By Karen Stokes
State Representative Mandela Barnes (D—Milwaukee).
On Monday, July 13, Representative Mandela Barnes (D-Milwaukee) attended Republican Governor Scott Walker’s presidential campaign launch rally at the Waukesha County Expo Center.
He had registered to receive a ticket to attend the rally.
Once inside the expo, prior to Walker’s introduction, Barnes was talking and taking pictures with some Republican colleagues.
Shortly after, a volunteer from the Walker campaign approached him and asked if he would like to stand on stage with Governor Walker.
Barnes respectfully declined, continued standing on the floor and moved to the back of the room so as to not attract attention to himself.
Minutes later, a second staff person approached Barnes and asked him to leave.
The staffer told him “Representative Barnes, we appreciate you being here, but I’m going to ask you to leave,” Barnes said.
“I asked why they were asking me to leave and he didn’t say anything.”
“I went from the top to the bottom before I even knew it,” Barnes said.
As confusing as this was for Representative Barnes, it makes us question who is Scott Walker… really?
Wisconsin’s Governor, the 15th Republican seeking the nomination for the presidency has been eerily quiet in the wake of increased violence and poverty in Milwaukee his state’s largest city.
“Walker ignores the conversation about poverty and violence in Milwaukee,” Barnes said. “The governor doesn’t have a strong record on poverty.
The biggest indicator was turning down Medicare and Right to Work.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 12 percent of Wisconsin workers were members of unions.
Black workers were more likely to be union members than were white, Asian or Hispanic.
Contrary to some popular beliefs, not every African Americans is a Democrat.
In the 2014 midterm election ten percent of African Americans voted Republican.
The highest number of African American voters for the GOP since 2006.
Most voters of color are seeking a candidate that understands and cares about their community and displays that understanding with policies that uplift the middles class and the people most in need. Outside of Wisconsin, the public may know little about the Wisconsin governor.
On a facebook post Barnes explained, “While the story is about is how I got stood up at Walker’s announcement on Monday, this experience pales in comparison to how Walker has continually stood up Wisconsin’s communities and families in order to advance his self-interest and exact political retribution over his long career of dividing and conquering.”
The Milwaukee Courier reached out to Scott Walker’s campaign.
They have yet to comment.