Milwaukee, WI – On May 23rd the Republican National Convention issued a letter to the Secret Service hoping to get Pere Marquette Park, a Milwaukee park rumored to be the site for the sanctioned speakers’ platform for dissent during the RNC, folded into the Secret Services’ security zone. This would essentially eliminate this park as an option for an area for protest. The Republicans explicitly named the Coalition to March on the RNC, and extensively quoted the Coalition, as a significant security risk. The Coalition is called “disturbing,” and the RNC obliquely claims it is inciting violence. This is a disingenuous, cowardly position to take, and the Coalition condemns any and all attempts to paint us as violent or to infringe on our right to take the streets.
The Coalition has stated from the beginning that we intend to run a family friendly march in July, and our points of unity include “Peace, justice, and equity for all.” Meanwhile, the Republicans are cheerleaders for murderers like Kyle Rittenhouse and regularly make cartoonishly racist and reactionary statements. “Hypocritical” and “disingenuous” are not sufficient to describe what is happening here. The RNC wants to support violent, anti-democratic events like the January 6th insurrection, but trembles at the thought of thousands of people and families marching for peace, justice, and equity. This is cowardly.
As the Convention grows closer, we still do not have answers about what the security zones and protest zones for the RNC will look like. It seems this lack of transparency extends beyond Milwaukee to the very people these security zones are supposed to be for. If the RNC itself feels the City is being opaque, and they are not able to get the changes they want, how must everyday Milwaukeeans feel? The people making us unsafe this summer are not organizers looking to exercise their First Amendment rights, but the Republicans spreading hate and the City acting as their stonewall. The Coalition is prepared to obtain the information we need about the routes and new permitting process through legal action. If we take this route, we will not shy away from demanding answers about our city this summer and demanding we march within sight and sound, no matter what names the cowardly Republicans throw at us.