: the governor’s reception at Indiana Black Expo should have been used to publicly name the community’s expectations, not to give a warm welcome.
- A missed chance to say: we see what you’ve done from day one — here’s what we want to see from you.
- Pastor Greene: the state won’t even collect the data anymore because they don’t want to be caught. What we have is existing disparity data — and that data is damning.
00:15:10 Caller Imhotep — Rokita, road crews, and the majority claiming discrimination
- Imhotep: Attorney General Todd Rokita was the behind-the-scenes catalyst for the DBE elimination — issuing the “unconstitutional” legal opinion that gave Braun political cover.
- He traces the Supreme Court’s role: from overturning affirmative action to allowing ICE to target people by race — you can’t use race to hire, but you can use it to stop people.
- Fishers rally: anti-immigrant activist Greg Bovino (former CBP commander) — paid by outside groups, previously fired — is stirring up trouble in a community with significant immigrant residents.
- Walking the 30th and 29th Street paving project near Riverside: the contractor, Meade, Inc. (a Chicago-based firm), had zero Black laborers among those doing tar and asphalt work — even at a $21/hour non-skilled level.
- Invokes Ben Franklin’s principle: it is the majority’s responsibility to uphold the rights of the minority.
00:20:08 Post-Imhotep — contract rules and the galvanize moment
- Rev. Alexander explains the contract tier system: city contracts use XBE percentages (15/8/3/1); state contracts use DBE; federal dollars effectively remove the requirements entirely.
- Meade, Inc. is a Chicago firm doing major Indianapolis road work — local workers are mostly absent from large projects generally.
- Rev. Alexander: we’re past monitoring — there’s nothing left to monitor. The response must be galvanizing across organizational silos.
00:22:33 Caller El Amin — Farrakhan vs. King; where are the good white allies?
- El Amin raises the oldest strategic debate in Black political thought: separation and self-reliance (Farrakhan) vs. integration and coalition-building (King). On employment and education today, he doesn’t have the answer.
- His grandfather’s maxim from the pulpit: Black folks would still be slaves without some good white folks. He wonders where they are now.
- Rev. Alexander: he sees evidence they still exist — the No Kings rallies showed cross-racial coalition energy. DEI cuts hurt women too; voting rights attacks target women too. Those are coalition-building opportunities.
00:24:36 Post-El Amin — complacency, coalition, and the Indy Chamber
- Pastor Greene: Indiana’s Black community has been too complacent. Monitoring and advocating without action isn’t a strategy.
- Women-owned, Black-owned, and Latino-owned businesses should be joining forces — this is not a narrow issue.
- Governor Braun ran as a small business champion without qualification. His actions have revealed a whites-only definition of that promise.
- Pastor Greene reaches out to the Indy Chamber: they need to go on record. If they only represent large businesses, small businesses should leave.
- El Amin (in the chat): “Taking the penny out of circulation might be a sign to move us out of circulation.” Pastor Greene: the goal is ultimately to funnel more people into the prison system — education, business exclusion, and incarceration are all connected.
00:31:55 IPS governance — the new entity and the referendum
- IPS is now under a new governance structure (IPEC — Indianapolis Public Education Corporation) with a November referendum seeking approximately $95 million.
- Rev. Alexander previews the segment: who will lead this new entity, and what does their background signal?
- Facebook commenter Ryan: charter schools are taking over Indy and people don’t understand how terrible they really are.
00:33:47 Breaking news — Karega Rausch named IPEC executive director
- Mid-show announcement: Karega Rausch has been named the first executive director of IPEC.
- His background: education and charter schools director under Indianapolis mayors Bart Peterson and Greg Ballard; director of Stand for Children’s local affiliate; chaired the Indiana Charter Schools Board; president and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers since 2020.
- The Mind Trust announced the hire before the mayor did — a telling signal of who is driving the decision.
- Rev. Alexander: watch how hard Rausch fights for the IPS referendum. A charter-system loyalist softballing the referendum tells you everything about the long-term plan.
00:36:23 IPS as the Titanic — disruption, union busting, gentrification
- Rev. Alexander: children are being tossed to and fro with every new superintendent and strategic plan — IPS education is sinking in real time.
- Pastor Greene: the goals behind this process are multiple — destroy the teachers union, ultimately destroy IPS itself, gentrify school site real estate, and funnel financial benefits to those with The Mind Trust connections.
- The person hired is meant to execute the master plan, not disrupt it.
- IPS needs the referendum to pass; the charter sector will get its money either way. Rausch has every incentive to go soft on the fight.
00:38:00 Caller Joyce — IPS alumna, contract accountability, magnet schools
- Joyce, an IPS graduate with family members who were IPS principals, traces the dismantling of IPS back to the governor who was “too good to live in the governor’s mansion” and then became vice president, and a mayor who began breaking down the school system. (Note: Joyce appears to be conflating two governors — it is Gov. Braun, not Pence, who does not live in the governor’s mansion; Braun commutes by helicopter from his home in Jasper.)
- Charter schools take the contract money and then fail to uphold their contracts — she asks what happens in that case, because many have closed with no accountability.
- IPS has Herron, magnet schools — real, community-embedded institutions. Charter pop-ups from outside the city don’t know the community’s situation.
00:40:54 Post-Joyce — special needs, level playing fields, and the charter marketing machine
- Pastor Greene: charter schools don’t want special-needs children (higher cost, different staffing) — they cherry-pick the cream of the crop and leave IPS with more expensive students and fewer resources.
- If charters claim to be public schools, they should be held to public school standards: accept all students, work for the referendum, be accountable for results.
- Charter schools with The Mind Trust backing send glossy mailers every back-to-school season. Schools without money can’t compete for the narrative — and Rev. Alexander and Pastor Greene certainly aren’t getting on CNN to tell the truth about charter performance.
00:47:13 Caller Guy — DEI in practice, Alexander Miles, and who controls the charter narrative
- Guy: DEI programs produced variety in representation, but the actual placement of people of color in jobs has been lacking. Cites inventor Alexander Miles — who automated elevator doors — as an example of Black innovation that goes uncelebrated.
- Asks whether data exists comparing charter vs. public school performance.
- Rev. Alexander: IDOE publishes it annually. Charter schools don’t perform better than public schools — and in many cases perform worse. The data is public; it’s just not on people’s lips because the other side controls the narrative.
- Republicans stay on one message always. Democrats and progressives don’t. That’s a resource and discipline problem, not a facts problem.
- Pastor Greene closes: the mayor who runs charter schools has never mentioned their performance data in a State of the City address. That silence is its own data point.
00:53:31 Closing argument — the DEI/education double standard
- Rev. Alexander’s closing observation: for DEI in business, Black companies must prove decades of track record before getting a contract. For charter schools, you can walk in with an idea from last year and be trusted with children’s education.
- The double standard is the point.
- Rev. Alexander closes out callers, notes Reverend Phillips is in the queue for next week.
00:54:36 Station close
