April 15, 2015

"Dozens of high school students protesting the fatal police shooting of Tony Robinson closed down one of Madison’s main thoroughfares for eight hours Tuesday..."

"... as police, taking a largely hands-off approach, redirected the crawling streams of traffic to side streets."
The protest began around 10:30 a.m. when dozens of students walked out of East [High School] and gathered on East Washington Avenue in front of the school. By 1:30 p.m., students from West High School, who held an earlier rally on Regent Street, and other protesters joined the students from East, eventually blocking all six lanes of traffic....

Shortly after 6:30 p.m....police declared the event an unlawful assembly and began moving people toward the sidewalks. Several demonstrators who refused to comply were arrested.

Police said four people were arrested and another 11 were cited and released. Derrick McCann, 29, was arrested and received a citation for “causing or obstructing the street, sidewalk, alley or crosswalk.” “I feel like it’s really a civil rights movement,” McCann said. “I didn’t do anything wrong ... we were peaceful.”

64 comments:

damikesc said...

Yes, nothing gets people on your side like being unbelievably annoying.

I wonder what legal liabilities a high school has allowing students to just walk off campus.

And, surely, truancy is being done here.

But their feelings are hurt, naturally, so none of it matters. As long as their can pitch their tantrum.

Funny, my state handles these situations quite well. Two shootings of blacks by police and the officers are punished, harshly, within a day or two.

Lyle said...

Progressive Wisconsin

MadisonMan said...

I notice in the article that Robinson is back to being black.

Tank said...

"Din do nuffin," he said.

Todd said...

“I didn’t do anything wrong ... we were peaceful.”

So, it would be OK with you if I came and sat down in your living room, as long as I was peaceful?

If you are blocking the street, keeping me from where I need / want to go just so you can be a good little SJW, well F-you.

damikesc said...

“We are going to shut the streets down every single week until we get justice,” said Alix Shabazz, an activist with the Young, Gifted and Black coalition, which organized the protest.

Yeah, making those threats indicates that the second word in the group's title is a laughable lie.

Justice would be a car not slowing down...

Hagar said...

Isn't 29 a little old for a high school student?

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Legal question: from the snippett it sounds like the protestors were more-or-less allowed to shut down the streets from 1:30-6:30. If another protest group tries the same thing and is not allowed the same 5 hours of freedom to shut streets down, can they sue the municipality/police for a 1st amendment viewpoint discrimintion offense?

Tank said...

Hagar said...

Isn't 29 a little old for a high school student?


Not if he "din do nuffin."

BarrySanders20 said...

I hear the leftist doctors are writing sick notes for the students.






OK. I'm lying about that.

Tank said...

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Legal question: from the snippett it sounds like the protestors were more-or-less allowed to shut down the streets from 1:30-6:30. If another protest group tries the same thing and is not allowed the same 5 hours of freedom to shut streets down, can they sue the municipality/police for a 1st amendment viewpoint discrimintion offense?


No, who whom.

Alex said...

Hands up, don't shoot!

Now wasn't I cute?

Alex said...

So, it would be OK with you if I came and sat down in your living room, as long as I was peaceful?

Yes, in the name of social justice!

Alex said...

Barry - doctors aren't even seeing patients anymore.

Thanks Obamacare!

Brando said...

"Here I am stuck in lousy traffic, which is usually bad enough anyway but now I see a bunch of screaming youths who have the luxury of not having to work right now are blocking the roads. Maybe I should find out what cause they're in favor of, and support that, because anyone willing to make my drive to work and back even worse must have a great cause. Thank you, concerned citizens!"

--No one ever

Todd said...

Brando said...
"Here I am stuck in lousy traffic, which is usually bad enough anyway but now I see a bunch of screaming youths who have the luxury of not having to work right now are blocking the roads. Maybe I should find out what cause they're in favor of, and support that, because anyone willing to make my drive to work and back even worse must have a great cause. Thank you, concerned citizens!"

--No one ever

4/15/15, 11:39 AM


So true BUT you are misinformed! This event is NOT about affecting meaningful change. It is about making the participants FEEL BETTER because there were able to show HOW MUCH THEY CARE! They care so MUCH that they cut school and stood around in the street to demonstrate to all just how MUCH they CARE!

