A Facebook page asks people "to report where you see Matt Kenny. Where he eats and where he works. Anywhere you see him in town when on duty."

Matt Kenny is the police officer who shot and killed Tony Robinson and who, we learned a few days ago, will not be prosecuted.

Facebook has apparently responded to criticism and taken the page down. It doesn't display there, but I can see it in Google cache. I won't link to that. I can see that it had 172 "likes" and said:

This is a page to report where you see Matt Kenny. Where he eats and where he works. Anywhere you see him in town when on duty. It is a community protection service. This cop has killed two people already, he should not be on the streets with a gun....

On the day before the D.A.'s announcement (which detailed why Kenny's action was justified), the Landmarks Commission approved a mural honoring Robinson:

"[T]he mural itself will depict no violence, no guns, no 'RIP.' It will show people in happy moments, skateboarding, sitting on the front porch, playing the guitar. Things anyone in the neighborhood would do."

The mural will appear on the side of the Social Justice Center (which is very close to the place where Robinson was shot).

And here's a 27-page summary of the results of the investigation. If you read it, I think you'll agree with me that it's a story of a young man having a terrible drug experience, losing touch with reality, and endangering himself and others: "I took shrooms. I'm freaking out. I shouldn't have done this."

I googled that quote and got to a Reddit discussion titled "'Oh shit, I shouldn't have done this' on heroic mushrooms doses." ("Anyone else get that type of anxiety? Sometimes during my trips I tell myself 'I will never try mushrooms ever again' but I always come back haha.") From the comments:

My only heroic dose (above 3.5 grams) was 7 grams. There wasn't even a "me" to think that. At one point, I looked at everyone in our group (who all took the same dose) and they weren't speaking English. It was as if their voices were put on reverse and through weird delays, it wasn't even remotely close to English. But the whole thing was shits and giggles and it was the greatest fucking day of my life....

It's hard to imagine what Robinson was perceiving and what he thought he was doing when he encountered Matt Kenny and punched him in the head in that narrow stairway. It's very sad to think that this is someone who earlier in the day said — page 7 of the summary — "I want to get on some spiritual shit." 

Did he search the internet and find things like: "There are many reasons for going to the heroic level; such as wanting to understand the fabrics of the soul, the universe, and just for general curiosity. It deeply cleanses the soul and keeps the ego at bay. Ego death at a heroic dose level is nearly unnoticeable because it happens so fast and the ego is unable to hold onto itself."

ADDED: Robinson was shot in that narrow stairway, and earlier the same day, something else happened there. "Robinson stepped off the top stair without looking and continued towards the door" at the bottom as if the stairs weren't even there. "J.L. described Robinson's jump as being 'like super human." (Page 13 of the investigation summary.) Outside, he lay down on the sidewalk, then got up and ran and "jumped so that his body was in a horizontal position." Sounds like a description of Superman flying. But Robinson landed in the street, in front of a car that stopped "1 to 1.5 feet" in front of him. 

"Madison police have begun arresting protesters angry about a prosecutor's decision not to charge a white police officer for shooting an unarmed biracial man."

"Officers converged on about 20 protesters who refused to leave an intersection near the Capitol building on Wednesday."

The protesters linked arms as they were detained, and some of them cried. Some onlookers shouted insults, including racial epithets, at the officers....

About 150 to 200 protesters marched through the streets of Wisconsin's capital city on Wednesday before gathering outside of the Dane County Courthouse to stage the fake trial. The crowd cheered when actors said they would charge Officer Matt Kenny in the March killing of 19-year-old Tony Robinson....

The crowd blocked an intersection for about five minutes...

ADDED: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Mary Spicuzza is tweeting pictures of the protests. Example:

Police are urging the last protester in the intersection to get out of the street. #TonyRobinson pic.twitter.com/jZA4WYBIzp

— Mary Spicuzza (@MSpicuzzaMJS) May 13, 2015

The pictures look very sedate to me. I think things have been completely peaceful (if disruptive). Meade and I drove through the relevant parts of town today and saw nothing disorderly.

"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." 

Live Tony Robinson conference.

Watch here.

