EXPERIENCING THE INNER CITY

In recent years, I’ve made an effort to connect with Milwaukee citizens whose color is opposite mine, met them in their neighborhoods, had one on one conversations, involvements, disagreements, exchange of prejudices. I’ve profiled and photographed Black residents, street leaders and on up to the Milwaukee police chief and Mayor. I’ve listened to symphonies of anger but also melodies of love.

If I had an agenda, it was to show the 3rd world reality of what people's lives are like in the hardcore inner city. The areas I covered represent some of the poorest in urban America.

Much of the social activity takes place on streets and on porches, talk loud, humor high, vehicles fast-moving, music everywhere. Communities and neighborhoods center around church activities and block events. Like many of the inner city areas of the large fading industrial cities, much of the economy operates on its own terms, cash exchanged.

Milwaukee is one of the most segregated cities in the country. Nearly 40% of residents are Black. Racism is never far away from the collective psyche.

The images and stories that follow are all about about my personal observations. I suppose almost all experiences are anecdotal.

Tom Jenz

©2022

ED HENNINGS Reformed Criminal

In his youth, Ed Hennings had been a street boss. Then, he spent 20 years in prison for reckless homicide.  While incarcerated, he reformed himself and now owns three businesses. As a mentor and motivational speaker, Ed Hennings dedicates his time to inspire individuals who have experienced adversity… as he has..

CLEM RICHARDSON helps the formerly incarcerated

Project RETURN (Returning Ex-incarcerated people To Urban Realities and Neighborhoods) exists to help men and women make a positive, permanent return to community, family and friends. Clem’s father had 21 children with 10 different women. Clem was number 20. He grew up in the 3800 block of N. 21st St. in Milwaukee’s 53206 ZIP code, which has the highest Black male incarceration rate in the country. He’s had a gun pointed at him several times by gang members, has seen friends shot, has lost friends to gun violence and prison, and has seen family members victimized. Now he is a preacher in his own church.

JOHN Man of God

John told me he was a man of God. He attends the Word of God Worship Center ten blocks from his residence. When leaving the house, older African American men often dress up. I saw John as an extension of his neighborhood garden.

TRACEY DENT Hates Hate

I became interested in Tracey Dent because of his organization, Milwaukee Coalition Against Hate. I found out that, like me, Tracey Dent hates hate. He’s troubled with the prejudice between the races underscored with incendiary language and social media rants. Tracey explained, “The mission of the Coalition Against Hate is to change the mindset of people when it comes to prejudgements. Basically, I believe we humans are all the same. We all want to live a comfortable life. We all bleed the same. We all die the same. I think it’s the fear of the unknown that fuels hatred between the races. We don’t understand each other’s culture. Black people are very emotional, but just because we’re emotional doesn’t mean we all turn violent. It’s only a small percentage of us. Milwaukee has a lot of violence, and it’s usually Black on Black violence.”

EUGENE Can Collector

Eugene collects discarded cans from waste containers and garbage cans. He makes 65 cents a pound, and his goal is $14.00 in a day. On this day, he said he had to carry his bounty 20 blocks west to the drop-off point on 44th Street, then backtrack 25 blocks east to the 19th Street Rescue Mission where he would get a bed for the night.

MELVIN & ALICIA Burned Out

In the summer of 2016, a policeman shot and killed a fleeing African American man near a gas station. Through social media, the word went out, and gangs of protesters organized, rioted and burned several buildings and a few houses. The next day the police reported the shooter policeman was also an African American man. Melvin’s house was located across the street from the gas station.  He told me that he and his wife Alicia hid in their garage until the riot subsided.  When they emerged, they found their house gutted from fire damage. 

HARVEY MATHIS Retired Air Force

Harvey Mathis is 75 and owns his own home, but won’t let anyone inside.  “I don’t trust people,” he said. He told me he was retired Air Force. “When I was 17, my mom told me to join up or I’d end up in jail.” He said he got divorced twenty years ago. Now he likes to sit on his porch, watch the neighbors and drink Pepsi.  

PATRICK The Scrapper

Inside this old abandoned McKinley School, I found Patrick, who told me he was a scrapper, that he collected metal, school desks, heating vents, and copper wire. To get into the school, Patrick picked the lock. He gets seven cents a pound for the scrap metal and was trying to support his family through this business venture.  "I'm gettin' my family out of this neighborhood soon as I can," he told me.    

YOLANDA on welfare

I met Yolanda on 13th street on the east side of the inner city. The block is lined with mostly vacant buildings.  I asked where she was going. “To the welfare building,” she said. “I been on welfare my whole life.”  I asked if I could walk her there.  She shook her head, moved on.

CHEDDAR & RONNIE Volunteers

Cheddar and Ronnie are volunteers. They spend time off work picking up discarded waste in their neighborhood. “Somebody’s gotta do it,” Ronnie told me. “The streets and alleys can get messy.”

