Rallies Held Across State In Wake Of Grand Jury’s Decision In Ferguson

Rallies were held across Wisconsin on Tuesday in the wake of a grand jury’s decision not to indict the police officer who shot and killed Mike Brown, an 18-year-old black man in Ferguson, Missouri.

In Madison, a crowd gathered outside the Dane County Jail. Speakers at the rally talked about the high incarceration rate for black people and about poverty. Some wore T-shirts saying “I am Mike Brown.”

A group calling itself the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition was represented by Eric Upchurch at the event.

“Now, lets be clear. We are not violent, but our feelings and our souls are on fire. Our communities are dying,” Upchurch told the crowd.

Afterward, the crowd marched around the Capitol Square. Police followed silently behind as the crowd chanted, “No justice, no peace.”

In La Crosse, a group of demonstrators marched from the city’s UW campus to its police station. The demonstrators were a diverse group of mostly college students who took turns giving passionate speeches in front of City Hall. Some of them said that people need to stand up to social inequalities, while others still shared their own stories of discrimination.

Some led the crowd in a chant: “An injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Another student, Charles Martin-Stanley II, recited a poem called he’d written after the grand jury’s decision called “Why Am I Mad?”

UW-La Crosse Black Student Unity President Kalon Bell said they want to speak up about what they see as injustices that go beyond Ferguson.

“Police killing black people isn’t a new story. That’s everyday life. That’s the society we live in. This is spilling over of being sick and tired of not being recognized as human,” said Bell.

Bell said he wants to keep the conversation going with the greater community and police department.

Photos in slideshow by Shamane Mills and Maureen McCollum.