On Monday morning, 17-year-old Shorewood High School student Eric Lucas III – who was spit on during a peaceful protest this weekend – spoke to the press and members of the public in front of the school.
Shorewood police arrested 64-year-old Stephanie Rapkin Saturday, accusing her of spitting in Lucas' face during a peaceful protest on Oakland Avenue earlier that day. On Sunday, media reported that Rapkin was arrested again following another altercation with a protester.
Also speaking at Monday's press conference were Shorewood Board of Education President Paru Shah, State Representative David Bowen and Shorewood School District Superintendent Bryan Davis, who called for hate crime charges to be added to the charges against Rapkin.
Lucas said he was, "mentally and physically shaken to be assaulted by an adult in my own community ... disappointed in feeling unloved by individuals I've done no harm to.
"Our family harbors no hate but does request that justice be prompt and appropriate," he said. "Injustice anywhere is a detriment to justice everywhere."
Here is the entirety of that press conference:
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
