A councilman in Allen County, Indiana, issued an apology after outraging many by saying that it was unfortunate that protesters in Fort Wayne breed and vote.
Councilman Larry Brown expressed his frustration with the protests that have taken place throughout Indiana and the rest of the country against police brutality and racial injustice. He called the protesters “uneducated” because they did not know that the Allen County Council does not oversee law enforcement. It only has control over budgets.
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“As uneducated as they are, obviously, on local government, they do vote, okay? And unfortunately, they also breed,” Brown said in a meeting on Thursday. “They do vote, and they’re going to be an uneducated voter.”
Council President Joel Benz condemned the remarks shortly after Brown made the statement and told him the meeting was “not the format to address that.”
A clip of Brown’s statement caught traction on social media, and many called for an apology. An online petition calling for his resignation has gotten more than 5,600 signatures. Benz told WANE that the council was hit with an “unprecedented” amount of criticism after the clip of Brown was posted.
“We’ve always had public record, but our society has changed pretty significantly in the last few months,” Benz said. “People are attuned to what’s going on, and people are paying attention, and people are really tense and on edge.”
“Part of what goes on in our community, you can say what you want, but ultimately, you are responsible. I think that’s what people are doing right now is making their feelings known in response to what he said, and that’s absolutely their right,” he added.
Protesters have been gathering in Fort Wayne, the largest city in Allen County, for three weeks following the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died after a white Minneapolis officer knelt on his neck during an arrest. One Fort Wayne protester, Isiah Gray, said Brown may regret saying people are uneducated on local politics.
“I’m around a lot of the educated people around here,” said Gray. “You know, I feel like it’s real uneducated to think that people caring about their rights and justice is dumb, but him thinking I’m uneducated is just going to make me want to, out of spite, learn more. At least learn more about the County Council District 4 and who’s running there and who’s running against him.”
Brown apologized for the remarks in a statement released Thursday night.
“My comments in regards to protesters breeding was wrong, and totally out of line. For that I apologize. These comments were made in response to a discussion about what role Council can play in addressing the issues before us today. I do stand by my comment that too many of the protesters seem to be uneducated in local government structure,” Brown said.
“County Council is the fiscal body of county government. We have no legislative or executive authority. Additionally, the entire judicial system which includes the Sheriff, Prosecutor, and Courts are all elected and/or appointed governmental officials. County Council reviews and ultimately approves each of their budgets and fiscal requests, but Council has no authority or responsibility for their daily activity,” he said.
