top of page

Pete Buttigieg Clashes with Black Lives Matter after Fatal Police Shooting

Writer's picture: Anais HawkinsAnais Hawkins

Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg who happens to be the nations first openly gay presidential candidate canceled presidential campaign events and a democratic fish fry fundraiser in South Carolina to fly back to South Bend, Indiana. Back home, Pete found himself surrounded by an angry and frustrated group of Black Lives Matter protesters demanding that he bring justice to the tragic killing of Eric Logan, 54.




WHAT HAPPENED

Eric Logan was killed by Sgt. Ryan O'Neill 3:30 a.m. Sunday. O'Niell, a white man, had been responding to reports that cars were being broken into. Logan was sitting in a car in the parking lot when Sgt. O'Niell had approached him to ask if he was a resident of the neighborhood. Logan exited the vehicle with a knife in hand. Logan had refused to drop the knife and was then shot in the stomach. Another officer drove Logan to the hospital where he later died of his wounds.


Sgt. Ryan O'Niell did not have his body camera turned on during the interaction. St. Joseph County Prosecutor explains that had O'Niell been driving fast, or if his sirens were on, the inter-connecting system would have automatically turned the body camera and dashboard on. Because O'Niell was driving slow to look for a suspect the camera's were off and the officer did not turn them on manually.


CIVIL UNREST



Though the community is forty percent black and hispanic, 90% of the police department is white. If you watch the video you will see the young thin figure of Pete surrounded by a sea of Ebony. The loudest protesters are the black mothers who are sick and tired of being sick and tired. The crowd can be heard shouting, sometimes screaming in frustration due to their Mayor's inaction.

I want to hear you say it! Say black lives matter!

Pete responds,

Did you just ask me if black lives matter? Of course, black lives matter

Logan's mother:

Y’all ain’t doing a damn thing about me or my son or none of these people out here.

Another asked,

“Are you really here because you care about blacks, or are you just here because you want to be the president?”

WHAT IS BEING DONE ABOUT IT



The people demanded the firing of the police officer to which Pete Buttigieg refused. He explained it was not within his power and that legally it could only be done by the Board of Safety. They wanted him to be the first to sign a petition to which he said that he could not because the information on it would be "prejudice to the investigation."


Pete did show some action however, noting that he would start a third party investigation to the shooting, sign a "clean" petition, ordered the police chief to issue an executive order reminding officers that body cameras must be turned on during every interaction with civilians and will be leading an upcoming town hall event to which he told people that they must show up, "not just online, but in person and when you show up, you will be heard. When the crowd marched to city hall, Pete spoke saying, "I want you to know we're serious about fixing this."


THE "NOT-LOOKING GOOD" FUTURE PRESIDENT

Pete Buttigieg is at a pivotal point in his campaign. The fundraiser deadline is coming up and he will be entering presidential debates against the well-known bigwigs like Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. Despite this, he went home to deal with his job. Does that make him a good future president? Does this situation mean that if he can't handle his town he can't handle being president? This situation of police shootings is happening all over the county. What Pete Buttigieg does now will show us what kind of President he can be. Watch the video to see Pete and Black Lives Matter go head to head.



  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Black Twitter Icon
  • YouTube

Subscribe to Gaye Magazine! Stay in tune with the Culture and Our Latest Projects!

© 2023 Gaye Magazine All Rights Reserved.

bottom of page