County Board Officially Recognizes Denim Day

Sky Capriolo, center in yellow, along with the women of the Milwaukee County Board recognizing Denim Day. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee County Board.

Though the timing wasn’t perfect, Milwaukee County has now joined other governments and organizations around the world in recognition of Denim Day.

At their most recent meeting, the Milwaukee County board passed a resolution sponsored by freshman Sup. Sky Z. Capriolo officially recognizing the last Wednesday of April as “Denim Day” in Milwaukee County.

Denim Day is recognized internationally as a way to show support for victims of sexual assault and violence by wearing denim. The day of protest was created following a case in Italy where a man escaped conviction for sexual assault by arguing the victim’s jeans were so tight he couldn’t have gotten them off by himself.

Given the timing the spring election and the start of the board’s meeting cycle, supervisors were unable to take up Capriolo’s resolution until after Denim Day this year. But the women of the county board still gathered at the end of April to raise awareness for the day.

“Denim Day’s mission is to end victim blaming and promote awareness of sexual violence within our communities,” Capriolo said in a press release calling on the community to join the women of the county board in promoting Denim Day.

During a meeting of the board’s Health Equity, Human Needs and Strategic Planning Committee in May, Capriolo thanked her co-sponsor Sup. Felesia Martin for “getting the ball rolling” for the Denim Day resolution before Capriolo was sworn into office.

“This is an important resolution for us because it is always important to support and recognize the victims of sexual assault and violence,” Capriolo told her colleagues.

The board unanimously passed Capriolo’s resolution at their meeting on May 23 , with an amendment that commits the county to recognizing Denim Day every year moving forward, “to support survivors and stand against sexual assault and violence.”

City of Milwaukee leaders have regularly held events promoting and recognizing Denim Day in recent years. In the past, the city has hung pairs of jeans from lamp posts throughout Downtown in honor of the day.