300 days of Black Lives Matter protest
Beneath a gray, overcast sky, on a damp and windy day, protesters gathered in Madison Park near Wauwatosa. Among them were the parents of 25-year-old Jay Anderson Jr., who was killed by former Wauwatosa police officer Joseph Mensah in 2016. The group had gathered not only to pay their respects to the Anderson family, but to also celebrate the 300th day of Black Lives Matter protests in Milwaukee.
“I just want to say that we love ya’ll,” said Mariah Smith, a member of The People’s Revolution (TPR). The group formed after the George Floyd-inspired protests began in the summer of 2020. Since then, TPR has held demonstrations throughout southeastern Wisconsin from Milwaukee to Kenosha and elsewhere. Smith addressed not only Anderson’s parents Jay Sr. and Linda, but also the entire group. “We love ya’ll too,” Jay Sr. responded, echoed by others in the group of 30 or so.
Day 300 coincided with the second court date in the ongoing John Doe hearing into Anderson’s death. The hearing ended with WPD Chief Barry Weber being ordered by a judge to testify on May 4. “I don’t think any of us can fathom what ya’ll are going through,” Smith told Anderson’s parents. “You guys get up every day, and ya’ll keep the fight. Ya’ll got to go on with your lives before this tragedy first happened right here in this parking lot,” said Smith. “So I commend ya’ll, and I love ya’ll.”
Linda Anderson thanked the group, stating, “It’s ya’ll that’s keeping us going. I mean that, from the bottom of my heart. And I have to keep fighting for my son. He did not deserve this, and that’s the reason we’re out here every day.” After the speeches, the group organized a march and car caravan. The protesters, chanting Anderson’s name, traveled about a mile through the neighborhoods surrounding the park. As the marchers returned to the park, someone threw eggs from a hidden vantage point in a yard. Anderson’s parents and the marchers just grinned.
Read more: https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2021/03/29/300-days-of-black-lives-matter-protest/