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Mayor of ‘All-American City’ is a White Racist and White Supremacist

And it is my hometown

Herbert Dyer, Jr.
7 min readMar 14, 2021
Michigan City Mayor Duane Parry speaks at a news conference outside City Hall on Wednesday, March 10, 2021, at which he apologized for racist remarks inadvertently left on a voicemail to a local minister. (Image: Kelly Smith/AP)

If there’s a silver lining to the Capitol riot, it’s that it clarified for many powerful white leaders that they are not exempt from the violent logic of white supremacy. No one’s ever really safe — even [Vice President] Pence, who actively upheld the social order of white supremacy until the minute it asked too much of him, at which point he became its greatest enemy. This, too, came as no surprise to anyone who listens to Black people.

— Shaniqua McClendon, The Insurrection Through the Eyes of Black Americans, in “Crooked,” February 16, 2021

It has been widely reported that my tiny and putatively “normal” middle-of-the- Midwest hometown of Michigan City, Indiana (pop. 36,000, including approximately 2,000 black families) is governed by a heretofore “closeted” white racist/white supremacist mayor.

Michigan City sits hard against the southern tip of the second largest of America’s “Great Lakes,” Lake Michigan. That places it not quite equidistant between South Bend to the east and Gary to the west. And, perhaps more importantly, MC is a mere one-hour drive west into the booming heart of downtown Chicago.

The city features many miles of the best white-sand beaches on the entire lake, on which…

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Herbert Dyer, Jr.
Herbert Dyer, Jr.

Written by Herbert Dyer, Jr.

Freelancer since the earth first began cooling. My beat, justice: racial, social, political, economic and cultural. I’m on FB, Twitter, Link, hdyerjr@gmail.com.

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