Swastikas, Pro-Trump Graffiti Defaces Anti-Fascist Plaque Outside Synagogue in Madison, Wisconsin

Unknown person(s) defaced a plague honoring the anti-fascist
Abraham Lincoln Brigade outside the Gates of Heaven Synagogue
building at the popular James Madison Park in Madison, Wisconsin.
Photo is from Dylan Brogan at the Isthmus.

Update: See also Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism's report on the incident and the series documenting hate, (Ibrahim and Hall).
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Madison, Wisconsin — A plaque celebrating the Abraham Lincoln Brigade's anti-fascist battles during the Spanish Civil War was defaced with swastikas some 20 yards outside the Gates of Heaven Synagogue building at the popular James Madison Park about one mile from the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

The community is at a loss for words, (Isthmus, Wisconsin State Journal).

As even progressive cities face emboldened rightwingers, long-time Madison residents do not know where the bottom of racist activity lies.

Reports Rob Schultz:

'I'm horrified, I'm sad. I would have hoped that we were beyond this — especially in Madison,' said Dawn Berney, the executive director of Jewish Social Services of Madison. 'But xenophobia is everywhere, even in Madison.'

Madison Mayor Paul Soglin said that the graffiti was the act of ignorant people. 'Given the enabling rhetoric from Donald Trump, particularly since Charlottesville, we know that vicious racist and Nazi attacks have increased. While we know that over 99% of the people of Madison abhor and reject this terrible act, let it stand as a reminder that there are always a few ignorant people who would destroy our liberty and rights,' Soglin said in a statement. 'I ask that they come forward not to be punished but to explain themselves. True patriots never hide and attack in the darkness; striking in silence and in the shadows lies in the heart of cowards and fools.'

The act was committed in the progressive and activist Madison Isthmus, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the first of the Jewish High Holy Days.

Wisconsin has for many decades been a home to anti-Semitic groups such as the John Birch Society and assorted hate groups.

Most concerning is the generic fascism in rural and small-town Wisconsin often dominated by xenophobic white people who vote Republican and support Gov. Scott Walker.

$ 7 Million Verdict in Wisconsin for Family of Woman Gunned Down by Police in 2014

The face of hate in Madison, Wisconsin wears military blue
and black. Killers, Justin Bailey and Gary Pihlaja, have bad
attitudes and they found a home with the local police.

Madison, Wisconsin — A jury in U.S. District Court in Wisconsin spoke loud and clear:

26-year-old Ashley DiPiazza need not have been gunned down by Madison police in 2014.  Post-911, unreasonable policing in which everyone is subject to lethal force by occupying military-police units must stop now.

For family and friends of Ashley DiPiazza, a record $7 Million verdict will do little to ease the trauma of losing a young woman to killers. Said Joe DiPiazza, Ashley's father: "She had just told me all her friends were married and had kids, and she felt a little left out. She’d ask, ‘Dad, what kind of mother do you think I’d make to my child?’ I told her she’d be great,'" (Schultz, Wisconsin State Journal).

The federal civil rights case, Estate of Ashley DiPiazza v. City of Madison, Justin Bailey, Gary Pihlaja, resulted in "$4 million in compensatory and $3 million in punitive damages," reports Rob Schultz, Wisconsin State Journal.

Ashley DiPiazza, 26, was gunned
down by Madison, Wisconsin
police in 2014

Even as the Wisconsin citizenry is increasingly saying, 'no' to police killing people, the local police union and Madison Police, 'never-saw-a-killer-cop-I-didn't-like' Mike Koval bemoaned without irony police now may have to think before killing people, (Schultz, Wisconsin State Journal).

Life is cheap for killers, Justin Bailey and Gary Pihlaja, Not so for most others. Reports Schultz, in the Wisconsin State Journal:

After the verdict, the jury heard friends and family members recall how DiPiazza had many friends, loved her family, was responsible and had a couple of relationships with young men that left her disheartened.

At the time of the shooting, DiPiazza also was grieving over the impending death of her mother, Michelle Duby, of Lake Geneva, who died of cancer two days after DiPiazza was killed, DiPiazza’s father said. 

A disheartened Ashley DiPiazza was gunned down by miserable people to whom life means little.

It's not supposed to be this way. But Ashley DiPiazza is just another stat on the Killed-by-Police chronicle of horror:

Ashley DiPiazza was killed by Wisconsin police in May 2014, (Killed by Police)