UW-Madison Students Hold Candlelight Vigil for 13 Black Lives, Including Man Shot by Madison Police

The Blk Pwr Coalition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison held a candlelight vigil on Library Mall on Thursday night to remember 13 Black people, among them Corey Ruiz, who was fatally shot by a Madison police officer on Williamson Street this summer.

Roughly 60 students attended, lighting candles, reciting poems and sharing anecdotes. Azuri Lawson, the coalition's chief operating officer, said the main aim was to show victims' families that their loved ones would not be forgotten. Attendees stood in a circle around candles arranged in the shape of a heart, and the coalition handed out candles to anyone who wanted one.

"This vigil is our refusal to let our brothers and sisters become nameless statistics," Lawson told the crowd. "Remembering is an act of love, and mourning together is an act of resistance."

The event opened with a moment of silence. The 13 people named were Corey Ruiz, Nolan Wells, Richard Lee Johnson, Kyle Bassinga, Juliana Nzita, To'Nea Nicole Miller, Justice James, Jerard Jackson, Tasia Fortune, Javion Magee, Dennoriss Richardson, Earl Smith and Trayvon Reed. Their deaths involved officers or suspicions of racial motivation. Lawson also dedicated the silence to Black people whose deaths the coalition could not name.

Ruiz, 38, died after a Madison police officer shot him this past summer. His death prompted protests after videos of the encounter circulated online, along with calls for the Madison Police Department to be transparent about what happened. Richard Lee Johnson, 32, who died in Madison in 2024 one day after his arrest, was also remembered. His death was first attributed to "complications from cocaine toxicity," but city leaders called for a review after a forensic pathologist disputed that finding and pointed to a "restraint-related cardiac arrest."

Members of the campus chapter of Leaders Igniting Transformation, a nonprofit led by youth of color, and of Madison Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) also spoke. SDS member Bradley Keenan tied Ruiz's death to the group's Sept. 16 rally for a sanctuary campus, citing remarks there by Blk Pwr Coalition member Evan Epps. "These systems that killed Corey Ruiz and Black bodies around the country are the same ones that detain and deport thousands of immigrants and Mexican-Americans in this country," Keenan said. He also compared recent protests with the 1969 Black Student Strike, which led to the creation of the African American Studies Program.

Another SDS member, Lizbeth De Jesus, said she grew up on Chicago's South Side and had seen Black and Brown communities suffer there. She had thought of Madison as a "more liberal" city, and said news of Ruiz's death was surprising. "It sucks to hear that no matter what state you are gonna be in, the police are going to be racist," she said.

Elijah Makwinja, the coalition's Community Outreach and Resources Cipher Lead, said campus felt quieter than usual this summer after Ruiz's death. He said the shooting happened on a street many people frequent, which made it feel unreal. "It felt like something we would see on the news all the time happened right in front of our face," Makwinja said. He added that the coalition wanted to make Ruiz's name and others a priority again.

Lawson said she was impressed by the turnout. "We won't stay silent," she said. "I think it shows that we are still a community on campus and that people still care."