Checking out the scene in Madison in the wake of the police killing of Corey Ruiz
A capital city and battleground state in the middle of a political and institutional realignment.
One of the great things about retirement is that on free days, you can hop in the car and hit the road. Monday, it was hot (95°) and stormy in Chicago, so Susan and I decided to get out of town and go up to Madison for a few days.
We wanted some downtime and a chance to check out the protests that have been taking place daily in the wake of the police killing of Corey Durell Ruiz, a 38‑year‑old homeless Madison resident.
We had a rough start to the 2-hour trek: 30 minutes spent navigating through a blinding, torrential lightning storm, creeping along I-90 with zero visibility and flashers on to avoid being rear-ended. But then the sky broke. The sun came out with a vengeance, and it was free sailing all the way to — hotter ( 105°) than Chicago — Madison.
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Protests had erupted immediately following the Ruiz killing. Video of the shooting circulated online, prompting vigils, marches, and a chaotic July 23 press briefing where protesters seized the microphone and denounced police violence. Hundreds gathered at the site of the shooting for a vigil, and Ruiz’s family retained civil‑rights attorney Ben Crump, who called the shooting “excessive force” and demanded accountability.
The protests over the killing of Corey Durell Ruiz have now run seven straight days in Madison — beginning the night of July 23 (the day after the shooting video circulated) and continuing through today.
There’ve been nightly gatherings at Baldwin & Williamson, daytime marches through the Marquette neighborhood, repeated disruptions of city press briefings, and rotating vigils organized by mutual‑aid groups and Ruiz’s family supporters. So Baldwin & Williamson was the first place we headed. What we found was an encampment of protesters, many homeless, sleeping in tents, sharing donated food and water, and building a community of resistance. The scale has fluctuated — some nights a few dozen, others several hundred — but the continuity is the story. Madison hasn’t had a week‑long protest streak like this since the Act 10 era in 2011.
Then, massive, months‑long protests rocked the capitol against Gov. Scott Walker’s law that effectively eliminated most collective‑bargaining rights for public‑sector workers. Those protests drew 100,000+ people at their peak and turned Madison into the epicenter of a national labor‑rights fight.
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Even before Corey Ruiz was killed, Madison politics were churning once again. It’s a capital city and battleground state in the middle of a political and institutional realignment, one where the ground is shifting underfoot as midterm elections near.
Wisconsin’s political temperature was already elevated, with the victory of a progressive-aligned candidate in the recent state Supreme Court election, which showed a decisive flip or consolidation of a court that has been the battleground for everything from abortion access and union rights to redistricting.
Now, early polling shows Francesca Hong, a Madison democratic socialist, leading the Democratic primary for governor.
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We spent some time over at the encampment, took pictures, and made some contacts for possible guests on Hitting Left. All in all, despite the heat, two days well spent.