Does Milwaukee have a racism problem? I have wanted to visit... (Racine: lower-class, 2015)

[sub]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

In what ways are they different?

In the south, whites and blacks are a bit more integrated. More things in common. More of an understanding. Communication between the two usually seems more natural, though of course it can be far from perfect.
Generally speaking.
Shouldn't paint any place with a broad brush though.

White people down south can often come from deep generational poverty.
Black people in the south aren't confined to urban cities. They also live in small towns and rural areas in large numbers. Many are farmers.
In terms of religion, both groups trend towards some form of evangelical Protestantism. Though services will look different, the beliefs and expectations are similar.
Everybody likes the same southern-style food.

Up here, the divide is probably there because the two groups are coming from very different places to begin with.
Even as a white guy, I feel like I'm dealing with people in a foreign country talking a different language when I deal with people here. My life circumstances are such that I have a neutral accent (so I'm told), so other people have no indication of where I might be from before I tell them.
So that's probably not it.
No, there's just a mental disconnect when I'm trying to communicate with native Wisconsinites sometimes.
I'm pretty well-travelled at least in terms of the U.S. I like Wisconsin better than some places, even those I understood more easily, but it is different.
I can only imagine how much more difficult it might be for black people.

But again, I'd caution against the broad brush.
Some of the smaller towns up here have significant minority populations that seem to fair pretty well, so I'd disagree with the notion that Wisconsin outside of Milwaukee is just for white people.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by dlrockwell

Part of the problem is brain drain--a huge problem in Wisconsin in general. People with marketable skills tend to leave. That's one reason Milwaukee does not have a large black middle-class (they move away). Conservative republicans tend to scare away educated and affluent people from out of state, and educated and affluent (liberal) people move away. The Republican party is now the party of lower-middle class whites and many middle class whites simply don't want to associate with such people. That's one reason people from Waukesha, once thought to be an "affluent" suburb, have thick Wisconsin accents while their neighbors in Wauwatosa and Whitefish Bay sound like professionals.

At least you are trying to tackle the subject. For me, this is personal. Milwaukee is where my father is from. His parents, like alot of African-Americans, fled the South in the 1940s (he was born in the mid 1950s). He was born and raised in Milwaukee. He got a college degree. In the early 1980s, he left Milwaukee, never to live there again.

I thought I about living in Milwaukee myself. However, I started coming across stuff about job discrimination, bad schools, Black incarceration rates, poverty, it blew my mind. I started asking "am I going to have a hard time if I move to Milwaukee".

I also started seeing some of the underbelly from city-data. Every time I hear about Milwaukee in the Politics and Other Controversies forum, it always involves crime or Black people causing violence. I've tried explaining "well, the Black middle class has basically fled Milwaukee. Look who is left behind". Every time I bring that up, I tend to get crickets. Black people with skills are leaving. Wisconsin seems to attract the lower end of the Black population, the underclass. However, it struggles to maintain its Black middle class. Many leave for places like Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, etc.

[Leona Valley]

Yes. A number of black on whites assaults over recent years. Milwaukee state fair for example. Be aware of your surroundings.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by RomanticGayHim1986

Amen! Your comment is so true and says it all. My grandparents moved up here in the Great Migration as well to get away from the racism of the south and more job opportunity. White racism while prevalent up here in the north was at least less impactful with jobs for blacks. Your dad made the wise decision to leave right when it was getting bad in Milwaukee. As a middle-class black male myself, I constantly question why I am here in a notoriously anti-black city and state. I have been doing what I can to stick around and help lower-class blacks out, but what with the levels of racism out here from whites and anti-black antagonism, I don't see myself here for the long term, maybe a few more years if that. I might be leaving a lot sooner if it gets worse. I hate it because I've managed a successful life up here and have managed to get a lot of blacks out of their situations. But the racist data I hear online and what I see my fellow blacks going through makes me want to leave. I see the attitudes and accounts from my black peers that hurt my heart. It's a little hard with the great job I have and how much I love my job. I'd be giving up a great job is the one downfall of leaving here.

I wouldn't say notoriously anti-Black so much as there are other problems. I've dealt with my fair share of anti-Black behavior living in the South.

