Car horns, cheers, and words of prayer could be heard down 86th Street in Indianapolis Sunday morning, where members of the St. Luke’s community traded their usual routine for something different. As services let out, congregants gathered on the front lawn of our North Indy campus, standing along 86th Street with signs in hand, facing each car that passed. It was a small act, and it was also a deeply human one, a way of saying with our bodies and our presence, that we see what is happening to our neighbors, and we refuse to look away.
We joined a much larger movement of Hoosiers who gathered at more than 60 locations across the state during the last weekend of August. Each location was united by a single, urgent conviction: we each share responsibility for our neighbors’ suffering, and we must not stand by silently.
Right now, roughly 800 immigrant men, the vast majority of whom have no criminal record, are being held at Miami Correctional Facility, a state-run, maximum-security Indiana prison with a tragic record of two detainee deaths and mounting concerns about understaffing and inadequate medical care. Behind the number ‘800’ are not only 800 individual lives, but also 800 families. These are fathers, sons, brothers, friends, people who went to work, raised children, and built lives here, now held behind walls without access to loved ones or legal representation. And their families have been thrown into traumatic instability. This isn’t a distant headline. It’s happening in our own state, to people who are part of our communities.
And so, we showed up.
A Public Witness
For a few hours on Sunday morning, the roadside outside St. Luke’s became a place of strong conviction. People held signs and waved to cars that honked in support. Children stood beside their parents and grandparents, learning in the most tangible way possible that faith is more than something you feel during a church service inside a sanctuary. Sometimes it’s something you stand for outside of one.
For Shelly Clasen, St. Luke’s Director of Outreach and Justice, the morning carried a simple but urgent purpose: making sure the people making decisions in this state know their actions are being watched, and that Hoosiers expect better.
“The message we want to send is that there are Hoosiers all around the state--citizens and voters who do not support the way immigrants are being treated at Miami Correctional Facility. And that’s why we’re calling on Governor [Mike] Braun to end the detaining of immigrants at Miami Correctional.”
St. Luke’s gathering was just one of 62 held across Indiana. Dozens of roadsides, dozens of crowds, all adding up to something larger: a state full of people who are watching, who are asking hard questions, and who are not willing to stay silent.
Faith That Shows Up
St. Luke’s believes this is what it means to love our neighbor. It’s not just feeling compassion for those who are suffering, but it’s allowing that compassion to move us out the door and into the community. Our participation was supported by St. Luke’s governing board, United Women in Faith, and our Social Justice committees, and stands in line with recent resolutions from the Indiana Conference of The United Methodist Church.
It can be easy to feel small in the face of an issue this large, but there is something powerful in refusing to stay silent, and in choosing --again and again-- to learn, to listen, to speak, and to stand beside the people whose voices are often left unheard.
Every single person who gave up part of their Sunday morning to stand along 86th Street made the witness a little stronger, a little louder, and a little harder to ignore.
Our Hard Work in the News
Dozens of rallies calling for Indiana to end its cooperation with ICE
How You Can Get Involved
Find opportunities to serve in your community on the Outreach and Justice page.
And follow us on socials to see the continuing work by like-minded people.