INDIANAPOLIS —  Indiana Senate Assistant Minority Leader Andrea Hunley (D-Indianapolis) issued the following statement in response to the June 9 Indianapolis City County Council Meeting where Lauren Roberts, a survivor of abuse from former Deputy Mayor Thomas Cook, was forcefully removed by police from the meeting at the direction of the Council.

“Indianapolis City Leadership had one job: To honor survivors.

“To the survivors, to those of you who have come forward and those of you who have not, I am so sorry that our city’s leaders have failed to protect you time and time again: you deserve better.

“They failed to protect you when you worked for our city. They failed to protect you when you came forward. They failed to protect you when you participated in an “investigation.” And during Monday evening’s city council meeting, they failed to protect you when they directed law enforcement to haul you out of a public building where you were peacefully practicing your First Amendment rights and speaking of the ways the system failed you.

“Democrats in positions of leadership need to step up and hold our systems accountable. Whether our leadership position is elected, appointed, or bestowed on us by our neighbors, we each have the power to hold each other accountable: it is one of our greatest duties to do so. It is unacceptable to allow arbitrary man-made hierarchical structures, procedural rules, or decorum to stand in the way of justice.

“A culture of complacency isn’t how we create change and should not be how we lead either. When these systems continue to fail, change needs to happen. We deserve better than this.”

Click here to view and download Sen. Hunley’s recorded statement.