JANIYA WILLIAMS Teen Poet

The poet Janiya Williams is sixteen years old and a resident of central city Milwaukee. At the Juneteenth celebration, she told me, “This is my journey. Protesting. Poetry got me here so that’s what imma keep doing. The protest movement was an escape for me to express myself and show my anger in a positive light.”

Stanza from her poem, BEING BLACK …

Black lives matter

Because we’re human too

But you’d never know it

Based on what we’ve been through

Brutalized and oppressed

By the people who

Are sworn to serve and to protect

But that’s not what they do

SHANTEL CARSON Family members murdered

Tragically, violence has touched Shantel Carson’s extended family. In the last couple years, she has lost five close relatives to murder in four separate instances, three cousins and two nephews. Shantel is now an inner city neighborhood activist. I met her on a protest march in the segregated community. She told me, “I’m here to encourage peace. We wanna stop Black people from killing each other and bring harmony back to our village. We’re marching in areas that are highly impacted by killings. We’re not a violent people. We want peace.” 

AJAMOU BUTLER Healing the Hood

I met Black activist Ajamou Butler at a big summer block party in the central city. The occasion was his own event, Heal The Hood, mostly Black residents coming together to promote peace and safety in their communities. Ajamou Butler is known as ‘Brother Heal the Hood?’ Barely in his 30s, Ajamou is an educator, business owner and spoken word artist who has performed at venues across the country. He told me, “For those of us in the Hood, a lot of our kids have family, community and social issues, and that leads to a lack of hope. I try to show them how to push through these doubts and embrace loving themselves.”

CHILDREN wait for meals

In the summer, many children do not get the meals provided by the schools.  I walked around behind them to portray their experience of waiting on a busy street for their meals to arrive from a charitable organization.

BEAUTIFUL BEGINNINGS

Child care is one of the few businesses that survive in the inner city.  These Day Care Centers are government-backed with the idea that mothers will be working while their children are at the Center.  Unfortunately, the mothers can make more money off their welfare incomes than off most menial jobs they qualify for.  Many mothers I spoke with feel bad about this, but is there a choice?

FREE RANGE CHILDREN

Today’s helicopter parents rarely let their children loose unsupervised.  In the inner city neighborhoods of Milwaukee, children sometimes roam free range through the urban landscape.

CHILD CARE

In the inner city, sometimes an old building is devoted to Child Day Care and qualifies for government funding. Child rearing is sometimes left up to young mothers or welfare caretakers, the fathers too often absent.  

DR LAKEIA JONES Mental Healthcare Advocate

One of the major issues of dysfunction in the Black central city is lack of focus on mental health issues and lack of mental healthcare. Dr. Lakeia Jones, the founder of AMRI Counseling Services, is a licensed psychotherapist, substance abuse counselor, leader, and speaker specializing in trauma as well as other related mental health and substance abuse needs. She grew up in “the Hood.” She knows the issues. She believes that to solve the behavior problems of inner city Black residents, mental health services are critical. She told me, “AMRI Counseling provides mental health and substance abuse assessments & counseling. This includes supportive services to children, adolescents, individuals, groups, families, and adult couples.”

VICTOR BARNETT Serves thousands of Youth

In 1980, at the age of 19, Victor Barnett saw many of the young people of Milwaukee being pulled into the street life of gangs, crime, and violence. He used basketball as the tool to engage, mentor and guide youth towards an alternative path that would ensure their future success. From this vision and action, Running Rebels Community Organization was born. Today Running Rebels is a mentoring organization that serves 2,500 youth annually.

JAMES CAUSEY Noted Journalist

James E, Causey, the noted Milwaukee journalist, comes across as a force. But his vocal delivery is slow and low key, almost mesmerizing as we talked at a coffee shop in his inner city neighborhood. He has lived in his parents first home on 39th and Capitol in the 53216 ZIP code for more than 40 years. Politifact once wrote, “For politicians and policymakers, the area has become a five-digit shorthand for dysfunction and decay.” Causey knows the territory, and he’s been writing about it for his 30 years at the Milwaukee Journal. When we discussed segregation, he said, “The problem of segregation occurs when you take the resources, jobs and best schools from an area. Segregated Blacks typically have the worst schools, food deserts, and poor police relationships. When you have a people who are isolated and cannot see a way out, that’s when it becomes a problem. But I love living with Black people, my people.”

FAITH HARVEST MINISTRY

In the heart of the inner city, I found a small church converted from an old liquor store. The sign read Faith Harvest Outreach Ministries. The service was being held in the parking lot. After a while, the singer turned to sermonizing. She shouted, “I am no longer an adulterous, I have given my heart to Jesus.” The listeners yelled, “Hallelujah, Sister!” Later, I told Pastor Ken I found the performance inspiring. He gave me a brochure, a list of Peace Covenants. Two covenants stood out for me ….. I WILL PUT NEIGHBOR BACK IN THE HOOD and WHEREVER THERE IS VIOLENCE I WILL MEDIATE PEACE.

