On Friday (April 12), Black Lives Matter B-town released its assessment of those Democratic Party primary candidates who responded to its survey.
Early in-person voting has started for the primary election, which falls on May 7 this year.
This year, BLM B-town’s survey included nine questions for all candidates and five questions just for county council and county commissioner candidates.
Sent the questionnaire were Democratic Party primary candidates for Monroe County councilor and county commissioner as well as U.S. senator, governor, state senator, state house representative, circuit court judge, auditor, treasurer, and surveyor.
The questionnaire was not sent to candidates affiliated with the Republican Party, because BLM B-town does not consider the party to be in alignment with its basic principles.
According to BLM B-town, their candidate assessments are provided to voters for informational purposes—they are not endorsements.
Candidates were given seven days to fill out the questionnaire, and were sent subsequent reminders after the survey was sent, according to BLM B-town
A total of 11 candidates wrote out answers to the questionnaire. It was designed to allow assessments of candidates in the categories of: Awareness, Position, Vision, Voices at the Table, Commitment & Effectiveness, Passion & Comportment.
Candidates are assessed on a scale ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”.
Some candidates did not respond to the questionnaire. About those candidates, BLM B-town wrote: “[C]andidates’ refusals to provide answers for this Voter’s Guide should remind us that the majority of the Bloomington political landscape is built to sustain anti-Black practices.”
BLM B-town gave candidates who did not respond to the BLM B-town questionnaire an assessment of “strongly disagree.”
The assessments were released as a long-form and short-form voter guide.
BLM long form voter guide
BLM short form voter guide
The text of the questionnaire and direct links to the responses from individual candidates are included below.
Links to Candidate Responses
Monroe County Commissioner District 2
Peter Iversen
Julie Thomas
Monroe County Commissioner District 3
Penny Githens
Jody Madeira
Steve Volan
Monroe County Council At Large (pick 3)
Matt Caldie
Trent Deckard
David Henry (did not respond)
Cheryl Munson
Monroe County Circuit Court Judge
Christine Talley Haseman (did not respond)
Catherine Stafford (did not respond)
Darcie Fawcett (did not respond)
Monroe County Surveyor
Trohn Enright-Randolph (did not respond)
Monroe County Auditor
Brianne (Bri) Gregory (did not respond)
Monroe County Treasurer
Cathy Smith (did not respond)
Indiana Governor
Jennifer McCormick (did not respond)
U.S. Senate
Valerie McCray
Marc Carmichael (did not respond)
9th District Congress
Tim Peck (did not respond)
D. Liam Doris (did not respond)
Indiana State Senate District 40
Shelli Yoder
Indiana State House Representative 62
Thomas Horrocks
Indiana State House Representative 61
Matt Pierce (did not respond)
State House Representative 46
Kurtis Cummings (did not respond)
Black Lives Matter B-town 2024 Primary Questionnaire
We ask that you think that through carefully and see why they all might apply to the position you are seeking. Bare minimum we want your personal and or political opinion on each question. Do NOT repeat answers from your previous questionnaires. Write in your OWN words do not quote from books, articles or other media.
1. How do you define “anti-racism”? Please try to use your own words and do not quote from a book or online resources. Additionally, how as an elected official would you apply anti-racism? How do you define “privilege”? How has privilege impacted decisions you have made as an elected official, or if you are running for the first time, as an engaged community member? Give specific examples in either your current policies as a seated official or in your candidate platform.
2. How do you understand Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) measures and/or Affirmative Action? Be specific about your understanding of these concepts. Do you agree or disagree with their implementation in workplace environments (including political ones)? Given the conservative backlash against these initiatives do you believe these are crucial elements of the Democrat party and/or Liberal or Progressive ideals? Why or why not? Have you seen a benefit to these initiatives personally if so, when and where?
3. Since the 2020 surge of support for the BLM movement there has been an extensive backlash/whitelash against the Movement. We see it clearly in the media and politics locally and nationally. Are you as a candidate or a current elected official a supporter of the BLM Movement and its messaging and goals? Do you know what those goals are? If so please articulate them in your own words? Give specific examples of how you support the BLM movement in your policy work or in your candidate platform.
