Monday, May 20, 2024

16 Days After The Cinco de Mayo 2024 Melee Impromptu Chaotic Celebrations In The Southside Of Milwaukee, Not One Latino Elected Official Has Publicly Condemned The Lawlessness That Occurred




Editorial:

So far, none of the elected Latino including non-Latino public officials from the Southside including the City of Milwaukee mayor and the Milwaukee Common Council have actually come out in a joint statement and front to publicly condemned the chaotic melee that occurred on Sunday, May 5th, the Cinco de Mayo 2024 impromptu celebrations along S. César E. Chávez Drive.

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

May 20, 2024

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On Cinco de Mayo 2024 (May 5th), Milwaukee police reported that two suspects, Marcus Deon Kelly, 33, and Timothy J. McGee, 24, had been criminally charged in connection with shots fired at S. César E. Chávez Drive and W. Historic Mitchell Street at around 8:17 p.m. during a chaotic scene involving several unidentified women at an impromptu gathering that included scooters burning rubber at the intersection.

At around 11:00 p.m., one Milwaukee police officer suffered a gunshot wound to his upper right leg and was treated, a second officer reported that a bullet almost struck his face at S. Chávez Drive and W. Scott Street. The alleged shooter, Mark A. Courtney Jr., 26, was taken into custody and criminally charged in connection with the shooting. (Article link: https://shorturl.at/hwQSY)

Earlier in the afternoon on Sunday, a group of individuals gathered on S. Chávez Drive in front of McDonald's who in a YouTube video by Ocean Legacy Cinematic showed public intoxication and an individual showing a concealed weapon while police were nearby.

Also in the afternoon, a Paletería Yayo employee, Ricardo Mondragon-Martinez, 39, a popsicle street cart vendor was aggressively attacked (harassed) by Aaron Thompson III, 26, according to a social media video showing Thompson taking Mondragon-Martinez's popsicle street cart without permission and tipped it to the pavement while running away and laughing about it. In a longer version of the video, an unidentified Latino stepped in to help Mondragon-Martinez, but was confronted by several Black individuals, according to the video. 

After a $500 reward was offered by a Southside couple to identity the attacker, Thompson was immediately identified. He later came out with a public apology facilitated by the Wisconsin Brown Berets. Thompson apologized to Mondragon-Martinez at the Paletería Yayo location at the 1700 block of W. Lincoln Ave. in Milwaukee and gave Mondragon-Martinez $60.

So far, Thompson III hasn't been criminally charged and the Paletería Yayo owner Rene Adan hasn't filed a complaint against Thompson to hold him accountable for taking the popsicle street cart and harassing Mondragon-Martinez. Adan did confirm that at least one employee (paletero) gets robbed, beaten or aggressively assaulted once a week in the Southside.

Facebook Milwaukee Southside users have pushed for Thompson to be criminally charged to no avail.

Apparently, a short clip video that was posted about the incident of the Yayo paletero and Thompson went viral. A longer version of the video was posted on YouTube by Ocean Legacy Cinematic showing the chaotic and lawlessness behavior at S. Chávez Drive and the incident at Mitchell Park while Milwaukee police and Milwaukee County Sheriff's deputies were nearby. (Check out and advance to minute 15:06, paletero incident at Milwaukee County Mitchell Park on Cinco de Mayo 2024...

Neither the Milwaukee Police Department and the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office have released any stats about how many citations were issued for public intoxication, arrests for possession of Illegal weapons, reckless driving and vehicles blocking traffic flow and etc.. 

Milwaukee County Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez along with Vaun L. Mayes, a Black community activist and Walter Garron from the Wisconsin Brown Berets held a press conference about the paletero and Thompson's incident and Supervisor Martinez told media that what happened to Mondragon-Martinez, the paletero "was unacceptable", and that he is working on County legislation to protect street cart vendors at Milwaukee County parks, but came short from condemning the chaotic acts by certain individuals at Mitchell Park on Cinco de Mayo. 

Several individuals were taken into custody by Milwaukee County Sheriff deputies for carrying a loaded conceal AK-47 pistol at Mitchell Park, according to a video posted in social media. 

It's unfortunate, Latino elected officials that include Alderman Jóse G. Pérez, President of the Milwaukee Common Council, and Alderwoman JoCasta Zamarripa, which both represent the Southside Aldermanic districts, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson,  Wisconsin State Assembly Representatives Sylvia Ortiz-Velez (D-Milw.) and Marisabel Cabrera (D-Milw), and Milwaukee County Supervisor Caroline Gomez-Tom and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and lastly Wisconsin State Senator Tim Carpenter (D-Milw) and U.S. Congresswoman Gwendolyn Moore (D-Milw) have yet to come out publicly and condemn the chaotic impromptu gatherings by individuals that threatened to disrupt our community's tranquility and the safety of our community during the Cinco de Mayo celebrations, and their failure to push police to hold all the individuals involved in the chaotic melee during the Cinco de Mayo 2024 accountable.

Where's the Southside community's outrage including the businesses affected by the annual chaotic impromptu melee?

Let's make one thing clear, everyone is welcomed to the Southside Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day annual celebrations as long as everyone celebrates responsibility and in a safe manner, but we as a community shouldn't tolerate such chaotic behavior, public intoxication, shootings and reckless driving that threatens the safety of those celebrating responsibly during festive holidays and we should continue to push for public elected officials and police to hold those engaged in lawlessness and chaotic behavior accountable.


Source: Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA)

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