As 2021 nears completion, we’d like to be more communicative about what PAGE is up to lately. But this week, we’d like to begin with what we have NOT been up to. Normally, at this time of year, you might have seen us at the tree lighting or the library during Dickens of a Christmas. We’ve enjoyed handing out light-up rings at the tree lighting and reading stories about the many holidays and cultures that are celebrated at this time of year. However, this year, based on pressure from the Village Board, we have been effectively banned from all Greendale village events. We are sad we were not allowed to participate this year.
Following the arrest of three Black boys (ages 11-15) in Greendale on October 17th, 2021 by the Greendale Police Department (GPD), the family of the boys reached out to equity groups, including PAGE, and asked for help addressing the GPD arrest that left at least one child with a bloody nose. The family was also concerned about the lack of police communication about what was being done to find the five White boys that reportedly attacked their 11-year-old earlier in the day.
On October 25, PAGE participated in a protest with a group out of Milwaukee after these events occurred, in support of this family. The purpose of the protest was to demand more transparency from the police. At the same time, there was a small “Back the Blue” counter protest, which included several Village trustees and at least one school board member.
The Village trustees have stated that they and members of the community didn’t like the passionate way people – including some of the boys whose arrest a week earlier had led to the protest, as well as their family members – spoke at the protest and at the school board meeting that followed. The Village’s means of retaliation was to remove our group’s right to participate in all Greendale community events, including festivities and use of Village facilities such as the public library.
To be honest, our understanding after the library board meeting was that our access to the Library Community Center had been revoked at that meeting too. This is the room that we had been meeting in monthly for a couple of years. However, after some citizens wrote in to village board trustees expressing dissent with this choice, the library director wrote back and informed us that we do, in fact, have access to the library room. Some citizens have also written to the Village Board encouraging them to allow us to continue with our other activities in the village. However, they refuse to allow PAGE to participate in village sponsored events. The village manager actually wrote the words ¨PAGE is not welcome.¨
We appreciate anyone who will speak up in defense of PAGE’s opinions, actions, and vision – and even those who speak up in defense of our *right* to those opinions, actions, and vision, even when you may not agree. Of all the activism we participate in, our tradition of being part of Dickens of a Christmas should have been some of the most palatable to members of our community who might find our message and our methods distasteful sometimes, and it is disappointing and even hurtful that the Village Board and Library Board kept us from that opportunity this year.
If you’re interested in contacting the trustees from the Village Board, you can find their contact information here. We encourage you to email them so there is a written record of your statements, and then follow up with a phone call if you like. But we’re grateful for any way that you are willing and comfortable to show support for us. Contact Village of Greendale Board