DON JONES Preacher

He introduced himself as Don Jones, said he was 78 years old and a free lance preacher.  “I’m part Jewish, Irish, Cherokee, and African American.  I don’t tout no ethnicity.  I’m a child of the Lord.”  He was saved at the age of 32 in Newark where his family lived.  They were Episcopalian.  He moved to Milwaukee in 1974 and started preaching the Lord.  He has a pulpit in his backyard and several homemade shrines.  “To find God, you have to ask forgiveness,” he told me.

VERNON CASTLE Auto Mechanic

Vernon Castle Townsend served for 3 1/2 years in World War II, repairing Army vehicles.  In 1950, he became an auto mechanic.  In 1979, he constructed the building that houses his auto repair business on Martin Luther King Drive.  In 2016, he was still working at the age of 96.

SAFE SEX

Unprotected sex is a problem in the inner city of Milwaukee.  That’s why a few Black leaders act as advisers for safe sex.  An additional problem is that in some predominantly Black high schools, being pregnant is the sign of status.

KIDS CONFINED

Next time your mood ebbs due to the virus blues, think of African-American children in Milwaukee’s inner city. Neighborhoods are unsafe to walk. For 2020-2021, inner city schools and playgrounds were closed. Parents, many single, warn of the danger in parks and alleys. Here is a picture of the only children I found on the busy 35th Street thoroughfare. Like most children everywhere, they keep smiling.

LC STEPHENSON Retired

LC Stephenson is 81 years old.  LC told me he was retired after working 47 years at Coca Cola Bottling.  He grew up in Memphis, came north to get a decent job and later married.  His wife died a few years ago.  He has several children and many grandchildren and owns his own home in the inner city.  “My neighborhood has changed,” he said.  “Too many troublemakers now, too much violence.  Children lack fathers.”

MILWAUKEE MAYOR Cavalier Johnson

I got to know Mayor Cavalier Johnson when he was an Alderman for a Black inner city district. Then, I did a story on him when he became President of the City Council. He became Mayor when he was only 34. When I asked about his goals for the troubled inner city, he told me, “I believe there are two things we need to address: education and employment, tandem issues. With quality education and good jobs, we could reduce the crime and violence we see featured on the 10 O’Clock News. If educated people have good jobs, that translates to stability in our neighborhoods. If people can own homes, the neighborhoods won’t be so transient. There can be families again, parents sending their kids to colleges, maybe saving money. If you have a good paying job, you keep your family and your life in check. When you have pride in your neighborhoods and home ownership, dignity returns.”

RODNEY & MARCUS LYNK run a school

Residents in Milwaukee’s predominantly Black central city experience violence and trauma unlike anywhere else in the metro area. If you are a student at a central city school, your main objective might be just to remain safe. Rodney Lynk, Jr, and his younger brother Marcus run the Milwaukee Excellence Charter School. The school has taken on violence and trauma with seminars on reckless driving, gun violence, mental health, sexual assault, and bullying. Marcus told me, “Some students see violence in their neighborhoods as normal. You’re not supposed to wake up in the night to the sound of gunshots or the squealing sounds of reckless drivers or even seeing violence in your own home. Our goal has been to change the narrative."

HENRY FINSCHIS "We're all one color"

I found Henry Finschis taking a break in front of a corner store. He said, “I came up to Milwaukee from Mississippi by myself at 25. All these years since, I worked construction. I even laid the concrete for these here sidewalks.” I asked if he thought the neighborhood had changed. “Hell, yes. Too many law-breakers now, reckless drivers, got no respect for others. They should be locked up.” I said, “I’ve been walking these streets on and off for six years, talking to folks. Some resent me cause I’m white.” He said, “Just keep doing what you are doing. We’re all of color.”

MARVIN Losing Faith

Marvin is 51. He grew up within a neighborhood now classed as one of Wisconsin’s poorest. “The ghetto is like a slow cancer,” he told me. “First you lose faith in your community, then in your church. Your dad gets killed or put in prison, or he leaves, and then you lose faith in God.” Marvin now lives in a Christian Fellowship House and does odd jobs to get by. He said he never married but hopes to meet the right woman someday.

VENICE WILLIAMS Cultural Midwife

Venice Williams is the Executive Director of Alice’s Garden and its founder.  She calls herself a cultural and spiritual midwife, told me she was put into Creation to help bring forth all that is good in people and places.  Her prosperous community garden provides an inspiring place for residents to raise plants on their own plots of ground.

DR SEQUANNA TAYLOR talks racism

Dr. Sequanna Taylor is the Vice Chairman of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors and a member of the Milwaukee School Board. As a single parent, she has four children, two boys and two girls, ages 14 to 22. Sequanna grew up in the inner city in a house that had been in her family since 1958. The home is now vacant. When I brought up racism, she told me, “So many times whites don’t want to talk about their prejudices because they think we Blacks will accuse them of racism. For a long time, Black people have been saying, Can I be a woman? Can I be a man? Or Can I be a little boy who can play in his own neighborhood without being scared? People say, ‘But don’t all lives matter?’ They absolutely do. We’ve never said they don’t. For all lives to matter, then Black lives have to also matter. Seems like whites don’t have to prove they matter, but we Blacks do, prove how smart we are, or how ethical, and we’d better not wear braids or dreadlocks on a job. People of both races and cultures need to get our issues out in the open, talk, even argue. I just want us to not hate each other, whites and Blacks.”

