Segway Jeremy Ryan at the Capitol in Wisconsin
As many of you know, myself and many others have been very involved in the ground game at the Capitol. Today marked the day when the cuts to public employees began. As such, we had a rally at the Capitol, which I was told was supposed to be followed by some sort of strike, although that part never came. At the end of the day it was decided to head inside and we had, for the first time in a long time, hundreds of people in the Capitol after closing time at 6pm. We, as activists and organizers, had many different reasons why, but the decision was made to attempt to once again occupy the Wisconsin State Capitol. I will admit, I arrived a bit late to the Capitol as I was dealing with two other people being arrested. When I got there it was about 6:20 and I entered as some were leaving.
The police, at this point, were deciding what to do; most went back to the basement. I do not think they were planning on doing anything unless people left so they asked people to leave. Many left in waves, until finally there were thirteen left, myself and twelve others, one being a minor. We all locked arms and/or grabbed on to a flag in the middle of the circle. Keep in mind, everyone in this group is a regular in the Capitol protests and so we all knew each other and respected if anyone wanted to leave, but they didn’t. All that remained was us, the police, and the media. The media was asked to step back and they approached me first. They asked me to get up and I refused. They then took my camera and dragged me to the basement.
I went completely limp so they put me on the ground, positioned my hands behind my back and one officer said, “slight resistance in the arm, that’s resisting”. I fought this as I was not resisting other than going limp and it was dropped. Most of my arrest was handled by Officer Davis and a newer officer named, I believe Derek, although I never have been good with names and this was the first meeting. Both officers were very respectful and made sure that I was in good health and my heart was doing okay (for those who don’t know I have a very fatal heart condition, but continue fighting). Then they took me to jail, being courteous and respectful the whole time and therefore receiving the same in return. I spent about two hours in jail before ultimately being released without any bail needing to be paid.
That is what happened, but more importantly than what happened was why it happened and what it means. Every last one of us had different reasons for being there today. Every last one of the Heroic Rotunda 13 (whom have had a Facebook page created for them) stuck around, each for different reasons. For me it was mainly to send a statement that the fight is not over. Fascism won’t fly in Wisconsin. We, as a people, are prepared to stand up and fight. It was also because the only thing I regretted about the original occupation, was leaving. We have waited months for this moment, a moment when we had people willing to occupy the Capitol in numbers. We will take a few hours; imagine if we did this every day. Why do we wait until there are thousands of people to re-occupy?? Sitting in is a very common and well-respected form of civil disobedience. Why don’t more citizens just come starting Saturday or Monday just a little before closing time with the plan to simply refuse to leave?? Why don’t we do this all of the time?? I strongly believe, after all that we have been put through in the state of Wisconsin, that with multiple groups of 13, 20, or even (and maybe I’m dreaming) 100 or 1000 we would inspire a larger scale and this would become the next February. We, as a group, want to redefine citizen involvement here in Wisconsin. Some people are not comfortable facing possible (but probably not likely) misdemeanor charges such as, Unlawful Assembly and Disorderly Conduct. This is fine, but if every citizen rises up in some way, whether it’s joining the civil disobedience front, helping spread the word, helping with the recalls or whatever you can do, we will win. We will rise up as a people; we will be heard. Please spread this post, let’s let our voices be heard. Until then, carry on. ONE DAY LONGER! ONE DAY STRONGER!
Video of The Attempted Re Occupation:
Jeremy Ryan
Executive Director
jryan@defendingwisconsin.org
Note: Segway Jeremy Ryan has become a full-time member of the protests at the Wisconsin State Capitol. Formerly a businessman, he gave up his business to join the fight for the middle class in the State of Wisconsin. Through videos and writings he has informed hundreds of thousands of people of what was going on at the Wisconsin State Capitol once the mainstream media had mostly abandoned the protests. His full-time activism is completely funded by the people. If you would like to help out please click here.
Edited By: Alexis Atherton
Not quite sure how I made myself look bad or insensitive… It seems like a pretty legitimate question to ask someone who claims to have serious heart problems. One day you’ll wake up, when people stop paying your rent for you online and giving you handouts like the naive fools they are. Until then, enjoy living in your fantasy world, because the real word is going to lay you out when it hits you.
It looked insensitive because you alluded or implied, as you did once again with this comment, that my heart condition was just a “claim” or somehow illegitimate… You don’t even know me, but I would assume you would at least be smart enough to know that to make such an innuendo is both insensitive (as if I didn’t really have a heart condition they would have found that out with the thousands they (GOP) has spent investigating me)… One day you’ll wake up, maybe even pay your own tuition, which because of Scott Walker, just went up significantly (oh you didn’t think I could access student records?) and see our state going to shit and be thankful that some were nice enough to help out so I could survive while taking an over 95% pay cut from what I was making to fight this a bit more than just bitching… Or maybe you support these facist policies, the little respect and maturity you have shown me would allude such…
Plus, I would be willing to bet you don’t know me any further than having seen me and heard of me… Therefore any reference you make to my character or me as a person is not only not credible, but entirely unfounded… If you actually knew me I would be willing to bet you would think differently… But I’ll take that because I know what I do is right and that what I do makes it so that people make baseless and false generalizations and opinions of me…
Hey, if you have such a seriously fatal heart condition, is there a reason I constantly see you smoking cigarettes when you’re zipping around on your Segway?
First I find it troubling you would risk putting a question that will make you look both bad and insensitive on a public article with my e-mail… But with that being said I will excuse your ignorance and answer the question… First, I am quitting regular cigarettes so half the time I am actually smoking an e-cigarette which looks exactly like a real one. But outside of that, what I have is Long QT Syndrome. It is a rhythm disturbance. Cigarettes do not effect your QT interval or Adrenaline levels so for me they are no more dangerous than to the average person. If I had structural problems (which are actually less deadly usually) smoking would hurt, but beyond that what if it did hurt?? It’s a hard habit to quit and we all make decisions sometimes that are not good or hurt our body. I have died 5 times, if you want proof, ask Arthur (as I see you are his “friend”). I believe he was in the hospital after my collapse and heard the nurse review my history. It is hard enough living with the condition, but then to have people like you making insulting and false assumptions and comments makes it worse. I guess I will see if you have a conscience by your response. For now, enjoy my heart implant shown here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1715381576386&set=a.1534234447821.2077596.1593600020&type=1&theater