Area Clergy Urge Indiana to Enact Hate Crimes Legislation

For Immediate Release                                                             Communication Contacts:

June 3, 2025                                                                                      Ashley Hogue (317) 750-4026

Indianapolis, IN — The Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis, the Baptist Minister’s Alliance, and the Indiana Chapter of the National Action Network stand today as one collective voice of Black clergy, community leaders, and civil rights advocates to declare our unwavering solidarity with our Jewish brothers and sisters across the state of Indiana.  In the face of rising antisemitism and acts of aggression toward minority communities, we remind our state and its leaders that silence in the face of hate is complicity.

It is both shameful and dangerous that Indiana still lacks a comprehensive and enforceable hate crimes statute.  In a time when swastikas are being spray-painted, synagogues are being threatened, and Jewish families are living with fear, our state government offers little more than vague language and unenforceable gestures.

As Black faith leaders, we carry the memory of bombed churches, burned crosses, and hateful rhetoric turned into deadly violence.  We do not speak from theory, but we speak from lived history.  We remember Birmingham.  We remember Charleston.  We will not forget what hate can do when good people remain silent.

To our Jewish neighbors, know this:  You are not alone.  Your struggle is our struggle. Your pain is our pain.  The same God who demands we “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly” (Micah 6:8) calls us to confront evil in all its forms.

We honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who marched hand in hand across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and stood together to declare that racism and antisemitism are twin evils that must be rooted out together.

[Last] weekend, tragedy struck again.  This time, in Boulder, Colorado, multiple people were injured in a stabbing attack at the Pearl Street Mall.  Early reports indicate the suspect specifically targeted individuals based on their appearance.  This is yet another brutal reminder that hate does not stay within state lines.  If we do not act, we invite violence to visit our communities.

We therefore call on the Indiana General Assembly to move with urgency and conscience to enact a fully enforceable hate crimes law, one that specifically names and protects people from discrimination and violence based on race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity, and sexual orientation.

This is not about politics but about principle. It is not about partisanship but about people.

We urge all residents of goodwill to contact your state legislators.  Demand the passage of a real hate crimes law with real teeth.  Let them know that Indiana cannot be a safe haven for hate.

Because an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.  Together, we will rise!

Rev. David W. Greene, Sr.

President of Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis

Dr. Stephen J. Clay

President of Indiana Chapter of National Action Network

Dr. Wayne L. Moore

President of Baptist Minister’s Alliance