REGGIE JACKSON Public Historian

Milwaukee Black intellectual Reggie Jackson calls himself a “public historian.” In his lectures, radio and television appearances, he tries to educate his audiences on Black history, civil rights, diversity, and how American policy and social structure has often failed the African-Americans of our nation.

He told me, “The Black condition in the Milwaukee community is not good. What has caused this? The biggest factor is systemic racism. Fifty years ago, Blacks were doing well because of the family-supporting wage jobs. In 1970, over 50% of Black men worked the industrial jobs in Milwaukee. When the jobs went away, no political leaders or companies did anything to replace those high quality jobs. People began losing their homes. In 1970, the poverty rate among Blacks was 22% below the national average for Blacks. Today, it’s  38% above. In the last 50 years, there was little investment in our community, and our elected officials and business leaders haven’t done much to help.”

VAUN MAYES Street Leader

Vaun Mayes is the top Black street leader and peace activist in Milwaukee. For years, he has dedicated his life to his role as a community organizer. He heads Community Task Force Milwaukee, a group of youth leaders and faith-based organizations seeking peace. They provide meals, activities, and guidance to directionless teens growing up on the streets. In 2014, Mayes started Program The Parks to help teens in his area de-escalate their conflicts in Sherman Park. If there is trouble in Vaun’s Sherman Park community, he often appears to help.

CHILI BURTON Black Leadership

A slogan burned into the American conscience is BLACK LIVES MATTERS. Hopefully, BLACK LEADERSHIP MATTERS might be another worthwhile slogan. These slogans are designed to publicize the incendiary problem of racism in America. Unfortunately, it is the tribal nature of humans to segment ourselves into zones of skin color and economic classes. The European-American people in the U.S. are white, hold the majority and the wealth, and control the power. But the Black political and business leaders are gaining.

KEVIN NEWELL Building Developer

At 37, Kevin Newell is the founder of Royal Capital Group that owns several buildings in the downtown and inner-city areas.

He told me, “We serve our communities with our comprehensive approach to problem-solving in the urban core. This includes downtown and inner city, neighborhoods with very high earners and those with low wage earners. We try to focus on neighborhoods that need affordable housing. Social responsibility is the bloodline for every project we do. When I’m apart of diversity, equity and inclusion discussions over a development project, I say, “I’m not here to change hearts. I’m here to change policies” because policy is tied into the action of racism. Heart is emotion. Policy is racism. If Milwaukee’s community of leaders wants to be part of racial equity and inclusion, they should do so through policy.”

TERESITA JOHNSON Her Daughter Killed

Pictured is Teresita Johnson. Her daughter, Sesalie Dixon, 27, was murdered by her boyfriend in Fox Lake, Wisconsin on December 3rd, 2016. The killer was Laverne Ware, Jr., Sesalie’s domestic partner. Teresita said, “He’s serving a 79 year term in prison. His mother actually covered up his crime, and she’s also serving time.” She went on, “I was also a domestic abuse victim. Stanley Johnson broke my jaw when I was 28 and four months pregnant with Sesalie. I got rid of him with a restraining order after he broke my jaw. Domestic violence is horrible. I’ve experienced both ends, as a survivor and as a victim.” Teresita is now 59 and lives alone on disability. She is still suffering terrible grief and bouts of anxiety.

BRANDON JORDAN Paying things forward

In 1997, 15 year old Brandon Jordan, through a sudden reckless decision, robbed a pedestrian and shot but did not kill the victim.  He was soon arrested and sentenced to 25 years for armed robbery and criminal assault. At only 15, he was waived into the adult system and served a total of 17 years. He was released in 2016.  

Early on in prison, Brandon had been depressed and even suicidal. But he recovered and spent most of his long incarceration educating himself by earning a GED and taking courses at a technical school. He read voraciously, learned computers, and wrote rap music under the name of BradFacts, his album now streaming. He even wrote a book, COURAGE UNDER FIRE.  25 years after he was taken to the Juvenile Justice Center and booked, Brandon Jordan has revisited the facility, this time speaking to current juvenile offenders about turning their lives around. He also counsels incarcerated prisoners.  Brandon told me, “I’m big on paying things forward.”

WARREN HARPER Lounge Owner

Warren Harper has owned and operated Warrens Lounge for 48 years. The lounge is located on the rim of one of Milwaukee’s hardcore inner city neighborhoods where crime creates constant fear. Over the years, Warren has watched almost all the businesses on his block close down including a church. But his bar is still doing all right.

WILLIS JENKINS Closer to God

Willis Jenkins, 53, was raised and still lives in Milwaukee’s inner city.  He works as a restaurant dishwasher and janitor.  He regularly attends a Baptist Church.  He told me, “Everyday, I read my Bible.  In fact, I can tell you something about every one of Jesus’ disciples.  They weren’t all saints, believe me.”  A few years ago, Willis’ daughter was killed in a car accident.  He explained that his pain over that loss has brought him closer to God.

