(BLOOMINGTON) – Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton and Bloomington City Clerk Nicole Bolden issue the following statement:
On behalf of the City of Bloomington, we would like to express outrage and grief relating to two apparent racially motivated incidents reported in our community over the July 4 weekend.
A group of individuals physically assaulted and denounced and threatened with racial epithets one Black resident of Bloomington on nearby Indiana state parkland at Lake Monroe.
And a sheriff’s deputy from a neighboring county questioned and detained another black Bloomington resident walking down the Bloomington street where they live in an apparent example of racial profiling.
These separate incidents exemplify the persistence of racism and bias in our country and our own community. They deserve nothing less than our collective condemnation.
They require that we come together as a whole, and recognize that racism damages all of us, not just our residents of color. We deserve better, and we must make it happen. Videos of the events remind us of the importance of witnesses and witnessing.
Each of us must do our part to assure justice for those harmed in this weekend’s incidents, and do everything we can to forge inclusion and equity in Bloomington, and beyond.
