A look at the sometimes appalling relationship between police and Native Americans in Wisconsin
Sheku ("hello" in Oneida) and yaw^ko ("thank you") for reading the First Nations Wisconsin newsletter.
In this week’s newsletter, we’ll highlight stories reporting on some of the unfortunate or appalling interactions between Wisconsin law enforcement, the justice system and Indigenous people in the state.
We’ll start with looking at the case of Danny Wilber, a 43-year-old Oneida Nation citizen who was recently released from prison after a federal appeal found his trial was unfair.
He had spent 16 years in prison after being accused of murder in Milwaukee. Prosecutors decided not to proceed with a retrial because of lack of evidence.
My colleague, Sarah Volpenhein with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, has the details, including what Wilber is planning to do next.
Another story looks at the high incarceration rate for Indigenous people in Wisconsin.
In northern counties where a reservation is located, the county jail could sometimes be filled with more than half of inmates with American Indian background, even though the total Indigenous population of the county may only be up to 15%.
This is despite the fact that Native American tribes are among the highest, if not the top, employers of those counties, providing jobs to both tribal and non-tribal residents.
A story examines a lawsuit against Green Bay police by three Indigenous men who allege police brutality in separate incidents. A video shows an officer punching one of the men during an arrest.
Another man alleges an officer allowed a police dog to maul him during his arrest.
A story looks at another lawsuit against Green Bay police by the family of Jonathon Tubby, an Oneida man who was handcuffed and unarmed when he was shot and killed by a Green Bay police officer in 2018.
Oneida Nation Chairman Tehassi Hill recalls how, as a teenager, he would be harassed by Green Bay police simply for walking down the street. He’s part of a new task force to address racial disparities and law enforcement policies in the state.
If you like this newsletter, please invite a friend to subscribe to it. And if you have tips or suggestions for this newsletter, please email me at fvaisvilas@gannett.com.
About me
I'm Frank Vaisvilas, a Report For America corps member based at the Green Bay Press-Gazette covering Native American issues in Wisconsin. You can reach me at 920-228-0437 or fvaisvilas@gannett.com, or on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank. Please consider supporting journalism that informs our democracy with a tax-deductible gift to this reporting effort at GreenBayPressGazette.com/RFA.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: First Nations: Relationship between police, Native Americans appalling