TRAVIS LANDRY teaches respect

Travis Landry runs the Westcare Wisconsin Foundation. Landry’s work focuses on enhancing community well-being, mainly through juveniles and families in the Black central city. He told me, “My cousin, former NBA player, Marcus Landry, and I run a basketball camp on Saturdays. We teach young Black men fundamental basketball, but we are really teaching them to be respectful. We try to help these juveniles because most are raised in homes without fathers. Instead, they are raised by their mothers, and the boys often don’t understand respect and disrespect. Mom can tell ‘em to take out the trash, and the boy says ‘Wait, I’m playing my video game’ or ‘I’m on my cell phone.’ Mom has to ask five times before the boy gets it done. That’s disrespect for their moms. Too much of that goin’ on.” Travis later told me, “You can’t just talk about Black Lives Matter if you don’t live like Black lives matter.”

GIDEON VERDIN-WILLIAMS Big uncle approach

At 40 years old, Gideon Verdin-Williams is a veteran photojournalist for WTMJ TV News Milwaukee. He lives in the inner city, and knows its troubles. He also leads Guns Down Miltown. Gideon told me, “I think Milwaukee is a melting pot for disaster. Black male incarceration, teenage pregnancy, big high school dropout rates, and all this adds up to kids raising themselves. No father figure, mother working all the time. I think we need to do a better job of rehabilitating people, providing more resources, and highlighting the Black street leaders who are taking the place of absent fathers. I call it the ‘Big Uncle’ approach, men not being afraid to step in and give guidance and tutorship. Often today, young people in the inner city feel they don’t have options. They have to be the drug dealer, the car thief, the gun carrier, the hustler. We want to show kids it’s not okay to carry a gun. We try to get kids to do something positive, whether it’s a block party, a book club, or a block cleanup.”

KENNETH GINLACK Remarkable Comeback

When I met him in 2022, licensed psychotherapist, Kenneth Ginlack Sr. was the Director of Outpatient Programs for Milwaukee County. He oversaw all the community health centers, access clinics, crisis stabilization houses, and even million dollar contracts. Clinic managers and psychotherapists reported to him, and he was the first Black man to hold the Director position. But Ginlack’s personal history had been wounded with drug and alcohol addiction, drug dealing, petty theft, and a trail of emotional wreckage. He had lived inside trauma. But an epiphany changed his life.

“One cold winter night in 2007, I needed money badly,” he told me. “I slipped a metal pipe in my sleeve and walked the streets. I see these two clean-cut white guys in nice coats who were lookin’ to buy crack. I got in the backseat of their car, tellin’ them I could score some crack. Then, I pulled out my metal pipe, thinkin’ I’d rob them, maybe even kill them. Suddenly, I said, ‘Stop the car!’ I jumped out, and started cryin.’ Hit me suddenly that I was a crackhead and an alcoholic. I was thinking I’ll either die or change my life. I went home and told my mom I needed to go to rehab. That night, I checked into a Recovery Center, got detoxed, and eventually spent three months in residential treatment and then three more months in a transitional living house. And it was there I found my future purpose as a counselor and therapist.”

JEFFREY NORMAN Milwaukee Police Chief

By the end of 2022, the new Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman was facing a difficult job. Criminal acts and homicides had been increasing for three years. Meanwhile, because of the Defund the Police movement, the number of police officers had been reduced. He told me the top challenge of the police. “It’s trust,” he said. “Trust is the biggest challenge for Milwaukee Police. You can go back as far as the civil rights movement, then George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and locally Dontre Hamilton and Jacob Blake. Those incidents burned negative images about improper police behavior. Citizens need to feel that police are hearing them, that a just process is taking place, that police can be trusted.Police should be role models.”

THE ARREST

In Milwaukee’s inner city, a common sight is the arrest. This man had been caught running a drug house, often an abandoned residence converted into a refuge for drug sales.

NINA is strolling

Nina is probably a street walker. I met her on Lisbon near 38th. Nina told me she had been raised in this neighborhood. She said, “The streets are dangerous. Too much violence. You have to stay away from stupidity to survive. You have to stay within your “ram.” I wondered what a ram was. “Your personal zone,” said Nina. She wanted a ride up to the North Avenue area. I declined, figuring that might take her out of her “ram.”

GOLDIE The Waitress

During the pandemic, I met Goldie near a downtown corner store. She told me she was a waitress at a Chinese restaurant in the Pabst Building. “I like to work. Been in food my whole life, and these are the best bosses I ever had, the Chinese.” This is America, I thought. An African-American woman works with a Chinese business owner, the restaurant frequented by Blacks and whites and Hispanics. Goldie also shared with me her career goals me. “I wanna get my own food truck, park it outside the bars after closing. You come out of a bar after a night of drinkin’ and you smell my food. Whooooeeeeee!”

