१३ मे, २०१५

"Madison police reported no problems related to protests" after yesterday's announcement that there will be no prosecution of the police officer who shot Tony Robinson.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports:
The decision by Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne set off a late-afternoon march from the Williamson Street site to the Capitol Square by a couple of hundred people, with clergy members and young people heavily represented....
The dozens of people huddled together on Williamson Street hovered over cellphones listening to Ozanne’s afternoon news conference. There was no audible reaction when Ozanne rendered his decision....
The silence was broken when a Unitarian Universalist minister got people singing a hymn, "Guide My Feet."
On Tuesday morning, the Black Leadership Coalition, a newly formed group, announced it had around 100 volunteer peacekeepers ready to observe protests and intervene if necessary as liaisons between protesters and police officers. By evening, the group’s spokesman, Greg Jones, said just one team of seven or eight people had been deployed.
In the evening,"several dozen people gathered for a vigil at Pres House campus ministry on the UW-Madison campus," where there were hugs, hand-holding in a circle, and prayers.
The Urban League of Greater Madison issued a statement that said:
“While we make no attempt to excuse Tony Robinson’s dangerous and aggressive behavior on that afternoon, we believe it is a legitimate question to ask whether the outcome of this encounter would have been different had Tony Robinson been a white, middle-class teen engaged in similar behavior..."
The Wisconsin State Journal opines that the crowd at the time of Ozanne's announcement "likely would have been larger if the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition had put out a call to its supporters."
The group has been at the forefront of previous protests but announced it would hold no official events Tuesday "out of respect for Tony Robinson’s family.”

The coalition is planning a protest Wednesday as part of a national event called Black Out Wednesday.
Black Out Wednesday? Not to be confused with Blackout Wednesday, which Wikipedia says is "the night before the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, which is always a Thursday."
It is associated with binge drinking since very few people have work on Thanksgiving, and most university students are home to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with their families. The name refers to "blacking out," memory loss due to excessive alcohol intoxication.
Is this a national event? My Google news search isn't bringing up anything outside of Madison.

Anyway, "Black Out Wednesday" seems like an unfortunate name, especially since the Tony Robinson incident, as detailed by Ozanne in yesterday's announcement, involved substance abuse:
Toxicology reports found marijuana, Xanax and psychedelic mushrooms in Robinson's system, Ozanne said. And the girlfriend of one of the residents of the Williamson St. apartment overheard Robinson say: "I took shrooms. I'm freaking out. I shouldn't have done this." 

१८ टिप्पण्या:

Bobber Fleck म्हणाले...

Toxicology reports found marijuana, Xanax and psychedelic mushrooms in Robinson's system, Ozanne said. And the girlfriend of one of the residents of the Williamson St. apartment overheard Robinson say: "I took shrooms. I'm freaking out. I shouldn't have done this."

I'm sure personal responsibility and understanding the potential consequences of your actions will be important discussion topics on Black Out Wednesday.

Wilbur म्हणाले...

It was the shrooms, man. The trees and bars shoulda mellowed him out, man.

Quaestor म्हणाले...

Tony Robinson, the insufficient icon.

Lewis Wetzel म्हणाले...

It would be nice if the media would report on who is organizing these protests. By "organizing", I mean "Bankrolling." I suspect that there a few individuals behind the civil unrest over Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Tony Robinson. Who runs the "Young, Gifted, and Black Coalition", anyhow?

paminwi म्हणाले...

So...is it too soon to ask if the police will issue any charges against the grandma who gave him the "shrooms"?

MayBee म्हणाले...

Sunny Hostin, the former prosecutor pundit on CNN lost it yesterday. (she is black)

Another commentator was talking about how drugs give some people super human strength. And she started saying, "I'm tired of people saying young black men have super human strength! That is the thinking that has to stop"

"But I'm talking about drugs, not race" the guy said

"But this was a young black man and it's this stereotype that is getting them killed..."

blah blah blah

People are losing their senses over these events.