4. To the best of your knowledge, describe why people of color are disproportionately targeted and arrested by the criminal justice system. What ideas do you have to make the justice system more equitable and impartial? What concerns do you have about the militarization of our police force?
5. What does Restorative Justice look like to you? Given the amazing response from our community against the new jail, what programs focused on Restorative Justice do you support or would you support as an elected official to lower the number of community members who are incarcerated? How would these ideas be implemented? Give as many details as you can.
6. Describe a society in which there are no prisons or jails. How does that justice system differ from ours? What other aspects of culture would be different in a society without the carceral state? How would this change or eliminate policing? Would you support this type of society?
7. Given the American legacy of slavery, tyranny, and discrimination against Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color; do you believe that White Supremacy exists within US society today? If so, please give as many examples as you think are necessary to elucidate that belief, and if NOT please tell us why. Name a specific issue/s in our community relating to White Supremacy and how you have or would respond to it.
8. Given that 44 Million people are food-insecure in the US and given that the rate for Monroe County is 12.2% (over 17,000 residents), what plans or ideas do you have for food justice in our community? Do you support community based food programs that bring locally grown nutrient dense food to those in need? If so please detail those programs here.
*Statistics from Feeding America Org 2021 https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/food-insecurity
9. Bloomington/Monroe County finds itself in an affordable housing crisis. How will you ensure more affordable housing? Do you support density housing with priority given to people of color, people making under $30,000 a year, families with dependents, and disabled people? What is your definition of “affordable” housing? Specifically, please discuss non-student housing.
County Commissioner and Councilor Questions
10. Given the current city and specifically Mayoral approach of displacing and demolishing homeless encampments what will you do to help with short term living solutions for our homeless/unhoused community members. Do you support public sleeping measures? What will the county do to add protections for these vulnerable community members? Be specific and give examples from your policies or campaign platform.
11. Given the recent anti-LGBTQ bills across the country and in Indiana & given that BIPOC LGBT folks will be doubly impacted, how will you as a County official make sure LGBTQ Youth and in particular Trans and Non-Binary Youth have access to life saving gender care services in our community? How will you support our LGBTQ Elders? How will you address the intersectionality of Race and LGBTQ needs in our community? How will you protect LGBTQ children from hate crimes and discrimination in our county?
12. Given the sweeping restriction of Reproductive Rights in Indiana and across the country how will you as a County Official help those seeking abortions, birth control and or protection from prosecution for seeking those services? How can we in Monroe county protect those rights for our residents? Be specific, address your platform, policies and any extra knowledge you possess about this issue.
13. Given there is often a disconnect between City and County, how do you plan to work with the City of Bloomington elected officials to engage them in the work the County is doing on various social and economic issues? Especially issues related to the Black community given that the majority of long term Black residents of Bloomington live in the county. Additionally how will you support a Black Community center IF one is started? Please be specific citing examples from your policies and or platform.
14. Currently there are multiple health department county licenses farm, food and home-based vendors MUST get from the Health Department in order to operate in Monroe County. Specifically, at the multiple markets here. The licenses and permits put an extreme financial and systemic barrier up for BIPOC farmers and food vendors. Do you believe these permits are necessary, do you know what they are, do you agree that they are systemic barriers? How can we incorporate safety measures in the Health Dept while also cutting costs and barriers for BIPOC farmers & food vendors?
“The questionnaire was not sent to candidates affiliated with the Republican Party, because BLM B-town does not consider the party to be in alignment with its basic principles.”
My own political philosophy is “neither a Republican nor a Democrat be”, so I lost interest in the exercise at this point. It seems inappropriate to assume that individual candidates are necessarily guilty of the sins of their party, however egregious those sins may be.
In this faux democratic duopoly that voters and candidates have to accommodate themselves to they must condense innumerable issues into a single binary choice. The best way for me to assure that strident partisanship continues indefinitely into the future is to refuse to talk to people on other side of the issues that I care about most. I hope I can do better than that.
I certainly hope voters pay attention to these ratings. And also that one candidate chose to ignore the questions and create her own essay.