Author: Op Ed

Angela Lang: One year after George Floyd’s death and little has changed in Wisconsin

May 25 was the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. There was a wave of international protests. People said enough was enough. So with the unprecedented attention and uprisings, what did we get accomplished? What are we working towards? Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ task force on racial disparities is moving its recommendations through committee. The recommendations include things like putting police departments’ use-of-force policies online and keeping employee records. All decent ideas, but none of those things would have kept George Floyd and other victims of police violence alive. Instead of merely putting use-of-force policies online, I...

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How We Bounce Back: Wisconsin will see real impact on real lives with Medicaid expansion

Wisconsin’s budget committee recently voted – yet again – to turn down the opportunity to expand the state’s Medicaid program, thereby eliminating the opportunity to provide health care and long-term care services for more Wisconsinites and declining more than $1.6 billion in federal funding. The $1.6 billion in new federal resources is the best way to bolster our health system and help Wisconsin bounce back by investing in the people of our state, their businesses, their families, their health care providers, and their health. People across Wisconsin need the health care, nursing home care, home care, and more that...

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State lawmakers continue to gaslight the Wisconsin public about Foxconn’s failed development

Recent news reports have exposed the ongoing contract renegotiations between the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and Foxconn, related to the controversial LCD factory which Foxconn promised to build in Mount Pleasant. featured several statements offered by Featured statements from state representatives Robin Vos and Van Wanggaard about the project that were identified as misleading and factually incorrect. In response to a question on whether new state legislation would be needed to renegotiate the contract that WEDC has determined to be broken, Senator Wanggaard claimed “Foxconn is in substantial compliance with their existing contract…” His statement was categorically false....

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Rejecting Integration: The federal government is abandoning its responsibilities to ensure fair housing

In recent days, President Trump has indicated that he will likely retract a federal requirement that cities and counties act to promote residential integration and equal housing opportunities. Such a move would be unacceptable under any circumstances, but it is particularly repugnant that in the midst of a national crisis, the President is using racist, inflammatory language to undermine civil rights and tacitly endorse segregation. In remarks on July 16, the President stated that pro-integrative policies mean that “your home will go down in value and crime rates will rapidly rise,” and that suburbs will “go to hell.” As...

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Targeted by Police: How law enforcement tries to criminalize Milwaukee’s Black Activists

In this moment of completely valid social unrest, we’ve seen some people respond skeptically to police violence: Didn’t she resist arrest? Weren’t they breaking the law by marching in the street? What did he do to deserve being shot? Perhaps because people want to believe that we live in a just world with fair-minded authorities, there is a tendency to automatically give police — and their version of events — the benefit of the doubt. But that benefit of the doubt is rarely extended to the people who police accuse of committing crimes. Many people assume that the police...

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Poisoned Philanthropy: The dangers of becoming the “white moderate” that MLK warned us about

I have been thinking of George Floyd’s brutal murder by the police and of the protests happening in Minneapolis, nationwide, and globally. I am at a loss on what to do and how to support our Black friends and colleagues, and family members who have constantly suffered under the pervasive violence of white supremacy and racism. I don’t know what to say. I don’t have any encouraging words for you at this moment. I am just angry and sad. And to be honest, I am also frustrated by the nonprofit sector. I love our field and the people in...

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