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Mo Cheeks is baking for justice
A former Madison Common Council member’s quarantine hobby rises to a higher cause.
February 24, 2021 11:22 AM Sam Jones
Updated:
Photo by Sharon Vanorny
Mo Cheeks creates sourdough bread out of his home kitchen. He established a micro-bakery called Bread and Justice in January and donates proceeds to local social justice nonprofits and racial justice organizations.
When former Common Council member and Madison mayoral candidate Mo Cheeks borrowed some sourdough starter from a friend last January, the meticulous process of baking bread was solely an escapist coping mechanism.
He brought the starter from Washington, D.C., back to Madison and faced his third try at mastering the art of breadmaking.
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Wauwatosa Police Captain Brian Zalewski (left) and Chief Barry Weber (right) Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin (ACLU) has issued a letter to the Wauwatosa Police and Fire Commission (PFC) calling for an “open and inclusive process in the selection of the next Wauwatosa police chief.”
Barry Weber, who has served as Wauwatosa’s police chief since 1990, has said he will retire in June.
Weber’s retirement was announced in the wake of a number of controversies regarding the way his department policed Black Lives Matter protests, and as lawsuits over officer conduct during the protests are filed against the city. The PFC has hired an outside firm to select a new police chief.
Van Wanggaard (R-Racine), a sponsor of the bill, said it “aims to prevent a coming mistake by the Evers’ administration to prioritize Wisconsin’s prison inmates over law abiding essential workers and others in receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.”
The proposal from a state advisory committee to prioritize inmates would mean a “healthy 30-year-old three-time murderer would be entitled to receive a vaccine before other at-risk individuals, Wanggaard said. “A 25-year-old who raped a 60-year old-asthmatic cancer survivor would be entitled to receive the vaccine before his victim. This is not only unwise, it is unconscionable.”
Prisons are recognized as breeding grounds for pandemics due to the poor health of many inmates and the crowded conditions. Incarcerated people face increased risk of contracting the disease, as do corrections workers and those they come in contact with both inside and outside the prison walls.