Frederica Freyberg:

Earlier this week, Marisa Wojcik sat down with the founder of Urban Triage and Madison organizer Brandi Grayson to hear what their demands are and what protests look and sound like on the ground.

Marisa Wojcik:

Can you describe for us what this past week of protests at the state’s Capitol has looked like and sounded like to you?

Brandi Grayson:

The protests have been very powerful in the sense that it’s cross-generational, cross races, cross ideology, right? It’s just a mixture of beautiful, brilliant people who are really fed up with the systematic oppression, right? Really fed up with white supremacy and the killing of black bodies without justice. And I think when George Floyd was murdered on camera following the death of Ahmaud who was chased down by KKK supremacists, it was just enough, right? And with the mixture of COVID, people being isolated and people just being tired of being just oppressed and having their rights taken away from them, so what I’ve seen on the ground, it was really a feeling of community, right? And the sense of we are in this together and that we will be the ones that save us and protect us and we must keep going until our voices are heard and real action is taken. And for us in Madison, Wisconsin, real action looks like defunding our jails, our police departments, investing in people, investing in our children, investing in youth. And one of the other demands is firing Matt Kenny, who currently is a police officer with Madison Police Department who murdered Tony Robinson in 2015, shot him seven times. So we are asking that there be real actions taken as it relates to the violence inflicted on human bodies. And what we’ve been witnessing is community. And what we’re also demanding is community control over police. We need community review boards to have the same power as the police and fire commission. And that power can be granted to community members through our city council and through the police and fire commission. And another one of our demands is free them all. So free them all means all black people currently locked up in Dane County jail. And that responsibility and power specifically falls on our Dane County Executive Joe Parisi and our sheriff. So they have the power to let people out. And what we know is when COVID hit, they did let people out, right? So we know that they can if they really are interested in justice and a fair system.

Marisa Wojcik:

And I did want to ask you about your demands. Your organization, along with Freedom, Inc. and the Party for Socialism and Liberation have made this list of demands. Are these demands in line generally with what others are calling for across the country?

Brandi Grayson:

Yes. It’s in line with the black movement, movement for black lives, defunding the police, reparations for black people and really building resources for the black community. And with the understanding that when we get to the point where we are uplifting black people and we’re supporting black people with opportunity, resources and justice, then everyone is liberated.

Marisa Wojcik:

Where do you see things going? What do you believe the outcome of these protests will be? Or do you foresee yourself protesting every day for weeks and months to come?

Brandi Grayson:

You know, that’s a hard question. That’s totally up to those in power. It’s totally up to our federal government, our local police department, our local mayor, our local Dane County executive, our sheriff. If folks want this to end, then there has to be some changes. I don’t see it stopping until some real actionable steps happen. This is historical. There is a revolution happening and taking place across our country. I don’t see it ending. I see it increasing until real actionable steps are taken to end the violence against black bodies at the hands of our police state. And again, are people in charge that have power. They have to power to end this at any moment. The question really isn’t when the protesters are going to stop. The question is when are those in charge and in power going to start doing things to protect black bodies?

Marisa Wojcik:

All right. Brandi Grayson, thank you so much for joining us.

Brandi Grayson:

You’re welcome. Thank you.