Race relations

[AmericanHistory09]

I'm guessing a lot of the people who answered this question are White because not ONE person chose to touch upon the drastic racial discrimination that went on in Milwaukee as the reason for it's segregation. Hell, one of the answerers even went so far as to attribute Milwaukee's segregation to Black clannishness. Just call it Black Klu Klux Klannishness. Ahh, the irony. To answer the question accurately, Milwaukee is obviously going to be segregated. Contrary to popular belief, racial discrimination, forced-segregation, and mistreatment of Blacks by Whites is not something that only went on in Southern States 35 years ago. It was something that was happening very badly in the Northern States as well. I am Black and I have all the elders in my family to testify to that. My grandmother died in 2007 and her life before 1975 was not something she even enjoyed discussing. Although none of my grandparents like to talk about it, they all have told me of how bad Milwaukee WI was in terms of racial discrimination and mistreatment of Blacks by Whites. My grandparents all moved to Milwaukee in the Great Migration era and I surprisingly have them telling me how conditions for Blacks were far worse here than they were down South. They weren't allowed to have decent jobs in Milwaukee WI for anything. All my grandparents had to find jobs way outside of the city or have crappy ass jobs that left them poor. Of course, all my grandparents were forced to live in the lower-class inner city areas like all Blacks did. That was not only because most of them being poverty-stricken because they weren't allowed to decent jobs but also because of the unfair housing acts. That's where the forced-segregation I was telling you about comes in. Whites segregated Blacks to lower-class areas of Milwaukee by refusing to sell to them outside of crappy areas. Houses, apartment dwellings, etc. weren't sold to Blacks unless they were in crappy lower-class areas. They further segregated them to these areas with how they built the city. Although it's not immediately known, a lot of constructions in Milwaukee were built for the expressed purposes of segregation. You have bridges Whites created to separate the lower-class crappy area (where they wanted all the Blacks) away from the White area. That's what the purpose of a lot of the bridges in the area are like the one over on Locust. White people did that as a way to keep Blacks out of the area. Of course you're not going to see Blacks moving out of the lower-class, crappy areas in today's day in age because there still poor and struggling. The vast majority of today's Blacks in Milwaukee had to start out lower-class unlike Whites because of all their grandparents were forced to bring them up lower-class thanks to the White community. How ironic that some person told you that the segregation was because of Black clannishness. It's sad that we're still living in an era where the past isn't even acknowledged and Blacks are still made to look bad. The status of today's Black community is because of 5 centuries of cruelty and depravity; of course you had the 4 centuries of slavery. The abolition of slavery didn't change a thing because of the addition century of discriminatory laws like jim crow and all the legalized craziness that Whites engaged in of lynchings (done to women and children), rapings, fire hosing people down, tear gassing people, setting attack dogs on people, keeping Blacks from all things good so that could only be for Whites, unjustified jailings of Blacks all over the country, millions of KKK gangs running around rampant murdering, intimidating, and destroying, etc. Ugh!

[Milwaukee City]

Originally Posted by AmericanHistory09

I'm guessing a lot of the people who answered this question are White because not ONE person chose to touch upon the drastic racial discrimination that went on in Milwaukee as the reason for it's segregation. Hell, one of the answerers even went so far as to attribute Milwaukee's segregation to Black clannishness. Just call it Black Klu Klux Klannishness. Ahh, the irony. To answer the question accurately, Milwaukee is obviously going to be segregated. Contrary to popular belief, racial discrimination, forced-segregation, and mistreatment of Blacks by Whites is not something that only went on in Southern States 35 years ago. It was something that was happening very badly in the Northern States as well. I am Black and I have all the elders in my family to testify to that. My grandmother died in 2007 and her life before 1975 was not something she even enjoyed discussing. Although none of my grandparents like to talk about it, they all have told me of how bad Milwaukee WI was in terms of racial discrimination and mistreatment of Blacks by Whites. My grandparents all moved to Milwaukee in the Great Migration era and I surprisingly have them telling me how conditions for Blacks were far worse here than they were down South. They weren't allowed to have decent jobs in Milwaukee WI for anything. All my grandparents had to find jobs way outside of the city or have crappy ass jobs that left them poor. Of course, all my grandparents were forced to live in the lower-class inner city areas like all Blacks did. That was not only because most of them being poverty-stricken because they weren't allowed to decent jobs but also because of the unfair housing acts. That's where the forced-segregation I was telling you about comes in. Whites segregated Blacks to lower-class areas of Milwaukee by refusing to sell to them outside of crappy areas. Houses, apartment dwellings, etc. weren't sold to Blacks unless they were in crappy lower-class areas. They further segregated them to these areas with how they built the city. Although it's not immediately known, a lot of constructions in Milwaukee were built for the expressed purposes of segregation. You have bridges Whites created to separate the lower-class crappy area (where they wanted all the Blacks) away from the White area. That's what the purpose of a lot of the bridges in the area are like the one over on Locust. White people did that as a way to keep Blacks out of the area. Of course you're not going to see Blacks moving out of the lower-class, crappy areas in today's day in age because there still poor and struggling. The vast majority of today's Blacks in Milwaukee had to start out lower-class unlike Whites because of all their grandparents were forced to bring them up lower-class thanks to the White community. How ironic that some person told you that the segregation was because of Black clannishness. It's sad that we're still living in an era where the past isn't even acknowledged and Blacks are still made to look bad. The status of today's Black community is because of 5 centuries of cruelty and depravity; of course you had the 4 centuries of slavery. The abolition of slavery didn't change a thing because of the addition century of discriminatory laws like jim crow and all the legalized craziness that Whites engaged in of lynchings (done to women and children), rapings, fire hosing people down, tear gassing people, setting attack dogs on people, keeping Blacks from all things good so that could only be for Whites, unjustified jailings of Blacks all over the country, millions of KKK gangs running around rampant murdering, intimidating, and destroying, etc. Ugh!

