Resident wants us all to just get along

One Saukville man is hoping that a night of rancor can be the inspiration for a night of reunification.

A Black Lives Matter demonstration the night of Tuesday, July 21, at the corner of East Green Bay Avenue and South Foster Drive resulted in confrontations between some protestors and onlookers.

Fifteen to 20 of the protestors located where one of those with whom they had a confrontation lived and went to that person’s house in Saukville, where they shouted chants and played loud music until after 10 p.m.

Officers from the Saukville and Port Washington police departments were called to the scene after receiving a report that the protestors were attempting to break into the house, Saukville Police Chief Robert Meyer said.

“From info gathered on scene, it was reported the resident supposedly made inappropriate comments to one of the group members on an earlier date (this information was never verified) and that was the reason the group was gathered outside the house,” Meyer said in an email. 

“There was some brief yelling between the group, the residents and some acquaintances of the residents. After a few hours the group dispersed with no arrests.”

The next day the arguing continued on social media, drawing dozens of comments.

Nick Rico read the comments about what happened and, he said in a post, had a “strong compulsion in my spirit” to organize a prayer/worship service at Veterans Park in downtown Saukville to bring people together, going so far as to check with Village of Saukville officials to see if such a thing was even possible.

It is, he was told.

“Let’s really make this a positive event. Let’s come together and really make this work,” he wrote, inviting members of churches and multiple faiths to join in organizing the event.

Rico’s idea got almost as many comments supporting him as there were from people participating in the initial argument.

Rico, 38, said he has already met with some church leaders and they are planning to hold an organizational meeting on Aug. 13.

“We got some good ideas going on but we will sit down and put things down and get some community leaders involved,” he said in an interview. 

He originally hoped the event could be held in August but it likely will be at the middle or end of September, he said.

He said he doesn’t agree 100% with Black Lives Matter protestors, but does “on the aspect of equality. I agree there’s some stuff that’s negative but it’s not just one group vs. another group.

“Everybody’s organizing protests and stuff; how about we organize something that brings people together and do something in a positive manner,” he said.

He called the response he received “overwhelming.”

“One of the people from the Black Lives Matter group reached out to me and said it would be a positive thing,” he said.

Rico and his wife, Candy, have three children. They moved to Saukville four years ago from Texas.

He is an information technology professional who works from home and is on a waiting list to receive a kidney transplant.

When word got out about his need for a kidney transplant, members of the community stepped up and helped them financially and in other ways, he said. 

“People I didn’t even know started to reach out and help us. I realized Saukville was a good place,” he said.

He’s hoping he can help make it even better.

“Instead of talking about our differences, we should talk about our common ground and how we can make this a better community,” he said.