WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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Bloomington residents cancelled a planned protest at Mayor John Hamilton’s residence.
The ‘die-in’ was planned for Wednesday, at the residence of Mayor Hamilton and his wife, Indiana University Law Professor Dawn Johnsen. The planned protest came after repeated calls for the city to remove the addresses and personal information of overdose victims from the city’s data website.
In a Facebook post yesterday, Johnsen criticized reporting from The Herald-Times for providing information on the protest on its front page. Johnson’s post read in part, “I experienced the Herald Times’ story as a personal blow, disorienting and a bit surreal to read. I’m a huge proponent of the First Amendment – a subject I teach – and of course recognize their right to publish the piece. But I think I’m responding from more than simply personal motive when I say that I believe it was an inappropriate choice to publish as they did.”
Community members, including Monroe County Commissioner Amanda Barge and Indiana Recovery Alliance Director Chris Abert, have repeatedly called on the city to remove the home addresses where fatal opioid overdoses have been reported. The city reported they had removed a map, which showed the addresses where fatal overdoses occurred, last week, but the information was still hosted on its website.
The data set containing a map of overdose deaths was removed as of this afternoon, and members of the organizing group, The Equity Collective, have subsequently cancelled their planned die-in at the Hamilton-Johnson residence.