So why are Milwaukee blacks killing other Milwaukee blacks at the rate of 76-125 per year?

[43north87west]

I'm curious about what led you to this thread, as it was dormant since 2008. It's kind of odd because you joined explicitly to respond to a year-old thread.

Originally Posted by AmericanHistory09

You have bridges Whites created to separate the lower-class crappy area (where they wanted all the Blacks) away from the White area. That's what the purpose of a lot of the bridges in the area are like the one over on Locust.

Definition of bridge: A structure carrying a pathway or roadway over a depression or obstacle. (Source: Webster's Dictionary)

The only bridges I'm aware of on Locust Street, are the Milwaukee River bridge, and the I-43 bridge. Both the Milwaukee River, and Interstate 43, are obstacles that cannot be safely or easily passed without the assistance of a bridge. How did you arrive at the conclusion that the bridge over the Milwaukee River valley was a dastardly plot by white people, to keep black people out of their area? The bridge clearly allows people to pass in both directions. The same can be said for the Interstate 43 bridge on Locust Street.

[Nuclear_Art]

Originally Posted by AmericanHistory09

It's sad that we're still living in an era where the past isn't even acknowledged and Blacks are still made to look bad. The status of today's Black community is because of 5 centuries of cruelty and depravity; of course you had the 4 centuries of slavery.

There were a lot of racist activities which appeared in post-war Milwaukee and the midwest. Quite a bit of it was the result of propaganda spread by organizations such as the KKK similar to anti-communist propaganda by McCarthy. It set up the myth of a white, patriotic, and god-fearing America which still is a major ideal in conservative politics. Fear is a powerful weapon in spreading lies and it was used effectively against blacks.

Fear was also used to create a negative self-image among blacks as well. Every African immigrant I know don't have the same negative self-perception that haunt the rest of the black population. I think you need to make that distinction. Many negative racial attitudes have been de-institutionalized and criminalized but there are attitudes of self-perception that need to be overcome. Authors such as Toni Morrison and Richard Wright hit on these themes in their books. Bigger Thomas was a victim of both society and his own mind.

[south-to-west]

I would have to disagree with some posters. Residential segregation in Milwaukee is due to a large part of historical patterns of housing discrimination that was prevalent through the 80s. Real estate agents would show white families only white neighborhoods and black families black neighborhoods. There was block busting where white families were induced to leave neighborhoods because "the blacks were moving in" and real estate agents and landlords profited by gaining a large group of clients looking for new homes, and cheap vacant property to amass and lease out to lower-income black families. All of this came to a head in the 60s when Father Groppi led a mass movement against housing discrimination in Milwaukee.

On the plus side, there are a lot of neighborhoods in Milwaukee and the surrounding suburbs where black families can move and feel welcome. I myself am black and was raised in part in the suburb of Mequon where I felt completely at home. Additionally, I believe that Milwaukee probably has a larger than average number of interracial couples, so your child who is black will hardly get any sort of negative treatment from his peers.

On the other hand, one of the negative aspects is the small portion of blacks in Milwaukee that are middle or upper-class. Factory shutdowns and layoffs over the past 20 years hit the city hard and often times black workers suffered the most. A lot of African American college graduates have relocated to other areas in the nation--contributing significantly to a black brain drain in Milwaukee. I guess I've contributed to it as well as I now live in Atlanta (mainly because I like to be warm )

Overall, yes--Milwaukee has had a poor record in race relations, but nonetheless it's still a great place to raise a kid, no matter their ethnic background.

[Nuclear_Art]

Originally Posted by south-to-west

I would have to disagree with some posters. Residential segregation in Milwaukee is due to a large part of historical patterns of housing discrimination that was prevalent through the 80s. Real estate agents would show white families only white neighborhoods and black families black neighborhoods. There was block busting where white families were induced to leave neighborhoods because "the blacks were moving in" and real estate agents and landlords profited by gaining a large group of clients looking for new homes, and cheap vacant property to amass and lease out to lower-income black families. All of this came to a head in the 60s when Father Groppi led a mass movement against housing discrimination in Milwaukee.

There was a great speech given by a UWM grad student about the suburbanization of blacks a few weeks ago at a local history conference. He dug up lots of interesting statistics which made apparent the patterns of discrimination in Milwaukee's suburbs and the methods they used to keep blacks out. Prior to WW2 there really weren't problems but that was mostly because the black population was lower, percentage wise. An influx of southern blacks changed attitudes along with more racist propaganda as I mentioned. Racism in the midwest was cultivated primarily in the post-war years.

Interestingly, even the attitudes of blacks that had lived in Milwaukee for several generations was not favorable to recent transplants from the south.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

So why are Milwaukee blacks killing other Milwaukee blacks at the rate of 76-125 per year?

It might have to do with the fact that Blacks in Milwaukee live around each other much more than they do around White people. Maybe it has to do with the fact that regular people often live amongst criminals. Alot of people always point to Black criminality, and only that. What most people won't say is that an African-American male is much more likely to be killed than a White male. Why? African-Americans are more likely to live in neighborhoods with higher rates of violence. This stems from a pattern of segregation. With African-Americans crammed into a few specfic parts of town, the criminal elements are going to be in higher concentration. That is why the Black on Black crime rate is so high. Highest unemployment rate among African-Americans in the USA. One of the highest poverty rates in the USA. Add to that urban crowding and people who often feel like they have nothing left to lose, and yes, you are going to have a situation that breeds crime. I am not making excuses. I am stating reasons why situations like this occur. What it is going to take is getting the unemployment rate down. That is the first thing. There is much more that needs to be done. Solutions need to be found.