We made it through a long winter and spring of peaceful Wisconsin protest. Our protests were sometimes massive, sometimes small and consistent, but always (ALWAYS!) non-violent. Even when we were locked out of the Capitol while they ran roughshod over our voices and the Open Meetings law, no violence occurred.
Today, on the first day of summer, the Wisconsin Solidarity Singers were peaceful as usual, raising their voices during their FIFTEENTH week of noon-hour singalongs at the Capitol in Madison.
But one of the Tea Party individuals who came to disrupt the singing, on the occasion of the passage of Wisconsin's new concealed-carry law, broke that long proud streak.
He put one of the singers in a headlock and punched him in the face, breaking one of the singer's teeth.
If the players had been reversed, it would have been splashed all over the right-wing media in jig time.
But the attacker was carrying a Gadsden flag, and was in the company of a former GOP state senator, so the noise-machine didn't crank up; it took a little longer for a few stories to begin appearing (see end of diary for links).
Here are the reports from those who were there, as tweeted and blogged and Facebooked.
According to eyewitnesses, there were three people disrupting the Solidarity Singalong hour. One was former state senator Dave Zien of the GOP, who now uses a wheelchair after losing a leg in a life-threatening motorcycle accident in March. Today he was using that wheelchair to intimidate, aggressively wheeling around the inside of the singers' circle on the ground floor of the Rotunda, making people jump back to avoid wheel-tracks on their toes.
There is video-evidence of these wheelchair maneuvers on Facebook. The singers did not retaliate, but simply moved out of Zien's way, continuing to sing a verse of We Shall Overcome ("Oh, deep in my heart / I do believe / Walker won't be governor someday!")
The songleader and most of the singers stand on the ground floor, but a group of singers also stands at the balcony one floor up, several of them holding banners for the Solidarity Singalong that cascade down. On this floor, two friends of Zien's were marching around with a Gadsden flag: Don't Tread on Me. A photo at the Blue Cheddar Blog shows the flag being carried around, shortly before the events described in the following Facebook eyewitness account:
The singing went on peacefully as it always does right up until the last few minutes, right before 1pm when the sing along is over. The teabaggers with the flag came onto the second floor and and hung their flag over the balcony and then they began walking around the circle holding their flag over the balcony. As they would encounter a participant in the sing along, they would just continue walking, and would drape their flag right over people's faces and/or banners if they were holding one. When these two men continued around the circle to where I was standing, holding my banner, I took a few steps away from the balcony edge still holding my banner as a way to prevent these men from putting their flag over me, but they continued to do it anyway.
Just as they were draping their flag across my face, a member of the sing along came over, told the men to stop it, and pulled their flag down. instantly, the shorter tea partier grabbed this guy in a headlock and punched him in the mouth which resulted in a broken tooth. The guy who got punched did not initiate any physical force against either of the tea partiers holding the flag, he just was grabbing and trying to pull down their flag, never touching either of the men until he was trying to get himself free from the headlock. Some more sing along people came over and tried to break up the fight. moments later the police came upstairs to assess the situation. Several eyewitnesses including myself gave statements to the police and everyone who was involved in the assault.
At least one of the flag-holders, a Wisconsinite from Green Bay, was led away in cuffs, and charged with battery as well as disorderly conduct (the other, who lives in Minnesota, got off with just disorderly conduct). Blue Cheddar reports that the victim, who had stepped in to defend the banner-holders, was cited for disorderly conduct as well -- which feels like a bad case of the "false balance" from all I've read so far.
It seems that the assault itself happened so quickly, nobody caught it on camera. Except, perhaps, a camera crew from a Fox affiliate who apparently came along with the Zien party and had already been filming. However, I haven't heard of any such video being broadcast.
I exchanged messages with R. Chris Reeder, the dedicated songleader who has led this protest with good humor and good sense these many weeks. The part of the incident that disturbed him the most was the bringing of outside violence into this completely non-violent group of peaceful singers, who often bring children to the sing-along (though fortunately no little ones were present today).
However, he hopes for a good turnout tomorrow, to send a message that "Our sing-along community is too strong to be broken up by a couple rabble-rousers trying to agitate us." He plans to open tomorrow's sing-along with a Martin Luther King, Jr. quote, and also a song that usually comes in the middle of the noon-hour lineup: We Are A Gentle, Angry People.
I'm betting that the quote will be this one from the Solidarity Singers' Facebook page today:
"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
I can't make it to tomorrow's sing-along -- I'll be en route between childcare and work -- but I hope it's huge. And I'm sure it will be beautiful, and determinedly peaceful. I look forward to taking my children to sing, in a couple of weeks when the opportunity next arises. I'm sure the Singalong will still be there. We shall not be moved (No Nos Moveran!)
Mainstream news reports:
Man arrested for battery in Capitol altercation-- Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (short, and the guy with the battery charge seemed to have trouble remembering the details of the event...)
Protester punched in the face at daily Capitol singalong -- Wisconsin State Journal (the more conservative of Madison's two outlets, but the story is very friendly toward the singers, and includes the video of the aggressive wheelchair shenanigans.)
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UPDATE: Together with the obligatory "Top of the Rec List -- Wow -- Thank you!"...
Seeing as how I've got your attention: mustn't forget the action step!
Wisconsin needs financial support to elect Democrats in the recall elections later this summer. The right-wing corporate cash is flowing as expected. Grassroots help can make all the difference... please donate in support of the Democratic recall candidates, at the DKos Orange to Blue page!
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UPDATE #2:
More discussion available at Kodiak54's diary Fitzwalkerstan - Violence at the Capitol (which actually went up before mine!)
Also, for more background on the Solidarity Singalong and the history of the songs we sing, check out my previous diaries:
WI Solidarity Singalong: Voter Suppression Edition
WI Solidarity Singalong: Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round