A man from Sheboygan has determined he will protest beyond the 9 p.m. curfew established by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, but is committed to staying peaceful during the city’s main protest tonight.
“As of right now, I think I’m sticking with my people. I’ll keep telling them how I feel. If the city wants to come out here and give tickets and arrest people, I don’t think it’s any different than what we’ve been facing,” Shem Clayborn, who went to UWM, told WTMJ’s John Mercure Saturday evening minutes before the curfew.
“To show how our community feels, how people feel about what’s going on.”
Clayborn says he will stay peaceful and tell others who may consider acting violently to stop.
“What will happen tonight, based on some of the opinions and anger, it might turn ugly. I hope not. I hope we’re able to show them who we are, because we’re not violent people,” he warned.
“If you are thinking about doing something stupid, looting, burning things, it’s dumb.”
He says he believes the protests need to continue to help “a community I’m really deeply attached to.”
“Poverty, racism that happen here. I needed to come to express how I’m feeling,” he adds.
He and other protesters stood outside Milwaukee’s District 3 Police Station on the city’s near west side.
“We’re trying to let them know how we’re feeling. It seemed like they were more concerned even though we were acting non-violently,” Clayborn said.
“The only thing they said to us was that the National Guard would be out at 9 p.m.”
Though he speaks to what he sees as injustice after the killing of George Floyd by police as he was already arrested in Minneapolis, he also understands the feelings of police – particularly after a Milwaukee Police officer was shot Saturday morning.
“I was really shocked. I had mixed emotions. You hear about people dying all the time at the hands of police officers unjustifiably,” he said.
“I have a lot of family and friends who are police officers…a lot of those guys aren’t these beasts and horrible people that these one-offs are.”
