Weekly News from Your Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair

June 5th,2020

The brutal murder of George Floyd sent millions of Americans into the streets to protest in masks—calling for justice in the face of a pandemic of unconstrained violence by law enforcement, in which many white Americans witnessed the lawlessness and impunity at the hands of police that so many Black Americans have experienced throughout their lives.

Meanwhile, President Trump, his administration, and his Republican allies in Congress have sought to escalate the wave of state violence yet further—using unidentified federal troops to occupy DC, and threatening to override governors by sending in troops to American cities.

The acute threat of Trump’s response is generating a wave of criticism even by his own former military leaders. But resolving the deeper crisis—violent, militarized policing—is a deeper and longer project. It involves unmaking systems that go back hundreds of years. But there are concrete steps that we can take today.

Black policy analysts, data scientists, and activists in the Campaign Zero movement [joincampaignzero.org] have been leading intensive research into how to reduce police violence in the here and now. Their findings are extraordinary: eight specific policies, taken together, can decrease police violence by 72%. These include common-sense shifts like banning chokeholds and strangleholds, banning shooting at moving vehicles, and requiring comprehensive reporting. You can learn more about these policies, and advocate for them, at https://8cantwait.org/.

Achieving reforms won’t be easy, and no victory is permanent. When Scott Walker took office, he immediately repealed a law requiring that police keep records about the race of those they pull over for traffic stops. Today, Sen. LaTonya Johnson has proposed a law, supported by Gov. Evers, to change use of force guidelines (more on that below)—and your voice is needed now to move it forward.

And we need a deeper conversation about how to change our fundamental approach to keeping our communities safe.

Wisconsin became famous more than a century ago for a riot that caused property damage in reaction to immoral actions by police. In 1854, a man named Joshua Glover was imprisoned in Milwaukee. He had escaped slavery in St Louis, only to be chased down by officers enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act. An interracial uprising broke into the jail, rescued Glover, and helped him escape to safety in Canada, where he lived out the end of his days. But the story didn’t end there: eventually, Wisconsin became the only state to declare the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional.

Today, let’s live up to our state’s history. Let’s challenge systems of racism and white supremacy, and fight for a state and nation where black lives matter and everyone can thrive.

Ben

Sen. Johnson wrote, “If you are questioning the events that are happening across the country and in our community, please know that for African Americans, seeing yet another Black life taken quite literally before our eyes invoke a trauma and pain that has been felt for decades—centuries. Our community is crying out for change, and that means changing the policies that allow this oppressive history to repeat itself.”

This week, New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries introduced a bill that would ban the use of chokeholds by police officers. Former Vice President Joe Biden endorsed the bill this week saying that the legislation was long overdue. Although this bill will not end police brutality, it is a necessary, overdue step forward.

Rep. Jeffries said, “George Floyd and Eric Garner are just two examples of the deadly effects of the epidemic of police brutality, and it is time to prohibit the use of chokeholds and other brutal restraints that apply pressure to the neck and result in asphyxiation.”

This week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that could purge around 129,000 people from the voter rolls. Though this decision won’t come for at least another month, Republicans are going to continue to attempt anti-democratic power-grabs through their partisan judges on the court. No matter what happens with this case, DPW will do whatever needs to be done to get folks registered to vote this November.

Thank you to Asian and Pacific-American Wisconsinites for their leadership in creating an AAPI caucus for the party. It is an important step toward ensuring that our political leadership reflects the needs of every Wisconsinite.

Karen Menéndez Coller, executive director of Centro Hispano and a lead organizer for this Latino Consortium for Action says, “When things started happening with COVID, we started realizing that there was going to be a segment of our community that was going to be left out just because they were not eligible for federal relief. They’re not able to access the kind of support that other communities receive.”