There is a tactic that people use when they don’t want to talk about the issues at hand. They either talk about the process or they single out an individual and target them to marginalize them. It’s nothing but a distraction from the issues. And Brandi Grayson and Leland Pan are the latest targets and I’m sick of it.
I know a little bit about this. It’s been done to me, repeatedly. Instead of dealing with the issues, people love to talk about how I said something wrong or wasn’t nice to someone or told someone to lick my hairy armpits in a moment of frustration (seriously, how the hell is that news?) Its a tactic, it works, the press falls for it.
This has been bugging me for a while – and this morning I read this and again got pissed off. This is nothing but a distraction from the fact that a police officer shot and killed a unarmed teen. The police chief needs to stop making this the news. What Brandi Grayson said once while being “passionate” – which is Chief Koval’s excuse every time he says something stupid – shouldn’t be his major concern at this moment. Wildly exaggerating what happened at the City-County Building the night Tony Robinson was killed was wrong, taking Leland’s keys was wrong. And he’s wrong again. He singled her out in his letter to the council and numerous news sources have keyed in on it. What about everyone else that spoke and the things they had to say, why are we singling out one person? Is it just to make her look bad, to marginalize her and distract? I think so and it should stop.
http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/Police-investigate-shooting-in-Madison-295439371.html
Tomorrow the Department of Justice is expected to release its investigative report on the Tony Robinson shooting to the District Attorney’s office. While it’s unclear when District Attorney Ismael Ozanne will decide whether charges will be filed, community leaders are preparing for an emotional response from the public, regardless of what he decides.
Michael Johnson, Director of Dane County Boys and Girls Club, said he is working with a group of 20 community organizations to generate a strategic response to the decision, both immediately after it is announced and in the months to come.
“I think you need multiple approaches to these issues, and so people marching, that’s great, that should happen, people should voice their concerns… but we also need people who are going to sit in board rooms and negotiate how to address these issues,” Johnson said.
At a city council meeting last week, Young Gifted and Black Coalition leader Brandi Grayson directed her approach to Madison Police Chief Mike Koval, saying: “We know the facts and when they come out, this city will erupt. This city will ‘f-ing’ erupt and the blood and whatever takes place after that will be on your hands and the mayor’s hands.”
Koval said he hopes the community’s response to the decision will remain peaceful, though he knows it will be emotional.
“I’m hoping that those were suggestions given over to hyperbole rather than acting or saying that that’s going to be the case. At least that’s my hope, because I think at the end of the day we all want Madison to be a community that’s in tact as we continue to engage in these very difficult discussions,” Koval said.
NBC15 reached out to Grayson for an interview to discuss Young Gifted and Black Coalition’s expected response. She agreed and scheduled the interview, but did not show up. To date, she has not provided an explanation.
Other articles where this was the subject.
– Cap Times
– Althouse
– Channel 3
– State Journal
This isn’t about Brandi Grayson, she is a very capable and dynamic leader and I’m sure that is scary and difficult for people like the Chief of Police, but we need to focus on solutions. Lets talk about revisions to policies and what the Police Chief is going to do besides apologize, how will he make sure this never happens again? What is his answer to the demands made by Young Gifted and Black? Let’s talk about that.
Solutions? How about demanding that mothers read to their children?
Teenaged boys respect women? Gangbangers to quit banging?Biological fathers to support their children, financially and emotionally? Potential dropout to buckle down and study? Low-income to take a second, part-time job and put a little something aside?
One young person to grow up to become another Noble Wray, the former police chief? Or Eloise Anderson, state secretary of Family and Children Services?
Because neither you, nor Leland Pan, nor Brandi Grayson have any answers except the same old same old we’ve heard since the Great Society: blame someone else, blame huge, impersonal societal forces, blame the lack of subsidies, set-asides, and the occasional Republican. Blame officer Kenny, blame “white privilege” and “institutional racism,” blame other racial minorities, but never take any responsibility for yourselves and your own community.
How has that been workin’?
Yeah, the fact that police no longer have towarn peoplpe before they shoot someone, or that they lowered the trigger weights on their triggers, or that they essentially don’t have to identify themselves or wear name tags so the public can identify them and when someone is clearly distressed they don’t send someone qualified to help them them to the scene, those aren’t solutions?
As usual I have no clue what you are talking about, you’re conflating a whole bunch of issues that are off topic and playing the personality game. Go troll somewhere else . . ..
“As usual I have no clue what you are talking about.”
Yeah, about sums it up.
Can you ever talk about issues without attacking people? Your comments really aren’t welcome here unless you want to be constructive.
Attacking people? What have you been doing the last several weeks on Chief Koval? I proposed some constructive messages to under-privileged. What are your proposals?
Read the blog posts, follow along, figure it out.
I have been worried about the impassioned, bright woman who spoke. I am afraid that she will now be on an FBI list and they will bait her using people who seem like her. Malcom X’s daughter was baited years after his death. The FBI used a former high school boyfriend to get her to say that she wanted to kill someone. I hope this young female trusts no one.
I would like to know if Brenda or YGB think police training should be amended to include a certain number of punches a police officer should endure before being able to defend themselves. Or maybe officers should be forced to carry a large assortment of lethal and non lethal weapons and they can only defend themselves with whatever they are being attacked with. Let the best wo/man win?
Don’t be ridiculous. Punching a police officer should not be a capital offense. We don’t have capital punishment here in WI and where they do, they at least have due process and the police are not the judge jury and executioner.
