A new altar for Corey Ruiz was placed on the steps of City Hall as protesters sought to continue pressuring elected officials not to ignore their demands.
On Aug. 23, Freedom Inc. and other protesters created the new altar for Ruiz after the previous memorial, located at the site where he was killed by Madison police, was torn down. While the altar focused on Ruiz, it also honored many others who have been killed by police in Madison, across Wisconsin and throughout the country. Photos of victims of police killings were placed on the City Hall steps, while a makeshift graveyard bearing the names of victims was set up in the grassy area to the left.
“Our first altar that was at the campsite was torn down and destroyed with the order of Mayor Satya [Rhodes-Conway], so we’re letting her know that you can tear down the altar, but we’re coming in with another one, and if she tears this down … we’re coming with another one,” said Jewel Adams, speaker at the protest. “We will continue to recognize and let the community see our people over and over and over again because we want answers.”
Freedom Inc has held multiple protests to demand action from the city. Its demands have remained consistent — fund the Police Civilian Oversight Board (PCOB) with 5% of the Madison police budget, keep the PCOB and Independent Monitor controlled by the community, turn over all evidence and reports in relation to the killing of Ruiz, arrest the officer responsible for Ruiz’s death and let the community have stronger control over policing.
This protest and altar took aim at Mayor Rhodes-Conway. Freedom Inc notes that the mayor did not, in any known instance, head over to the former altar and encampment on Willy Street and Baldwin. 
“She violently tore down that memorial that was to remember Corey and all the lives that have been lost,” said Zon Moua, Freedom Inc’s director of organizing. “There’s nothing wrong with having an altar, a beautiful altar that was put together by young people and grandmothers and mothers to honor loved ones … and yet, [Mayor Rhodes-Conway] sent out her army to violently tear that altar down.”
Adams calls the police and the city responsible for tearing down the previous altar “Satya’s Army;” the previous altar was torn down Aug. 4.
With the new altar, Freedom Inc wanted it to be somewhere Mayor Rhodes-Conway and other elected officials would be forced to see.
“We want Mayor Satya to see what her policies are doing to our young Black folks, our unarmed Black folks, and she continues to let happen and let go on while she sits and hides behind her desk,” Adams said. “She didn’t even have the decency to come out here and say nothing, to even pretend that she’s with us and on our side.”