As it always was, it is all about them...

Virgil Hilts said...

Madison - one of the most liberal cities in the country. Madison - a city with one of the largest disparities in outcomes between ethnic groups. If you are an African American John Rawls and want to improve your statistical chances, you should try and be born in Utah rather than Madison.

http://host.madison.com/news/local/alarming-racial-disparities-continue-to-plague-dane-county/article_e0362222-f8c2-53aa-9a87-f97e3653b8f1.html

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

With that many high school students, and some determination, you'd think they could have come up with a magic dance or something that would have brought Tony Robinson back to life.

Curious George said...

Madison: "Worse than Ferguson!"

Burn the bitch down!

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Koval needs to be removed from office. It's his job to put down shite like this. Maybe our commie mayor should do something too, or go to Cuba where he belongs. The Young, Deluded, and Black folks are having a lot of fun skipping school and thugging out on the street, and all this in honor of a gentle giant who din du nuffin but commit burglary, armed home invasion, illegal drug use, strangling, and assaulting a cop. If any of these gentle protesters get in the way of my car, I will turn them into a grease spot on the road.

Curious George said...

You want action, move to West Washington.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

What if whites went to the town of Madison and blocked black folks on the street for nearly eight hours? I wonder how long it would take the residents there to start assaulting and shooting protesters.

Michael K said...

Madison deserves this more than any city where people actually work.

Curious George said...

Do what they did in Milwaukee, close down freeways. Close down the Beltline at John Nolen.

Headless Blogger said...

These things tend to annoy me until I embrace the fact that it is mostly progressives that are affected.

Schadenfreude.

jr565 said...

"Police said four people were arrested and another 11 were cited and released. Derrick McCann, 29, was arrested and received a citation for “causing or obstructing the street, sidewalk, alley or crosswalk.” “I feel like it’s really a civil rights movement,” McCann said. “I didn’t do anything wrong ... we were peaceful.”

Ah, but you were cited for obstructing the street, sidewalk, alley or crosswalk, dummy. So you did do something wrong.

jr565 said...

Ok, so in regards to Tony Robinson, I urge caution and to wait for results. He's being charged with murder, so cops assume he did in fact act in the wrong.
But we don't really know the details yet. So lets wait.

A few interesting tidbits though. The question is - why didn't the officer just use a taser?
The answer may be in Madisons law concerning the use of tasers -


"[I]n cases where a subject is believed to be armed with a dangerous weapon, an officer may not arm him or herself with an ECD unless another officer at the scene has the immediate ability to deliver deadly force. Officers armed with an ECD should continuously monitor and evaluate the ability of other officers present to deliver deadly force."

The suggestion is that he was alone. Don't arm with tasers unless someone else there has immediate ability to delivery deadly force.

Also there is suggestion that there was an altercation prior to the start of the wshooting where The officer was hit in the face and staggered or possibly even tased by his own weapon.

If so, that would change somewhat the dynamic

Sigivald said...

We are going to shut the streets down every single week until we get justice

That ain't how you get "justice".

That's how you get either disappointed or the appearance of undermining the rule of law.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

jr565, Tony Robinson isn't being charged with anything. Sigi, these people aren't trying to get justice; they're enjoying the nice weather, skipping school, and mau-mauing Whitey. They're having fun, and feeling morally superior doing it.

Fen said...

“I feel like it’s really a civil rights movement,” McCann said

Yes, black people have a civil right to attack police without any consequences.

Disarm the police!

PackerBronco said...

Blogger BarrySanders20 said...
I hear the leftist doctors are writing sick notes for the students.
...
OK. I'm lying about that.


I hear the students are getting academic credit for their protest.



OK. I'm lying about that (so far.)

Laura said...

And just think, if young Mr. Robinson had jumped in front of a distracted driver traffic would also have been shut down.

Birches said...

I'm guessing the weather was beautiful in Madison yesterday...Spring fever.

Etienne said...

It surprises me, that after spending billions of dollars converting police departments to military forces, that the idea that people getting killed would be shocking.

Everything is a felony now, everything is a capital crime.

FullMoon said...