DENITA BALL Milwaukee County Sheriff

In late 2022, Denita Ball was elected as the first woman Milwaukee County Sheriff. In our conversation, I got the sense that she wanted to change the climate of the Sheriff’s Office to be open and available to city leaders and the public. She has overcome very difficult obstacles including the death of her devoted grandmother, then being a foster child, and later defeating cancer. She told me, “The most challenging part of my job is dealing with the different stakeholders who look at law enforcement from their lenses instead of seeing it from our viewpoint. We focus on how we deploy our resources to the public, and the public needs to receive the services they pay for with their taxes. We are responsible for public safety. If there is not public safety, people will not utilize the county parks. If there is not public safety, we will not get people to visit our various communities. Remember, tourists and visitors spend money, which helps expand our economy.”  

DEREK MOSLEY The Judge

For his portrait, Municipal Court Chief Judge Mosley decided to wear his trademark black robe. He said, “I wear my robe every opportunity I get because there are too many pictures of Black and brown men in orange jumpsuits. I wear the robe for what it represents. On my bench, I have blind Lady Justice holding the scales of justice. Right at her feet, I have an actual pair of shackles. Why do this? Because it reminds me that for me to be sitting on this bench - my ancestors, my own blood survived slavery, emancipation, reconstruction, the Black codes, lynchings, loss of culture, the Civil Rights movement, and all of that just so I had the opportunity to be a judge and wear the black robe.”

JEREMIAH JACKS Homicide Detective

In 2022, Milwaukee set its own yearly record for the most homicides, nearly 200 victims. Half of them had been unsolved.

I spoke with 45 year old Detective Jeremiah Jacks, the longest serving detective in the homicide unit of about 30 detectives. He comes across as the opposite of the hyped TV detective, calm, soft-spoken, measured, and empathic. Detective Jacks has an adult son, two adult daughters, and two grown step children. He is a normal guy with an abnormal job.

I said that in my conversing with Black residents and street leaders, I found out about the “no snitch rule,” don’t rat on another person. He said, “That is an issue. It’s always frustrating. But let me define what it means to be a snitch. If Person A and Person B agree to steal jeans from a store, and Person A gets caught and tells on Person B, then that is snitching because A and B did the robbery together. But if someone shoots up your house or shoots a neighborhood resident, you did not agree to have that happen. You do not owe any obligation to the shooter. You should be a witness. You are not a snitch.”

CHANTELL JEWELL heads the county jail

To find out about incarceration, I visited the county jail called the Milwaukee House of Correction. Superintendent Chantell Jewell explained, “People often have a misperception about the jail. In other words, it’s more than incarceration. It’s about rehabilitation. I don’t believe the House of Correction should be a punitive place. Residents have already been punished through their court sentences. Our job is to see that people leave here in a better position than when they came in. Ultimately, the overall goal is to create community safety.” She went on, “Growing up in the inner city, I saw that the residents really didn’t have a positive perception of law enforcement. I’d hear a lot of people talking about their probation officers. So many people I knew in the community were tied to the criminal justice system. I figured if I ever went through that system, I’d go through the front door, not the back door.”

AFTERMATH OF A TRAGEDY

43 year old Christopher Stokes shot and killed five members of his family on the last day of April, 2020. Mr. Stokes was arrested and later judged mentally incompetent. He had a history of domestic violence. On the sidewalk, I met a Stokes family member, and I asked what would be done with the house.  “Not sure,” she said. “We still got neighbors living in the basement.”

Let’s just say a suburban white man, perhaps a lawyer or a store owner, had killed five family members. I suspect the mainstream media would still be posting daily stories including heartbreaking profiles of each family member. In the case of the Stokes killings, the media soon lost interest.

APORTIER WEEKS Assault Victim

Aportier Weeks, told me his mother came from New Orleans. A while back, she had died of breast cancer. Aportier hobbled along slowly, and he walked with a cane. He explained his condition. “Four years ago, I was robbed and got beaten with a baseball bat. My ribs were busted up, and my leg was broken. For a couple years I got around in a wheelchair.” He hesitated. “But I’m gettin’ better.”

JOANNE JOHNSON-SABIR boosts Black business

The world seems frayed these days - torn by violence, inflation, war, woke-ness, Covid, smart phone addiction, and just plain anger. Milwaukee’s central city is not immune. But for these Black residents, probably the foremost issue is how to boost business development. Working outside the fray is one of the leading innovators, JoAnne Johnson-Sabir. With a business partner, she transformed the BMO Harris Sherman Park bank that was burned during the 2016 unrest into a shopping and wellness hub. They called it the Sherman Phoenix, which is home to 30 different Black-owned businesses. She told me, “I knew one of the pathways in community work had to be centered on the economy. Creating businesses is a good pathway for wealth to expand in our Black neighborhoods.”

