Annysa Johnson

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A conservative blogger's characterization of Milwaukee Public Schools students as "little convicts" continued to reverberate through the district's schools on Thursday, drawing condemnation from the president of the Milwaukee Youth Council.

Emoni Gambrell-Toliver, a student at Riverside University High School, issued a statement thanking Right Wisconsin Editor James Wigderson for "opening our eyes to realize that people like you still exist."

"For you to label us convicts was completely discourteous and mean-spirited," she said.

"MPS raised us to stay focused, to beat the odds and to see veiled hate and racism like yours when it bubbles up from a darker place."

Wigderson outraged many in the community and drew national attention this week for a recent essay in which he questioned the $11 million in planned upgrades for MPS' athletic fields, including a new $5.7 million stadium at his alma mater, Vincent High School.

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Wigderson suggested the money would be better spent on academics and that the upgrades were being made "presumably so the little convicts can have the best facilities before being sent to the penitentiary."

He said he graduated from Vincent "against the odds" because he worked hard.

Wigderson has not responded to Journal Sentinel questions regarding the essay. But he has said in a radio interview and on social media that he was taken out of context and that he was referencing Deontay Long, the Washington High School basketball star recently convicted of armed robbery.

RELATED:Basketball standout Deontay Long receives jail time for role in armed robbery

He has since doubled down with an essay titled "MPS is Still Failing."

Wigderson faced a deluge of complaints from critics who derided his remarks as hurtful and racist.

Gambrell-Toliver, like many, pointed to MPS' many success stories and the tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships its students receive annually. And she suggested the facilities upgrades would improve MPS attendance and help reduce the school-to-prison pipeline by giving students other opportunities.

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"In every bunch there are always bad grapes," she said, "but who are you to blame the entire vine?!"