The ‘chaotic and violent end’ of our WI State Fair

What does it say about Milwaukee
and our public schools?

Scores of teenagers fighting and terrorizing fair goers shut down the Wisconsin State Fair, home of cream puffs and 4-H projects, Sunday 08-16-26. Bystander videos are lighting up social media with images of screaming young people confronted by police on horseback and foot patrols using tasers. One officer was struck, seven teenagers arrested. It’s an issue in the governor’s race. 

Republican governor candidate Tom Tiffany blames his Democrat(ic) opponent David Crowley, the Milwaukee county executive, for the shutdown. State Fair Park is in his bailiwick. Crowley blames the Republican legislature — which is incongruous, since legislatures set budget and policy; policing is an executive function.

→ Teen Takeovers in multiple cities, as reported by Fox News

Social media commentary has been very (as a good progressive would say) “judgmental” and about as politically IN-correct as a MAGA cap on Madison’s Willy Street. 

Calling it for what it is

1. “Here we go again with the unruly street apes. Yeah, I called them ‘street apes’ because that is what they are acting like. Who in the world is raising these people? … Time to call it what it is; they’re acting like animals. Look at them. That looks like a scene from Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.” — Mark Keith Robinson

2.  “A violent teen mob turns the Wisconsin State Fair into chaos. Families run. Police are attacked. And then everyone waits to watch the justice system fail to hold anyone accountable. Why? Because they are black. If black teenagers assault police, terrorize families, or organize violent takeovers, hold them accountable like you would anybody else. And if parents knowingly allow repeat lawlessness, use whatever lawful accountability exists there too. The most insulting thing you can do to black kids is teach them that expectations should be lower because of their circumstances.” — DeVory Darkins

3. “Without fail, every year we have a situation; it’s like young people are waiting for their opportunity to go and get into some nonsense that ends up in physical fights and people getting hurt. You get tired of defending the need to create space and opportunity … people got to hate to see us coming. The action of a few black teens become the reputation of the character of the entire black community. … it’s not fair but it is what it is.” —Michelle Bryant  

‘Systemic whiteness’

We do not think it unrelated that the U.S. Department of Education (it might be good for something, after all) is chastising the Milwaukee public schools for arguably the worst kind of racial bias — holding black students to a lower standard. Recent National Assessment of Educational Progress data reports that only about 5 percent of black students can read at grade. Like Madison’s public schools, Milwaukee took the wrong lessons from the racial disparity in school discipline. Two years ago, educators were instructed to quit keeping classrooms orderly “through a lens of whiteness.” 

In Milwaukee, education leaders derided facially neutral school policies as reflecting systemic “whiteness,” seemingly encouraging school officials to consider race in disciplinary practices. — Office of Civil Rights

That’s a welcome reversal of the Obama-era guideline that encouraged race over behavior.

Blaska’s Bottom Line: Fortunately, all three commentators quoted above — Robinson, Darkins, and Bryant — are black. Or are they racist, too? If those teenagers at State Fair Park had entered 4-H and FFA exhibits, we doubt tasers or police on horseback would have been needed.

Where are Al Sharpton, Aeiromique Glass, and Maia Pearson in all this?