The CAP Times – Almost three months ago, as protesters filled the streets in Madison, Milwaukee and communities across the country following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers declared that “his death was not an anomaly. We hear the echo of the words of Eric Garner. We relive the pain of the death of Black Wisconsinites like Dontre Hamilton, Sylville Smith, Ernest Lacy and Tony Robinson. We listen to the call and repeat, answered by generations of Black voices who’ve marched before in these very same streets.”
“George Floyd’s death — and the lives taken before him — are symptomatic of the disease we’ve failed to adequately treat for four centuries. Racism has never really gone away — it has only manifested itself in different ways, from incarceration rates to health outcome disparities, the wage gap to education inequity, and in good intentions.”
Too many officials in too many places failed to act.
Crump said, “We will seek justice for Jacob Blake and for his family as we demand answers from the Kenosha Police Department. How many more of these tragic ‘while Black’ tragedies will it take until the racial profiling and undervaluing of Black lives by the police finally stops?”
Rep. Mark Pocan, a native of Kenosha who now represents Madison and south-central Wisconsin in Congress, responded with appropriate urgency when he said, “Police violence against Black people reflects a broken policing system — and justice must be served. The officers ‘involved’ must be arrested.”
Now, with the latest evidence of what Evers properly recognizes as a long history of Black people being “shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law enforcement in our state or in our country,” the Republican refusal to act is jarring.
State Rep. David Bowen, D-Milwaukee, speaks for the great mass of Wisconsinites when he says, “The goal is to pass bills, and we need our Republican colleagues to get on board and come to the table.”
For more on the original article visit: https://madison.com/ct/opinion/editorial/editorial-stop-playing-political-games-and-address-police-violence/article_4ffaaaf8-6353-5fc6-9a1a-906897262c3b.html