UPDATE: The D.A. hasn't appeared yet, and he's 17 minutes late at this point. The newspeople are speculating that the delay might be because he is meeting with the family or because of the threats to kill police. Ah. He's here now.

UPDATE 2: District Attorney Ismael Ozanne is talking about himself a great deal, building his own credibility. He's also sweating profusely and mopping his brow continually.

UPDATE 3: Ozanne concludes that Officer Kenny used reasonable force and makes a plea for peace.

Waiting for the announcement from the Dane County District Attorney about whether Madison Police Officer Matt Kenny will be charged in the shooting of Tony Robinson.

The announcement is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. (Central Time) today. Here's the live blog at Channel 3000:

LATEST FROM AP: Jerome Flowers is a family spokesman. He said District Attorney Ismael Ozanne should alert the family first out of respect. He said Ozanne's lack of compassion isn't surprising given that he [he announced that he] was ready to release his decision on Mother's Day.

From the Wisconsin State Journal: "100 volunteer peacekeepers set to be deployed today by Black Leadership Council":

"We can help the young people who may be out there protesting, maybe give them a different perspective," [said Ruben Anthony, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Madison]....

"Anything that could present a problem for them in getting jobs later on or even create an economic hardship -- we really want to avoid that," [said Rev. Harold Rayford, pastor of The Faith Place Church in Sun Prairie[. "If we observe things that will cause them to get in trouble, we're going to caution them and encourage them not to do that."...

Faith leaders are planning to gather at the time of Ozanne's announcement on Williamson Street, and around 5 p.m. they are planning to march in their clerical vestments through Downtown to Grace Episcopal Church on the Capitol Square for prayer and song, said Linda Ketcham, executive director of Madison-area Urban Ministry....

More than a dozen congregations plan to open their doors to the public after today's announcement, including First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Ave. It intends to remain open until 9 p.m.

ADDED: I started a new post for the announcement, with a link to the live feed of the conference.

Announcement that the announcement about the police shooting of Tony Robinson will happen on Tuesday.

As promised, we're being notified in advance:

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Sunday he will announce on Tuesday whether a Madison police officer will face criminal charges for fatally shooting 19-year-old Tony Robinson on March 6....

“Given the history, we don’t anticipate District Attorney Ismael Ozanne to charge or to find that there’s probable cause to charge the officer with violating criminal statute. Just like everyone else, we’re just waiting for full disclosure of what happened in those few seconds,” [said Everett Mitchell, of the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition].

In a statement released Sunday, [police spokesman Joel] DeSpain said that police would help facilitate safe movement of people in the event of demonstrations. “It is our belief that Madison can endure without being fractured.”

"Resistance is not part of civil disobedience."

"Civil disobedience is a symbolic non-violent violation of the law.... The act must be nonviolent, open and visible, illegal, performed for the moral purpose of protesting an injustice, and done with the expectation of being punished."

Madison Mayor Paul Soglin instructs, explaining the arrests of the high school students who, protesting the police shooting of Tony Robinson, may have resisted police efforts to relocate them from the street to the sidewalk.

"In the future, while all of these protests are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, MPD will not be facilitating extended street closures."

In the past, the police have facilitated protests that took over the street. During the big protests of 2011, we saw police cars blocking the streets so cars could not get through. We've had it personally explained to us by a police officer that redirecting the cars was considered the best approach.

I don't know what the precise policy is, but I note the word "extended" in the mayor's statement. I guess the police will facilitate your street-blocking protest in Madison, but not for too long. I hope it means that where there are marches confined to the sidewalks (or State Street), police ought to stop traffic to let the whole march cross an intersection as a single, densely packed group. But the phrase "on a case-by-case basis" hints of: 1. something that permits flash-mobbish takeovers of the streets, and 2. something that could be applied — consciously or unconsciously — in a way that is not viewpoint neutral.

"Dozens of high school students protesting the fatal police shooting of Tony Robinson closed down one of Madison’s main thoroughfares for eight hours Tuesday..."

"... as police, taking a largely hands-off approach, redirected the crawling streams of traffic to side streets."

The protest began around 10:30 a.m. when dozens of students walked out of East [High School] and gathered on East Washington Avenue in front of the school. By 1:30 p.m., students from West High School, who held an earlier rally on Regent Street, and other protesters joined the students from East, eventually blocking all six lanes of traffic....

