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| Fitchburg Mayor Jason Gonzalez walks out of the Common Council meeting November 14. |
Fitchburg, Wisconsin—A relative in rural Georgia reminded me this summer about the problem in Wisconsin few acknowledge.
'Mikey, Wisconsin is way more racist than rural Georgia, sweetheart."
Yes, Wisconsin is, and the city of Fitchburg, the focus of increased local media attention is among the worst offenders against citizens voicing concern about public policy at public meetings, especially black citizens, (Pasque, The Capital Times,
In Fitchburg local bureaucrats routinely call the police on citizens expressing concern about the municipal budget, reporting voting obstruction, and caring for black children, (care-givers are the worst problem).
Common Council members contrive with the City Attorney's Office and City Administrator, Patrick Marsh, to phone police when a citizen, like me for example, point out unlawful public conduct.
Kaleem Caire, president and CEO of One City Learning Centers, found out the hard way that citizens can not count on Constitutional and democratic norms to publicly voice concerns at public Council meetings.
Reports Lisa Speckhard Pasque in The Capital Times:
During Tuesday's public hearing, Caire began his statement by saying that community services should be part of the city budget, as those who would benefit from the services 'are human beings' and taxpayers. He then criticized council members, saying 'I saw you all, members of this council, who refused to meet with people in this community, Mayor Gonzalez as much as I --'
At that point, Gonzalez interrupted him and called him out of order, saying 'We’re here to talk about budget amendments.' Caire kept trying to finish his statement, and said he wasn’t done and hadn’t said anything offensive.
Gonzalez continued to interrupt him, saying 'You’re done,' and 'Please leave, sir.'
City Administrator Patric Marsh then called the police.
Notes Chris Aadland in the Wisconsin State Journal:
Caire said the message the [Fitchburg] budget sends is that the city isn’t welcoming and doesn’t value community input.
'I thought for the last several years they were trying to change that image, but these people are taking them backwards,' he said.
Mayor Jason Gonzalez claims that the performance of the Common Council on the municipal budget cannot be articulated by citizens commenting on the budget at a budgetary public hearing, or Gonzalez will rule the citizens "out of order," contact the Fitchburg Police Dept, who will escort the citizen out of the Council.
Jason Gonzalez, and Ald Julia Arata-Fratta and Ald Dorothy Krause cannot operate beyond the norms of democratic society without the explicit support of City Administrator Patrick Marsh, asst City Attorney Valerie Zisman, and ultimately the Fitchburg Municipal Court which will rubber-stamp any civil citation the police issue, any action of the Council and the cloistered racists who populate City Hall, no matter how absurd. Mal Contends advocates citizens voice their concerns with appropriate Fitchburg public official as listed in the public Fitchburg public directory.
On a personal note, as long-time Fitchburg resident, I sometimes wonder if I had veered into a Cassandra complex, after years of alerting election officials to unlawful practices of Fitchburg city officials.
One thing is clear: the urgency of the moment lives forever in the present.
Writes Dane County resident, Amelia Royko Maurer last night as rights, open meetings and democratic norms are dieing in Fitchburg. [Royko Maurer was also thrown out of the Common Council meeting, ( The Capital Times, Wisconsin State Journal)]:
I’m utterly stunned by the lack of response from Fitchburg citizens to the behavior of their elected representatives. Politeness and silence have never, ever brought about necessary change in fact, quite the contrary.
The question to ask yourself is, are you part of the firing squad or are you for equity and justice. *There is no middle ground.*
This column is from the 60s so it contains racial terms that may trigger some, as it has me, but the overarching point should hit home hard for Fitchburg residents.
Royko links a column, Millions in his firing squad, on the assassination of King penned by the late, great Mike Royko, reading in part:
FBI agents are looking for the man who pulled the trigger and surely they will find him.
But it doesn't matter if they do or they don't. They can't catch everybody, and Martin Luther King was executed by a firing squad that numbered in the millions.
They took part, from all over the country, pouring words of hate into the ear of the assassin.
The man with the gun did what he was told. Millions of bigots, subtle and obvious, put it in his hand and assured him he was doing the right thing.
It would be easy to point at the Southern redneck and say he did it. But what of the Northern disk-jockey-turned-commentator, with his slippery words of hate every morning?
What about the Northern mayor who steps all over every poverty program advancement, thinking only of political expediency, until riots fester, whites react with more hate and the gap between the races grows bigger?
Toss in the congressman with the stupid arguments against busing. And the pathetic women who turn out with eggs in their hands to throw at children.
Let us not forget the law-and-order type politicians who are in favor of arresting all Negro prostitutes in the vice districts. When you ask them to vote for laws that would eliminate some of the causes of prostitution, they babble like the boobs they are.
Throw in a Steve Telow or two: the Eastern and Southern European immigrant or his kid who seems to be convinced that in 40 or 50 years he built this country. There was nothing here until he arrived, you see, so that gives him the right to pitch rocks when Martin Luther King walks down the street in his neighborhood.
They all took their place in King's firing squad.
And behind them were the subtle ones, those who never say anything bad but just nod when the bigot throws out his strong opinions.
He is actually the worst, the nodder is, because sometimes he believes differently but he says nothing. He doesn't want to cause trouble. For Pete's sake, don't cause trouble!
So when his brother-in-law or his card-playing buddy from across the alley spews out the racial filth, he nods.
Give some credit to the most subtle of the subtle. That distinction belongs to the FBI, now looking for King's killer.
That agency took part in a mudslinging campaign against him that to this day demands an investigation.
The bullet that hit King came from all directions. Every two-bit politician or incompetent editorial writer found in him, not themselves, the cause of our racial problems.
It was almost ludicrous. The man came on the American scene preaching nonviolence from the first day he sat at the wrong end of a bus. He preached it in the North and was hit with rocks. He talked it the day he was murdered.
Hypocrites all over this country would kneel every Sunday morning and mouth messages to Jesus Christ. ...
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