Saturday, August 27, 2011

This is what democracy looks like

In Milwaukee:

Protesters crowded the street outside Messmer Preparatory School in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood as Governor Walker visited the school Friday to read to children.

The protests came just hours after someone vandalized the school ahead of the Governor's visit.

"Some of these folks super glued our front doors at the prep school," said Br. Bob Smith, OFM, the president of Messmer Catholic Schools, about the school on the corner of North Fratney and East Burleigh Streets.
Messmer was once a Catholic high school. The archdiocese moved to close it nearly 20 years ago, but it eventually became one of the best examples of the success of the school choice program that has been in place in Milwaukee. Not surprisingly, a visit from Scott Walker was enough to prompt the vandalism, especially since Messmer has been a long-standing affront to the Milwaukee Public School system.

There's more:

According to Br. Smith, one protester said " 'Get ready for a riot,' because they were going to disrupt the visit."

Br. Smith said that, in his opinion, the Republican governor's visit to read to students there on Friday was not about political overtones connected to protests that have been happening all year in the state regarding the rollback of collective bargaining rights for many public workers.


"People ought to start acting like adults," said Br. Smith.
 Not a chance, Brother Smith. Not a chance.

For example, yesterday, Meade went down to the Capitol Square to see what the singalong was like this week (the day after the special prosecutor announced that no one would be charged in the Wisconsin Supreme Court "chokehold" incident). He came home with a lot of video in the Flip camera, but he was especially interested in one clip.

An angry man, recognizing Meade, rushed up and demanded "What are you doing here?" He called Meade a "son of a bitch." He told Meade he didn't belong there and he should leave. Meade asked "Isn't this a public space? Doesn't it belong to all of us?" and the man answered "Yes, it belongs to us." Another man, seeing Meade, yelled at him and called him "a f*****g tea bagger." He also called out: "Death to Republicans!"
This is what democracy looks like.








8 comments:

Night Writer said...

And sounds like. And, no doubt, smells like. It doesn't feel much like it, though.

Gino said...

the forces of thuggery got this way because its a tactic that always works in the end.

they know that this whole struggle is a war, and part of winning a war is to make it unpleasant for your foe to take the field of battle.

it has always worked because the Right has always allowed it to work.
not sure what the future brings, but if you ask me, the smart money is not with the right.

Anonymous said...

Just to clarify, Messmer High School and Messmer Grade School remain Catholic schools. They are a shining light in urban Milwaukee of the benefits of school choice, thanks in large part to Br. Bob Smith.

CousinDan 54915 said...

The Dems are a whacked. Period.

Mr. D said...

Anon, thanks for the clarification. What I meant to say is that it hasn't been under the umbrella of the Milwaukee Archdiocese. But it is a Catholic school and in Milwaukee, it has been able to participate in the school choice program available there.

Gino said...

how can messmer operate as a catholic school without the consent, or under the umbrella, of the arch-d?

my understanding... all those who teach/preach the faith fall under the purview of the local arch-d.

unless the bros have agreed to follow the arch-d in religious matters while the arcd-d agrees to stay out of everything else that happens there... maybe this is the case?

Mr. D said...

unless the bros have agreed to follow the arch-d in religious matters while the arcd-d agrees to stay out of everything else that happens there... maybe this is the case?

Maybe anon can help me out here, but my understanding is that Messmer gets no financial support from the Milwaukee Archdiocese and operates independently. They might remain under the purview of the archdiocese in terms of doctrinal matters, but because there's no financial report they can be part of the school choice program.

Anonymous said...

Messmer's rapport with the Archdiocese improved dramatically under Biship Dolan, to the point where Brother Bob was appointed to some important educational committees within the archdiocese. There are other Catholic schools in Milwaukee -- St. Anthony Grade School and the new St. Anthony High School on the southside -- that also have the blessing of the archdiocese without actually being a archdiocese school.