Latest news with #Brostoff
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Wisconsin legislators pause to remember former colleague Jonathan Brostoff
The late Jonathan Brostoff, photographed during his time as a state representative in the Wisconsin Assembly. The Assembly and state Senate approved a resolution in Brostoff's memory March 18, 2025. (Photo by Greg Anderson) Editor's note: If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, call or text 988 or chat On a day of contentious legislative debates and an annual ceremonial custom to recognize Wisconsin's tribal communities, members of the Wisconsin Legislature united to remember a former colleague this week. More than one lawmaker made clear it was an event they fervently wished would not have been necessary. Former State Rep. Jonathan Brostoff took his own life on Nov. 4, 2024, with a gun he had purchased just an hour earlier. He was 41 years old. Brostoff served in the Assembly for eight years, leaving in 2022 after he was elected to the Milwaukee Common Council. Tuesday, the Wisconsin Assembly and Senate each voted unanimously to pass a resolution in Brostoff's memory. The votes were cast in each chamber in a two-part secular memorial service of sorts, with heartfelt eulogies from Brostoff's former colleagues. Many wore green ribbons in recognition of mental health awareness. 'Jonathan was well known for his honesty,' said Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer. 'He never held back if he thought we were heading in the wrong direction or missing something important — often crossing his eyes and staring you down. With Jonathan, you always knew where you stood, and he helped us grow as a caucus and as individual legislators.' One story was told repeatedly: Brostoff's campaign to pass a bill that would tighten state standards for American Sign Language interpreters. The legislation established a tiered licensing system to ensure that people interpreting between doctors and patients or lawyers and clients had a higher level of skill, Brostoff said at the time. Frustrated when the legislation stalled, he vowed not to cut his hair until it was signed into law. In an April 2019 Wisconsin Public Television interview, Brostoff — who normally favored a close-cropped cut — sported a curly afro that surrounded his face. It wasn't a protest, exactly, he told interviewer Frederica Freyberg. 'Especially for the deaf community, it's a visual indicator saying I'm with you and we're not going to stop until we get this done,' Brostoff said. 'I would send him pictures of Richard Simmons,' Rep. Lisa Subeck said on the Assembly floor Tuesday. 'He sent me back pictures of Bob Ross.' Gov. Tony Evers signed the bill in July 2019. Sen. Dianne Hesselbein was a member of the Assembly at the time. In the Senate Tuesday, she recalled Brostoff's Assembly floor speech on the day the measure finally passed. 'He signed the entire thing, and it was long, and he could do sign language of the entire thing without looking at notes,' Hesselbein said. 'He knew what he wanted to say, and he was careful, and there was silence, absolute silence and respect.' Colleagues described the diminutive Brostoff as intense, funny, passionate about causes and smitten with his four children. In the Assembly, Rep. Jodi Emerson recalled hearing Brostoff break into the 'Itsy bitsy spider' song while changing a diaper in the midst of one of their phone calls discussing their work in the Capitol. Those phone calls were a regular feature of her drives home to Eau Claire from Madison at the end of a busy week in the Capitol. She said she spoke before Tuesday's session with Brostoff's father about those calls. 'I was thinking about that last week, and really wish I would have been able to talk to Jonathan last week,' Emerson said. 'I had my own version of a conversation with him,' she added wistfully, 'but the reception wasn't clear from wherever he was.' Brostoff was first elected to the Assembly in 2014. Rep. Christine Sinicki related a memory from Brostoff's campaign that year. She had not endorsed him in the four-way Democratic primary, and at a neighborhood parade both attended that summer, a Brostoff volunteer sidled up to her and made a 'snide remark,' she said. 'I went over to Jonathan and I said, 'I really did not appreciate that.' The next day, that volunteer was at my door, apologizing,' Sinicki recalled. 'That was the kind of man that Jonathan was. He had so much integrity.' Rep. Supreme Moore Omokunde, who met Brostoff when both were at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, nicknamed him 'JoBro.' But Brostoff had his own self-applied nickname: Honey Badger, after a viral YouTube video and internet meme — 'Honey Badger Don't Care.' 