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Wisconsin Black Student Union holds vigil in memory of Marcellus Williams By Sreejita Patra SENIOR STAFF WRITER
More than 100 University of WisconsinMadison students and community members attended a Library Mall vigil Friday to mourn Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams, a Black man executed by the state of Missouri last week over a chorus of objections and serious doubts surrounding his murder conviction. Williams was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery and burglary in 2001 for the 1998 killing of Felicia “Lisha” Gayle, a 42-year-old reporter stabbed 43 times in her home. His conviction relied on two witnesses who later said they were paid for their testimony, according to the Midwest Innocence Project, and 2016 DNA testing conducted on the murder weapon “definitively excluded” Williams. The vigil, hosted by the Wisconsin Black Student Union (WBSU), included speeches, a Muslim dua prayer and six minutes of silence to honor Williams as candle-holding attendees linked arms to form a giant circle. The event’s atmosphere was at turns somber and celebratory, with many attendees crying and hugging one another.
Despite always maintaining his innocence, and over the objections of the original prosecutor who obtained his murder conviction and the victim’s family, Republican Gov. Mike Parson and the Missouri Supreme Court ordered the execution to go through. “We found out about the execution of Marcellus during one of our weekly meetings, and it was very important to us that we recognize a death occurred,” WBSU finance intern Godson Safo Ansah told The Daily Cardinal. “Whenever these types of things happen [...] I just really hope we take the time to make sure the names are engraved into history.” Ansah accredited the idea for the vigil to WBSU volunteer coordinator Marques Watts and encouraged people to honor Williams through voting and political involvement, alongside WBSU Outreach Director Deanna Fratter and other student speakers. “[Gov.] Mike Parson will forever be something that Williams never will — a murderer,” Fratter said. Attendees at the vigil expressed frustration, despair and resolution to act in wake of Williams’ death.
“It’s very important to pay attention to people who are incarcerated because they’re hidden from our society. So even those who are innocent, those who are not innocent, they deserve your attention because they’re a humongous chunk of our population that is just erased from you,” UW-Madison student Zara Bangash told the Cardinal. Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) board member Shafiq, who did not share his last name for fear of retribution, read aloud a poem written by Williams on death row titled “The Perplexing Smiles of the Children of Palestine.” “In the face of apex ignorance and ethnic cleansing by any definition, still your laughter can be heard,” one sentence read. SJP spokesperson Dahlia Saba told the Cardinal Williams’ solidarity with Palestine represents the “interconnection of injustice” Black Americans and Palestinians face. “The violence we see inflicted by our government on people abroad is the same violence we see the [U.S.] government inflict on its own people,” Saba said. “Carrying out Marcellus’ legacy means ending its imperialist arm and the way it folds back on people at home.”
Other students, particularly those who were Black and Muslim, focused on Williams’ execution as a symbol of bias in America’s legal system. Fewer than half of all states, including Wisconsin, have outlawed the death penalty, which critics have long described as racially unjust. “It’s the same history repeating itself, and no one in the system wants to help our communities,” student Asma Sulieman said. “I don’t think I have any hope in the justice system to hold me versus someone who’s white to the same level of accountability.” An immigrant studying at UW-Madison, who wished to stay anonymous for fear of deportation, said he hopes Williams is remembered as “one of the last people to go through this.” The student underlined that abolishing the death penalty would require widespread effort. “There’s what, [52,000] people at UW alone,” the student asked, before taking a long pause. “We’re not [all] here. My prayer is that more and more of us recognize it takes everything and everyone to get to the world we’re all dreaming of.”
Trump promises to ‘liberate’ Midwest from undocumented immigrants, promotes false claims on immigration through early mail and absentee voting. Trump has historically opposed absentee voting, blaming it for election fraud. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers released a statement Tuesday ahead of the rally calling Trump’s first presidency a “disaster for Wisconsin.” “Trump’s extreme Project 2025 agenda would hurt working families, cut Social Security and Medicare, dismantle support for public education across the country, and more,” the statement read. “I know Wisconsin families, and they’re going to reject him again in November.”
By Tomer Ronen Cameron Schneider FEATURES EDITOR & STAFF WRITER
WAUNAKEE, Wis. — Former President Donald Trump promised to “liberate” the Midwest from “illegal aliens,” promoted false claims on immigration and attacked the Biden-Harris administration’s Middle Eastern policy in front of a fervent audience at a rally north of Madison Tuesday. Tuesday’s visit hit both Dane County and Milwaukee, two of the most heavily Democratic areas in the state. Trump visited Milwaukee Tuesday evening, days after Trump visited Prairie Du Chien for another rally. It was the first visit to Dane County in an election year made by a Republican presidential nominee ahead of the general election in 26 years. Following remarks from former Republican Govs. Scott Walker and Tommy Thompson, the crowd welcomed the former president to the stage as his signature “God Bless the U.S.A.” rang out at Dane Manufacturing, a manufacturing plant in Waunakee. If Harris is elected, America will be “condemned” to decline and desperation, Trump said. He claimed “tens of millions” of illegal immigrants will “invade” cities and towns across the country if he loses in November. There were roughly 10.5 million individuals living in the U.S. without legal status in 2021, or about 3% of the population. During the Trump admin-
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istration, illegal immigration significantly rose with apprehensions at the Southwest border increasing by more than 100% between 2016 and 2019, according to a National Foundation for American Policy analysis. These comments also follow his remarks on Haitian immigrants, accusing them of eating animals in Springfield, Ohio, and remarks made in Wilmington, North Carolina in which he said migrants are “attacking villages and cities all throughout the Midwest.” Trump also claimed “Medicare and Social Security will buckle and collapse” because undocumented immigrants are “going onto your Social Security.” “They can’t speak English. They came here illegally and they’re destroying Social Security,” he continued. Undocumented immigrants liv-
ing in the U.S. are not eligible for Social Security benefits but may be eligible for Supplemental Security Income benefits if they meet certain criteria and received temporary permission to stay, according to a Newsweek fact check. Trump claimed Harris communicates with “cartel heads” to shuttle planes carrying “hundreds of thousands” of people to places in the Midwest. Harris said she would “double” resources for the Department of Justice to go after cartels in a speech Sunday. “I will send in federal law enforcement to liberate every Midwestern town that has been taken over by migrant gangs and criminal alien thugs,” Trump said. “We will send them back and we will take back our country.” In reference to Iran’s attack
on Israel Tuesday, Trump said the Middle East is “very close to global catastrophe. “I’ve been talking about World War III for a long time, and I don’t wanna make predictions, because the predictions always come true,” Trump said. Trump “guaranteed” peace in the world if he gets elected again. “If [Harris] gets four more years, the world goes up in smoke,” Trump said. Trump also promised tax cuts for “workers, families and small businesses” in another presidency. Trump’s former administration cut business taxes by 18%, he said. The administration cut corporate taxes from 35 to 21% via the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Trump urged his supporters to vote in whatever way they can
Supporters laud Trump’s ‘aura’ Trump supporters told The Daily Cardinal they were excited by Trump’s economic policies. Dylan Lanz said he considers Trump a “businessman.” “I think he has a very good grasp on how to run the economy in the U.S.,” Lanz said. “And compared to what we’ve had in the last four years, I think he can definitely do a better job.” Sylvia, a supporter waiting in line to see the former president, said she likes Trump’s announcements about not taxing tips, Social Security and overtime. The former president is getting “youths, women and seniors” to vote in the election, she said. “I think [Trump’s] aura is off the charts,” Jack Blitz, a young Trump supporter, said. continue reading @dailycardinal.com
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”