We’ve Got the Power
Friends and Constituents,
I hope you’re well. This week has been extremely tough on me.
I asked Council staff and my fellow Councilors for support in setting up a public hearing to discuss the surge and how we could better stand in solidarity with our immigrant neighbors - which 80 faith leaders went to the newspaper to ask for us to do. Not one person responded to me - even after I followed up publicly to reiterate my ask.
I asked Council staff and my fellow Councilors for support in demanding that my proposed TRUST ordinance, which would set up guardrails and the ability to regulate or ban Flock cameras and other surveillance technology, finally be introduced to the Council (three months after I asked for it to!). Again, not a single staff member or Councilor so much as responded to me.
But on Wednesday evening, Chairman Leroy Robinson proved that Councilors do remember that they have power when it comes to weaponizing process and procedure against their own constituents.
Robinson made the news when he refused to allow members of the public to comment about their deep frustration with IMPD until two hours and thirty seven minutes into a public meeting in the Public Assembly Room downtown.
Family members and supporters of Dalys Jett, the young Black man who was apparently killed by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Officers while he was running away in July, gathered for a demonstration and protest beginning at 5:00 pm outside the City-County Building on Wednesday evening. Community members had been demanding more answers from IMPD for months, but had not seen City leaders calling for transparency and accountability.
If you don’t want to watch the committee hearing, which was over four hours long, you can read my minute-by-minute dissection of what went wrong in that committee hearing.
At the end of the night, here’s what happened: Public Safety Committee Chair Leroy Robinson, the man who refused to allow me to serve on his committee because he feared being embarrassed, made himself an embarrassment by calling for large numbers of Sheriffs’ Deputies to physically remove dozens of people from the assembly room, including Jamaal Shabazz, who was physically shoved out the door and onto the ground as punishment for laughing.
Though most people who watched these events could clearly see that Robinson was way out of line, I had several constituents ask what Robinson could have possibly done to help deescalate the meeting. I answer that today in video format, thanks to the German band SNAP! - you know the song even if you don’t remember the band.
Watch the goofy video at this link, then keep reading.
I am frankly getting sick of the City-County Council weaponizing our own processes in order to harm the public, prevent transparency, and stop popular policy from coming to the floor for a vote.
Tomorrow (Monday, September 14th) is already another full Council meeting.
Just like in August, I will be pushing to amend the agenda to remove the MDC commissioners who voted to support data centers and their tax abatements.
I will also be pushing to make sure the TRUST Ordinance is introduced and sent to committee for deliberation and debate. My colleagues and Council leadership needs to learn that they cannot simply evade me or their constituents - we aren’t going away, and we aren’t stopping until we get the popular policies that we deserve.
Between now and tomorrow evening, I’ll do what I do every month: create an annotated agenda for everyone to review, share every piece of documentation that I receive as a Councilor with the public in this folder, and arrive in the Public Assembly Room an hour early in order to talk to anyone who wants to talk with me. It’s the People’s Caucus, and if you’re reading this, I’d love to see you there.
If you don’t already have topics of conversation prepared, come tell me how YOU think the Council should handle public comment and meeting agenda structures.
Then, later in the week, come with me to a public meeting called directly by impacted people themselves. The People’s Assembly: Justice for Dalys Jett will be this coming Friday at 6:00 pm. Be there to connect with the community and collectively push for justice.
YOUR voice matters. Please show up wherever you can. And as a reminder, I always need more donations to help keep pushing for the political revolution we deserve. There are no billionaires or super PACs coming to give money. Chip in what you can - please.
In love and solidarity,
Jesse