This account and photos from the scene were provided by Freedom Socialist reporter Andrea Bauer.
Last night, while Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis were busy falling in line at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum behind would-be dictator Donald Trump, a vigil across town was mourning the death of Samuel Sharpe and demanding justice for all victims of police violence. Sharpe was an unhoused veteran in his forties living in a tent encampment in the King Park neighborhood. He was shot yesterday afternoon by cops from Columbus, Ohio, who were among about 4,500 out-of-state police brought in to maintain order during the week of Trump’s coronation, a move strongly condemned in advance by organizations such as the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR).
A bevy of cops were at least a mile away from the convention center and well outside all the security zones, chatting, when they spotted Sharpe some 50 or so yards away in a street argument with another man and holding a knife. They rushed him and five cops opened fire, killing him.
The vigil for Sharpe was held at 8:00 p.m. at King Park, called by MAARPR and emceed by the alliance’s Alan Chavoya. Hundreds came to voice their outrage and sorrow and demand community control of the police.
Family members of Sharpe and other Black men murdered by cops were present. They included relatives of D’Vontaye Mitchell, who on June 30 was pinned down on his stomach and killed by hotel security guards outside a Hyatt Regency in Milwaukee, and Dontre Hamilton, shot 14 times by police officer Christopher Manney at Red Arrow Park in Milwaukee on April 30, 2014. Hamilton’s mother, Maria Hamilton, spoke at the rally, saying of the influx of out-of-town cops and Republican convention-goers, “We do not condone the invasion. Do what you came to do and get the hell out of our city!”
At the conclusion of the vigil, the people present took to the streets as night fell, in an angry and spirited impromptu march through the neighborhood, chanting “Say his name!” They passed the tent city where Sharpe stayed and also passed the spot where Sharpe’s blood could still be seen in the street, marking the site with lighted candles. They finally returned to King Park for concluding statements and chants expressing determination to win justice for Samuel Sharpe and the many other victims, especially Black and brown, of cop violence.
Toward the very end, as people were about to disperse, celebratory fireworks from the Republican convention lit up the dark sky. The day’s theme at the convention was “Make America Safe Again.”
