Gov Walker will be giving one of his awkward, poorly worded speeches tomorrow. I’m sure we’ll get some less than subtle hints about what his next ‘reforms’ will be. Gov Walker has really put us in the national media spotlight these last six years. Recall and Act 10, 20 week ban and mandatory ultrasound legislation, Right to Work, the purchasing of our Supreme Court, our gerrymandering, the attacks on our public school system, the breaking up of our Dept of Natural Resources, racist voter ID laws and many other of our issues have been reported on widely. I’m always grateful to read Charles Pierce slay Scott Walker or to click over to the NYT and read an op-ed by a Prof at UW...it feels like someone else out there is paying attention. Like a postcard from a Normal Place where people understand how terrible things are here. Today was one of those days:
At least three times in the past six months, state legislators have threatened to cut the budget of the University of Wisconsin at Madison for teaching about homosexuality, gender and race. As a faculty member who focuses on how public organizations are managed, I hear a great deal about the dangers of political correctness in higher education. Several of Wisconsin’s elected officials have joined the growing chorus of demands for better protections for free speech on campus, even as they fail to recognize how their own politicized approach to managing campuses poses a much more fundamental risk to free speech.
This one-sided representation of campus speech doesn’t reflect my 14 years teaching in large public institutions in Michigan, Texas and Wisconsin. In that time, no student has ever demanded that my classes include a trigger warning or asked for a safe space. But my colleagues and I have been given much more reason to worry about the ideological agendas of elected officials and politically appointed governing boards.
Gov. Walker obviously won’t mention it but racism underpins a lot of the “Midwest Nice” in WI. Recently this manifested itself in the Lincoln Hills investigation. We were #1 on a list at Huff Post for Worst States for Black Americans a few months ago. We spend 1.5 billion — way more than other states our size — on our Dept. of Corrections. This is where it goes:
As of the 2010 census, Wisconsin had the highest incarceration rate of black males nationwide, locking up 12.8 percent of black male residents compared to the country’s 6.7 percent average at that time. By contrast, only 1.2 percent of white men in the state were incarcerated that same year. Diving in deeper, 4,042 of every 100,000 black Wisconsin residents in 2010 were incarcerated, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. That rate is more than one and a half times higher than even liberal estimates of the incarceration rate of Soviet gulags in the final year of Stalin’s reign.
I’m sure he’ll brag about how he de-funded Planned Parenthood in WI this year. 20 week ban. Mandatory ultrasounds. We got em. I’m guessing the fetus funeral bill that seems so popular around the country is coming up this session.
Five Planned Parenthood health centers have closed in Wisconsin since Gov. Scott Walker eliminated state funding for the organization 2011, though none were facilities that provided abortions. The Appleton clinic will be the sixth to close.
It seems like so long ago, and he’s pulled so much shit since then, I’d almost forgotten he repealed our Equal Pay law. We could use that raise we’re owed. 1 in 5 of our children are living in poverty, so you know that WI moms are struggling, not eating enough meals themselves.
When I read about these legislative and institutional attacks on women and my neighbors of color I am motivated to keep working with my local county Dems and supporting candidates who will work for change. When I see how my government treats young people of color I think of the kids I love and I fear for them. My kids have an excellent school despite millions in cuts and that is due to the dedicated teachers and some progressives on our city council and school board who have kept the lights on. I’ve watched our great public school system be attacked from 4K to PHD programs at the UW. I’m sure Walker will mention some BS tomorrow about conservative ideas being policed on campuses across the country. Seeing the state GOP assholes repeatedly try to censor the classes that explore white privilege, toxic masculinity, gender inequality and institutional racism both demonstrates how much of their agenda is underpinned by those things and the urgent need to push back against it, as Democrats, with words and action.