NADIYAH JOHNSON Creating Black tech hub

Nadiyah Johnson is the owner of the custom software company, Jet Constellations, located in the inner city. She is a small slender woman, maybe a couple wafers above five feet tall, but she acts ten feet tall. In her office, she told me, “A few years ago, I noticed there were hardly any Black people and very few women in the Milwaukee Tech world. I was kind of fed up. I went full time at Jet Constellations. Our goal was to be more inclusive, get more Black and brown people involved. We quickly evolved into a software company.” She went on, “In my small way, I am creating a tech hub that centers around the Black and brown community. This means equipping Milwaukee with the tech resources to tackle social and educational problems and also partnering with the private sector. That is our model at Jet Constellations.”

MICHAEL EMEM Real Estate Developer

At 35 and head of the Emem Group, Michael Emem is already a successful Milwaukee real estate developer. He told me, “I grew up in a rough neighborhood, but I liked it, enjoyed being innocent, playing in the streets. Summers I went to the Boys & Girls Club in Sherman Park, spent full days there. But we had enough frequent shootings where that kind of criminal behavior became a way of life. I got used to drive-by shootings. First sound of gunfire, and we’d duck below the window in our house. I just assumed this was normal life. From the time I was little, I wanted to design and build houses. The core issue for Milwaukee has always been racism. Segregation. I believe there needs to be more investment in the Black neighborhoods. The Emem Group has been developing and re-envisioning buildings and houses in the inner city. The tool of real estate is very powerful.”

LANELLE RAMEY mentors Milwaukee

I always thought of a mentor as an adult who shows an interest in a young person, takes them to sports and community events, maybe the movies, out to lunch. According to LaNelle Ramey, Executive Director of MENTOR Greater Milwaukee, most adults can be mentors and in almost any setting. “We believe that every young person should have a mentor in their life,” he told me. “Mentoring is versatile, can be one on one, in groups, in arts programs, sports, business, the trades. If you’re a gardener, we can align you with programs that are working with young gardeners. That way, you are doing something you love while working with kids. We also have to do a better job of showcasing Black men as role models. Mentoring helps to do that. Too many Black boys are without adult men in their lives.”

SHERWIN HUGHES Black Talk Radio

Milwaukee has a popular Black radio station,101.7 THE TRUTH, launched in January, 2020. THE TRUTH features an all talk platform that embraces Milwaukee’s Black community, controversial perspectives about what’s happening in Black neighborhoods. The mid-morning host is radio veteran Sherwin Hughes, 47. I told Sherwin I’d like to see we the people get over this hatred of skin color. I said, “Prejudice is based on ignorance and fear. Could you encourage some white people to listen to your radio program so they could understand?” He said, “Is it my job to teach white people to treat Black people as normal regular human beings? No, it is not.”

EMERY McBRIDE Lucky to be Alive

I sat with Emery McBride on his porch. He said, “I’ve owned his house since 1988. The neighborhood’s changed for the worse. Drugs came in, robberies, shootings, murders. I’m just lucky to be alive.” He used to work at a nursing home, but now he’s disabled. He said, “I walk the street now and nobody says hello. I only know a few neighbors. Houses are either rentals or boarded up.”

WILLIAM COFFER Retired Marine

During the civil unrest in the 1960s when Milwaukee Civil Rights Leader, Father James Groppi, was at the forefront, William Coffer delivered truckloads of food to Father Groppi’s St. Boniface Church. Mr. Coffer was working in an administrative job at Patrick Cudahy. But long before that historic time, he had been a United States Marine and saw action in the Korean War. A widower at 90, Mr. Coffer now lives on the north side off Silver Spring in his Cape Cod style house. He still looks slim and fit. All his life, he’d been a long distance runner, having run three marathons, and was running three miles a day until at 89 he suffered a stroke.

JOHN GILCREASE Short Order Cook

John Gilcrease is 53 and works as a short order cook for a caterer. He puts in long hours and lives in a 4 room apartment. John told me there were drugs and crime are all over his neighborhood. He said, “I go to work, come home, stay put, have a beer and watch TV. I don’t go out around here. Too dangerous.”

SAMUEL ALFORD Mural Curator

Black activist Samuel Alford is the curator of the huge mural featuring local Black leader portraits. Covering half of a city block, the mural is a spectacular work of art. He also curated other large murals in the central city. The 35 year old Alford is single and has been a Milwaukee activist for ten years. “I grew up in a mostly Black neighborhood,” he said. “I was living with my mom for the first half of my childhood. When I was 5 years old, I was sexually molested by an older boy. My mom had a flaring temper and was unstable economically, and my father had anger issues and was diagnosed with a mental illness. I was placed with my grandmother, and she had a nice big house, and my child world got better. Then, God came into my life, and I had a lot of love.”

KEANTI Security Guard

On Center Street near 22nd, I stopped at Family Dollar store and had a conversation with the security guard.  His name was Keanti and he had worked security in retail stores and apartment buildings in the central city for seven years. I did his portrait, then asked his most dangerous experience.  He said he'd been shot twice and pepper sprayed 4 times. In one incident, he had gotten in the middle of a domestic violence quarrel, the abuser shot him twice. but Kianti took the abuser down with two shots of his own.

