https://www.facebook.com/fergusontomadison
YGB and Groundwork hosted an action yesterday to highlight the vast disparities in the Dane county injustice system. Here is the statement that we brought to the Police Department, The DA’s office and the Jail.
July 21, 2015
To: Madison Police Department, Dane County District Attorney, and Dane County Sheriff,
People of color, specifically Black people are disproportionately targets of the injustice system at every level, from arrests, to referrals, to sentencing, incarceration and beyond. The Dane County Criminal Justice system is guilty of leading the nation in racial disparities. A so called progressive county.
As we know, we account for 5-6% of Dane County’s total population, but make up close to 50% of the jail population. Therefore we demanded that 350 Black people be freed from the shackles of 21st century slavery. In doing so, the jail populations will reflect a world where racism and white supremacy does not exist.
Or, Dane County can arrest 6,000 white people, we are sure UW-Madison has more drugs flowing through it than the south side of Madison. This will create equality within our so called justice system. But, we believe that incarceration is not the answer, but instead creates a brutal cycle of oppression, especially for our Black brothers and sisters living in poverty.
We stand here today, to share our stories, our experiences, our lives, and our humanity. We stand here today to show the devastating impact state violence has on people of color, particularly Black people. Such state violence perpetuates the robbery of the Black body, a story as long as the history of America. Such state violence waters the roots of white supremacy in this county. The 350 are not data points, are not statistics, but are humans, with individual stories and struggles. Each number is a white person that walks with an invisible shield of whiteness protecting them from an evolved form of slavery. Each one of these criminal acts would land a Black American in a slave pen. Each arrest, each stop is a traumatic experience, being Black in America is a traumatic experience that weighs on your mind, body, and soul.
Black people are not inherently criminal, in fact the real crime is the poverty, the real crime is state violence. So we demand the immediate release of 350 21st century Black slaves from the Dane County jail.
All Power to the People,
The Young Gifted and Black Coalition,
Groundwork Madison,
& community members for racial justice
Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement 
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