#BlackLivesMatter But Chris Abele Doesn't Want To Hear About It

On December 19, 2014, Chris Abele quietly had something posted on the Milwaukee County website.  It was done without his usual grandstanding or vain boasting in a vain effort to stop his popularity from spiraling even further downward.

What Abele posted was his new, unilaterally imposed rules about access to the Milwaukee County Courthouse.  As I read through them, it seemed oddly familiar.  They were all about stifling free speech in the courthouse and in other county buildings.

Sure enough, Abele copied heavily from his best buddy and mentor, Scott Walker, and his efforts to squash the protesters and especially the Solidarity Sing Along in the Capitol Building.  Abele even wants protesters to do the permit system like Walker did.  Not only is the verbage nearly identical, Abele even copied the layout.

Oh, there are some differences, of course.  Abele put courthouse in for Capitol.  Abele also included this odd paragraph (on page 4):

This Policy follows the Negotiated Management recommendation of the United Nations:

According to this approach, the task of [law enforcement and government] is to protect rights and facilitate, rather than frustrate, demonstrations; they should help to diffuse tension and prevent a dangerous escalation of the situation. Several countries that follow this approach have also formalized the role of the so-called “safety triangle” during demonstrations, based on continuous communication and interaction between the organizers of the protest, the local or State authorities and [law enforcement], aimed at averting risks and ensuring smooth management of the assembly.

What? Is he expecting riots with hundreds of thousands of people like they have in Europe? Or is it that he saw the words "best practice" and just had to use it, even though he doesn't know the meaning of the phrase?

An even odder statement is on the bottom of the same page:

Peaceful events and exhibits can take place in public areas (i.e. Rotunda and Halls, but not offices and restrooms) of the Courthouse Complex and Courthouse Grounds...

Huh? I try to keep up with the news as much as I can, but I don't recall protests in the bathrooms ever being an issue. However, I do agree that I don't want to see any exhibits in the bathroom, although I haven't heard of that being an issue either.

Another interesting thing about this new policy is the timing of it.  Abele issued this anti-free speech policy just days before District Attorney John Chisholm was to announce that he was not going to charge former police officer Christopher Manney for the killing of Dontre Hamilton.

Another not so fun fact is that on the first day of the policy, Abele sent his other buddy, Sheriff David Clarke out to harass the seekers of justice.  Clarke and the Milwaukee Police ended up arresting 74 people and keeping them in jail for up to 24 hours.

Again, doesn't this remind the gentle reader of the way Walker went after the singers in the Capitol, harassing them and arresting them unjustly?

Abele is just like Walker and the oligarchs that support Walker in that they just don't care and don't want to hear about the injustices and harm they are causing to the 99%.  This is especially true if the victims of their plantation economics are minorities.

Seems to me that it is time to let a red, heart-shaped balloon loose in the Milwaukee County Courthouse.  I also wonder if we could get some singers that know some black folk songs.

Instead of Courthouse Proud, it just might be time for Courthouse Loud.

I can almost hear the chants, "Whose courthouse? Our courthouse!"

Scott Walker Channels His Inner Jeremiah Rusk - Again

By now, the gentle reader is probably fully aware that on this past Friday afternoon, people were peacefully protesting the lack of justice regarding the murder of Dontre Hamilton, as they have done so several times in the past eight months. However, on Friday, in the course of their protest, they briefly blocked I-43.  As they say, it was a minor inconvenience brought about my a major injustice.

What the gentle reader might not know is that the cowardly Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke found himself to be above his head and ran to Scott Walker for help.  Walker granted Clarke's request and ordered out the National Guard, even though they don't have a mission or objective yet.

It reminded me of another Wisconsin governor that was a lot like Walker - Jeremiah Rusk.  But in 1886, it was laborers and not African Americans who were the targets:

Governor Rusk was under considerable pressure from employers to stop the strike. Employers were saying that they would turn the entire society upside down and use the bombing in Haymarket Square as their proof that a revolution is under way.

Rusk called the Mills and told Captain Treaumer of the Lincoln Guard "if the strikers try to enter the mill, shoot to kill." Captain Treaumer then ordered his men to pick out a man, concentrate and kill him when the order is given. The strikers spent the night in open fields nearby while the Militia camps stayed at the Mills with sentries posted. During the night the sentries were shooting at anything that moved. A Navy tug brought provisions for the guard.

May 5
Around nine in the morning the strikers gathered again chanting "eight hours," a reporter who slept with them reported that it was odd that this was a group with no real leadership, but everyone was united in one single purpose.

The crowd approached the mill and faced the militia who were ready to fire. Before Treaumer knew the crowd's real intentions he ordered halt, but the strikers, who were about two hundred yards away, did not hear him.

He ordered the militia to fire. The crowd was in chaos as people fled the scene. The Milwaukee Journal reported that six were dead and at least eight more were expected to die within twenty four hours.

It also needs to be pointed out that this isn't the first time Walker has threatened to use military force against peaceful protesters:

In 1886, Wisconsin made history right here in little old Bay View.  The situation then is being eerily repeated by our own Governor Rusk Walker who is calling for the removal of all worker rights in both the public and private sectors, and has threatened said workers with the National Guard if there is any "unrest."  What is worrisome is that he has not defined what he considers "unrest."

Back in 1886, workers were joining forces and demanding pay raises and eight hour work days.  They almost shut down every business in the city until they agreed to start treating their workers with respect and as people.  When the strikers came to Rolling Mills in Bay View, where things got ugly.  Governor Rusk, at the pleading of big businesses (WMC, anyone?), sent out the state militia.  The rest, as they say, is history...

One might have hoped better from even Walker, but when his supporters and fellow right wing nut jobs have no issue with mocking the death of a black man, I wouldn't put anything past Walker - especially if he thinks it might help his slim to nonexistent chances to be president.