But one thing that never got mentioned in the media is what it did and is doing to race relations in the city. Wherever I went last weekend, I could feel the tension, both from blacks and whites. Let's face it. Even in the best of times, Indianapolis is a segregated city. Except for a few neighborhoods here and there, blacks live in separate communities from whites.
Whites hang out in separate areas than blacks.
We just don't see each other that much. But the mini-riots brought that fact home. It's more like separate but uncommunicative. It was a shame that the mini-riots occurred during Black Expo week, the week that our city's black community gets its 15 minutes in the spotlight. It was a shame because white families were afraid to go this year, which meant one more opportunity for communication was lost.