Shortly after 6:30 p.m....police declared the event an unlawful assembly and began moving people toward the sidewalks. Several demonstrators who refused to comply were arrested.

Police said four people were arrested and another 11 were cited and released. Derrick McCann, 29, was arrested and received a citation for “causing or obstructing the street, sidewalk, alley or crosswalk.” “I feel like it’s really a civil rights movement,” McCann said. “I didn’t do anything wrong ... we were peaceful.”

"With investigators set to turn over reports to Dane County’s district attorney Friday on the controversial police shooting of 19-year-old Tony Robinson..."

"... law enforcement and protesters are preparing for what will happen after the prosecutor announces whether he will charge the officer involved...."

As the investigation wraps up, protest leaders are already planning their response to Ozanne’s decision, and Madison Police Chief Mike Koval says his department has also been working on how it will manage demonstrations following the announcement.....

The chief asked for 24 hours’ notice before Ozanne publicizes his decision, Koval said, so police could reach out to community groups and have officers in place ahead of the announcement....

Madison’s Young, Gifted and Black Coalition... members say they don’t expect Kenny will be charged....

Koval said Thursday he believes Ozanne will likely wait until toxicology test results from Robinson are available — a process he estimated could take another two weeks....

The roll-out of information and decisions is, I take it, an aspect of the management of demonstrations.

At the Madison mayoral debate, the crowd chanted "Indict, convict, send those killer cops to jail, the whole damn system is guilty as hell."

"Thursday night's mayoral debate between incumbent Paul Soglin and challenger Scott Resnick was marked by sharp hostility -- both between the candidates, and the candidates and the crowd," Isthmus reports.

When Resnick said "We need to come together in this community," there was laughter.

Soglin tried: "I find it very, very difficult to address this subject in the context of a mayoral debate, of the context of some of the anger in this room.... The larger concern in the community, where parents are concerned about well-being of children, we're all concerned about our neighbors."

The crowd shouted him down — "What about Tony?" — and Soglin sat down without finishing.

I don't know who to vote for in the mayoral election. How does one decide between Resnick and Soglin? Some people are deciding based on their different positions on — of all things — Uber, as Larry Kaufmann explains here:

Leading the charge is Mayor Paul Soglin, who treats Uber as if it were the spawn of Satan, or at least the Koch brothers. The Paul Soglin for Mayor website describes Uber as a "company headed by a devotee of Ayn Rand" that makes "conscious decisions to destroy full-time jobs." The mayor likens Uber to a "new form of serfdom," which might be accurate if medieval serfs used smartphone apps and complex, back-end routing algorithms to find rides to their masters' fields.

His mayoral challenger, Scott Resnick, takes a different view. The first item on his campaign's site declares that Uber, Lfyt and other ridesharing firms "are here and they are not going away." Resnick believes cutting-edge ridesharing technology can help "devise innovative solutions that meet our city's transportation needs." Nevertheless, he wishes to load a number of regulations onto Uber and similar firms that currently apply to taxis, including licensing by the city, background checks on drivers, insurance requirements and restrictions on "surge" pricing during high-demand times.

Keep Uber out or let it in but regulate the hell out of it.  That's the choice in Madison, Wisconsin. I'm thinking of protest-voting, writing in the name Mike Koval.

A county official is caught on surveillance cameras letting protesters into the City-County Building (which houses the Madison Police Department).

Dane County Board Sup. Leland Pan has had to give up his pass card and keys after what he did on the night a Madison police officer shot and killed a young black man:

“Our resources were stretched extremely thin, yet the protesters grew in numbers and their anger increased as they neared the police department,” [Madison Police Chief Mike Koval said in a letter of complaint]. “In addition to commissioned officers working in this building 24 hours a day, there are civilian employees. Quite frankly, these civilian employees were very scared for their safety.”

Building surveillance video doesn’t show much emotion on the faces of people coming into the building shortly after midnight on March 7, but Koval said the protesters were heard yelling things such as “kill the cops” and “we have guns too.”...

