Racial Tensions in Milwaukee? (Brookfield, Mequon: loans, employment, gated)

[brewtown12]

The respect that they derive from whites is EARNED and demanded by implication!

Blacks shouldnt be interested in ''earning'' respect from whites.We should be interested in earning INCOME and SELF DETERMINATION for our people.Once again,your language insinuates thats blacks are some sort of ''problem'' people and that we need to whip in shape so that ''others'' arent tired of us and respect us.

I then met a Chinese woman, who is now in my study group. She told me her story. Her family was very poor and when she was a girl living in slave conditions off of mainland China, her father taught her how to swim late at night to avoid detection and severe punishment. She was being trained to swim to the mainland, under the cover of darkness, and threat of having a bullet put in her head. If she were to be discovered swimming, she would be shot on sight. But such was the chance she was willing to take to obtain freedom and a chance for a better life, for her and her family. One night, she made that effort, narrowly escaping detection. Others who attempted the journey that night weren't so fortunate and were killed. She made it to the mainland and eventually to America, where she lived in horrid conditions while working in a sweatshop. She worked ungodly hours, yet found the time to teach herself English. She eventually got a better job and was able to enroll in school to get her G.E.D. She then studied for college and got in, eventually earning her PhD in Biochemical engineering. She worked for a firm outside SF for some years before taking the LSAT and enrolling in law school. This is a remarkable woman. So don't you dare tell me who to focus on.

Nice story,but has nothing whatsoever to do with the black experience.Like I said before,blacks can educate ourselves as much as we want,but until we use this education to create jobs for ourselves,we will be running to the white man,with all of our credentials,hoping that he gives us a job or a better paying job.This is not how things should be.Chinese people,and other ethnicities excell because not only are they more accepted in the labor market,but they also tend to have an entrepeneur spirit.Many inner city stores are owned by Indians,Asians etc who are doctors,lawyers,etc.Instead of being content with thier career,which would most surely provide for them and thier immediate family,they use thier resources to provide jobs for others of thier race.This not only makes them more wealthy,but empowers thier people.

Educated and wealthy blacks should do the same.I dont hear nearly as many black folks as I should talk about entrapeneurship.Most of us get degrees to better qualify us to,once again,get hired by companies who are owned and primarily operated by.....who?This is fine as a stepping stone and a personal career choice.But it wont uplift our community as much as us making our own companies and businesses.Blacks have enormous buying power but most of this is spent outside the black community.

[Alexus]

Originally Posted by brewtown12

^^^^We also need to spend our dollars with each other whenever possible,educate our own children(create our own schools) and basically segragate from white society.You cant ever ever successfully intergrate with a people who view you as undesireable or benieth them(or pretend that the masses of thier race dont).America has shown us that.


This is the only way that blacks will advance on a wide scale level.

Quite a separatist view you have there and quite a negative generalization about white people. Based on your view, blacks are to segregate from white society and then all of the problems that plague black people are solved, right? This is ludicrous. We live in a global economy now. I urge you to modernize your thinking.

[Drover]

I'm gonna start calling this guy Brewie Farrakhan...

Maybe it's just my naive white sensibilities talking here, but it seems to me that a good part of the black condition stems from much of the black community's refusal to assimilate into the rest of society. There's even a euphemism for it: "acting white." Well crap, if it works, why not?

It's possible to maintain your own cultural, ethnic and historical identity while becoming a part of the broader social fabric. I suspect a lot of black people do not believe that to be true.

At any rate, the sense I always got, and seems to be confirmed by reading the input from black posters on this thread is that, if they cannot agree on anything else, one thing they can agree on is that Milwaukee is an unusually inimical place for blacks of any academic or social stature to live. That's unfortunate.

[quijote]

If the current state of segregation in Milwaukee is one of the factors responsible for hurting blacks, then I don't see how a more intentional segregation will help them. (BTW, though whites in Mke are more prosperous, the segregation hurts them, too.)

It's true that people of various race/ethnic groups (whites, Indians, etc.) use their businesses in order to "help their own," but almost all of these businesses target a customer base that's racially and ethnically diverse. If Indian shop-owners only targeted an Indian clientele here in Mke, that business would likely not last very long. Even in Chicago's "Little India," on Devon Ave., many of the shopkeepers rely on Middle Easterners and various whites in order to make the business viable.

One of the other flaws in Brewtown's ratonale is that, somehow, a black-owned business by its very nature will empower other blacks. However, it really won't make much of a difference if a black person is underemployed at $7/hr by a white-owned business or a black-owned business: that person will still be underemployed. This scenario might make the black owner richer at the expense of the white owner, but the white owner will be more likely to respond by firing employees. If some of these employees are black, then not much has improved.

It isn't enough to start up retail businesses in order to better the lot of a group of people. If the total disposable income is not growing, or if the population is not growing at a pace to increase demand for more retail, then all that amounts to is just shifting jobs around. Sure: open up some new businesses, but then watch others close or downsize, and then see the same people out of work.

What really makes an economic difference are businesses that generate entirely new jobs, not at the expense of pre-existing jobs. But this sort of enterprise is much more difficult to do. If blacks in the central city can manage to do something like that, then they really will have a chance to have some ownership over their collective economy. But they will still have to deal with whites, Chinese, and other groups in order to keep it going, unless they can find all-black suppliers, manufacturers, bankers, lawyers, HMO staff, etc. in the U.S., China, and other countries. That is unlikely.

[brewtown12]

Originally Posted by RomanInSF

Quite a separatist view you have there and quite a negative generalization about white people. .

