MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – Tony Robinson’s death has been portrayed nationally as a black man killed by a white Madison police officer.
But at a news conference Monday, his family kept emphasizing that the 19-year-old Robinson was the bi-racial product of a black father and a white mother — and he embraced the identity of a mixed race.
Robinson was unarmed on Friday night when Madison officer Matt Kenny responded, after reports that the teen jumped in and out of traffic and hit someone. Police said Robinson attacked the officer, and Kenny shot him to death.
Monday, Madison Police Chief Mike Koval apologized to Robinson’s family and did not admit wrongdoing.
The incident has further exposed a racial divide in a liberal city that celebrates a progressive history. African-Americans make up about 7 percent of Madison’s population, but they’re on the short end of long gaps in student test scores, graduation rates, and arrests and incarcerations.
Congressman Mark Pocan lives just a few blocks from Williamson Street, where the shooting took place. Pocan notes that Madison’s black men get arrested at 8 times the rate of whites — and he hopes the tragedy will create an opportunity for the community to grow “stronger together.”
Peaceful protests continue, including a State Capitol rally Monday in which about 1,500 people showed up — many of them students leaving school.
The state Justice Department continues to investigate the shooting.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
