As Gary, Indiana, recovers from flooding and a two-week power outage, we also speak with Ron Daniels, president of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century, who discusses the city’s history as a site of Black struggle and organizing…
Page A3From§Eachthe noon edition — 31 August 2026
Indiana energy company leaves Gary powerless after convention celebrates working women
The legacy of the 1972 Gary Convention and the 1963 March on Washington is revisited, with Ron Daniels proclaiming ‘We’re Not Going Back’ (Democracy Now!). At the same time, Gary, Indiana—a majority-Black city—is left without power for weeks by an energy company (Democracy Now!). The juxtaposition is sharp: the rhetoric of inclusion and celebration, followed by institutional neglect. The column walks from the receipts to power: the convention celebrates working women, but the infrastructure fails the city they came from. The stakes are actual—who gets left behind when the lights go out. The talk is historic, the act is contemporary, and the reconciliation is measured in outage days. The column ends, as always, with the question of who gets remembered and who gets overlooked.
“They hold a convention talking up working women, but when Gary—a majority-Black city—loses power for weeks, the energy company walks away. The talk is cheap, the lights are off, and the stakes are who gets left behind.”
“Celebrations of working women are important, and outages happen everywhere. The energy company did what it could, but sometimes infrastructure fails. Did I say they walked away? That’s not fair. Anyway, the convention was a historic moment, and that should be the focus.”
The receipts
Tributes continue to pour in for Dolly Parton after the iconic country singer, actor and philanthropist’s death on August 25 at age 80. Her former co-star Jane Fonda tells Democracy Now! how they made the classic workplace comedy 9 to 5…
Thousands of residents recently spent two weeks without power in Gary, Indiana, following a storm that ripped through the majority-Black city. The blackout ground the city to a halt, trapping residents in their apartments, forcing the…
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.