Why We’re Mad as Hell:
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Indiana University and the Bloomington city government have consistently upheld a structure that produces poverty by keeping housing costs high and worker wages low. Despite being the architects and beneficiaries of this system, they not only abdicate responsibility, but actively criminalize, harass and dispossess our neighbors forced to survive within these poverty conditions.
The crushing weight of these policies fall heavily, and even fatally, on the poor and unhoused. On December 14th, our dear friend J.T. Vanderburg, was evicted from Seminary Square and 10 days later, froze to death in the very park he had called home. We see this as not just a tragedy, but a trend, remembering our sibling, Bessie Grubb, who was evicted from the courthouse lawn on June 10th, and died 9 days later on the same Square that had, if only for a moment, felt like home. Painfully aware of the dire consequences of inaction, an ordinance aimed at decriminalizing sleeping in the park, a band-aid to stop the bleeding, was put before city council, to which they responded, “wait,” let them bleed.
We refuse to continue scraping together funds for funerals while the city continues the waiting game they’ve played for decades. While the city and university wait, the number of unhoused citizens will grow dramatically with the end of the eviction moratorium and the closing of the “emergency” winter shelter. This crisis does only deepens with freezing temperatures. This is morally indefensible, economically untenable, and politically preposterous to put it simply, this is MADNESS. However, our city and university choose to focus on a different kind of madness this month, one that invites a flood of sports fans and money to fill the stadium, the restaurants, and the hotels in Bloomington.
Faced with a Moral Madness that has gone on far too long, and will persist far beyond the month of March, we invite you to join in solidarity rather than spectatorship. Join us at Dunn Meadow on March 18th and 19th, to learn with impacted leaders as we educate, mobilize, agitate, and organize. On the 20th, join us at Dunn Meadow at 10:15 am, or digitally via Facebook Livestream, as we March to End the Madness.
When & Where We’re Meeting: ____________________________________________________
*All events at Dunn Meadow on IU Bloomington Campus unless otherwise indicated on Twitter at @endthemadnessIN
We Still Need Your Help Preparing:
Songs & Chants to Learn Before You Come!
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