Outrage in Milwaukee After Yet Another Killer Cop Walks
December 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From a reader:
Dontre Hamilton was executed by police for being mentally ill and sleeping in a park while Black. That was in late April of 2014. On Monday, December 22, the “independent investigation” of this blatant murder totally exonerated the pig. (see box for more background). The Coalition for Justice in Milwaukee, a group which, along with others, has demonstrated many times over this, immediately hit the street, and called for a protest and march the following day at 5 p.m.
The protest started at Red Arrow Park, right in downtown Milwaukee, and the very place where Dontre was shot down. In the face of declarations by the powers-that-be that the people should stand down, the marchers were defiant and unrepentant in their demand for justice. Before too long, it grew from a couple dozen to about 500 people. It was led by Nate Hamilton, the brother of Dontre, who had held a press conference on Monday and laid out in uncompromising terms that this struggle is not over, and called out the cruelty and hypocrisy of the justice system. "My family, we've cried too long. As a people, we're done crying when injustice comes. We're not going to cover up injustice with our tears. We're not going to be laid back and stay sheltered from justice, we deserve justice. (See video of press conference.)
Protest against the official decision not to charge the cop who killed Dontre Hamilton, Milwaukee, December 23. Photo: Special to revcom.us
Nate Hamilton led chants and unified the crowd. About 50 posters saying “Ferguson is Everywhere! Stop Police Brutality and Murder. StopMassIncarceration.net” were hungrily taken up. Two hundred fliers calling for “Rock in the New Year with Resistance to Police Murder” were distributed.
From the park, the protestors surged into the street, a six-lane boulevard, and took over the whole thing. The crowd was mainly young and a mix of Black and white youth, including college students, with local Black youth from the neighborhood. As we marched the crowd chanted; “Cops in my hood, ain’t no good, cops in your hood, ain’t no good; who do you trust? Not the po-lice”; “Indict, convict, send the killer cops to jail. The whole damn system is guilty as hell!”; “I believe, we will win” (while jumping up and down); “Turn it up, don’t turn it down, we’re doing it for Dontre now!”; “No Justice, No Compromise.” All the cops could do was escort the march, which wound through downtown until reaching the arena where the NBA Milwaukee Bucks were about to play. The bulk of the crowd linked arms in front of the two main entrances to the arena. The arriving basketball fans had to circle the arena for a side entrance. For some reason, the police decided not to arrest people.
Back at the park, family members had a "speak bitterness" about the police. One local activist minister declared that "THIS is the new normal," referring to the people in the streets refusing to accept the murder of another Black youth. Throughout the park the chant arose, “Whose park?” And the response “Dontre’s park!” Ties were forged for the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, and many Revolution newspapers and Bob Avakian/Cornel West Dialogue pluggers were distributed.
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