Category Archives: Uncategorized
Tens of Thousands Around the World Demand: $15 & A Union!
YGB Press Release: Violent Police Arrest Peaceful Protestors
PDF: http://tinyurl.com/olk5m5d
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Brandi Grayson, 608-213-0707
M. Adams, 414-430-1321
For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/fergusontomadison or http://ygbcoalition.org/
Violent Police Arrest Peaceful Protestors
April 14, 2015 – Madison, WI
Between 6:30 and 7:30 pm on Tuesday April 14, Madison Police officers at the intersection of East Washington and 4th Street arrested more than ten peaceful protestors. Roughly 35 people, mostly youth remained in the intersection after a day-long protest, for which residents shut down East Washington for several hours to demand justice for Tony Robinson and as a part of a national action against police violence and mass incarceration.
As the young people continued to sit in the intersection, 30-40 officers approached the group from the west, spanning both sides of East Washington. The officers approached the youth telling them they had 5 minutes to leave before they would be arrested. While the youth deliberated as to whether they would take arrests, the police ambushed the group. Officers arrested three people initially, Jivonte Lee Davis, Mary Jo Walters and another protestor. They subsequently approached Leslie Amsterdam (Peterson), a member of the media, who was recording the arrests. They told her to move, and when she revealed herself as a member of the media, they destroyed her camera and forcibly arrested her. The remaining youth then decided that since they could not be in the street without being arrested, they would march legally in the crosswalks across East Washington during the light changes.
After roughly an hour, they were caught in the median during a light change. Two adults, Adeyemi Balogun and Brandi Grayson attempted to protect the youth from the police.
“They grabbed Brandi and dragged her, so I grabbed her,” reported Balogun. “Then they jumped on me. They came up behind me and grabbed my neck. Then another cop grabbed me and they had me wrapped up. They just kept saying ‘stop resisting, stop resisting!’ But I wasn’t doing anything,” said Balogun.
Grayson was violently thrown to the ground and then drug along the ground before she was arrested. Balogun along with approximately six more people, including youth, were arrested at that time.
Marnie Schroeder, another arrested person described the scene: “He [CJ Terrell] wasn’t talking, wasn’t doing anything and they slammed him to the ground. They had their knee on his neck and his face in the dirt. I tried to put my hand under his face to protect it, but then they arrested me.”
Community members are outraged but unsurprised by this gross display of state power by MPD.
“This is a clear example of the state violence we have been talking about for months,” said Grayson. “They brutalized me, and they arrested our babies who were mourning and protesting against the police violence that led to the murder of their friend, Tony Robinson.”
For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/fergusontomadison or http://ygbcoalition.org/.
UW-Milwaukee, April 15: Fight For $15
When: 4:30 pm
Where: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Student Union, 2200 E Kenwood Blvd, Milwaukee, WI, 53211
Milwaukee, April 16: Town Hall With Fire and Police Commission Nominee Rev. Fred Crouther
When: Thursday April 16, 2015
Time: 6:00pm-7:30pm
Location: Grand Avenue Mall – Studio G
Join the event here (No RSVP necessary):
All are welcomed, but we especially want young people to show up, so their voices can truly be represented at the table.
The bottom line is, we want justice; and we want the individuals who have been… put into the decision making positions in our city to be committed to correcting the injustices, inadequacy, and inefficiencies that exist currently with regards to the Milwaukee Police Department.
Please show up, and bring your questions! We will not accept responses that duck and dodge the issues. We want to have a productive meeting. Lets make it happen!
Help us out and share this on your time line and with your friends.
Solidarity with Ukraine Antifascists Committee
https://www.facebook.com/UkraineAntifaSolidarity
The Solidarity with Ukraine Antifascists Committee is a project of the International Action Center, based in the United States. http://www.no2nato.org/
Support Marylin Zuniga!
Support must be extended to Marylin Zuniga, a teacher in Orange, N.J., whose job is at stake because her third-grade class sent get-well cards to Mumia Abu-Jamal. She was put on paid leave pending an “investigation.” A campaign has been mounted to stop disciplinary action against this courageous educator. (tinyurl.com/qyvhyv3)
A letter to the Orange Township Public Schools opposing Zuniga’s suspension recognizes that the New Jersey Board of Education is under pressure from the Fraternal Order of Police “and the bullying tactics it disseminates via biased news media. However, support for Ms. Zuniga is coming in [from] such distinguished authors and scholars as Robin D.G. Kelley (UCLA), Angela Y. Davis, Barbara Ransby (University of Illinois/Chicago), Joe R. Featin (Texas A&M), Vijay Prashad (Trinity College), James H. Cone and Cornel West (both of Union Theological Seminary).” (tinyurl.com/qyvhyv3)
April 15: Tens of Thousands of Workers

From garment workers in Bangladesh to fast food workers in the U.S. South: workers all over the world are rising up!
In Wisconsin: https://www.facebook.com/RaiseUpMKE
Hundreds Pledge Ongoing Support for Political Prisoner Rev. Edward Pinkney
Rev. Pinkney was denied retrial and fined $1800 restitution today!
Pictures and tweets at @FreeRevPinkney
Please retweet, spread word on all social media, call media outlets, write letters to editor, press releases, etc. to spread word in your area.
Rev. and Mrs. Dorothy Pinkney need our help now more than ever!
http://www.bhbanco.org/
Hundreds Pledge Ongoing Support for Political Prisoner Rev. Edward Pinkney: http://tinyurl.com/p9yhpt4
April 15: Huge Protests To Be Held in Wisconsin & Nationwide
Raise Up MKE: https://www.facebook.com/RaiseUpMKE
Underpaid workers from fast food, retail, home care, child care, and even adjunct professors are standing up this Wednesday, April 15 and demanding a fair and just wage. Go to April15.org and see how you can get involved in the making of history.
“We’re going to see actions in Wausau, in Milwaukee and in Madison on the April 15,” says Jennifer Epps-Addison of Wisconsin Jobs Now. “At 4:30 p.m. in Milwaukee we’re going to see a massive action; folks from all over the state are driving down to Milwaukee to participate.” https://www.facebook.com/wisconsinjobsnow
Wisconsin Jobs Now:http://wisconsinjobsnow.org/
Public News Service: “Huge Protests Planned For Wisconsin…” http://tinyurl.com/k5o56lt