America has always been separate.Wake up and smell the coffee.Its not about generalizing anyone,its about facts.And the fact is within this society blacks do,and always have,recieved unfair second class status.Blacks are the last hired and first fired in a white controlled labor market.Just based off skin color alone.The only way to fix this is to empower blacks in the labor market,meaning more black businesses and corporations.

[brewtown12]

Originally Posted by Drover

I'm gonna start calling this guy Brewie Farrakhan...

Maybe it's just my naive white sensibilities talking here, but it seems to me that a good part of the black condition stems from much of the black community's refusal to assimilate into the rest of society. There's even a euphemism for it: "acting white." Well crap, if it works, why not?
.

You CANNNOT assimilate with a people who view you as second class or undesireable based on your skin color.WHITE FELONS ARE PREFERRED IN THE LABOR MARKET OVER BLACK MEN WITH NO CRIMINAL RECORD AND EQUAL QUALIFICAIONS.


I believe in empowering my people so we dont have to shuck,jive and ''prove'' to whites that we should be hired.We should be employing ourselves.

[brewtown12]

Originally Posted by quijote

If the current state of segregation in Milwaukee is one of the factors responsible for hurting blacks, then I don't see how a more intentional segregation will help them. (BTW, though whites in Mke are more prosperous, the segregation hurts them, too.)

.

You dont see how blacks creating jobs for themselves,instead of running to whitey(who we know wont give us fair treatment) will help us?You must have some sort of mental disability.

America is NOT INTERGRATED.It NEVER HAS BEEN.Unless you call ''intergration'' whites enjoying priviledge in society over others,which is how things currently are.

[quijote]

Originally Posted by brewtown12

You dont see how blacks creating jobs for themselves,instead of running to whitey(who we know wont give us fair treatment) will help us?You must have some sort of mental disability.

America is NOT INTERGRATED.It NEVER HAS BEEN.Unless you call ''intergration'' whites enjoying priviledge in society over others,which is how things currently are.

I think the mental problem lies in your misreading of my comment. In fact, you seem to *want* to find negative features in people's comments, whether they exist or not. This is to your discredit.

I'm not saying that it's worse to have a "bubble" in which black employees work for black employers, but I don't think it's the utopia you make it out to be.

A business is a business--if it's going to thrive, then costs have to be kept down while profits are maximized. That is a fact, and it's color-blind. It might make a black person feel better to earn $7 from a black-owned grocery store, but $7/hr is still underemployment.

So you think exploitation by black business owners is really a whole lot better than exploitation by white business owners?

It may seem that way at first, but when the black owner is making $$,$$$ or even $$$,$$$ while the employee is earning less than $18,000/yr, how has the community really gained?

In order to stay in business, the black owner will have to convince less fortunate blacks to spend their hard-earned money on crap that they really don't need. So instead of buying Fritos and cigarettes from whitey, the customer buys them from a black man. Big deal.

And if you think that black business owners would give their profits back to the community, forget it. Many of these owners would help the community, but not always, and not always selflessly.

And then what to do when many of these successful blacks want to move out of the community and live in Brown Deer? Mequon? Brookfield? Next door to whitey and a few Indians?

Even though many enterprising blacks would applaud your interest in more black-owned business, few would agree with your idea of black self-containment.

If your idea were to work, you would one day be railing against the rich, capitalist blacks who have moved out of the central city, taking their tax money and other interests with them (while keeping the business in the central city, of course). This is what whites have done to whites; I doubt blacks have a different human nature.

By the way, is City-Data Forum a black-run enterprise? I would hate to think that you're intentionally supporting whitey. Also, you use "Brewtown" in your handle, but did you know that you've named yourself after something made famous by white Germans?

If you're going to shed the shackles, dude, then start shedding!

[quijote]

By the way, Brewie, I didn't use the word "integration" (or variants thereof) in my comment. I know, as you know, that Mke isn't integrated.

[Alexus]

Originally Posted by brewtown12

America has always been separate.Wake up and smell the coffee.Its not about generalizing anyone,its about facts.And the fact is within this society blacks do,and always have,recieved unfair second class status.Blacks are the last hired and first fired in a white controlled labor market.Just based off skin color alone.The only way to fix this is to empower blacks in the labor market,meaning more black businesses and corporations.

How can you have more blacks in businesses and corporations when only a very small minority of the black population values high academic achievement? How many of these hip-hop thugs and baby mamas intend on majoring in Quantum Physics or Applied Mathematics at respected universities like Marquette and Wisconsin? How the hell are blacks supposed to qualify themselves to have businesses that sell superior products in this global economy if the only skill that a huge segment specializes in is "shuck and jive"? Step over to Marquette and inquire how many black students are pursuing a Chemical Engineering degree. Find out how many are in Dentistry, or Pre-Med, or Pre-Law, Mathematics, or Physics. Inquire about the number of blacks who are majoring in Interpersonal Communications. Do this and you will learn something about the priorities of the race, something that obviously you are unaware of.

I'm really not here to argue black behavioral theory. But your views on race make you a part of the problem. You aren't even open to the opinion and insights of an educated black person who has done well in spite of the obstacles. Not all white people are bad, not all black people deserve the kind of consideration that you feel is unconditionally warranted. My advice to you is to get back in school. You don't appear to even respect people of your own race who have overcome the type of obstacles you claim prevent blacks from becoming mainstream. You must escape that cocoon.

Also, there is a black business opening up in Milwaukee's North side called Skoopz or something to that effect. I know the owner and he is the type of black entrepeneur that you say should invest in the black community. He is a highly educated black man who could be doing anything else, but he chose to invest his expertise there. Time will tell if his decision was a wise one. Based on the history of the area (such as businesses like Fondy Mall and even Capitol Court), ignorant black people will ruin his business. I wish him luck but history is not on his side.