Photo courtesy of Joe Biden for President
It took a few days but finally some newsworthy activity occurred at the Milwaukee site of the virtual Democratic National Convention. A protest. A real actual protest.
Thursday’s protest seemed to involve a range of progressive causes—supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and opposing police brutality, mainly, but protesters also took issue with immigration matters, mass incarceration and the mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic. Signs read “Black Lives Matter,” “Defund the Police,” “Dump Trump,” “Cannabis Legalization.” “White Silence is Violence” and, on a big banner, “U.S. out of South America.” They chanted, “Whose streets? Our streets.” “This is what democracy looks like!” “Hands Up.”
They stood outside the Milwaukee Police Department headquarters and listened to a speaker. Then they marched around along several streets, eventually stopping at the DNC convention hall, which was mostly deserted because the pandemic moved most things virtual. Then, they marched east toward the Milwaukee Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building and I broke off from them. Aside from some small scuffles, including one involving a stumbling man sloshing around beer in a plastic cup, the protest was rather peaceful. One lady screamed at cops behind the barricaded Wisconsin Center about video games—“Stop playing ‘Call of Duty’” but they ignored her. Cops on Harley-Davidson motorcycles and horseback watched as the protesters walked by.
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Although it was rather tame, I had my newsworthy moment in Milwaukee. I posted some photos on Facebook. I was content. A road trip I made from Colorado to Wisconsin to visit the DNC—as well as family members and friends in my hometown of Milwaukee—now had something substantive for me to document.
Sprinkling of Activity
A few days earlier, I walked around downtown Milwaukee on the first day of the convention and the streets were eerily quiet. The 50,000 visitors and their $200 million of spending that would have come with a real in-person political convention were sadly missing. The Wisconsin Center was still considered a host site but had only a sprinkling of activity. I was a little disappointed. Certainly, Joe Biden or Kamala Harris would be nowhere to be found.
As I walked around the fenced perimeter, I found one lone protester, who, as I walked by, excitedly held up his sign, “Your vote is the only anecdote.” A small plane overhead pulled a banner with a picture of a fetus and the words “Black Lives Matter.” Outside the strangely quiet Major Goolsbys sports pub and grill, the sandwich board read, “Welcome DNC! Media! Protesters! If you’re here, we love you!”
Over the next four days, I realized not much would be happening downtown. So, I explored several city parks, a couple of state parks, and a few beaches during the day. At night, I headed to watch the convention—from the sofa at my brother’s house as he and his wife and I made snide or astute comments like, “Look at her hair,” and “She shouldn’t be on during prime time” and “That little boy was so cute.” That was as good as it would get.
“Creative and Inclusive”
Only a few events were live from Milwaukee. Joe Biden reportedly did tell the Wisconsin delegation they should still be proud of the most “creative and inclusive convention we’ve ever seen.” And actress Eva Longoria said at the start of the convention broadcast, “We wish we could have been from the city of festivals,” Some Democrats already are pushing Milwaukee as the host for 2024, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has some family connections to the city.
The Trump campaign also had to get its jabs in, putting up electronic billboards around Milwaukee asking, “Where’s Joe?” During the DNC, Trump appeared at a rally in Oshkosh while Vice President Pence held a rally in Darien. They made note of how Joe Biden stayed home in Delaware rather than come to Wisconsin. In an ad, Democrats called those rallies a “political stunt that puts you at risk.”
Still, there were some Wisconsin moments during the virtual event. U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore from Milwaukee welcomed the virtual audience. “I sure wish you all were here in the city of Milwaukee, which takes its name from the language of the First Peoples, interpreted as ‘good land’ and ‘gathering place by the water.’ ” Tweets noted that she had an Alice Cooper moment, referring to the rock star’s appearance in the “Wayne’s World” movie in which he explained the meaning of “mill-e-wah-que."
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert later poked fun at Milwaukee with un unfunny virtual tour of the city featuring squirrels, yeast fermentation and the Bronze Fonz, “the bronze statue of a sitcom character from 40 years ago – heyyyyyyy!”
The next night, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes provided the roll call vote from Wisconsin and was criticized for doing it from a conference room, instead of someplace uniquely Wisconsin. If Rhode Island could feature calamari, why couldn’t Wisconsin feature cheese curds or beer or bratwurst. He also cast votes for “Joseph Bidens,” but then corrected himself.
Holy Mackerel!
On Wednesday, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers got some national attention in his welcoming statement, in which he finished by saying, “Holy mackerel, folks. Let’s get to work!” Wisconsinites apparently like that folksy stuff.
Finally, on Thursday, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin got some attention, when she talked about getting Obamacare passed. “It was a big effing deal,” she said. A couple of days earlier, the line also had been used by DNC speakers, referencing an infamous Biden quote when the law was passed.
So, Wisconsin had some moments in the spotlight during the DNC but not many. The logo for the convention also saw the removal of the state of Wisconsin image in favor of the entire USA, although the Wisconsin portions of the convention kept the Wisconsin image.
Obviously, Wisconsin did feel a bit slighted over the changes in the DNC. Businesses like hotels, restaurants and bars complained about the loss of millions in revenue. Democrats said they wanted to keep people safe. But it still hurt. As I was sitting with my sister-in-law watching the DNC virtual show, she complained. “I’m mad. I feel like it was yanked away from us.”
On Friday, I heard some local radio deejays also complaining that Delaware got a big fireworks show after Biden accepted the nomination in his home state. One said Biden could have sprung for some fireworks over Lake Michigan to make the whole DNC loss less painful.
I personally would have preferred to see Billie Eilish perform debut her song “My Future” from Milwaukee’s lakefront. The talented singer put on her largest show to date last summer at Summerfest, so she probably would have been OK with another Milwaukee visit.
In the end, though, the loss of the convention probably won’t matter much. The state will still be deeply divided politically, much like my own family and friends are.
Inventing the “Facts”
I had lunch on the last day of the convention with two friends—representing left and right extremes. We kept our discussion lively but civilized. The conversation turned to mail-in ballots. I calmly explained that Colorado’s elections are all done by mail and they work great – none of the purported fraudulent voting occurs. While my conservative friend insisted without evidence that millions of ballots will be fraudulently filled out by scheming political operatives this November if voting by mail is allowed, I tried patiently to explain to him that voters still have to register to vote in Colorado and that signatures on the envelopes containing ballots are all verified.
When my friend started to also say that Trump hasn’t been critical of the Post Office and that his political hacks aren’t trying to slow down the mail, I wondered how it is possible for my friend to ignore real, fact-based journalism.
My liberal friend then said he accidently listened to conservative talk radio that morning and noted how the “facts” were just made up by the conservative radio personalities. “It’s amazing how much of a different reality Republicans live in.”
After finishing our hamburgers, the three of us then decided to get a beer somewhere else. Driving in separate cars, I listened to a real newscast on NPR that was reporting on yet another senior advisor to President Trump—this time, Steve Bannon, a strategist for Trump’s 2016 campaign—who had been arrested and charged with fraud.
My friends and I didn’t bring politics up again that afternoon.
Kris Kodrich is a journalism professor at Colorado State University who is originally from Milwaukee and returns for Summerfest every year when there isn’t a pandemic.
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