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LWilliams

(10 posts)
31. This happened about 3 blocks from my house.
Wed Jun 10, 2020, 09:35 PM
Jun 2020

A little firsthand insight and context, for those interested.

My husband and I were in that march, but we were far enough back in the phalanx that we didn't see the incident when it played out. We knew there had been a commotion but we didn't know what it was. We had to walk around the woman's car, which was parked perpendicular to the street and blocking all lanes. The march continued on for another mile -- we marched 7 miles in all, through Shorewood and other North Shore communities -- and my husband and I then walked home from Atwater Park, where the march began and ended. It wasn't until we got home that we realized what had happened. The woman was not taken into custody at the time. She was taken into custody the next day, after the subsequent incidents outlined in the link in the OP.

The previous weekend, a large Black Lives Matter march came north from the city and tried to cross the invisible "border" between Milwaukee and the Village of Shorewood at around 10:00pm. A coalition of North Shore police from Shorewood and several surrounding suburbs set up a perimeter and turned the group away, diverting them west and south. We could hear the sirens late into the night both Saturday and Sunday, May 30 and 31. The Village President instituted curfew on Saturday night that took a number of marchers by surprise. There was tension between the marchers and the police; a few arrests were made. On Monday, I started looking into the #MilwaukeeProtest hashtag on Twitter to see what was being said. The consensus was that the white suburbs didn't want the protests in their Village, which, of course, is the very reason they should be here. Just a few days before the May 6 incident, there was a "kneel-in" at the intersection of two busy streets in Shorewood. For 9 minutes, a few dozen of my neighbors and friends knelt in memory of George Floyd. A middle-aged white man, inconvenienced by the brief traffic stoppage, got out of his car and started shouting at the group. A 14-year-old girl stood up and confronted him. A picture ran in the news the next day of this angry, hateful white man screaming in the face of an African-American child.

Here's a little background on the Village of Shorewood. This is a northern suburb of Milwaukee that sits right on Lake Michigan. We have our own school system, our own police, fire, and rescue squads, our own Village Board. Downtown Milwaukee is a short bike ride along the lake shore from here. It's a small Village geographically, with about 13,000 residents packed inside a 1.6 mile area. We're considered an affluent suburb of the city, but I've always felt that was a bit of a misconception. Yes, we do have a fair number of lakefront mansions and other very large, expensive properties. But we also have a large number of middle-income homeowners and renters and students from UW-Milwaukee, which is just a few streets south of the Village. I will concede, absolutely, that our average income is much higher than the average in the city, but I suspect it's skewed by a small number of very high income families. As a Village, I believe we have voted heavily blue in every recent election. So that's what we are. A bit well-to-do, a bit well-educated, thanks to the proximity of the UW campus and the wealth of great universities in the area.

What we are not ... is diverse. And because of that, we've had our fair share of growing pains. A few years ago the Shorewood High School AP Art class created a mural about what it was like to be a student of color in that school. It was made up primarily of quotes from students about their experiences of being stopped by Shorewood cops, being looked at askance by their white teachers and classmates, being tailed through the high-end boutiques that line Oakland Avenue, where the June 6 incident happened. The mural was only public for a few days before someone in a position of authority at the school, and I do not recall who, whitewashed it. Literally whitewashed, as in, painted over it with white paint. It caused a row that rose and flowed and ebbed, and we eventually all moved on with our lives ... many of us more angry and self-righteous about the mural's destruction than about what the mural was really trying to say.

More recently the high school drama department tried to mount "To Kill a Mockingbird," but the play was scrapped at the dress rehearsal stage. I'm unclear as to exactly why it was nixed; I believe it was because some of the students of color had protested the language of the play, and how uncomfortable they were hearing those words come out of the mouths of their peers and friends. Honestly, though, my daughter had graduated by then and we were much less attuned to the pulse of the school system. So, to my chagrin now, I didn't follow the story at all.

All of this is to say that we've had our share of problems, and we've been trying to grow as a community so that we can support our neighbors who are people of color. As a Village, we've had forums on race, we've had open meetings, we've tried to stay cognizant of our privilege and watchful for the injustices that privilege often engenders. Saturday's march, to me, felt like a high point in this group struggle. Many hundreds of people turned out. I was astonished by the size of the group, and honestly very proud. Even though my young adult daughter thinks that mostly white folks marching through mostly white suburbs is "performative" rather than revolutionary and refused to participate (she marched with the BLM group downtown instead), I was glad I turned out for what was a truly uplifting, positive, and powerful demonstration.

