Patrick Marley and Molly Beck

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Republicans in the state Senate rejected a move Wednesday by black lawmakers to recognize Colin Kaepernick as part of Black History Month — prompting Democrats to oppose a ceremonial resolution that usually gains broad bipartisan support.

The turn of events meant that both of the state's black senators, Lena Taylor and LaTonya Johnson, voted against a measure meant to celebrate Black History Month.

The pair expressed frustration that white legislators excised the National Football League quarterback's name from the long list of those worthy of praise.

"This year all of the sudden for the first time we’ve been told that we have to have permission to determine who we want to honor for Black History Month," Taylor said on the Senate floor. "I have not seen it when we’ve honored any other group, any other thing."

She said white Republicans have maintained "they’re best suited to decide for African-Americans what we should value, who we should honor."

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The Senate vote came a day after a similar fight flared in the Assembly amid GOP opposition to honoring someone who has drawn attention for kneeling during the national anthem to protest the treatment of black people.

GOP senators did not explain their views on the floor of the Senate as Democrats criticized them for four hours for keeping black lawmakers from lauding Kaepernick.

Supporters say Kaepernick is exercising his First Amendment right to protest what he views as racial injustice. Critics say he is denigrating the American flag and American principles.

The plan to honor Kaepernick won initial support from two Senate Republicans — Alberta Darling of River Hills and Dale Kooyenga of Brookfield — but the pair went along with keeping Kaepernick's name off the resolution after their colleagues raised objections.

Kooyenga said he did not believe he had reversed his stance on the resolution.

"It's a procedural vote," he said of his vote to keep Kaepernick's name off the list of those to be honored.

Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach of Middleton called the partisan split on the issue "one of the uglier" votes senators have taken.

"There is such a thing as white privilege and we're looking at it right now. We're staring it in the face," he said.

It's the second year in a row the resolution recognizing Black History Month has sparked controversy.

In 2018, Republican Rep. Scott Allen of Waukesha said he and other Republican lawmakers objected to the black caucus' resolution that year because it didn't include black Wisconsinites he believed should be honored, including U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore and former Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., who has been criticized for demeaning black residents of the state.

That year, the Assembly passed two separate resolutions on the issue.

The latest dispute began Tuesday, when Assembly Republican leaders, all of whom are white, refused to include Kaepernick's name on a resolution drafted by black lawmakers honoring more than two dozen black Americans.

Republicans pulled Kaepernick's name from the resolution and the Assembly passed it unanimously. Afterward, some Assembly Democrats renounced their votes for it and announced they were asking to be recorded as opposing it.

On Wednesday in the Senate, Taylor sought to get Kaepernick's name back into the resolution.

Republicans refused to do that. The Senate voted 19-14 for a version of the resolution without Kaepernick's name, with all Republicans for it and all Democrats against it.

Taylor and other Democrats chastised Republicans for their opposition to putting Kaepernick's name back on the resolution.

Taylor said civil rights pioneers Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Rosa Parks were controversial in their day, only to be widely praised later.

"The people on the other side of Harriet Tubman, that’s you today," Taylor told Republican senators.

Tuesday's debate in the Assembly was just as fiery, with Democratic Rep. David Crowley of Milwaukee calling the move to strip Kaepernick's name from the resolution "a textbook example of white privilege" and a "slap in the face."

Also Tuesday, GOP Rep. Barbara Dittrich of Oconomowoc disavowed a tweet posted under her name during the debate that criticized Kaepernick. She said she believed the tweet had been posted by her aide Keith Best, who drew attention last year for tweeting under another lawmaker's name.

"Colin Kapernick wore socks depicting police as pigs. Flags are flying at half-staff for a murdered policeman. Are you kidding me????" read the tweet under Dittrich's name, which misspelled Kaepernick's name.

It was taken down soon after it was posted. Dittrich said Tuesday she was angry about the tweet and would discipline Best if she determined it was posted by him.

On Wednesday, Best's name was removed from Dittrich's website, but it was not immediately clear why.

"I'm not going to discuss private personnel matters, but it's been dealt with," Dittrich said Wednesday.

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Last year, Best tweeted from then-Rep. Tom Weatherston's account a response to Taylor when she argued voter suppression was overlooked. The tweet from Weatherston's account claimed voter ID opponents like Taylor were "the true racists."

Weatherston said at the time he would consider punishing Best. Weatherston, who left office last month because he didn't seek re-election, refused to say Tuesday whether he had disciplined Best.