Buttigieg’s Debate Remarks on Police Shooting Don’t Satisfy Some Back Home

The N.A.A.C.P. president has been a Buttigieg supporter in the wake of the police shooting. So was the host of the debate-watch gathering, Vernado Malone Sr., who had been a close friend of Mr. Logan, the man who was shot by a white officer responding to a call of someone breaking into cars. The police said Mr. Logan, who left behind five children, had raised a knife, but the officer failed to turn on his body camera. Activists want a special prosecutor to investigate.

Mr. Malone provided a takeout dinner to his guests, four of them black and one white, as well as a contrasting view of Mr. Buttigieg, whom he supports.

On Friday, Mr. Malone, 47, organized a march against police violence attended by Mr. Buttigieg and the police chief. He criticized some community members who showed up two days later at a town hall, where they blasted the mayor, but then failed to attend a City Council meeting the next day to follow up on police issues.

“You can’t yell at somebody when you’re not putting in the work yourself,” Mr. Malone said.

Mr. Geiger told him that entering the County-City Building downtown for official meetings was intimidating for some minority residents, “especially people who have criminal backgrounds or they’re behind on their child support.”

Mr. Malone, who runs a livery business that drives people to visit family members in prison, said that was no excuse. “I’ve been locked up five times, I’m in the system,” he told Mr. Geiger. “The County-City Building shouldn’t be a threat to nobody. They don’t ask you your name or for your ID.”

Early next week, the activists expected Mr. Buttigieg back in South Bend, where they said he had promised to meet with them.

Ms. Batiste-Waddell expects to tell the mayor about a questionnaire that can measure police officers’ ability to adapt to people of different cultures.

“This isn’t about whether I like Mayor Pete or not,” she said. “I just want to solve the problem.”

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