The Milwaukee community and people nation wide continue to react to yesterday’s decision not to charge Christopher Manney, the former Milwaukee police officer, in the shooting death of Dontre Hamilton at Red Arrow Park in April.
One person who has been watching developments closely is Paul Schmitz. The Milwaukeean is now innovator-in-residence at Georgetown University and a nonprofit leadership consultant. He’s also former CEO of the national organization Public Allies, and author of Everyone Leads, a book about lessons from his time as CEO.
Schmitz decided shortly before last Friday’s demonstrations in support of Dontre Hamilton to join the protest march that eventually resulted in the arrests of more than 70 people, including himself – he spent more than a day in jail in connection with the arrest.
Schmitzwrote about the experience and why he decided to get involved for Huffington Post, and he joined Lake Effect's Mitch Teich in the studio Monday afternoon to share his perspective.
"The important thing that all of us are responding in this way are saying is that it's not just these individual circumstances, there's a systemic pattern that is happening," says Schimtz. "And sleeping in a park, the last I checked, does not deserve a death sentence."
