The singing voices and stomping feet rang out in the Capitol Rotunda, after Thursday morning's shameful Wisconsin state Senate vote to pass the most restrictive voter-ID bill in the nation:
Which side are you on, boys,
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on, gals,
Which side are you on?
I was going to write a cheerful follow-up to my initial diary about the ongoing witness of the Solidarity Singalong. As thousands of protesters perpared to gather May 14 at the Capitol, to remind Governor Scott Walker and his crew that we had not forgotten, the Singalong suddenly garnered a spate of media attention. While the protests themselves were buried deep in the Sunday edition of the Wisconsin State Journal, the Solidarity Singalong got a front-page article that day. The previous Thursday, the faithful conductor R. Chris Reeder was profiled in the Isthmus, Madison's free weekly paper, for his songleading.
But today things feel painful again, no longer celebratory. With the passage of the Voter ID / Voter Suppression bill, a drastic "solution" to the non-existent problem of voter-fraud in Wisconsin, once again angry cries of "Shame!" filled the Senate gallery.
They say that in Wisconsin
There are no neutrals there
You're either with the workers
Or with the billionaires!
Which side are you on, boys, which side are you on?
Which side are you on, gals, which side are you on?
The first "Which Side Are You On?" was written in 1931 by Florence Reese, wife of a union organizer for the United Mine Workers in Harlan County Kentucky, during a time of violent labor struggle -- particularly poignant today as we learn of Massey Energy's culpability in the 2010 West Virginia coal mining disaster. She used a tune familiar as both a Baptist hymn ("Lay the Lily Low") and as a folk song ("The Ballad of Jack Munro.") The original included the following lyrics:
They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there
You'll either be a union man
Or a thug for J.H. Blair!
As with other songs sung every weekday at the Solidarity Singalong at the Capitol, the lyrics have been remade for Wisconsin purposes.
I wish I could have been there today -- had to catch up in retrospect this afternoon via social media! The continued division was on full display as multiple legislative assaults moved forward all over the Capitol: the Voter ID travesty in the Senate, debate on concealed carry in the Assembly (if you don't have an ID but bring your gun to the polling place, do you suppose you can get the poll-workers to let you vote after all?), and the Joint Finance Committee's ongoing deliberations on the slash-and-burn biennial budget.
The process in the Senate this morning was particularly harsh. After 10 hours of debate on the Voter ID bill earlier in the week, during which the Republicans systematically tabled every last ameliorative amendment without discussion, the Democrats had succeeded in delaying the vote until today. The Fab 14 still had plenty more to say, but the Senate president (Michael Ellis, R - Neenah) was having none of it. One hour for debate, vote at 11:00. And promptly at 11:00, he cut off the remarkable Senator Fred Risser, longest-serving state senator in the nation and still going strong in his 80s, with the instruction to roll-call the vote over any-and-all objections. You can see the proceedings here (note - the video's title is courtesy of nicknice, not AnnieJo!):
After the video cut off, the witnesses sang "We Shall Overcome" in the Senate gallery -- and then again in the Rotunda for the Singalong at noon.
Republican legislator Michelle Litjens (R-Appleton) objected via Twitter:
I've had enough! One hour of union protesters singing, "We will overcome" etc. in the Capital Rotunda!!! When will the insanity end!
You can see the screenshot here -- though she since seems to have limited her tweeting to followers-only once she realized she was being exposed.
When will the insanity end, Michelle? It's actually kind of hard to put the divisiveness genie back in the bottle once you've let it out like this, you know. We're going to do our best to get things back on track electorally: first the senate recalls, then recalling Scott Walker, then in the regularly-scheduled 2012 elections after which we'll FINALLY be able to start reversing some of the damage that's being done to our state right now.
One way to show which side you're on, DKos friends? Donate via ActBlue/Orange to Blue -- how about $6 for each of the 6 Democratic challengers in the July recall elections!
The Democrats need to win three of those seats to regain the Senate majority, to put the brakes on the corporatist flood. Then we need to hold onto the three Democratic state senate seats that will (if the recall-petitions are deemed sufficient) likely come up in August -- in an interesting show of disarray, all three of those seats have two Republican challengers apiece, who will have to spend time and money facing off in July primaries before the actual recall elections.
It's a long road. But we're determined. And as we press onward, I'll leave you with this follow-up tweet from one of the singers:
Got home from sing along & saw the tweet from Michelle Litjens, GOP Rep. member. They can hear us. We will sing even louder now.