Part I: Reactions to the Mayor
The announcement came yesterday from Mayor John Hamilton: the city will not privatize the farmers market in 2020. The Board of Parks Commissioners voted to remain under city leadership by a unanimous vote on Thursday.
Parks Commissioner Lisa Thatcher said at the meeting that the city had greater concerns of protesters at the market than Schooner Creek Farm.
Mayor Hamilton said he will work to improve the environment of the market.
Yael Ksander is the communications director for the City of Bloomington. She agrees saying every constituent has the right to freedom of thought, including Schooner Creek Farm.
Black Lives Matter Bloomington said society is built around cities where mayors wield power that is often unchallenged by state-level authorities. The group said the mayor failed to take any bold measures, prolonging progress.
Both Ashley Pirani and Sean Milligan of the Purple Shirt Brigade agree that the city’s handling of Schooner Creek Farm’s presence at the market has been ineffective.
The Indiana Daily Student reported that Robert Hall of the Grassroots Conservatives said he wants the city to keep protesters in Info Alley, a neutral space for protest, to bring stability to the market.
He said in a Herald Times opinion column that he condemns the mayor’s acknowledgement of SCF as white supremacists.
He said, “It has not helped heal the community when the mayor continues to advance a false narrative.”
After the most contentious season the farmers market has seen to date, the future remains unclear.
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Part II: Outside Input
Sarah Dye said she’s a member but not a spokesperson for the American Identity Movement. Again, she denies the group is a white supremacy group. When pressed on this question, Dye asked for a definition of white supremacy.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, white supremacy falls under the blanket of four qualifying tenets, “1) whites should have dominance over people of other backgrounds, especially where they may co-exist; 2) whites should live by themselves in a whites-only society; 3) white people have their own “culture” that is superior to other cultures; 4) white people are genetically superior to other people.”
Yael Ksander said the city thinks it is important to understand the threats tied to white supremacist ideology, however, the farmer’s market is not the place to solve these issues. This is why Ksander said the city turned to outside help.
Mayor Hamilton contacted representatives of The Divided Community Project’s Bridge Initiative at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law In August of 2019. The Bridge Initiative is a conflict consolation project that focuses on hate crimes and incidents.
The project researches local issues and then suggests solutions to local agencies and government. Hamilton asked the Bridge Initiative to help the community understand underlying issues that arose at the farmers market and to provide a structure for leaders to begin a plan for action, according to the report. The full report can be found on the City of Bloomington’s website.
Black Lives Matter Bloomington and the Purple Shirt Brigade criticized the Bridge Initiative.
BLM B-Town and Sean Milligan of the Purple Shirt Brigade said they agree the city needs to listen to members of the community, rather than bringing in outside sources who tell the city what they want to hear.
Milligan said this creates a communication gap between city officials and the community. He said it’s causing everyone in the community to suffer, including people of color.
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Part III: People of Color
