Wiza delivers call for unity in passionate Thanksgiving address
By Brandi Makuski
Mayor Mike Wiza offered some Thanksgiving sentiment at the November city council meeting, with a call for unity and kindness among city residents.
Thanksgiving is Thursday, Nov. 24. City offices will be closed Thursday and Friday.
“It’s this time of year when everybody thinks, ‘OK, what are you thankful for?’ But I gotta tell ya, the world makes it hard some days,” Wiza began.
He told the audience that as the city was holding its monthly meeting on Monday, leaders in Waukesha were attending a memorial for the one-year anniversary of last year’s Christmas parade attack. On Nov. 21, 2021, Darrell E. Brooks plowed into the crowd driving an SUV, killing six and leaving more than 60 others injured.
Wiza also referenced a shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Nov. 19, leaving five dead and 17 wounded.
“It makes me wonder what goes through some people’s heads. We disagree, that’s human nature. I don’t have to like the things you do, you don’t have to like the things I do. We’re all still human. And when that level of…divisiveness puts a thought in someone’s head that ‘I wanna kill somebody,’ and you act on that, what does that make you? Because I certainly don’t think it’s a human being,” Wiza said during his three-minute address.
“We have spoken out against hatred and bigotry, and I still see name-calling from the same people who have spoken out against that bigotry and hatred, and bias and—they’re still doing the name-calling too. What is it about human nature that brings us to such a level where we can’t just let you live your life, ‘Stay in your lane,’ whatever you want to call it? Why do we have to inject ourselves in [sic] someone else’s life? Why do we have to try to force someone else to believe what we believe? To me, that’s absolutely disgusting.”
Wiza said that as we move into Thanksgiving, he still encourages people to remember the good things in life and express gratitude for all they have.
“But over the next month or so, our holiday season, let’s try to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. Everybody has a story. Everybody in this room got here on a journey that most of us know nothing about. Everyone you meet on the street, the homeless person sleeping on the bench, something brought them to that level and you have no idea what that was. So let’s try and show a little compassion, and, while we do that, pray for the people that have lost their lives because others couldn’t hit that compassion level,” Wiza said.