Until the end, when the incident happened, and I came back to earth with the realization that there is still so, so much work to be done ... right in my Village, right on my street, right in my own backyard.

The incident is still playing out here. The young man is very much supported by the whole community. The community message boards and forums continue to light up with debate and discussion. I'm finding out more about the way the Village Board operates than I ever knew, and I'm hopeful that this incident, as ugly and gut-wrenching as it has been, will inspire self-reflection that leads to real and positive change.

So there's your insight from someone who was there. I hope you'll keep the young man in your thoughts. He's an amazing young man with an amazing family, living in a community that is learning, sometimes painfully, how to do better by him.

Wonderful! Alacritous Crier Jun 2020 #1
She seems nice... N/T Jedi Guy Jun 2020 #2
That photo says it all. BigmanPigman Jun 2020 #3
Hahaha.. FarPoint Jun 2020 #10
+100 NT jrthin Jun 2020 #18
Did they do a blood alcohol at the time of arrest? Just askin'. mpcamb Jun 2020 #25
Thinking she might have been pissed about her hair. NoMoreRepugs Jun 2020 #4
In video of the Saturday confrontation dragonlady Jun 2020 #32
Like like someone pissed *on* her hair. nt tblue37 Jun 2020 #33
Probably angry over not being able to go to the hair salon for the past few weeks and she finally cstanleytech Jun 2020 #5
Nick Nolte called, he wants his mugshot back Blue Owl Jun 2020 #6
Well it certainly bears an uncanny resemblance to that one! Zambero Jun 2020 #12
Say, that reminds me--what ever happened to Orly Taitz? tanyev Jun 2020 #7
Former Russian Dentist and early supporter of birtherism that became Trump's mantra bucolic_frolic Jun 2020 #15
That was my FIRST thought when I saw the pic. Nevilledog Jun 2020 #27
I think she's gonna need a lawyer. n/t PoliticAverse Jun 2020 #8
I thought she died a long time ago packman Jun 2020 #9
How did she ever pass a bar exam? sinkingfeeling Jun 2020 #11
I don't think she passed a bar in her life. nt Midnightwalk Jun 2020 #24
Why is it that so many of these right-wing nuts look like escapees from a mental institution! Lonestarblue Jun 2020 #13
Our society rewards narcissism. I_UndergroundPanther Jun 2020 #28
WOW....she's a looker /NT sdfernando Jun 2020 #14
Karen on meth n/t sarge43 Jun 2020 #16
Pthhhhhht! paleotn Jun 2020 #17
Well, she looks it and acts it. n/t sarge43 Jun 2020 #20
That she does!!! paleotn Jun 2020 #21
Actually that was my second guess after being angry over the hair salons being closed. cstanleytech Jun 2020 #34
WELL I HOPE.... louzke9 Jun 2020 #36
SHE KNEED A POLICE OFFICIER.... louzke9 Jun 2020 #37
Agree. sarge43 Jun 2020 #38
With all the complaints about "Karen" used for people like this csziggy Jun 2020 #41
Seems Rebl2 Jun 2020 #19
Well, I guess we'd better talk about what it would take for her to be disbarred. PatrickforO Jun 2020 #22
Yikes! Cirque du So-What Jun 2020 #23
That's just strange. Ellipsis Jun 2020 #26
Yikes! I realize, of course, that mugs shots... 3catwoman3 Jun 2020 #29
Phil Spector's wife! Cattledog Jun 2020 #30
This happened about 3 blocks from my house. LWilliams Jun 2020 #31
Thanks for the post /nt al bupp Jun 2020 #35
Interesting! Thanks for adding much richer context. JudyM Jun 2020 #39
thanks so much for all these details! renate Jun 2020 #43
I told you Wisconsin has the craziest Republicans. milestogo Jun 2020 #40
She's a lawyer? What, for meth-heads that look like her? Good Lord, who would ever... machoneman Jun 2020 #42
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