Pete Buttigieg and the South Bend Police

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/us/politics/pete-buttigieg-south-bend-police.html

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Thirteen weeks after taking office, Pete Buttigieg fired South Bend’s popular African-American police chief. The episode threatened his standing with some black people in South Bend, a relationship that was further strained this month when a white police officer killed a black man there.

Mr. Buttigieg fired Darryl Boykins, the police chief he inherited, after learning of allegations that Mr. Boykins had improperly recorded phone calls made by his white subordinates who were said to have used racist language about him.

The recordings have never been publicly released and remain tied up in a legal battle. Mr. Buttigieg says he has never listened to them.

The incident tainted Mr. Buttigieg’s relationship with some in South Bend’s black community, leaving him little reservoir of good will this month when a white South Bend police officer shot and killed a black man, Eric J. Logan, 54.

Since the shooting, Mr. Buttigieg has mostly dropped off the campaign trail, canceling scheduled appearances at a Southern California fund-raiser and a South Carolina fish fry.

He has instead spent time in South Bend, marching with protesters and attending a tense town hall.

This month’s shooting serves as a major test for Mr. Buttigieg, forcing him to reckon with questions about his relationship and popularity with African-American voters, and whether he can show sufficient empathy.

Even before this episode, polls showed Mr. Buttigieg as far more popular with white voters than black voters. With African-Americans making up nearly a quarter of the Democratic primary electorate — and more than half in some key early-voting states — they are a voting bloc Mr. Buttigieg cannot afford to alienate.