I don’t think its ridiculous to ask people who are criticizing police policies for their recommendations. What is an officer so supposed to do when he is physically attacked if he doesn’t have backup? At what point is it ok to fight back and how should he determine whether his life is at risk or not? Does the absence of a weapon mean there is no mortal danger so therefore if an officer is being punched he is only allowed to punch back even if he is severely outmatched? Should we only have MMA fighters sign up as police officers? If an officer does not have backup but hears distress from an apartment, should he wait and allow someone in the apartment to be attacked and possibly killed instead of entering alone? These are all perfectly reasonable questions that I have not heard any reasonable answers to from critics like yourself.
So you’re saying this “military trained” police officer was unable to handle this unarmed teenager without shooting him MULTIPLE times? I’m not understanding this
Equally hard for me to understand why an unarmed teenager would physically attack an armed police officer for any reason and expect the officer not to feel mortally threatened. I’ve never punched anyone let alone someone I knew had a gun and was not afraid to use it. If I am an armed officer and someone starts physically beating me, how can I know what they are actually capable of? I don’t believe anybody who was not there can fully understand what either person was going through.
And you still didn’t answer my question. Have a nice day
Working on recommendations, reading 450 pages of policy manual, code of conduct and standard operating procedures, but it will take some time for some well thought out recommendations but we can start with WARN PEOPLE BEFORE YOU SHOOT. That was removed sometime in the last 10 years – https://www.forwardlookout.com/2015/03/police-policy-review-use-of-force/23144
The only people who stand a chance at turning police apologists into thinkers are the police themselves and it is critically important they do so because apologists are many and their blind faith reinforces the “blue wall of silence” making officers who wish to speak out all the more afraid and ashamed to do so. Apologists like you, David Blaska – you are terrible for the police. Our efforts are good for the police. The solutions we are advocating for will make them safer in all aspects of their work. http://www.virtusleadership.com/chains-that-bind-what-slavery-has-to-do-with-police-force/
From what I know about this situation, the office was struck in the head to the point that he feared losing consciousness. What he knew at the time was that this subject had been reportedly strangling and assaulting multiple people. If the officer had lost consciousness, this subject (who was just reported as assaulting and strangling multiple people) would have had access to the officer’s gun. Who knows what the subject would have done with a gun? The officer’s responsibility was to stop the threat to others. He did that.
Ok. Yes, this officer clearly felt he could not diffuse the situation without a weapon so he felt forced to shoot until he knew the person attcking him was no longer a threat. I hope that answers your question more directly. There is no physical evidence or anything in the officers background to suggest any other motive or reason for discharging his weapon.
Its important to consider the officers perspective here in forming any meaningful policy. Warning someone before shooting sounds good on paper and looks good in the movies. But when you enter an apartment and get immediatley sucker punched and are on the groud/disoriented and fearing for your life, i can see how a cop doesnt have the luxury of time when reacting. Rather than bogging cops down with well intentioned but misguided policies, why cant we use this incident as a way of reinforcing to our children that it is never ok to attack or threaten a police officer. Never. Doing so will always have disastrous consequences. That should be the ultimate lesson. To much apologizing for irresponsible behavior going on in my community.
I am not a conservative by any stretch and agree that the Black community may have legitimate gripes about its place and treatment in Madison, but standing up for someone who physically beat a cop that was responding to a distress call in the neighborhood sets that cause back much further and really hinders any progress we hope to make.
How do you know all these facts?
Again, how do you know these facts? You think its ok for cops to just shoot without telling people, its ok that they changed the trigger weights on their guns and they have a 100% kill rate. It ok they don’t have to tell you who they are or have name tags on their safety vests and jackets? We pay for tasers so they can have toys and they don’t use them. I could go on, its 450 pages of thing like this. And there is no reason why both can’t be done . . . . Of course, the first doesn’t require a budget amendment, your suggestion does unless you’re volunteering to take this on as your project, have at it. I’m not sure what “cause” you are talking about. The cops shot 8 people in 1990, killed 30%, the shot 8 people in 2000s and they killed 75% Half way through 2010s, as crime is going going, they . shot 6 people already and have a 100% kill rate. Those numbers are ok with you? I hope one of your family members doesn’t get drunk or high and do something stupid or are mentally ill and the cops are called, cuz they might end up dead at the rate we’re going.
I don’t think that is right, and its not a “cause”, its someone’s life.
The main difference between our viewpoints is that if one of my relatives was irresponsible enough to get drunk or high, beat up a cop and get shot, I would blame them for their actions, not the cop.
Furthermore, I hope you never have an intruder and have to call the cops and then have a cop hesitate to defend you and himself from a violent person because because they are afraid of the fallout from groups like this
Where are you getting this information from? Do you have access to the reports given to the DA? Have you talked with the officer?
I have not talked to the officer personally, I am going on what has been reported in the news. do you have any information to contradict those reports?
Obviously not, the only witness is dead and we don’t have access to the reports. Everyone (Koval etc) has said wait for the investigation, not to draw conclusions, but somehow they have no problem getting their side of the story out there . . . before we hear about the investigation.
How do you know the police are at fault?
Where’d I say that? I said there are policies that need review, which is the responsible thing to do. Any business surely would.
I pay attention to the news reports, not just what the mobs are chanting.
I’d say their aim is getting better.
Tasers are fine, when the officer has time and backup. Quite often, tasers have little to no effect on subjects who are under the influence of drugs.
“He who slings mud generally loses ground.”
…Adlai Stevenson
A truly “gifted” person would know this.
A mad arsonist is at loose in the city and Brenda puts a magnifying glass to the fire code.
WOW. Why doesn’t your “wait for the facts” argument only apply to others but not yourself? This entire protest movement and a lot of your blog posts are based on opinions formed before having the facts. For example, you say that the police should be have to warn people before shooting them. But you have no evidence that Officer Kenney didn’t warn Tony before shooting him. So why aren’t you waiting for the reports before voicing your opinion if I have to before voicing mine?