WTF?
Nobody in Madison knows how to make a water balloon? Turn that shit into a party!

Anonymous said...

Gotta love the police.

They kill someone, and then they arrest those who protest.

Thanks, pigs.

MadisonMan said...

I'm guessing the weather was beautiful in Madison yesterday

It was!

Not quite warm enough. And next week is looking coolish again.

Etienne said...

When we used to get shore patrol duty in the military, they would issue you an arm-band and a billy-club.

They would not issue you a weapon, even though weapons were everywhere.

The idea being, you were to use your command voice and de-escalate things, so no one got killed. Shooting people is easy, but it is really a cowards way out of a fist-fight.

My technique was to rap the guy one time on the shoulder blade, as that really hurts like hell, and gets the mans attention.

You ever notice on Adam-12 how they always carried a billy-club. You don't see that anymore. The cops are all cowards and trained to shoot first, even if only the stop light is broken.

Michael K said...

"Also there is suggestion that there was an altercation prior to the start of the wshooting where The officer was hit in the face and staggered or possibly even tased by his own weapon."

There is some informed speculation that the officer in South Carolina was tased with his own taser. That is the case where the officer has been charged with murder and is in jail.

walter said...

"Not quite warm enough"
To be addressed in next week's school sanctioned Climate Change protest.

Mountain Maven said...

Why aren't they protesting all the other people killed in non-police shootings? Gotta be 1000+ to 1.

And what kind of "justice" do they want? NAM punks shooting indiscriminately in the streets? I think they should wear t-shirts: "Shoot Me Instead"

clint said...

I'd really like to see class action lawsuits against groups leading protests like these -- the value of the lost time of all the people in these engineered traffic jams is significant.

Plus... it seems like a terrible habit to get ourselves into. Predictable large-scale traffic jams while police resources are diverted to controlling the protestors == really soft target for any terror group wanting to make a point.

Remember, 9/11 was only possible because of the really bad predictable response we had to plane hijackings.

walter said...

Is the formal policy there to simply green light walking out of school at any time? Or is this just turning a blind eye toward it?
You know..do parents/guardians have to sign to allow this? Do they even know?

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Walter, if we let those kids miss too much school for protests like this, where will the next generation of doctors, scientists, and engineers come from? After all, they're gifted, every one of them, I'm sure.

Peter said...


" I'd really like to see class action lawsuits against groups leading protests like these -- the value of the lost time of all the people in these engineered traffic jams is significant."

Who are you going to sue, Alix Shabazz? "Alix Shabazz is a black, queer, feminist, revolutionary community organizer," according to The Guardian. If Al Sharpton couldn't pay any judgements against him (because he's always "broke"), what makes you think Alix Shabazz would pay, even assuming you prevail in court?

Perhaps you'd do better to sue MPD for failing to maintain order (although they'd probably claim sovereign immunity).

"Who's streets, our streets!" Do you think that includes you?

traditionalguy said...

Southerners are really shocked to hear that Northerners are so mean to good black citizens out peacefully walking up the street. My suggestion is that you fire all racist white police officers and replace them with black social workers trained to understand people.

walter said...

Will be an interesting liability issue if a kid gets hurt or killed while a parent thinks they are in school.

MayBee said...

Blocking the street is certainly the new way to protest.
Stupid, annoying, dangerous.

Today the SEIU had more days of protests for fast food workers, they were supposed to be held nationally. Most of the protesters aren't fast food workers.

It seems like there are a lot of groups organizing protests lately.

damikesc said...

All of these protests, etc --- don't exactly make the people in power look good.

Madison can't deal with a gaggle of idiots causing problems?

The Secret Service cannot handle a moron flying a gyrocopter in DC?

deepelemblues said...

You blocked traffic, you presumptuous fuck. Let's see if you would say "they did nothing wrong" if they blocked you from getting to your job or picking up your kids or anything else under the rubric of "being a contributing member of society."

Inconveniencing and irritating the masses has never worked as a protest strategy, despite the incredibly stupid conceit we've seen introduced in the last couple years that "change" requires such. Barack Obama Himself has pushed this narcissist bullcrap. The civil rights movement did not achieve success by inconveniencing people and threatening them that more is coming if you don't side with us. It succeeded by persuading them.

