Collaborators and Defenders
Friends and Constituents,
Indianapolis’s children and workers are under attack.
Check out the fourth edition of Indianapolis This Week, and read on:
Twice this week, Indiana’s MAGA Attorney General Todd Rokita publicly attacked the City and tried to incite violence in the form of gunwielding out-of-towners entering our city.
First, he begged Donald Trump to send the national guard into Indianapolis to deal with gun crime here - something deeply unpopular with basically the entire city, including gun violence prevention community groups, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department leadership AND union, and local Republican leaders.
To his credit, even Mayor Joe Hogsett offered a tepid statement opposing the egregious suggestion:
"Armed troops on our streets would not make Indianapolis a safer city. And I, as Mayor, discourage any request for such an intervention. Improving public safety requires listening to communities and building trust.
At a time when over 100,000 Indianapolis residents are facing food insecurity, when the cost of goods and services residents rely on is skyrocketing, when families are making difficult decisions regarding paying bills or buying their child a toy for the holidays, we are not looking for "support" in the form of armed troops in our neighborhoods.
To further our progress in reducing gun violence, what Indianapolis needs is gun laws that make it harder for young people to obtain firearms, police with greater authority to hold problem bars accountable, and for individuals to stop turning to guns to resolve conflict.
The City of Indianapolis remains focused on our gun violence reduction strategy, which has driven significant reductions in criminal homicides and non-fatal shootings in our community since 2022."
But when Rokita continued his threats this week by suing Indianapolis Public Schools and demanding that IPS allow ICE agents unfettered access to snatch children away, Mayor Hogsett offered no statement at all. IPS itself, the local and state level teacher’s unions, and my own chapter of DSA all issued powerful statements of solidarity and expressed that we would not tolerate attacks on our children and their schools without fighting back. Hogsett, the would-be “education Mayor,” has been totally silent on the matter even while regular people are furious and looking for leadership.
Other groups who pretend to care about Black and Brown youth have been suspiciously silent as well. The Mind Trust’s website ignored the recent news and instead issued a self-congratulatory press release after sitting down with the Republican state leadership that is tacitly approving Rokita’s terroristic lawsuit and tactics.
The elections this week prove that across the country, Americans are roundly rejecting Donald Trump’s style of deploying troops and thugs into our cities and schools. Democrats won resounding victories in New Jersey and Virginia, and socialists won office in cities from Michigan to Georgia to North Carolina to Ohio.
People are paying attention to what leaders are doing right now. Those who fight loudly and firmly against oppression win the people’s support. Those who moderate and equivocate their message lose it.
Count on me to fight. If you want to help me get re-elected to keep fighting, or bring the fight to more Council seats and even higher offices, you can help out here.
In love and solidarity,
Jesse