Madison, Wisconsin Protest - Friday Report From the Ground

On Friday February 18,  2011, I took advantage of the second day of school closings in my district and gave my children a lesson in civics, politics, and the rights that are protected by the First Amendment to our Constitution - those which guarantee our freedom of speech and our right to assemble peacefully. I took them to the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin so that we could participate in the protests against Scott Walker's "budget repair bill".  While I had heard reports of "chaos" and the "powder keg" environment, I suspected those might be inaccurate, and they were. When we arrived around 1:00 PM, the Capitol was crowded and bustling. After finding a decent vantage point on the 4th floor overlooking the closed doors of the Senate chamber, I did some exploring around the building.

Any reports of violence or chaos were lies, plain and simple. The thousands of people in the building were energetic, polite, talkative, and boisterous. The crowd was a mix of all ages, with many families and also a good number of university students. Of all the people I spoke with, only one elderly gentleman in the Capitol on Friday was from out of state. He had lived in Wisconsin for over forty years, and after his retirement from the police force, moved to Minnesota to be closer to his daughter. Much of the time the protestors were chanting slogans such as "Kill the Bill" and "This is what democracy looks like". 

Although I had heard conservative reports that things were getting messy in the Capitol, I saw no trash in places other than in trash receptacles, and the bathrooms were far cleaner than the ones at Miller Stadium during a Brewers game. This is largely thanks to a group of UW students who have been spending their time cleaning the Capitol while the protests continue. 

A more important gauge of the crowd's behavior, however, comes from the law enforcement officials who have been on hand at the Capitol over the past few days. The Madison Police Department released a statement yesterday in which they commended "the behavior of those who have gathered peacefully to protest" and confirmed that "MPD officers have made no arrests this week." And as it turned out, my partner knew three of the state troopers who happened to be on duty while we were there yesterday. When they stopped by to talk, they told us that they were pleased with the protesters and the tone of the demonstration so far. They confirmed that they had had no problems whatsoever with any of the demonstrators. They did, however, all express concern about the arrival of Tea Party members Saturday, and acknowledged that they were concerned about the counter-demonstrators' possible behavior. 

We left after four hours. The crowd had not thinned at all, and the chanting was still going strong. Some of the university students I spoke with were planning on staying the night - again - but most of us were leaving and planning to return again on Saturday.