Milwaukee’s Bad Treatment Of Black People

The media never tells you how life really is for Black people around the world. But unfortunately, there seems to be little difference between life in Ferguson, MO and a major metropolitan city like Milwaukee, WI.

With racial demographics in the US changing fast, some city officials are ramping up their unlawful treatment of African Americans. It is certainly widespread news that Ferguson, Missouri is one of those cities that is discriminatory toward Black residents.

Recent studies have also shown that the midwestern city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin is yet another city where African Americans face intense discrimination.

Blacks make up 40 percent of Milwaukee’s population, but the group’s sizeable population, however, gives Blacks no leverage for ownership and control in the city.

Milwaukee incarcerates the largest percentage of Black men and also fails to educate Black children adequately, making it one of the worse cities for African Americans to find equality.

Regarding the education of Milwaukee youth, a UCLA report found that K-12 schools in Wisconsin suspended Black students at the highest rates than any other state in the country.

Milwaukee suspends Black elementary and secondary students at a much higher rate than any other racial group.
Milwaukee suspends Black elementary and secondary students at a much higher rate than any other racial group.

In addition, K-12 school Black/white difference in suspension rates in Wisconsin are the second highest of any state.

The city of Milwaukee itself suspends twice as many Black high school students than is typical of any state in the nation.

The state of Wisconsin also boasts the largest Black/white achievement gap in the country.

The state of Wisconsin suspends more than 1 out of 3 Black students--the highest suspension rate of any state and for any racial group.
The state of Wisconsin suspends more than 1 out of 3 Black students–the highest suspension rate of any state and for any racial group.

Four out of five Black children in Wisconsin live in poverty. Milwaukee has the second-highest Black poverty rate in the US, and a Black unemployment rate that is almost 4x the white unemployment rate.

That number perhaps has a lot to do with the number of Black men and women who are incarcerated in the state. Wisconsin proudly incarcerates the most Black men in the US; its prison population has more than tripled since 1990.

In Milwaukee County, more than half of Black men in their 30s and 40s have served time in jail. And in the 53206 zip code, in particular, 62 percent of men have spent time in an adult correctional facility by the age of 34.

Understanding these numbers, it comes as no surprise that the state of Wisconsin allots more money in its annual budget to public and private prisons for correctional facilities than it does to institutions of higher education.

The city of Wisconsin also holds the award for the most segregated city in America–now with majority Blacks in the north side, Latinos in the south, Asians in the west, and whites moving in droves to the suburbs (historically whites had inhabited the south side).

The pipeline to prison is strongly devised for African Americans in Milwaukee, as there is much concentrated policing in Black communities and other policies to increase the Black prison population.

As America becomes a nation of increasingly diverse residents, solving these racial injustices and improving the quality of life for Black citizens all across the nation will prove to be a challenge for a nation that is accustomed to racial inequality and division.

Certainly there are other cities across the nation that boast unpromising statistics that are reflective of unfair disadvantages facing African Americans.

Ask your favorite media outlets to cover stories like this one, so that Black experiences across America are heard.

A truly great America will work towards greater opportunities and equality of outcomes for all citizens.

That would mean revamping not only the city of Wisconsin, but also other cities in America to unveil a brighter future for its most disadvantaged populations.

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I am Amara. I come from a long line of griots (jalis). My grandfather was central in my upbringing. He comes from a tradition of oral history immersed in the vast expanse of time and the pageantry of customs and rituals. But, I have come to learn the reality of the ways of the griot in the 21st Century. I became a Scribe at Grandmother Africa for exactly this reason - to keep a tradition going, in a different medium. If you enjoyed this essay and would like to support more content like this one, please buy me a cup of coffee in support of my next essay, or you can go bold, very bold and delight me. Here's my CashApp: $AMARANEFETITI

10 COMMENTS

  1. This is crazy men. All these white people saying they are good people. Now, where are all the good white people?

  2. Everywhere I turn, I see white people killing and oppressing Blacks. It is outrageous. What a race of people?

  3. I think its worse than the numbers suggest. The USA is bad for Black people. Period. Wicked people inhabit this place. First the genocide of the Natives and then they turned their attention on Blacks. That has been the story of a race of people from Europe.

  4. If everyone can say we need more Black institutions run by Black people then I will be on board. As it is now we have no Black leadership with any real goals or demands. Just talk. Just talk. And our problems just mutiply it seems, the more we talk.

  5. White people will never change. This should be the Black demand – our own communities insular from the racist inclinations of whites. If for 400 years we cannot trust them, what makes you think they will change in the next 10 years? They dont change. Their gods made them so – to hate humanity, even themselves!

  6. For more than 300 years we, African Americans, have continued to show that we are the bigger people. We are Gods children and we are morally superior – we have the heart of God. Let us not forget that lest we are corrupted by the wickedness of whites. We shall overcome.

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