Data Centers Got Power. Gary, Indiana Went Dark | w/ Aja Ba

It was five days after Gary, Indiana’s power went out before NIPSCO acknowledged the 76% Black city needed help, independent journalist and Gary native Aja Bridges tells Zoe Alexandra and Rania Khalek. As the private utility released consistent “progress updates” to white communities and the Lake County Fair was pushed back online, Bridges unpacks why Gary couldn’t refrigerate food, run breathing machines, or send their kids to school – all while charging customers more than full price.

As Gary residents are pummeled by rate hikes driven by energy privatization and billion-dollar data center investments for Amazon and Google, NIPSCO neglects vegetation clearance and other basic maintenance that could have prevented this disaster. It’s all part of Governor Mike Braun’s intentional marginalization of Black and Hispanic communities to court Trump’s favor – and it’s costing working families big.’

Gary, Indiana, just went 14 days without power.

Data centers nearby never lost power once.

“Even though we didn’t have power, our bills are still astronomically high,” says local journalist Aja Bridges