Gary, Indiana’s problem isn’t racism, it’s incompetence

*This article was originally published The Federalist on August 26, 2026.

Gary, Indiana, just wrapped up week two with no power, and the left-wing narrative on the extended blackout is (unsurprisingly), “It’s racism!” As someone who lived in Gary for a decade, I can tell you it is anything but that.

Gary made me a conservative. In 1999, I married a man from Gary and moved to his home on the west side. That marked the beginning of a 10-year journey in one of the most dangerous cities in America. I was a default Democrat at the time, like most black Americans. Still, as a Christian woman, I dove into community service right away, helping launch and direct an afterschool program.

There I saw how all the laws and policies I had supported my entire adult life worked up close. I quickly discovered they don’t. I was treated to an endless stream of haughty, entitled bureaucrats who openly despised anyone trying to improve the city on their own. In a city that is almost all black and run exclusively by black people, you’d think I would have found many allies and people excited for progress. It was the exact opposite. Gary was a mess then, and it’s still a mess.

The cries of racism have been the loudest these past few days. Memphis is also experiencing a mass power outage, and Malcolm X impersonator Justin Pearson is using Gary’s current crisis to make a connection to the Memphis blackout:

The post is quite the self-own. Pearson skates near the edges of the truth here, but per usual glides right by the obvious conclusion: Majority-black cities are governed terribly.

Gary is not experiencing storm racism. Gary is experiencing complete incompetence, and the storm laid it bare. There are a few reasons Gary remains in a position of suffering.

First, people literally shot at the power company. NIPSCO (Northwest Indiana’s energy provider) has reported that multiple bullets struck their vehicle as employees tried to navigate the streets of the city and make repairs.

Second, people are abandoning…

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