It’s a real scary group of people who support the Madison Police Department, check out what they want to do! Could Madison have a Kyle Rittenhouse type incident here?
WHAT MADISON POLICE DEPARTMENT SUPPORTERS ARE SAYING
I really didn’t think I had much to post besides these two graphics . . . but silly me . . . this is from the “We Stand With The Madison Police Department” Facebook page.
Yeah . . . it’s a violent crew! Scary stuff.
WHEN BROUGHT TO THE ATTENTION OF CITY LEADERS . . .
Greg Gelebuik brought this to the attention of city leaders
Dear Alders,
In light of the shootings by police supporter Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, I thought I’d pass along a compilation of example comments from the “We Stand With The Madison Police Department” Facebook page. These are just examples from a single post (i.e., there’s plenty more where this came from). The commenters threatening violence appear to include retired police officers.
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I’ll add that Facebook video shows heavily armed white rightwing vigilantes wandering around downtown Madison two nights ago (for example), and reportedly pointing guns at protesters.
How did Alder McKinney respond?
From: Harrington-McKinney, Barbara <district1@cityofmadison.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2020 11:13 AM
To: Gregory Gelembiuk <gwgelemb@wisc.edu>
Subject: Re: Rightwing MPD supporters
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2020 11:13 AM
To: Gregory Gelembiuk <gwgelemb@wisc.edu>
Subject: Re: Rightwing MPD supporters
Thank you. I prefer not to receive these emails. The threatening insults have been perpetrated on both sides. I have tried to take the high road and ask questions that rise up for me.
Barbara Harrington-McKinney, Alder, District 1, Cell: 1-608-228-8683
And when I was talking to another high level city official, when I brought it up, they said
“Yeah, but what about Alder Max Presigiacomo’s posts?”
“Yeah, but what about Alder Max Presigiacomo’s posts?”
What a Trumpian response. Uh, insults and “fuck the police” are not death threats. They are not threats to end someone’s life. There’s a HUGE difference.
FOLLOW UP
Greg persisted, with no response for Alder McKinney at the time of this post.
From: Gregory Gelembiuk <gwgelemb@wisc.edu>
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2020 4:21 PM
To: Harrington-McKinney, Barbara <district1@cityofmadison.com>
Subject: Re: Rightwing MPD supporters
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2020 4:21 PM
To: Harrington-McKinney, Barbara <district1@cityofmadison.com>
Subject: Re: Rightwing MPD supporters
Dear Alder McKinney,
It is not my intent to be an irritant, but I’m writing to ask if you could substantiate your “both sides” remark?
I am not aware of BLM protesters making similar threats to kill people, etc. Rhetoric about shooting and killing people, and racist commentary, appears common on “We Stand With The Madison Police Department” and other similar sites. And the real life actions go beyond mere threatening insults.
Kyle Rittenhouse was a Blue Lives Matter activist.
As this article notes, Trump frequently makes such claims about people on the left, but “in the last 25 years, no murders in the US have been linked to anti-fascists, while 329 murders have been linked to the far-right, according to new research.”
https://www.businessinsider.
https://www.businessinsider.
There’s an asymmetry here.
I’ll note that I have always advocated for full nonviolence by all.
Thank you,
Dr. Gregory Gelembiuk
Excellent blog post Brenda! Nothing more important than exposing these tryrants for what they are.