(quotes approximated)

And I'm with Terry....what group has the PR campaign to get these stories in the news, and who is paying the protestors. I know the SEIU has been involved in some.
To what end?

Michael K म्हणाले...

" By "organizing", I mean "Bankrolling." I suspect that there a few individuals behind the civil unrest over Trayvon Martin,..."

Yes. I think the professional protestors are being paid and would like to know who. It's odd that the media seems so uninterested in this.

Maybe not so odd.

Big Mike म्हणाले...

My sarcastic comment on the other post notwithstanding, I am glad for the city of Madison.

अनामित म्हणाले...

It is really funny how the Tea Party crowd thinks that the protesters in Madison are all getting paid to march in the streets.

They are basically saying that nobody is ever motivated by anything except money. Makes me wonder how much they are getting in order to post these comments.

MayBee म्हणाले...

It is really funny how the Tea Party crowd thinks that the protesters in Madison are all getting paid to march in the streets.

They are basically saying that nobody is ever motivated by anything except money. Makes me wonder how much they are getting in order to post these comments


No, I don't think nobody is ever motivated by anything but money. And I haven't paid enough attention to the Madison protestors.

But the Eric Garner protestors in NY and other cities (like Chicago) were definitely SEIU, with pre printed signs and everything. They had been scheduled earlier to protest McDonalds for better fast food wages.
And the recent Baltimore protests were also on the same day as a pre-scheduled May Day protest.

MayBee म्हणाले...

And it isn't that easy to get a story to get national attention the way a few specific incidents have.

Treyvon, Mike Brown, and Eric Garner had a lot of the same social justice people pre-packaging the story and getting it out to the public.
The guy shot in Walmart with a toy gun? Not so interesting. Why? No PR campaign pushing the story out.

Jim in St Louis म्हणाले...

"We know the facts, and when they come out, this city will erupt. This city will f-ing erupt."

http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/bryna-godar/madison-police-chief-mike-koval-to-city-council-your-collective/article_3ebc9366-40d8-5ba6-9727-5a1a2928ad40.html

ken in tx म्हणाले...

This was the subject of Mike Gallagher's radio talk show today. It has a national audience.

HoodlumDoodlum म्हणाले...

Gotta say, good job Madisonites, citizens and State both.
The quote from the Urban League is pretty good--it acknowledges the reality of this specific situation while putting it in the context of the discussion they'd like to have about a larger issue.

Michael The Magnificent म्हणाले...

The Urban League of Greater Madison issued a statement that said: "While we make no attempt to excuse Tony Robinson’s dangerous and aggressive behavior on that afternoon, we believe it is a legitimate question to ask whether the outcome of this encounter would have been different had Tony Robinson been a white, middle-class teen engaged in similar behavior..."

Robinson hit Officer Kenny, close-fisted, so hard that Officer Kenny's head impacted the wall of the stairwell, leaving a dent in the drywall, and then continued to advance on Officer Kenny.

He is delusional if he thinks a police officer will just let someone take his/her life just because they aren't black and poor.

HoodlumDoodlum म्हणाले...

Michael The Magnificent said...He is delusional if he thinks a police officer will just let someone take his/her life just because they aren't black and poor.

In fairness the statement said "we believe it is a legitimate question to ask." I'm sure you'll agree the answer is no (maybe hell no!), but it's an ok question to ask anyway.

Michael The Magnificent म्हणाले...

From: Arrests made during rallies over Tony Robinson’s death, protesters say “we aren’t going anywhere”

...Officers converged on about 20 protesters who refused to leave an intersection near the Capitol. The protesters linked arms as they were detained, and some cried. Some onlookers shouted insults, including racial epithets at the officers...

..."We want the same type of policing that the white community has. We`re not anti-police, but we`re about being able to have a voice in how we police and what that looks like," Rev. Everett Mitchell with Christ the Solid Rock Church said...

Right. Like white people can imminently threaten a person with death or great bodily harm and just get away with it. These people are delusional.

Michael The Magnificent म्हणाले...

Dear ignorant leftist twits, do you know what happens when white people fight with the cops? They get SHOT DEAD.