Interview with Young Friend of Tony Robinson
Madison High Schools Unite to Stand Against Murder by Police
March 17, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
This interview with a high school-age friend of Tony Robinson was conducted at a candlelight vigil on Sunday night, following the Friday, March 6 murder of 19-year-old Tony by a Madison, Wisconsin cop. Massive high school walkouts that followed the next day were literally taking shape in the midst of this vigil.
Revolution: It’s Sunday evening and we’re down here across the street from where Tony Robinson was killed. I’m talking to a basketball player from Sun Prairie High School, the school that Tony graduated from. He is a friend of Tony’s and he’s talking about a walkout at the school tomorrow. Also, there was a show of solidarity among different basketball teams last night. Can you tell us how you knew Tony?
D: I met Tony my sophomore year…. We got off on the wrong foot but things turned around through the year and we became close and I got to know him personally. He’s a good guy. There’s a lot of talk about “armed robbery” [from more than a year ago]. Was he there when somebody was robbed or was he really actually there doin’ it? But from my personal experience with Tony I would say, that’s not Tony at all. He probably was just there—at the wrong time. But Tony was a great kid, he meant no harm. As far as the rumors going around saying that he fought the police, I don’t think that was something Tony would have done. He was home by himself and the cop just kicked in the door, you should expect someone to react… but he was a great person and he meant no harm. And as you can see out here, he touched a lot of people.
Revolution: Can you tell the readers of Revolution newspaper what your first reaction was when you heard this?
D: I was shocked. It was Friday when he got murdered, we were actually in a game when the murder took place. I remember going to the locker room after the game and grabbing my phone. My phone always has a lot of text messages but this time it was ridiculous, I’ve never seen anything like this, a lot of messages saying “Tony was just shot, where are you, can we meet with you…” I actually didn’t believe it at first, I thought it must be a different Tony, it couldn’t be Tony [Robinson]. But I went home and my mom asked me if I knew Tony. “What’s his last name?” She goes, “Robinson.” And I go, “Yeah, that’s my guy.” It’s hard to believe, but I have no choice but to believe it.
Revolution: Can you tell us a little about the basketball game that followed this murder?
D: It was a beautiful day! It’s one of those things, you have to be there: I can’t myself put it into words, it’s one of those things you have to see. Everyone wore black. To be honest, I didn’t expect a lot of people to wear black. From my point of view, a lot of people these days are just here for themselves, it’s just “eat or be eaten.”
Revolution: So this was in the audience and the players?
D: Both. Everyone came together. It was a lot of hugs, a lot of tears. I have a friend, she was getting a LOT of hugs because her and Tony was closer than she and I was. And it was beautiful to see the whole gym [wearing] black. It touched me; I know it would have touched Tony. Before I got to the game I wanted to do something for Tony to let people know something’s changed, so the sweatshirt I’ve got now says “Tony” on the front and “Justice for Tony” on the back. I was gonna warm up in that.
Revolution: How many of those are there?
D: There’s actually one now, but if anyone asks me to make them one I’d be more than willing, I’d do it for free—just to get the point across, just to get the justice for Tony and get the justice he deserves.
Revolution: I ran into a white, middle class guy here who said he’s got kids, and was very upset about this whole thing. He asked, “Why? Why does this happen all the time to Black people?” What do you think?
D: I think it’s the image that Black kids got painted on us. A terrible image hangs on us, you know? Every time you think of a Black child you think of a thug nowadays. Is it totally racism? I’d say racism plays a part of it, but it’s an image put on us. There’s nothing we can do about it as of now. I mean, something can change, but as of right now nothing’s gonna change unless we put in the work to make it change. If that makes sense to you.
Revolution: Well, I’m part of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, as well as Revolution newspaper, and we think you need massive resistance to put a stop to the murder of Black and brown youth. There are two high schools that might walk out tomorrow. Can you tell us about what might go down at Sun Prairie tomorrow?
D: It’s not certain that we do walk out tomorrow, but that’s the goal. I got interviewed by [a TV show] yesterday and after that I had a lot of text messages saying, we seen you on TV, we know that you and Tony got along, let’s make this happen. And my response was, “Hey, I’m down for it.” It’s all up to our head principal. We emailed a couple of letters today to her. If we can make it happen tomorrow, let’s do it. But if not, I would aim for a Friday so it wouldn’t be in conflict with anything. But I’m really looking forward to the walkout being tomorrow.
Revolution: Are you sure you need the authorization of the principal?
D: The authorization is just coming from our strategy. We don’t want to cause a huge problem. Everybody’s saying, let’s do this protest peacefully. If we leave the school as “hooligans” it would cause a problem. Tony’s mom wants all protest to be peaceful, so we’re trying to keep everything peaceful and talk with the principal. But if they deny it, then we’re just gonna have to do what we feel we need to do.
Revolution: We support what went down in Ferguson 100 percent; in fact it’s long overdue, people drawing the line: this really has to stop, REALLY. So, can you comment on that?
D: It does have to stop, it has to stop. We can’t make it stop tomorrow, it’s not something that’s gonna go away overnight. It’s gonna take time, gonna take hard work, gonna take effort. It’s gonna take not only my class of 2016, it’s gonna take the class of 2015, 2014, we gotta develop the young. We gotta pass on what happened Friday down to the young, so when they’re comin’ up they already know we don’t want this in our world, we don’t want this in our state, we don’t want this at all. So it’s gonna take time, it’s not gonna happen tomorrow, but at the end of the day I praying that it go away.
Revolution: Stop Mass Incarceration Network has a plan to shut it down on April 14—no business, no work, no school across the country in order to make sure that we are not going back. What do you think of that idea, and do you think you’d be willing to build for that at your high school?
D: I’m more than willing to do it. If it’s going to help us get our point across, if it has to go there, to the point where we have to shut down all business, all schools, and everything else, I’m willing to do it, especially if we’re doing it as a peaceful cause. Like I said before, I love protesting, and I love protesting for things I believe in, but I don’t want anything to get violent. So if we’re shuttin’ everything down in a peaceful manner and it doesn’t create any violence, I’m all for it.
Revolution: Is there anything else you’d like to say to the readers of Revolution newspaper?
D: Let’s work, let’s get together and let’s end it.
Revolution: That’s exactly what we’re talking about, putting a stop to this. You know, the cover of this issue of Revolution says “50 Years Since Selma.” What’s really changed, you know what I mean?
D: Not much!
Revolution: Thank you very much for the interview.
D: You’re welcome.
Right after the interview concluded, some youths from a different high school came over and announced that they planned to walk out at 10:30 am, so then D. embraced it and said, "Then we need to do walkout at 10:30 too." The next day the high schools walked out in a big way.
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