Hundreds of University of Wisconsin-Madison students marched through campus Thursday, chanting “education, not incarceration,” to protest the arrest of a student for his alleged role in spraypainting graffiti art around campus.
Officers with the UW-Madison Police Department pulled Denzel McDonald — who prefers to go by the name King Shabazz — out of class last week and arrested him on 11 criminal counts of vandalism and one count of disorderly conduct. King, a black man, is accused of spraypainting messages like “Racizm in the air dont breathe” and “White supremacy is a disease.”
“It was a supreme violation of this student’s rights, and the right of any person to pursue an education, for UWPD to barge into a classroom,” said junior Hiwot Adilow, who attended the march.
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Chancellor Rebecca Blank and the campus police issued apologies for the class disruption. The protestors are calling for all charges against King to be dropped and for a restructuring of the campus Police Department.
The protesters taped a full list of demands over an Abraham Lincoln statue on campus:
- Drop charges against King.
- Return all his items obtained during the investigation.
- Allow King to graduate with his class in May.
- UW administrators who allowed this arrest to take place resign, including: Chancellor, Dean of Students, Chief of UW police, arresting officers.
- Community control of UWPD. This means a professor, student, and faculty led board that has power to hire and fire police, and decide priorities, practices, and policies of police department.
A UW spokesperson said university officials are reviewing the protesters’ demands.
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