SUN PRAIRIE, Wis.– Protesters temporarily blocked a portion of Main Street in Sun Prairie on Wednesday afternoon during a caravan through the city.
The caravan started at Sun Prairie Area School District offices just after 2:30 p.m. The second stop was Patrick Marsh Middle School, where protesters wrote messages on the school windows and doors. The last stop was Main Street, where they blocked traffic with their cars from Bristol to Market streets for about 30 minutes during rush hour.
The caravan followed a homework assignment given to students earlier this week that asked them how they would punish a slave. Protesters said they are demanding accountability and reform of Sun Prairie schools and the police department.
“We’ll be highlighting every place that we feel needs to reform, have some better training programs, teaching their teachers to really be conscious when they are creating lesson plans for their Black students and students of color,” said Shy Smith, a lead organizer for Black Umbrella.
It hits home for Smith, who grew up in the Sun Prairie schools. She said she’s surprised that an assignment like that one was given to middle schoolers, especially during Black History Month.
“In this age of what we’re going through right now, it’s not really a shock to me that all of these things are being exposed,” Smith said.
Sun Prairie Area School District has not returned our request for comment or an update on the investigation.
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