When you wake up and your city, specifically a couple miles from where you live, is the headline on CNN you know something went horribly wrong the night before. That is what happened to me a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday morning. Another police shooting with an African American. But this time it was different than Ferguson and the other shootings throughout the country. This time it was a black officer and a black victim, who also happened to have a gun himself. Sylville Smith was ordered by the police to drop his weapon. He ran, he did not drop the weapon, and was shot by the officer. The neighborhood was outraged because rumor spread on social media that Sylville was shot in the back three times, contrary to what the police had said. Without the body cam video being released they were going to believe that their friend had been shot unjustly. The neighborhood turned to destroy their own community that evening through the early morning. People burned down 6 businesses, set cars on fire, threw rocks at the police, and cried out for justice…. Or maybe it was just an awakening to what our city has been experiencing since the formation of Milwaukee.
Opportunity, education, money, etc. have all been extremely lacking for African Americans since their white neighbors moved to the suburbs and took all of their jobs and resources with them. You drive down North Avenue and, literally, you can see the dividing line between White and Black Milwaukee.
Milwaukee has been suffering for a long time as the most racially segregated city in the entire country. I cannot go a single day without hearing about shootings in our city. Some days we have up to 10 in the same day! This has been building since my mom grew up right outside of Sherman Park where the riots of 1967 took place. The city had the same problems then that they still have today.
“What happened last night was not the result of greed or an ignorant display of anger as some have called it, but rather pain and frustration built up from 400 years of oppression.” – Coalition for Justice
Then a glimmer of hope….Sunday morning, in the aftermath of the destruction, we drove down to the park. We saw people of the neighborhood cleaning up. Cleaning up the burned down buildings and overturned bus stops. People realized they destroyed the very place that they lived.
We went to go get some lunch for the residents and trash bags for ourselves, then drove back to Sherman Park and the burned down BP station. You could readily see that a lot of the people who had arrived by that time were not from the neighborhood. Prayer circles and activist speeches began across the street. Meanwhile the youth of the neighborhood stayed away from the outsiders. Someone spoke out and said, "Go talk to the youth! Find out why this is happening. Don’t ignore the root cause of the youth’s pain." By now all of the major news stations were there, from CNN to ABC Chicago. The media set up outside of the burned down buildings. But what you didn’t see were the hundreds of people on the other side crying out for the years of pain they have been experiencing.
I spoke to one individual who said, “It might not have been right what happened here with the destruction, but it caused you all to wake up and see there are deep problems here.”
As someone who never had to worry about my safety, being judged for my skin color, or not given opportunities, I felt utterly saddened for all parties involved. Sad for the police who are doing their job to keep us safe. Sad for the African Americans of Milwaukee who don’t have the resources that I do. Sad for the city officials who have ignored the problem. And the list goes on and on.
Ask anyone in Milwaukee and they'll have a different answer: Deep systemic problems of poverty, unemployment, segregation and education. Easy access to firearms. Lack of personal responsibility and the breakdown of the family. An ineffective criminal justice system. Lax sentencing. A pursuit policy critics say too often limits police chases. Too much policing. Not enough policing. – JS Online
Feeling helpless, we asked someone from the neighborhood what we can do going forward? How can we help? They said, “show up.” Those are two powerful words. Love your neighbors as yourself. Pretty sure someone really important said that once. Jesus said to not judge the person next to you and instead just love. Love selflessly. And that is what I plan to do. I want to be part of the solution and not the problem. I will also defy these labels we so easily throw around: black, white, us, them. Labels are nonsense. We all bleed red… when will we wake up and realize that?
Defy Your Label – Please watch this video for another perspective. Let’s rip off these labels!
We are all a Human Family
Written by Jamie, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Follow her journey here and here.
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