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Freedom Action Now (FAN) advances the feminist abolitionist agenda, mobilizing allies to support grassroots organizations led by working class Black, Southeast Asian, and other women and queer people of color in Wisconsin.
Freedom Action Now (FAN) advances the feminist abolitionist agenda, mobilizing allies to support grassroots organizations led by working class Black, Southeast Asian, and other women and queer people of color in Wisconsin.
July 27, 2026
On Friday, July 25, relatives of Corey Ruiz traveled to the State Capitol and formalized their demands: criminal charges against Officer Kile Peterson, body cameras for every Madison Police Department officer, and justice for a man who should still be alive.
On Sunday, July 27, the Madison Police Civilian Oversight Board — the very body the Common Council is preparing to weaken — announced it will conduct an independent review of the Ruiz shooting.
Between those two events: a city wrestling with whether to side with the community or with the police who killed one of its own.
The Ruiz family, now represented by Ben Crump, has made their demands explicit. Speaking at the Capitol on July 25, relatives called for:
Crump has been clear from the beginning: this was not a tragic accident. It was an execution. The family is demanding that the legal system treat it as such.
On July 27, the Police Civilian Oversight Board announced it will conduct an independent review of the Ruiz shooting. This is significant for two reasons.
First, it demonstrates what the PCO Board can do when it has independence — investigate the police department that killed a Black man and provide a public accounting of what happened. The OIPM's homicide ruling on Richard Lee Johnson's death showed that independent oversight can uncover truths the police would rather bury. The Ruiz review could do the same.
Second, it makes the August 4 Common Council vote even more urgent. The same board that is now investigating Corey Ruiz's killing is the board the city is trying to strip of its funding, its independence, and its authority. They want to weaken the very institution that is now holding them accountable.
The timing could not be more damning. The PCO Board steps up. The Common Council prepares to tear it down.
Nightly protests continued through the weekend. What began as a spontaneous eruption of grief on July 22 has become sustained, organized, and unrelenting. Hundreds of people have marched through downtown Madison every night for five consecutive days. The intersection of Williamson and Baldwin remains closed. The memorial continues to grow.
On July 26, Alder Davy Mayer — whose district includes the shooting site — reported receiving over 100 messages from constituents. The message was uniform, Mayer said: the community wants justice for Corey Ruiz. Some neighbors have raised concerns about the protest area's impact on daily life — concerns that every uprising generates and that the city could resolve by delivering the justice the community is demanding.
Madison City Council President Sabrina Madison went on CNN during this period and said what the community has been saying from the first night: the officer who killed Corey Ruiz should be arrested. This is not a fringe demand. It is the position of the City Council President.
The national right-wing media has arrived — and they are doing what they always do. Townhall published a piece on July 27 titled "Leftists Continue to Protest Officer Involved Shooting in Madison," attempting to frame a community grieving a police killing as a public nuisance. They noted that protests are blocking bars and businesses. They published Corey Ruiz's booking photo. They treated his death as a disruption to commerce rather than a disruption to a family, a community, and a city.
This is the counter-narrative FAN exists to fight. While the right tries to make this about disorder, we make it about what it actually is: a community demanding that the police stop killing Black people.
Freedom Inc. continues to lead the community response — organizing the protests, coordinating with the family, advancing the demands. Freedom Action NOW is mobilizing allies to provide material support: bodies at actions, resources for the sustained organizing this moment requires, and the political legitimacy that comes from a broad coalition refusing to let this be normalized.
The encampment at Williamson and Baldwin has become a site of grief, organizing, and community care. It is being sustained by the people who live in the neighborhood and the people who have traveled to stand with them. That takes resources. That takes numbers. That takes people willing to show up and follow the leadership of those most impacted.
The PCO Board review will take time. The August 4 Common Council vote will not. In eight days, the city decides whether to strengthen the board that is now investigating Corey Ruiz's killing — or to weaken it while the investigation is still open.
The family has made their demands. The protests have not stopped. The PCO Board has stepped up. The question now is whether the Common Council will do the same — or whether it will side with the police who killed Corey Ruiz.
