Recognizing the Segregation Right In Front of Us
Last year, I was on the train, heading off for a day in Chicago with two of my friends. Two men boarded the train a couple stops after my stop, and it was quite obvious from the minute they walked on, that they wanted to talk. They asked our names, and I was acutely aware of how we must have looked, three teenage white girls in jeans, purses strapped across their innocent bodies. Then they started to talk, inquiring what sports we played. In turn, I asked them what sports they participated in. The man laughed, saying he boxes, but hasn’t been able to for a while. When I asked why, he shook his head, telling me about how he was shot recently: “I was no longer black, but red all over.”
My city is renowned for its stellar deep dish pizza and windy afternoons, and is recognized this year due to nearly 600 deaths caused by gun violence. It is easy to categorize Chicago and the strife associated with it as ending in the segregated and desolate communities where gun violence is quite common – and far away from where I call my home.
When I came to Milwaukee, I realized it is characterized by some of the same problems as Chicago. Milwaukee is known to be the most segregated city in America, and from this dire division stems achievement gaps between white and black students spanning canyons. It results in poverty that forces individuals to look to gangs, to gun violence, and to drugs to stay afloat amidst missed meals and unstable incomes.
This summer marked the 50th Anniversary of the Open Housing Marches in Milwaukee, a momentous event that saw marches all over the city for 200 days, focusing on support for open housing legislation. Yet, fifty years later, little has changed.
According to a Neighborhood News Service article, the 53206 ZIP code in the city encompasses 25,179 African-Americans residents and a mere 632 whites. These neighborhoods are usually characterized by boarded up storefronts and individuals hovering at street corners and walking places with little on to protect them against bitter Milwaukee winters.
These areas of high poverty and crime rates seem to have been forgotten by the city. Garbage is dropped in the alleys, housing remains segregated, and these neighborhoods remain food deserts – the closest grocery stores being too far to walk, especially as the thermostat continues to plunge. When I was volunteering at MacCanon Brown Homeless Sanctuary last week, a man asked for a sandwich, saying, “Please, I’m starving.” Sister Brown turned to me and told me that may have been the only meal he will eat that day.
I think “I’m starving” took on a whole new definition in that moment.
This poverty and desperation is what spurs violence. According to the Journal Sentinel Milwaukee Homicide Database, there have been 103 murders in Milwaukee this year. Of those 103 people, 84% were shot and 84% were African American. An overwhelming 86% of those murdered were men, and less than half of the murderers were arrested.
I wish I had a solution to this evil that does not seem to have a solution. I wish I could say I have a plan to strategically undermine the poverty that exists in each of our cities, which catalyzes this violence – a violence I see scream from newspaper headlines and exemplified in statistics day after day.
The poverty in Milwaukee can be partly tied back to restrictive covenants of the 1900s. These covenants often required all owners not to sell or lease their land for certain segments of time. In this divisive fashion, black families were segregated from certain neighborhoods in Milwaukee. According to a recent Neighborhood News Service article, white flight, expensive housing, and a failing economy in the past have also played a role in segregation. Affordable housing and an inclusion of nonwhite families and individuals to these communities is a must to combat this problem.
It is important to put yourself in other’s shoes when pondering these situations and injustices. Everyone deserves the chance at success, and the tools to get you there include basic human resources and respect. What if it was you on that corner?