No one is defending immigrants now. Rejecting this amendment is one way we can stand in solidarity with immigrants and tell Republicans (and Democrats) we reject your fear mongering and scapegoating. We welcome newcomers to this country with open arms. 

Why are there lead pipes in Milwaukee in the first place!? There is a great deal of history behind this but ultimately it comes down to capitalist greed from the time of Milwaukee's founding. Removing lead laterals should not be a partisan issue, and we intend to continue holding the city accountable to the public interest through grassroots, frontline organizing.

We believe in robust public oversight of city projects. Citizens should be able to go and see exactly what people are up to, so we can hold them publicly accountable. Maybe you never want to attend a lead lateral removal committee meeting, but some of us do, and take seriously our role as watchdogs of the public good. Community oversight is the way that we let our elected officials know that they work for us, and no matter what, we want these lead pipes out in ten years or less.

The race for Wisconsin Assembly District 61 is another vital race in Democrat’s path to take the Assembly. On the Republican side you have the power hungry, career politician, carpetbagger, current State Representative, Bob Donovan. Running on the Democrats side is LuAnn Bird who is also not a newcomer to Wisconsin politics. Unlike Donovan though, Bird’s history as a “career politician” is filled with heartfelt advocacy to actually improve the lives of those she represents.

In Wisconsin, our racial caste system is exceptionally brutal. It is more invasive, restrictive, and more racially targeted than most other states. Police are the front line of that caste system, pulling people into it, and keeping them churning through it. 

Youth programming, mental health resources, infrastructure projects, affordable housing, basic human needs keep taking a back seat to law enforcement funding in both city and county budgets. Those things are actual sources of public safety, but we cannot invest in them when we’re giving nearly half of our budgets to the illusion of safety provided by the police. 

African American Roundtable highlighted that police were bankrupting Milwaukee in our report in 2021, yet nothing has changed and no one has seemed to listen. Police are the only department where results or metrics don’t matter. If crime is up, we need more police; if crime is down, we need more police. This logic fails to keep us safe, and this narrative fails to acknowledge what residents need and deserve.

Mayor Johnson is making a cynical calculus that is unfortunately typical with liberals: that tacking to the right’s benefits outweigh the political costs. He’s doing what the Milwaukee Police Association and Republican legislators want, maybe gaining him a bit of credibility with Wisconsin’s power structure –but losing only a few principled, abolitionist voters/elected officials/organizations/etc in the process.

The local manifestation of the 2020 rebellion painted defund the police in ten foot letters on the street outside city hall. Many might dismiss this demand as just local people jumping on a national trend, but it wasn't. It was a mass mobilization behind authentic community demands that existed prior to 2020, and persist to this day.