Lawmakers and Madison community members gathered at the Capitol Thursday for Black Advocacy Day to address ways to better support Black communities in Wisconsin.
The event, put on by the Wisconsin Legislative Black Caucus and a coalition of community partners, started with a faith solitary walk, followed by policy focused discussions and workshops on issues affecting Black Wisconsinites.
In his opening remarks, Mount Zion Baptist Church Rev. Dr. Marcus Allen called on everyone to “be intentional” about making sure Black communities get the support they need to thrive and praised
“Anytime you may say, ‘hey, we're doing something for Black people,’ it always comes with resistance,” Allen said. “African Proverbs say, ‘if you want to go far, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’ We're here together to call for justice.”
The event featured a keynote panel of community leaders who spoke in depth on health inequalities, education gaps and mental health needs.
“The segregated nature too often means the institutions are not hearing from the people that they serve, and therefore, by definition, the services they provide are incomplete and poorly designed, because they're not informed by the people that have the most need,” said Rev. Walter Lanier, the pastor of Progressive Baptist Church in Milwaukee.
Lanier said change requires people to push and press the systems that uphold systemic racism. Dr. Monica Kelsey-Brown, the superintendent of Waunakee Community School District, echoed the importance of working to change the systems that don’t work for Black Wisconsinites and called on the state Legislature to make further investments in education, noting that Wisconsin is ranked 25th in the nation for K-12 funding.
“It is important for us to begin to think about how we strengthen our systems in terms of making sure that we show up in a way and provide additional support,” Kelsey-Brown said.
A week prior to Black Advocacy Day, the Assembly voted unanimously to pass a resolution to honor Black History Month. The move came after years of pushback and in-fighting over whether the Legislature should honor the month.
“Black history is alive in the work we do today in the fight for equity, in the demand for fair policies, in the commitment to ensure that future generations inherit a nation that truly lives up to its promise of liberty and justice,” Rep. Sequanna Taylor, D-Milwaukee, said on the Assembly floor Feb. 19. “Black history is not about our past, and it did not start with slavery, nor will it end with the cutting of DEI.”
The resolution to acknowledge February 2025 Black History Month was passed in honor of 14 Black Wisconsinites “for their contributions to the state of Wisconsin, the country, and their fellow citizens.”
Honorees included Paul Higginbotham, the first African American judge to serve on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, and Anna Mae Robertson, a World War II veteran who served in the only all-female African American unit deployed overseas during the war.
Anna Kleiber is the state news editor for The Daily Cardinal. She previously served as the arts editor. Anna has written in-depth on elections, legislative maps and campus news. She has interned with WisPolitics and Madison Magazine. Follow her on Twitter at @annakleiber03.