This makes me think about the way — back in March 2011 — protesters got into the Wisconsin State Capitol, entering through a window of the offices of one of the Democratic legislators. Meade was there and filmed it:

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

"And the blood and whatever takes place after that will be on your hands and the mayor’s hands," said Brandi Grayson, the leader of the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition, at the Madison City Council meeting Tuesday night. She was addressing Police Chief Mike Koval, and the subject was the death of Tony Robinson.

The next morning Koval emailed the members of the council:

The young black man who was shot to death by Madison police had set out that day on "a spiritual journey."

According to this report in Isthmus:

[Tony Robinson] asked his grandmother, Sharon Irwin, to "cleanse" him earlier in the day, says Turin Carter, who is Irwin's son and Tony's uncle. She burned sage and drew a bath with sea salt for her grandson.

What his family didn't know is that Robinson's journey involved taking hallucinogenic mushrooms. "It was a terrible choice," Carter says, adding that Robinson was inexperienced with the drug....

An adverse reaction to the mushrooms may have caused Robinson's behavior on March 6, when he reportedly attacked two people and ran out into traffic on Willy Street.... Robinson reacted badly to the drug. Fearing for his safety and unable to handle his reaction, his friends called 911 to get him help.

"Protesters in Madison" are "asking high school students to again leave class to attend Wednesday afternoon's rally" about "over the fatal shooting of an unarmed biracial man by a white police officer."

According to a very brief article at Channel3000, a local press outlet.

I think it's terrible for students to skip school to go to a protest, and whoever is advocating this deserves condemnation. But who, specifically, is calling on students to put protest above education and respect for rules? I need some names. It's not fair to attribute this bad behavior to all of the protesters.

Somewhere, a decision was made to begin referring to the dead 19-year-old (Tony Robinson) as a "biracial man." Perhaps that's how Robinson self-identified or what his family has requested.

Channel3000 also has an article titled "Network journalists say Madison is not Ferguson":

"I’ve been impressed here by the way everyone’s worked together: the police, the police union. And, of course, the family of the man who was killed,” CBS News field producer Mark Hooper said. “All asking for calm. All saying they trust the police department. Everybody working together to keep things calm.”

“One of the things I saw in Madison was older African American males sitting down with younger African American males. And they shared their experiences and fears, and hopes, in order to have a conversation for how they could go forward and how they can take action,” CBS News associate producer Ryan Corsaro said. “And I think that helped the situation to remain calm.”...

“When it came to the (Ferguson) protest side and the police side, things escalated very quickly. And things continued to do so night after night after night,” Corsaro said. “Here in Madison we didn't see the type of fervent anger with uncontrolled crowds. We still had crowds in Madison that were loud and fervent, but they weren't committing any acts of violence or theft or destruction of property.”

"City of Madison facing cyber attack, likely related to Tony Robinson shooting."

"The attack is similar to those that have happened in other cities after incidents like the controversial fatal shooting of Tony Robinson by a Madison police officer Friday night," the Wisconsin State Journal reported 4 hours ago.

Minutes ago, WKOW.com reported: "Madison Police Spokesperson Joel DeSpain tells 27 News the group 'Anonymous' is claiming they are responsible for the cyber attack." Also: "'Anonymous' posted a YouTube video Sunday that they want all audio recordings released in the recent shooting of Tony Robinson."

"People need to be emotional. People need to be angry. But we can't tear this great city apart when a situation like this occurs."

Said Boys and Girls Club CEO Michael Johnson, speaking about the fatal shooting of a black teenager by a police officer here in Madison last Friday, heard in a video accompanying a news article titled "Mourners hold vigil for Robinson; Group makes demands/Shooting under investigation."

ADDED: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a story titled "Man dead in Madison police shooting had been subject of violence complaints," that begins:

According to a department incident report, Robinson, then 18, was arrested [on April 25] with the two other men and one woman shortly before 6 a.m. as they were fleeing an apartment with electronics, a shotgun and other property. Police were called when a witness saw several men, one armed with a long gun, enter the building. No injuries were reported in the case, police said. Robinson pleaded guilty to felony armed robbery and received three years of probation, according to court records.

"There was outrage in a 4-hour rally as hundreds of marchers chanted 'The whole damn system is guilty as hell'... "

"... as they moved from Downtown to 1125 Williamson St., where Robinson of Madison was shot by a white officer."