My father left Milwaukee in the 1980s, and hasn't lived in there since. I toyed with the idea of living in Milwaukee. Part of it being a family legacy. Another part feeling like I am more in tune with Midwest/West's culture than the South's culture at times. However, when I started hearing about some really bad stats involving Black people in Milwaukee, it left me with alot of questions.

You've made a success of yourself in Milwaukee. And that is a good thing. I don't know what you're going through in Milwaukee. I can only guess. However, whenever I hear about things like Darrell Brooks being a terrorist and plowing over parade goers in Waukesha, that makes me think. I start wondering "places that are referred as the worst places for Black people to live in, also have some of the worst behavior from some members of the Black population. Perhaps the 2 are connected".

I think about this. Wisconsin is losing it's Black middle-class but maintains an underclass. Hardly anyone asks why this is. It might explain something of the education gaps, behavior gaps, prison and death gaps, etc. But some people will just blurt out "Blacks have ruined Milwaukee, Racine, etc". Some have commented on city-data "Wisconsin was nice until Blacks arrived". No one seems to ask about the underlying factors or compare Wisconsin's Black population with Black populations in other states. I get the feeling some people are either tone deaf, or just don't care.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by dbcook1

I visited last year for the first time (I live in Virginia) and had an amazing experience. I personally did not see much in the way of racial strife while there and found neighborhoods like Walker's Point, Riverwest, Brady Street, and Brewer's Hill to be pretty diverse and accepting places (saw several BLM signs in windows and flags which was great). Now granted I am white so I am not sure if my experience would have been different if I were African American.

Now my best friend from high school in Georgia is African American and we are both HUGE Bucks fans. We recently reconnected on Facebook and I floated the idea of us both going to Milwaukee later this year for a game and he is down. I plan to take him around to all the neighborhoods I visited (and maybe some new ones further afield too) and am curious what his perspective will be. I will circle back after our visit there with an update.

One more thing of note. While I don't live there and know the specifics of what is driving the demographic change in neighborhoods, it does look like the more affluent east side areas of Milwaukee is where the African American population is booming from 2010 - 2010 in Milwaukee and the historically segregated and poverty stricken north side area is bleeding residents at a rapid clip. Milwaukee's east side diversity index has grown rapidly over the last decade as well:

African American population change on the East Side from 2010 - 2020:

Source: https://data.dispatch.com/census/tot...50-55079/#cmap

Diversity Index Change:

Source: https://data.dispatch.com/census/tot...50-55079/#cmap

Did you ever get have your friend travel to Milwaukee to see it?

[dbcook1]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

Did you ever get have your friend travel to Milwaukee to see it?

Unfortunately no, neither of us made it. My friend bought a new house and work really prevented me from travelling much last year. This year should be less busy and with my big 40 birthday this Summer I am really aiming to make it there for the weekend of German Fest with my friends hopefully...

[Rocko20]

Originally Posted by Jim Mac

Every city has a racism problem

I disagree. Rich people of color would be fleeing in a mass exodus if racism was still a huge problem in America. Why would rich celebrities, doctors, engineers, athletes, musicians, or entertainers voluntarily stay in a place that treated them bad? The first thing many of them do is move right next to rich white people in Beverly Hills.

[sub]

Mod cut: Orphaned; political.

As for Milwaukee, people could stand to be more chill about the matter. Not be so political or paranoid or passive-aggressive or whatever.

[Master Jay]

Good morning. Wishing you all well, and hope you're doing ok with this weather.

I remember when I worked in the Milwaukee County Jail and Curts system, and I had a Supervisor (a White Male, if that matters) ask me if I felt that people are supposed to "just pick themselves up by their boot straps."

My response was an essential, "yes."

I explained that I had experienced prejudice. I remember being pulled over, being searched, and released, and told the generic, "you look like someone we're looking for." Were they wrong for having this attitude? Well, I would say YES.

At the same time, they didn't arrest me because I didn't have much to fear if I did NOT have anything illegal to be concerned about. And I didn't flee... So when I hear about people being arrested and they are CLEARLY committing a crime, HOW bad can I feel for them?

I don't know. I've tried to do my best in the field, since beginning work in Social Work in 1995, and since teaching martial arts since 2002.

[PJSaturn]

I'm closing this thread because it keeps devolving into political posts which are not specifically related to Milwaukee. I've cleaned up the entire thread, deleting troll posts, [national] political posts and orphaned posts. Folks, please take your discussion about national politics to the Politics forum.