South Band Councilman Henry Davis slammed former Mayor Pete Buttigieg for his race record in the city following the Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire on Friday, and accused the presidential hopeful of perpetuating “systematic racism”.
Davis Jr. ran an unsuccessful campaign to unseat Buttigieg as mayor in 2015, after serving two terms on the South Bend Common Council. He won a third term to the council in November and has frequently criticized Buttigieg, arguing that he failed the Midwestern city’s black and brown population, Newsweek reports.
“As a Councilman in #SouthBend, I know why @PeteButtigieg looked like a deer in headlights last night when talking about systemic racism in the South Bend Police. He tolerated it, he perpetuated it, and last night he lied to millions of Americans about it,” the councilman tweeted on Saturday.
During the Friday debate, ABC News correspondent Linsey Davis asked Buttigieg to address the high arrest rate of black South Bend residents over marijuana possession during his tenure as mayor. “How do you explain the increase in black arrests in South Bend, and under your leadership, for marijuana possession?” Davis asked.
“And again, the overall was lower than the national–,” Buttigieg responded.
“No, there was an increase,” the correspondent interjected. “The year before you were in office it was lower. Once you came in office in 2012, that number went up. In 2018 … that number was still up,” she said.
A spokesperson for Buttigieg’s campaign told Newsweek that marijuana arrests for Black residents fell for six of the seven years of Buttigieg’s time as South Bend’s mayor, and that arrest rates for marijuana and drug possession are usually low in the city.
“There is no question that marijuana policies need a serious overhaul and that disparity will continue to exist throughout the nation so long as laws that criminalize marijuana are on the books and systemic racism penetrates every level of our criminal justice system, which is why Pete has proposed his Douglass Plan to address systemic racism,” Buttigieg’s spokesperson noted. “And why he’s proposed decriminalizing marijuana possession and retroactively reducing sentences for those who are incarcerated for marijuana possession.”
Newsweek also reached out to Henry Davis Jr. for further comment, but he had not responded as of the time of publication.
Buttigieg addressed the issue directly during an interview with Fox News Sunday. “The problem is real,” he said, pointing to his plan to decriminalize marijuana and expunging records for those convicted of marijuana possession. Noting that there are racial “disparities” in law enforcement nationwide, the presidential candidate said: “We need reform.”
Be the first to comment