By Molly Beck
The Wisconsin State Journal
MADISON — The march from Worthington Park to the nearby Department of Corrections headquarters is underway, with a line of protesters carrying a long “Black Lives Matter” banner down Rosemary Avenue toward Webb Avenue.
Before the march began, speakers addressed the crowd, estimated at nearly 1,000 by organizers from at least 16 groups.
Tony Robinson’s mother, Andrea Irwin, called for protests to continue to be peaceful.
“I want to be able to make a change,” Irwin said. “I don’t want my son to have died in vain.”
Robinson’s uncle, Turin Carter, said the deaths of young black men such as his nephew has an impact on people of all races.
“It just doesn’t affect black Americans,” he said. “This affects everybody.”
Brandi Grayson, a leader of the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition, repeated Irwin’s calls for everyone to stay peaceful.
“We will not be who the media already says we are. We are sending a new message. We must move together in solidarity,” she said. “Today we stand strong, and we stand together.”
“We must understand that if we don’t find for the least of us... then what are we fighting for?”
The protest brought together labor unions with social justice groups such as Young, Gifted and Black Coalition, which has spotlighted mass incarceration of young blacks.
Jennifer Addison, director of Wisconsin Jobs Now, said noted that the group is multi-racial and multi-generational and said she hoped it was just the beginning of a coordinated effort of protests around the state. She said she knew of protesters who had come from Wausau and Racine for the march.
“We need to be bold in our action all over Wisconsin,” she said. “It’s all about helping the people who need help the most.”
She contrasted the effort with the state’s recent adoption of a right-to-work law, passed by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by Gov. Scott Walker.
“You can see where the division is in this state,” she said. “We want an economy that works for everybody.”
Barry Hayward, a 70-year-old retired steelworker from Chicago came to Madison to show support from the International Socialist Organization. He said the event reminded him of his protests of the Vietnam War and for labor decades ago.
“This is the beginning of uniting black movements against violence with working-class movements all across the country,” Hayward said. “It’s an upsurge of working-class people fighting back. This is not just black people. This is all people.”
West High School students have boarded three buses this afternoon to head to a rally sparked by Friday’s shooting death of biracial teen Tony Robinson by a Madison police officer.
The walkout marks the second time this week Madison students will leave class during the school day.
Organizer Amanda Zhang, a 16-year-old junior at West, said the buses are being paid for by the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition and other groups who organized the rally at the Department of Corrections to protest what Zhang described as a school-to-prison pipeline.
More than 200 students are planning to walk out of class at 1:30 p.m. and join other students at the Wisconsin Department of Corrections building at 3099 E. Washington Ave. for a rally at 3 p.m., protesting what they call the “school to prison” pipeline. They were expected to be joined by other high-school students from Madison East and Sun Prairie, where Robinson graduated in 2014.
Zhang also attended Monday’s rally, during which about 1,500 students and others converged on the Capitol to protest Robinson’s death.
“We saw that the walkout on Monday was very powerful, and I think it got a lot of students’ attention,” she said. “So planning another walkout means more students will be involved and engaged.”
“A fatal mistake was made,” said West junior Keith Williams-Lawrence. “Something has to be done.”
The Madison School District sent seven buses to Monday’s rally to pick up the students to ensure they returned to school safely.
But on Tuesday, Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham wrote to parents requesting students continue their advocacy outside of the school day.
“First and foremost, our priority and our focus is keeping students safe. We want to make sure that as events come up, families are able to communicate with their child about whether they plan to attend and if so, how to do so safely,” she wrote. “Second, while we recognize that many students may want to participate in events in the coming days and we honor and respect our students voices, we are asking that they do so outside of the school day.”
Principal Beth Thompson said she communicated with parents that they should discuss the matter with their children. Students who left at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday -- the school day ends at 3:36 p.m. -- would be excused provided they had a note from their parents, she said.
District spokeswoman Rachel Strauch-Nelson emphasized Wednesday that the district is “asking students to stay in school until the end of the school day.”
Michael Johnson, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County, on Wednesday joined the voices of those imploring students to stay in school and peacefully advocate after classes and on weekends.
“I just don’t want to have kids coming out of the classroom,” Johnson said at a press conference to discuss a meeting on the tragedy he had Wednesday morning with Gov. Scott Walker. “The kids can’t afford to miss school. Go to school. Be part of the process.”
Wednesday’s rally also prompted at least one East Side school to call parents alerting them that after-school bus transportation may be running “a bit late,’ according to a voice mail left for parents by Lowell Elementary School principal John Burkholder.
Zhang said she hopes the community will focus on the experiences of West students -- especially black students, she said.
At 5 p.m., supporters of the Madison Police Department are rallying at the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Memorial on Capitol Square, according to a Facebook site called “We Stand With the Madison Police Department.”
“We want to show them (the police) that people support them, and appreciate all they do,” the statement on Facebook said.
There was no estimate made of how many people are expected to show up at the 5 p.m. rally, but the Facebook site had over 12,000 likes as of Wednesday morning.
Tony Robinson, a 19-year-old biracial man, was shot and killed by officer Matt Kenny, a white man, during a confrontation between the two in a Williamson Street apartment house Friday night, sparking protests and marches in the capital city.
Reporter Dan Simmons contributed to this report.