Fen said...

Its just a matter of time. Some poor guy will be trying to get his kid to the ER, these jackasses will be blocking him, so he'll ram his way through. Or just shoot them.

Then there will be no more of this bs.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Right on, deep! Whatever happened to carrying signs, or even shouting through a bullhorn WITHOUT impeding traffic? They could get their point across without stopping, diverting, or inconveniencing anyone, IF they actually had a point, or at least a point that wasn't totally discredited.

Freder Frederson said...

Blocking the street is certainly the new way to protest.

Oh yeah, nobody has thought of that before.

You really don't know much history do you?

Michael K said...

"You really don't know much history do you?"

Whereas you are the expert.

Especially about protests.

The only protest I am favor of is the one in LA where all the illegal aliens stayed home to show the society it would collapse without them. Traffic was wonderful for couple of days. We've been trying to get them to do a repeat for the last five years.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"Walter, if we let those kids miss too much school for protests like this, where will the next generation of doctors, scientists, and engineers come from?"

Damn. Bullseye.

Big Mike said...

Derrick McCann needs to read "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." The fact that he and his fellow students were nonviolent is material only insofar as he wasn't arrested and put in jail. Like Martin Luther King, Jr., back in the 1960s, if you break the law you suffer the consequences. If your cause is just, then that's one thing. If you were just looking for an excuse to cut math class, that's another.

Fernandinande said...

Why are "dozens of HS students" national news? Bus accident?

Fernandinande said...

BarrySanders20 said...
OK. I'm lying about that.


Rolling Stone, MSNBC and the NYT are hiring.

Drago said...

Freder: "You really don't know much history do you?"

He probably knows as much history as you know about negotiating with employers for salary and benefits.

Big Mike said...

@Char Char, I doubt you'll find the next Dr. Ben Carson, MD anywhere in that lot.

Crimso said...

"Legal question: from the snippett it sounds like the protestors were more-or-less allowed to shut down the streets from 1:30-6:30. If another protest group tries the same thing and is not allowed the same 5 hours of freedom to shut streets down, can they sue the municipality/police for a 1st amendment viewpoint discrimintion offense?"

A local talk radio host in Huntsville, AL did the experiment not long ago. After protesters blocked a major thoroughfare with a march, some days (or weeks) later he made a one-man march down the same thoroughfare, expecting the cops to stop him. They didn't. I suspect because he announced his intentions ahead of time.

jr565 said...

coupe wrote:
"When we used to get shore patrol duty in the military, they would issue you an arm-band and a billy-club.

They would not issue you a weapon, even though weapons were everywhere.

The idea being, you were to use your command voice and de-escalate things, so no one got killed. Shooting people is easy, but it is really a cowards way out of a fist-fight.

My technique was to rap the guy one time on the shoulder blade, as that really hurts like hell, and gets the mans attention.

You ever notice on Adam-12 how they always carried a billy-club. You don't see that anymore. The cops are all cowards and trained to shoot first, even if only the stop light is broken."

when the cops use the billy club they are accused of police brutality. Imagine seeing some getting hit in the head with a baton and bleeding on sidewalk, and then tell me that said cop wouldn't be characterized as a monster? Rodney King Part II.
And by the way your rapping that guy on the shoulder wouldn't go over too well either. You'd be the cop,that likes to hit people with your billy club.
Are you guaranteeing that that one shot would be enough to get them to meekly comply? What if you had to hit them again? Or a third time?
And his buddy was videotaping you.

Todd Roberson said...

The irony in situations like this: for all the people now that supposed "care" about Mr. Robinson, apparently not many cared for him when he was alive.

Had more people truly cared for him when he was alive he likely wouldn't have been in a situation where found himself on the wrong side of the law so often in his short life.

Sad.

Todd said...

Todd Roberson said...
The irony in situations like this: for all the people now that supposed "care" about Mr. Robinson, apparently not many cared for him when he was alive.

Had more people truly cared for him when he was alive he likely wouldn't have been in a situation where found himself on the wrong side of the law so often in his short life.

Sad.

4/15/15, 9:30 PM>


That lot never cares about the individual. All they ever care about is how they can use the remains.