The Center for Popular Democracy released the following statement on behalf of Uplifting Black Liberation and Black Communities (UBLAC), a racial justice community organization in Milwaukee close to the Sylville Smith family, through UBLAC’s organizer Markasa Tucker:

“While Sylville Smith’s family struggles to go on without him, his killer will go home tonight. We are sickened and outraged, mournful, and in disbelief.

Contrary to the public portrayal, Sylville was a loving man, who held his family together, putting their needs even above his own.

Today’s verdict lays bare what we know too well in Milwaukee: there is no justice for Black people in our city. Sylville Smith was murdered, and ripped from his family, as a result of the destructive policing policies targeting the Black community in Milwaukee. This result exemplifies why Milwaukee is deemed the worst place to be Black in America.

It is past time for a real investment in our communities to address poverty and trauma, and it is certainly not the moment to pour millions of dollars into a police department which continues to terrorize our people.

We join calls from across the country to divest from failed policies of criminalization and to begin investing in people and communities.

Sylville will not be forgotten.”

For update information on actions and next steps, please visit Facebook.com/UBlacMKE