WARNING: OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — South Bend Common Council Member, Henry Davis Jr., has released what he says is the audio of a voicemail left on his Common Council voicemail system containing a 3-minute-19-second racist rant against the black race.
The recording starts with an unidentified man saying, “Yeah, can I ask you a question? Why are black people so God darn stupid? You guys are a bunch of dumbass morons.”
The man in the recording is addressing recent police shootings across the country, the riots that have followed and the push to defund the police. However, instead of addressing cultural issues in a civil and logical manner, using data or other evidence, he seems to blame the issues on the black race in general.
“All of these cases are dumbass, retarded misfits, refusing to listen to officer’s commands.” The man says.
He then goes on to discuss the Georgia Voting Law. Instead of trying to make a valid point about protecting the integrity of our elections, he talks about the cost of an ID and how black people can save up money to purchase one.
“You guys can go out and buy your marijuana and your Phat Farm jeans or your spinner rims or your rims, but you can’t buy an ID card for 14 bucks?”
He then goes on to explain black people are inferior to white people.
“You guys are retarded. No wonder this (inaudible) African Americans are inferior to whites. I’m sorry, you guys are (inferior).”
The man does, at moments, attempt to qualify his remarks by saying “Liberal black people” and “misfits.” He also speaks about the virtues of some African American conservatives. You can listen to the full audio at the bottom of this article.
“It’s not the first time he’s called me.” Davis Jr. said.
This voicemail comes after Davis Jr. issued a statement last week in which he was critical of Mayor James Mueller and Chief of Police, Scott Ruszkowski. Davis claimed South Bend Police Officers weren’t being given proper Use of Force training. Davis says he brought up the criticism after a police officer came forward during a Board of Public Safety meeting to describe the lack of training for the department’s newest Use of Force protocols.
“He came in front of the Board of Public Safety. That took a lot of guts.” Davis Jr. said. “I believe that he was putting the city and citizens in front of him. I applaud him.”
Shortly after, Chief Ruszkowski used the South Bend Police Department’s Facebook page to publish the following comments:
“Today, a Councilmember yet again questioned my integrity publicly and falsely alleged the South Bend Police Department does not receive training on Use of Force. These baseless claims are extremely dangerous and detrimental to our community and disrespectful to our dedicated officers.
I make myself accessible to our community and councilmembers and am always available to answer questions and/or provide clarification. Unfortunately, neither were sought before publicly making untrue, inaccurate, and outrageous accusations.”
You can read the full post below:
The Chief’s claims that he is accessible to the public is a stretch. REAL News Michiana has been working to get information from Chief Ruszkowski regarding his work with convicted felon and activist, Vernado Malone, for weeks. The Chief was involved in an event with Malone and his organization “Justice for Michiana,” despite evidence that Malone has been taking advantage of the families of homicide victims. You can read that story here. Criticism of Chief Ruszkowski is bi-partisan, as he and the Democrat administration continue to give criminals taxpayer money to “reduce violence.”
Davis Jr. says he is not looking to defund the police department or reduce the force. He says he would like to increase the number of officers, but believes leadership in the Mayor’s Office and at the police department is causing more problems with retention, recruitment and training.
“I am committed to getting training policy for Use of Force to be properly done.” Davis Jr. said. “Retention is terrible. Recruitment is bad. We need a multitude of changes. We’re losing good officers… The job is not being done. That’s where the change of leadership comes.”
AUTHOR EDITORIAL NOTE:
While many of the readers of this article, including the author of this piece, would agree that there needs to be accountability for the actions of the people who have resisted arrest, committed crimes and the folks who have burned down cities across the country — the type of actual racism heard in the audio released by Councilman Davis Jr., needs to be called out at every turn. I strongly believe that if criminals simply didn’t resist arrest, the outcomes of these highly publicized events would not have been fatal. However, blaming these issues on the color of one’s skin diminishes actual arguments and reinforces the false narrative that America is built on racism.
Individuality is the core of conservatism. Individuals make decisions. Their race is not the issue and never has been. The man in this audio is ignorant. He uses conservative views and twists them into a racial narrative. It is exactly what the Left is doing across the nation with their false “systemic racism,” “white privilege,” and “micro-aggression” ideology.
