Milwaukee's International Human Rights Day celebration turns to concerns about democracy

​By Alexandria Staubach
 
At Milwaukee's celebration of International Humans Rights day, a panel of professionals and community activists were in lockstep that the United States is in a constitutional crisis.
 
The city's eighth annual celebration of International Human Rights Day on Saturday was technically a celebration. But the event took on a cautionary tone as members of the public and city officials gathered in discussion around democracy, its erosion, and its relationship to human rights.
 
Panelists in a segment titled “Unpacking Democracy and Human Rights,” emphasized that human rights are the bedrock of any functioning democracy. They explored the nexus between the constitutional crisis they believe is occurring and the erosion of human rights.
 
The panel included James Santelle, former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin; Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera; Yante Turner, director of youth programming at GSAFE, which champions the rights of LGBTQ+ youth, and member of Sun-Seeker MKE, a Black trans-led community organizing group; and Svetlana Her, president of the Milwaukee Youth Council.
 
Emilio De Torre, executive director of the Milwaukee Turners, led the discussion.
 
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Milwaukee Equal Rights Commission Chair Tony Snell Rodriguez gave opening remarks.
 
“International Human Rights Day gives us the opportunity to reflect on what is happening in our country,” Johnson said, adding that “modern political trends are weakening human rights.”
 
“We’ve got to stand against that movement,” he said. “Our democracy is not self-effectuating.”
 
“Protecting human rights is not a passive task … it requires action,” he said.

Panelists at Milwaukee's International Human Rights Day celebration. L to R: James Santelle, James Santell, Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Svetlana Her, Yante Turner, and moderator Emilio De Torre.

De Torre’s first question—whether the American democracy is in crisis—elicited comments from the panel that we are living in unprecedented times.

Santelle, who served 30 years in various roles within the federal government, called the current justice system “unrecognizable.”
 
“It’s not just atypical, not just abhorrent, it’s inconsistent with the purpose of the U.S. Department of Justice,” he said.
 
Santelle asked the audience to “embrace” feelings of disaffection to empower action. “Your own sense of disaffection from your government—you’re not alone and that sense is right and accurate,” he said.
 
As U.S. attorney under President Barack Obama, Santelle led the Milwaukee office of federal prosecutors. He said the current justice department is working against the people by participating in litigation to dismantle the departments of education and housing and by engaging in prosecutions “premised upon the notion that the president of the United States does not like people.”
 
Neumann-Ortiz said the immigrant community see signs of crisis in the increased freedom of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to wrongfully arrest people and in open discrimination by law enforcement. “We’ve got to think about our rights now and defend them,” she said. “Use your rights or lose them.”
 
Turner noted the experience of Black and particularly queer Black individuals. Turner said calling this a constitutional crisis “feels unaccountable,” because “it’s always been a crisis for some people in this country.” Nevertheless, this is “a crucial point of change for better or worse,” Turner said—the only question being whether in the years to come we will be “building off or recovering from” the changes enacted at the federal level.
 
Milwaukee’s Equal Rights Commission and the city’s chapter of the United Nations Associations host the annual event, open to the public. This year the event occurred at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center.