I DON’T WANT TO DIE

You are a white Milwaukee area resident. You live in suburbia, or you live downtown in a high rise condo. You safely walk your dog everyday or dine out at night in select restaurants. Take a time out and think about another side of Milwaukee, life in the central city. Here is a central city mural portraying the everyday fears those residents deal with. The threat of guns and violence. The fear Black citizens experience, a nagging worry that they may be harmed in their own neighborhoods. Then, think about the prayer on the wall: “Lord, please, I don’t want to die. I’m only 11 years old.”

MARIA HAMILTON Son killed by cop

Maria Hamilton’s 31 year old son, Dontre Hamilton, was killed in 2014, gunned down by a policeman in the downtown Red Arrow Park in a tragic and explosive incident that went national.

Maria is now the leader of Mothers For Justice United and Mothers March. She and her followers feel that when their sons are murdered, the police do not give the cases enough attention. She told me, “In the inner city, when someone is murdered and the police can’t find the killer, it’s forgotten. The mainstream press ignores the crime. The politicians bury it. But here we are, the mothers of our sons, the victims. We want to know why police investigations aren’t done more thoroughly. If it’s a Black on Black murder, the media and even the police ignore the story. This is very hard on the mothers. We moms love this city, we chose to live here, pay taxes, raise children, but we don’t feel we’re protected.”

CARRIE SCOTT HANEY Daughter killed

Carrie Scott Haney and her husband Reco Haney grew up in the hardcore central city but made it out and now lead productive lives. In the summer of 2017, their 28 year old daughter, Audrey Scott, was shot and killed by Sammy Miller, her ex-boyfriend. Audrey had left Sammy because he had been physically abusing her. It later came out that with the help of his friend. Larry Brown, Sammy Miller took Audrey near the Apple Holler orchard in Racine County, brutally beat her, then shot and killed her. He left her body there. It was July 4th, 2017. Sammy is now in prison.

OVERCOMING RACISM

In 2022, Milwaukee was the most segregated city in the country per capita. For the past few generations, the powerful whites have kept the Black citizens isolated in an area now called the central city. Why? Fear of the unknown. Fear of people whose skin is a different color, whose culture leans toward the emotional. The theory goes that if whites give these isolated Blacks welfare, healthcare, childcare, and charity, then they remain taken care of, and whites don’t have to feel guilty. Milwaukee Blacks may struggle with crime, drug addiction, domestic violence, and family dysfunction, but it’s not the fault of the charitable white people.

DAVID WAYNE DANSBY is disabled

David Wayne Dansby sat on the front stoop and told me he had lived in a single second floor room in this house for 17 years. He was raised near Little Rock, Arkansas, but moved to Milwaukee when he was a boy. He wore dark glasses because he had trouble seeing out of one eye. “When I was a teenager, my cousin punched me in the eye. Ain’t been the same since.” David stutters and has a hard time explaining himself. “Lemmee tell you about when I got my teeth knocked out. This goes back years ago. My brutha and I, we was over by Satin Doll, the night club. I got into a fight with a whore. She kicked me in the back. Down I went, mouth first. I was spittin’ blood at her.”

DEREK hates living at home

Derek is about 30 and tall.  I asked him if he played basketball or football in high school.  He said he was a good basketball player but had been kicked out of 3 high schools for fighting.

He was drinking a Hurricane Beer because "this baby has 8.5% alcohol. You could start a car with it.” Yet, he did not seem like a drunk. He has 19 stitches in his head because he had been struck by a car on 38th and North a few months ago.  The car owner had no insurance.  He told me he spends his days hanging out on street benches or riding busses because... "I hate living at home.  Gotta get the hell out of there."  He lives in his mother's house.  She is 55, has had 3 strokes, and lost the use of her left side.  Living with Derek and his mother are his sister and her boyfriend, and also his other sister, her boyfriend and also her ex-boyfriend."  Derek said, "They spend all day smoking dope and arguing.  I can't stand it." 

AL CAPONE JOHNSON Bank Robber

Al Capone Johnson, 49, has been to prison 4 times, twice for bank robbery in Chicago. He was now on probation for punching a Milwaukee bus driver in the face. Mr Johnson gave me a history on famous criminals he greatly admired, from Al Capone to John Dillinger to Christopher Scarver, the black man who murdered white supremacist Jeffrey Dahmer in prison because Dahmer had killed and eaten black boys.

SPEAK TRUTH

In the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter protest marches along inner city Martin Luther King Drive, some stores had been broken into, one building even set on fire. As a result, windows were boarded up. Soon, the BLM graffiti appeared. This exhibit reads SPEAK TRUTH. Truth seems to matter to us as individuals and also to the entire society. As individuals, being truthful means that we can grow and mature, learning from our mistakes, asking forgiveness. For human society, truthfulness makes social bonds, while lies and hypocrisy break them. According to the wise graffiti artist who wrote, Defund White Supremacy, if there were no white supremacy, then we imperfect humans might actually make social bonds between the races. That’s one avenue to Truth.

EXISTENCE

At times — the feeling of existence in central city Milwaukee