Name: “Defund The Police” Becomes “Defend The Police”
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“Defund The Police” Becomes “Defend The Police”

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Mural outside City Hall gets altered overnight.//end headline wrapper ?&gt;Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban MilwaukeeDefund the Police becomes Defend the Police. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.An anonymous group has switched one letter in the “Defund the Police” mural outside Milwaukee City Hall, completely changing the meaning of the piece.The mural, which runs on N. Water St. from E. Wells St. to E. Kilbourn Ave., now spells out “Defend the Police.” The “D” is now painted blue, the first “E” is covered and the “U” has been replaced with an “E.”The change happened after former Alderman used his social media account Wednesday night to “fixed it for you, folks!” with a blue line over an image of the mural. The blue line is a reference to the “thin blue line” phrase that asserts that police form the line that keeps society from chaos.A group of approximately 30 activists . Done without any city permits, the group, led by , closed the street and peacefully painted the mural which includes references to Black Lives Matter and the protest movement.An anti-“Defund the Police” protest was already planned for the weekend to do burnouts on the letters to destroy the mural.“People keep asking us, what does defund mean? It doesn’t mean abolish,” said Wilbur in as he surveyed the altered mural. He said he wants to see money for militarizing the police and surveilling protests to go towards schools and mental health. “No we didn’t send you messages of hate. No we didn’t send you messages that were threatening.”Wilbur said people need to understand the message. “Let’s make this clear for them. We don’t hate cops,” said Wilbur. He called the people that changed the mural “cowards.”The artist said the group would reform this weekend Sunday at 11:00 a.m. “I don’t know how many blocks we are going to take this time. I don’t know how many streets we are going to paint,” he said.A crowd gathered outside Donovan’s southside home on Wednesday night and chalked his sidewalk with messages of “Black Lives Matter.”“I must say it’s a very sad day when a private citizen cannot exercise his first amendment rights without being confronted with this nonsense,” said Donovan . The police department responded to the scene and at least one person was arrested (details below).Donovan was a prominent proponent of increasing funding for the police department and protecting rank-and-file officers during his 20 years on the council.The Common Council is away from the approximately $300 million police department budget.Protester , one of the several dozen people to paint the downtown mural, was arrested outside of Donovan’s southside home on Thursday evening. Crevenston was involved in chanting and sidewalk chalking the area around the house.She told Urban Milwaukee she doesn’t hate the police like she said Donovan frames protesters as, and instead would just like to talk Donovan about what “defunding the police” means. “It was a clean-cut message,” she said of the downtown mural.Crevensten said she was told she was being arrested for impeding traffic and violating the city’s noise ordinance. But after being handcuffed and taken away by the police she was given tickets for vandalism and a noise violation.She said she doesn’t believe the tickets will stand.Crevensten said her only act of vandalism was chalk that could be washed off. When Urban Milwaukee arrived outside the home on Friday afternoon the chalk art, shared by Donovan on social media, was gone and another protester had started chalking new messages ranging from BLM for Black Lives Matter to “Liberty and Justice for All.”She plans to go back Friday night with a large sign. “I am known as being petty,” she said with a laugh.If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits, all detailed .Read more aboutDisplaying political contributions between people mentioned in this story. .:You must be an Urban Milwaukee member to leave a comment. Membership, which includes a host of perks, including an ad-free website, tickets to marquee events like Summerfest, the Wisconsin State Fair and the Florentine Opera, a better photo browser and access to members-only, behind-the-scenes tours, . ..If you are an existing member, to leave a comment.Have questions? Need to report an error?755 N. Milwaukee St.Milwaukee, WI 53202414-395-0632© 2022, Urban Milwaukee, Inc. All rights reserved.This ad will close automatically in 15 seconds.Tired of seeing banner ads on Urban Milwaukee? .

Mural outside City Hall gets altered overnight.//end headline wrapper ?&gt;Get a daily rundown of the top stories on Urban MilwaukeeDefund the Police becomes Defend the Police. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.An anonymous group has switched one letter in the “Defund the Police” mural outside Milwaukee City Hall, completely changing the meaning of the piece.The mural, which runs on N. Water St. from E. Wells St. to E. Kilbourn Ave., now spells out “Defend the Police.” The “D” is now painted blue, the first “E” is covered and the “U” has been replaced with an “E.”The change happened after former...

“Defund The Police” Becomes “Defend The Police”

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