INDIANAPOLIS — "It's not enough to acknowledge systemic racism. You don't get a participation ribbon in the fight against injustice," said Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett during his State of the City and 2021 budget message to the Indianapolis City-County Council.
The mayor said the path to health and prosperity in Indianapolis has not been equally available to all. He said that has become all the more clear in the impact COVID-19 has had on black and brown residents.
"That's because time and time again over the last two centuries, city leaders have let the rising tide of our city's bright future distract them from the fact that too many neighbors and too many neighborhoods have been left behind to fend for themselves," said the mayor. "Indianapolis, that history must not be repeated now."
Hogsett said he would work with the City-County Council to give a voice to those that too often have been silenced.
"What we need is a process of healing that is not implemented, but lived—both in public and in private. Lived especially by white residents in positions of power, like myself," said the mayor.
