Anti-racism organizers from across Indiana and the Midwest gathered in Auburn Saturday in response to a Ku Klux Klan rally on private property.
Auburn is the county seat for DeKalb County – mostly rural and 97 percent White. Activists with "Black Lives Matter" and "No Hate" signs filled the sidewalk of the county courthouse to share resources, help bolster anti-racism activists, and host a food drive for the local community.
The newly formed coalition, Indiana Mutual Aid, reached out to established groups to gather. One of those groups was Wayne Hubbard’s "Fix It Forward" – established to help share skills and resources to help the South Bend community.
"The reason why I came from South Bend and brought some friends with me from South Bend, is so that way, we kind of help start a new way," Hubbard said. "Which is everybody networking together, so that way, if anything happens throughout the state at all, we all respond together as a family – as a people. As one people."
Nearly a dozen groups from Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio were represented.
Haley, from Steuben County, is one of the organizers from the newly-formed Indiana Mutual Aid Coalition. She said the group gathered anti-racism activists over the course of three weeks. We agreed to identify her by her first name only out of concerns for safety.
"It’s clearly not going away by just ignoring it … If you don’t expose it for what it is, people will think it’s OK to do that," she said.
Organizers from Indiana Mutual Aid said the coalition intends to continue their efforts to help bolster other anti-racist groups.
Contact Lauren at lchapman@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @laurenechapman_.
