UW-Milwaukee Students Join Tony Robinson Protests

For students at UW-Milwaukee, the death of Tony Robinson hits home not only because of the closeness of Madison to Milwaukee, but because students could have likely crossed paths with Robinson next year when he would have attended Milwaukee Area Technical College if he had lived. At UWM, Robinson’s death is also igniting and rekindling conversations about a racial divide and police violence in Wisconsin and nationwide.

Robinson, a 19-year-old black teen was shot and killed in Madison by police officer Matt Kenny earlier this month. Kenny was responding to a call that the teen was allegedly running in front of traffic and had assaulted someone. The officer followed Robinson to an apartment, claimed to hear a disturbance inside, and entered. According to authorities, Robinson was unarmed but assaulted Kenny. The officer then responded by shooting Robinson multiple times, killing him.

Peaceful demonstrators have been gathering in Madison each day since the event of his death.

However, last Wednesday’s protests in Madison were unique. Those marching for justice for Robinson were joined by those marching for The We Rise National Day of Action. This day of action was organized before Robinson’s death to take to Madison’s streets to raise awareness to end the school-to-prison pipeline and in favor for a living wage for all. After his shooting, they added, “Justice for Tony” to their list of demands.

UWM students Carmen Quinlivan and Oscar Hernández were among those who participated in Madison last Wednesday for this national day of action. They started their march at Worthington Park, continued to the Wisconsin Department of Justice building and ended in front of the governor’s mansion, where they left their list of demands at the gate. The list asked for things like new funding of schools instead of a new jail, an end to measures that fuel the school-to-prison pipeline, an end to racial profiling and a true third-party investigation into the death of Tony Robinson.

“After Tony’s death, it was obvious we needed to take action,” Quinlivan said.

Quinlivan disagrees with the idea that protests accomplish nothing. As an art student, she says protests are a lot like performances. She believes the “beauty of action” is powerful.

“The action doesn’t always sway politicians but when people with shared experiences come together it builds momentum,” Quinlivan said.

Hernández is the president of the social justice group Youth Empowered in the Struggle at UWM and took a part in organizing the Madison day of action.

He says that it is important to know what you stand for and what you stand against. Though YES! primarily stands for student, immigrant and worker’s rights, he says they also stand against things like what he called police murder, racism and mass incarceration. Hernández stresses the importance of solidarity and sticking together.

“When they attack one of us, we get our community together, put our fists in the air and demand justice,” Hernández said.

He reflected on recent headlines like the Department of Justice’s Ferguson report, the racism uncovered in Oklahoma University’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and the death of Robinson.

“We need to get the thought out of people’s heads that we live in a post-racial society,” he said. “Anyone who thinks that is very lost.”

Cleo Fore is a sophomore and a former criminal justice major at UWM. He explained that he switched his major to philosophy after seeing sides to law enforcement that he disagreed with. He says that he will “refuse to be a part of it.”

He says the justice system is set up to trust police officers first.

“The police are innocent until proven guilty, while everyone else is guilty until proven innocent,” Fore said.

He questioned why Officer Kenny couldn’t have shot Robinson once in a less fatal spot and why police –related deaths like these keep happening.

“Their job is not to kill, it’s to apprehend,” he said.

He also says that he finds it troubling how comfortable the police seem to be with killing teenagers.

“They’re kids. You can tell that they have baby faces,” he said. “Now kids are growing up afraid of police officers.”

But not all UWM students have the same opinions of police.

Alejandro Fonseca, a junior at UWM studying criminal justice, is a U.S. Navy Master-at-Arms, the equivalent to the U.S. Army Military Police. He will soon become a reserve officer at The Wauwatosa Police Department.

Fonseca responds that there isn’t any reason to be afraid of police officers. He explained that if people would only talk to them, they will quickly find that police aren’t bad people and that they aren’t trying to hurt anyone. He says it’s important to remember that Officer Kenny was attacked first by Robinson.

“One thing is for sure: No cop wants to draw their weapon in any situation because we know it never ends well,” Fonseca said. “But when an individual chooses to take actions in which threaten the officer’s safety, then certain measures will have to happen.”

He supports the right to protest these shootings, but says it is not right to label police as “racists” and “killers.”

“We are the line between peace and chaos. We do not want to cause chaos, and people label us as doing just that,” Fonseca said.