Posts Tagged ‘wisconsin’
Interview With Wisconsin Parent Involved in Protests
Here is my interview with Jen, a Wisconsin parent who has been involved in the growing protest movement.
Some of the points that Jen made were:
– The protests have been peaceful and non-violent. According to her, the police have actually thanked protesters for behaving so politely. On Saturday, there were no arrests.
– The crowds have been getting bigger. News reports put the number at 100,000, which she says is “the largest gathering in Wisconsin state history”, and may even be the largest labor rally in United States history. “Even Fox News” said there were 100,000 people there on Saturday, she said. Jen questioned why the Tea Party rallies, which were not as well attended, received non-stop news coverage.
– According to Jen, the protests are being attended by people of all ages and social classes. The farmer’s union drove tractors to the Wisconsin State Capital building on Saturday. The police and firefighters have expressed support for their fellow public workers, despite the fact that Governor Walker made them exempt from the new “no collective bargaining” bill.
Jen is a parent who started going to the Wisconsin State Capitol building protests to support her kids’ teachers, who are, of course, public workers. According to her, the protests will continue every day, and the big rallies are usually on Saturday.
You can listen to the interview here, or subscribe to the Brett Singer podcast via iTunes. We hope to be able to talk to Jen again to get an idea of what’s happening on the ground in Wisconsin.