“If you want me to be poised and patient and polite, you’re not getting that today,” said [Kaleem Caire, former head of the Urban League of Greater Madison and founder of One City Early Learning Center], his voice rising with passion. “When you walk out of here today I don’t want to have unity, I want to have action. I want to have purpose. I’m tired of holding hands. Hold these babies’ hands.”

Caire said his anger grew in recent days as he heard about the gang-related shooting last Saturday outside West Towne Mall and then about another man firing shots at police officers Friday on the Southwest Side.

“When these boys shot up that mall, I wanted to round them up and give them an old-fashioned butt whuppin’,” he said. “I am dead serious. You can’t come into this city and do this mess. But we don’t tell our kids this. Our own people don’t do enough for our kids. We sit back and let tragedy strike.”

Police officer shoots and kills a black teenager...

... in Madison, Wisconsin.

ADDED: From the video clip at the link: "The crowd has been growing over the past couple of hours. Members from the Young Black and Gifted Coalition are forming a line out here, demanding justice. Though the shooting happened several hours ago, police here on scene have not spoken to the public."

AND: At 1:50 in the video, there's an interview with Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, and you can hear, in the background, that the crowd is chanting "No justice, no peace."

MORE: Discussion at Isthmus: "It's getting a little nutty on Willy St right now. Trying to make this the next Ferguson from some tweets I'm seeing. Good grief." And:

I was in the area and heard a few different things. "Young black male acting a bit crazy." "Attacked a Burrito Drive delivery person, then attacked a couple in their house, and was rolling around on the ground." "attacked a cop."

19 year old Tony Robinson-RIP.

ALSO: Mayor Soglin says that he can't get any information from the Madison police because "under the new laws they're not allowed to conduct the investigation." From the first-linked article:

Rep. Chris Taylor, who happened to be in the area at the time of the shooting, worked successfully for legislation last year that would require an independent agency to investigate when there is an officer-involved shooting.

"Obviously we've had our share of tragedies in this community, so it's a scary thing when you're in a situation like that, which I never expected to be in tonight, I have to say," she said.

Protesters gathered on the scene Friday night. The Young, Gifted and Black Coalition will host a strategy session at 10:30 a.m. in Madison. Members will meet at the YWCA on Latham Drive.

And I'm just noticing, in my quote at "ADDED," that the reporter said that the people in the street were "forming a line out here, demanding justice," but the chant, which you can hear is "No justice, no peace." That's more than a demand for justice. That's a threat of civil disorder.

AND: The reporter calls the group "the Young Black and Gifted Coalition," but — as those familiar with the Lorraine Hansberry book title should suspect — it's the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition.

MORE: I'm seeing Facebook pages for YGB Community Meeting (Taking up Community Power) #BlackLivesMatter ("In the wake of the tragic murder of 19 year old Tony Robinson at the hands of Madison's Police Department, We'll be talking about the why's and how's of organizing and mobilizing for change") and for Ferguson to Madison (which pre-dates the shooting). At Twitter, there's #TonyRobinson.

AND: Speaking through a bullhorn that has a "Socialist Worker" sticker on it, a woman addresses a crowd: "I want you to take this opportunity to understand and connect with [the family's] hearts. A black teenager, a black boy, was viciously killed and murdered by Madison Police Department." She also says that if things don't change, "then we will have a Ferguson in Madison." Someone in the crowd cries "We do have a Ferguson in Madison." After the first minute in the video there is some NSFW language.)



UPDATE: In the "Saturday café" post, someone says:

"Please delve into this shooting in Madison and with Meade give us factual details, interviews and pictures of what is the real story. Use your background to breakdown the legal details for us layman."

I responded:

I don't know anything about it at this point. I'll read the news reports.

We drove by the scene of the shooting today. Should I be "drive-by media"?

If so, all I can say is that there was police tape in front of a house, and there were police cars along the curb and a few police officers standing around. Across the street there were 3 or 4 sad-looking people sitting on the step of a porch, but no one was standing around or chanting or heckling the police officers. There was one woman walking toward downtown, carrying a "Black Lives Matter" sign.

Things looked very quiet. There was no evidence of anyone attempting to maintain protest energy around the site.