Invest in Us: Press Conference and Protest

Date: August 31, 2020

Time: Press Conference at 10:30 am, Protest at 6:00 pm

About This Event

On Monday, August 31st, Urban Triage, community leaders, organizers, and Black Caucus members of the Wisconsin State came together for a press conference to speak out about the urgency and importance of passing legislation to address police violence and uplift community solutions to end gun violence.

In the wake of #BlackLivesMatterMovement, the shooting of Jacob Blake, the murder of George Floyd, Anisa Scott, and the murder of Kenosha protestors, Wisconsin community leaders created demands for the government to reduce police funding and invest in public health, and violence prevention and intervention strategies to make Black communities safer and healthier.

These demands ranged in amounts, but local and national advocates agreed that significant investments needed to be made in Black communities most impacted by gun violence vs increasing policing which Madison local elected officials are pushing for.

Increasing police presence in communities surviving poverty has shown to increase violence vs decreasing community violence, specifically, gun violence. Evidence-based violence prevention models are clear - when a city and/or a state invests in building the people by providing resources and supports, violence drops substantially.

Despite the evidence, and despite the increasing destruction of Black communities by the hands of police and others perpetrating violence and surviving poverty, state officials continue to fail to take action.

As a result of the shooting of Jacob Blake that left him paralyzed from the waist down, Governor Evers requested a special session on policing which occurred on Monday, August 31st to consider a package of policy changes that included multiple reform actions, but more importantly, funding a $1 million grant to invest in gun violence intervention programs.

The request made by the Governor was a small step and a necessary one. For the first time in a long time, Black community leaders across WI were in agreement---including grassroot organizations, activists, advocates, State elected officials, and community-based programs--who banded together to demand, both in-person and digitally, that Wisconsin leaders take this special session seriously, make a larger investment in our communities ($25 million to start), and implement a comprehensive community safety approach that included efforts to prevent all forms of violence against marginalized communities, access to trauma services, and housing security.

We anticipated that the special session would be whitewashed by conservatives who were more concerned with performative politics than Black Lives. We expected Republicans would gavel in and gavel out as they did in 11/2019 when Governor Evers requested a special session on gun violence.

https://www.channel3000.com/republicans-gavel-in-gavel.../

In preparation we asked all Black people, all allies for Black lives, all co-conspirators for Black lives, clergymen and women for Black lives, all Asians for Black lives, all doctors, teachers, lawyers, and city workers for Black lives, and all essential workers for Black lives to show up and show out, in full force, and they did.

The 10:30 am press conference was heavily attended and hundreds showed up at the 6:00 pm protest to demand Republicans and Democrats alike invest in Black Communities, Black families, and Black children. We demanded that they invest in organizations that are on the ground doing the work, organizations that have the social capital and community trust to develop and implement violence prevention programming, and coordinate services required to provide holistic supports for Black communities.

We also demand that state policymakers take the special session seriously, that they commit funding to invest in community-based violence prevention solutions, and to adopt a comprehensive way forward to protect marginalized communities.

We were encouraged by the support received that day and are looking forward to see the change we want, desire, and need.

To view the original press release, click here.