'He's getting into like, messing with bees and snakes and all types of things, because Honey Badger don't care and he's gonna do what he wants to do anyway. That's Jonathan Brostoff,' Omokunde said. Brostoff was passionate about the causes he adopted, his colleagues agreed. Omokunde referred to a comment moments earlier, when Subeck 'called him tenacious.' He paused. 'However, let's be honest,' he continued. 'Jonathan was annoying … and everybody in this body who ever came across him knows he was annoying.' Affectionate laughter greeted his candor. 'Sometimes he could make me crazy,' Sinicki said. 'That's only because he had such passion and such conviction for the things that he wanted that nothing was going to change his mind, nothing at all.' For all his fervor as a Democratic lawmaker, Brostoff endeared himself to Republican colleagues. GOP Rep. Paul Tittl found Brostoff, who was Jewish, to be 'a deeply spiritual person' who asked to attend a regular Capitol Bible study that Republican lawmakers, all Christian, organized. 'He always added to the conversation.' In the Senate, Sen. Andre Jacque recalled both Brostoff's participation in the Bible study program as well as his enthusiasm for the gaming community. 'One thing that always struck me about Jonathan is that he was somebody who was unafraid to put himself out there and have conversations,' Jacque said. 'I'm going to miss him.' Brostoff took it upon himself to vet prospective candidates. One was Rep. Robyn Vining, ahead of her first election to the Assembly in 2018. At a Colectivo Coffee near UWM, 'Jonathan grilled me with questions, and was very clear on his priorities,' Vining said. 'He was also very clear that he would not be supporting me if I did not pass his test.' They talked. 'What I didn't realize was that after I did pass that test, Jonathan was going to jump on board and fight for me, which is exactly what he did,' Vining said. 'We finished my vetting, and he said, 'OK, let's go knock some doors.'' First-term Rep. Sequanna Taylor was another such candidate. Friends from before she decided to run for the Assembly, she and Brostoff and their families were dining together early in her campaign. 'In the middle of him eating, he was like, 'Give me your spiel,'' Taylor said. She was caught off guard, but he persisted. 'And so, you know, I went into my little spiel, and he took a moment and he looked at me. He was like, 'You'll be good,'' she said. 'Then he was like, 'Next time somebody asks you this, though, I want you to be able to say this in 30 seconds flat.'' Brostoff was always straightforward, Taylor said. 'You never had to worry about a gray area with JoBro, because there was no gray area with him.' Sen. LaTonya Johnson recalled a riot in Milwaukee's Sherman Park neighborhood, part of her district, after an officer-involved shooting 10 years ago. She was visiting the scene the second night of unrest — 'I was not brave enough to go that first night,' she confessed — when Brostoff showed up with big packs of chewing gum. 'This is de-escalation gum,' Johnson recalled him saying. She was skeptical, 'but lo and behold the longer we were out there, when things became confrontational, Jonathan would walk up and he said, 'You want gum?' And people would stop, and they would take it.' And, she said, it helped redirect people's attention. Subeck said she and Brostoff were two of three Jewish members of the Assembly when they both took office in 2015. She described the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam, to repair the world. 'This is a concept that is built on our guiding principles of social justice, of making the world a better place, of taking care of our world and taking care of its people,' Subeck said. 'And Jonathan, more than just about anybody else I know, lived up to that principle.' Brostoff was candid about his own mental health history, Subeck added. 'He brought his own struggles, and he shared his very personal struggles with all of us here in the Legislature, and I believe that they made me, and hopefully made many of you, a better legislator.' There were also calls to address directly how Brostoff's life had ended. 'I hope that we will recommit ourselves to preventing needless deaths in this state and to doing what Jonathan would want us to do, and enacting policies that will save other lives, even though we are too late to save his,' said Sen. Mark Spreitzer. 'I will miss my friend Jonathan Brostoff, may his memory be a blessing.' 