Blackout in Gary: Disaster Capitalism and the Abandonment of Black America
S. E. Anderson
Blackout in Gary: Disaster Capitalism and the Abandonment of Black America
The power is beginning to restore in Gary, Indiana. For 13 days, nearly 70,000 mostly Black residents were left without power, a catastrophe that was completely ignored and erased from mainstream media. Conditions came to light through community connections, social platforms, and limited independent media coverage. The outage not only left residents sitting in the dark, but cut off air-conditioning during a historic heatwave, threatening both comfort and lives… especially of elders. With wifi and mobile service out, most communication was cut, isolating residents from the world. Food and water supplies were disrupted, with no refrigeration, food spoiled and there was no power to filter water. Most residents couldn’t just leave town as felled trees blocked roads, gas stations were down, and many simply had nowhere else to go or means to get out.
Consistent access to power is a marker of development. The status of nations as developing or developed uses electrical connections as one of the key measures. To be left without power for nearly two weeks would move almost any region to “developing” status. Yet, Black people in Gary were abandoned; treatment of Black people in the United States as “Third World” citizens is not new, but normal in these “Two Americas.” Gary is one of many times that disaster has struck and Black communities have been forced to fend for themselves. Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, the Flint water crisis, and the Altadena fires come immediately to mind. Taken together, there is a pattern of power systems leaving Black people to die.
Our survival through fires, floods, storms, and power outages has come through our generations-long practice of mutual aid. Government may leave us to drown, burn, and starve, but we will not leave each other. A visceral sense of connectivity is an African retention, now tailored to American settings by Black autonomous organizations like the AME church, ummah, and other spiritual communities, Black women’s clubs, fraternities and sororities, communities and hoods, and embrace of expansive family. In Gary, the Black Lives Matter Grassroots chapter led daily community giveaways, providing access to charging stations, gas cards, dry ice, food, and bottled water – even as members were struggling to survive the conditions themselves. “Justice mothers” who were mourning the loss of their own children through state violence packed up rented SUVs full of supplies and drove them in from states away. Frontline movement leaders packed up chainsaws and got busy opening up closed roads. We keep us safe. And once we pull each other to safety, there is still the question of stabilizing community.
12 days into the blackout, BLM Grassroots Gary staged a demonstration at City Hall demanding that government step up. With Eddie Melton, a likeable Black mayor, at the helm of the city, holding public officials accountable can feed a “failed Black mayor” narrative. And, much like the pattern of abandonment, there is also a pattern of Black local leaders buffering disaster profiteers. Ray Nagin was New Orleans Mayor when Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. Mayor Karen Weaver was serving when the Flint water crisis came to a head. And, even though Altadena is not Los Angeles, Karen Bass was blamed for the lack of response to the Eaton fires.
To be clear, figure heads serve as willing accomplices. Often trading allegiance to Black communities that elect them for their own political ambitions and limited financial mobility. However, at the other end of nearly every disaster are capitalist interests that allow catastrophes to rage or even stoke the fires for their own profit, as lead up, during, and in the aftermath. In New Orleans, private disaster and military contractors and land speculators raked in billions of dollars. In Flint, private engineering companies secured lucrative contracts by declaring the water safe. Recent independent investigations affirm community allegations that Southern California Edison caused the fires that claimed 19 lives and burned 9413 homes and businesses. In Gary, it seems that there was refusal to cut back trees near power lines or upgrade equipment in order to maximize NIPSCO profit.
Naomi Klein’s concept of disaster capitalism compounds when applied to Black communities. White-supremacist capitalism seems to be accelerating its superexploitation. For Black communities to survive and thrive, we must recognize capitalist forces as our opposition and continue to build as much anti-capitalist autonomy as possible. Akili Shakur, co-founder of BLM Grassroots Gary reminds us, “We have to keep boots on the ground. We can’t trust the government to take care of us and corporations will only continue to oppress us. We must nation-build.” ///
s. e. anderson
author of The Black Holocaust for Beginners
"If WORK was good for you, the rich would leave none for the poor." (Haiti)
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