'Jonathan's story is one that too many Wisconsin families know the pain of,' said Sen. Jodi Habush Sinykin. 'In 2022 alone, 530 Wisconsinites died by suicide with firearms.' Habush Sinykin read to her colleagues a statement from Brostoff's widow, Diana Vang-Brostoff, and his parents, Alan and Phyllis Brostoff. Earlier, Rep. Deb Andraca read the same statement in the Assembly. 'Once again, we want to thank the Wisconsin Legislature for today honoring the memory of our husband and son,' the statement began. Their statement recounted the circumstances of Brostoff's death as well as a commentary Brostoff wrote in October 2019 that was published in the Wisconsin State Journal and Urban Milwaukee about his failed suicide attempts as a teenager. Brostoff had just served on a Legislature task force on suicide prevention. They quoted Brostoff's column, in which he wrote that access to a firearm for someone contemplating suicide 'is like having your own personal permanent delete button.' In the essay he had acknowledged that if had had access to a gun at the time of those teenage attempts to kill himself, 'I would not be here today.' 'Our family believes that had Jonathan been required to wait perhaps a day or two or any amount of time after entering that gun store last November to make that purchase, his life may have been spared,' their statement concluded. 'And so now, in the interest of saving other lives at risk for mental health issues, domestic violence or other circumstances, it is our hope that you find the collective will to reinstate a reasonable waiting period for finalizing gun purchases. Doing that would enhance your thoughtful and kind honoring of his memory today.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
As legislators honor Jonathan Brostoff, some share the belief: 'We are not doing enough.'
If you or someone you know is dealing with suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text "Hopeline" to the National Crisis Text Line at 741-741. MADISON – In one memory, a bushy-haired Jonathan Brostoff conducts a speech entirely in sign language, after vowing to not cut his hair until a bill on the American sign language interpreters passed in the Legislature. In another, Brostoff brings Sprecher root beer, his favorite, to share at the first caucus meeting of the year. The Wisconsin Legislature adopted a resolution Tuesday honoring the life and public service of Brostoff, a Democratic representative who served the 19th Assembly district from 2014 to 2023. He also served on the Milwaukee Common Council from 2022 until Nov. 4, 2024, when he died by suicide. He was 41 and is survived by his wife, Diana Vang-Brostoff, their four young children, and his parents, Phyllis and Alan Brostoff. His parents and wife attended the ceremony at the State Capitol. The resolution was introduced by 15 Democratic state senators and four Republican state senators. Many members of the Assembly brandished green ribbons, the symbol of mental health awareness, and shared memories of the former representative. They spoke of different parting words he'd offer people: "Bless up;" "I appreciate you;" and "We all do better when we all do better." Rep. Supreme Moore Omokunde, D-Milwaukee, offered a Jewish expression, often uttered in mourning, "May his neshama have an aliyah," which means "May his soul be elevated." His former colleagues described him as fierce, tenacious, loyal, a person who did not give up on his convictions. One of his most passionate topics was also a lifelong struggle: suicide prevention. For Rep. Robyn Vining, D-Wauwatosa, it was the table slap she remembers most distinctly. Brostoff, who served on the Speaker's Task Force on Suicide Prevention, slapped his palm on a table hard at a Wauwatosa meeting as he said, "We are not doing enough." His fury shook Vining and the act stayed with her. "My first feeling after he died was, 'We have not done enough,'" Vining said. Rep. Paul Tittl, R-Manitowoc, who co-chairs the Committee on Mental Health and Substance Use Prevention, talked about Brostoff as a deeply spiritual friend. He used his time to share a concerning statistic: one in five people are affected by mental health. "If Jonathan were here, I don't think he'd want anybody going through this," Tittle said. "I think he'd say get that help. We as fellow humans, we have to reach out to our friends and let them know we're here for them." Rep. Deb Andraca, D-Whitefish, read a letter from Brostoff's family that underscored just how dire access to firearms is for people in crisis. The letter referenced an op-ed Brostoff wrote for Urban Milwaukee in 2019, highlighting a startling excerpt: "For people contemplating suicide, access to a firearm is like having your own personal, and permanent, 'delete' button," it read. "And let me tell you: having the power to use that delete button at your absolute lowest moment — when thoughts don't make sense and when calm, structured thinking is no longer part of the equation — is not something that anyone facing those types of struggles is equipped to handle." The morning of Brostoff's death, he had purchased a firearm. His body was found at a park before noon, according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner report. "Our family believes that if he had been required to wait a day or two before purchasing a firearm last November to make that purchase, his life would have been spared," Brostoff's family letter read. It's been years since Wisconsin has enacted or repealed gun safety policies, despite significant pressure from lawmakers like Brostoff. The state has failed to pass laws requiring background checks for all gun sales, and has yet to put extreme risk laws, also known as red flag laws, on the books, which would allow for quick intervention when a person is at serious risk of harming themselves or others with a firearm. "One of the most effective things we can do as legislators to save lives and help people facing a mental health crisis is to temporarily restrict their access to firearms," State Sen. Jodi Habush Sinykin, D-Whitefish Bay, told the Journal Sentinel. "Access to a gun during a crisis can be the difference between an irreversible tragedy and life." State Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, a longtime friend of Brostoff, told the Journal Sentinel that he and his colleagues will continue to fight for stronger gun safety policies, but acknowledged that it's become a partisan issue. "That one keeps hitting the wall on an ideological basis," Larson said. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, told the Journal Sentinel in January that "taking firearms away from people who have not been convicted of a crime would be a non-starter," even in the wake of Brostoff's death. "All of us feel bad about Jonathan Brostoff's death, but to somehow use it as a cheap political stunt to try to get legislation passed that we know is not going to happen really demeans Jonathan's memory and I think that's pretty sad," Vos said. For State Sen. Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, the senate minority leader, the state has "a long way to go" on improving crisis resources for Wisconsinites. "Democrats have put measures out every single session trying to help people in many different ways, especially those who are contemplating the final act of suicide," Hesselbein said. "We'll continue to do that." 988 Wisconsin Lifeline connects residents experiencing a crisis to a trained in-state or national counselor. Call or text 988, or chat through the Lifeline's website. For veteran support, call 988 and then press 1, or text 838255 or chat via the Veterans Crisis Line website. To be connected with LGBTQ+ supports, call 988, then press 3, or text the word "PRIDE" to 988. Milwaukee Mobile Crisis provides non-police mobile responses to mental health crisis and intervention in people of all ages in the Milwaukee County community. Call 414-257-7222 for a mental health crisis, a mental health assessment, assistance with stabilization, or connections to ongoing resources. Prevent Suicide Wisconsin connects residents to county crisis lines, which provide supports and assessments, link people to resources within the community, and, when needed, send mobile crisis response teams to provide in-person support. The Center for Suicide Awareness allows residents to communicate by text only. Text 'Hopeline' to 741741 to be connected with a trained, in-state counselor for any issue. 211 Wisconsin is a free and confidential three-digit line that connects callers to local mental health programs and services. Call 211, text your ZIP code to 898211, chat now, or search the site for services. Uplift Wisconsin, a peer-support service operated through Mental Health America of Wisconsin, connects Wisconsin residents with certified peer specialists, those with lived experiences mental health, substance use and other related life experiences between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. Call Uplift Wisconsin at 534-202-5438. LGTBQ youth can call 866-488-7386, text 'START' to 678678, or chat at to speak with a trained counselor for any issue. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: As lawmakers honor Brostoff, they revisit his call to limit gun access
