"Wisconsin, and in particular the Milwaukee area, justly merit the invidious distinction of the worst place in the nation to be black." — Bruce Dixon, The Black Commentator
After what has happened in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, numerous fingers have been pointed at racial issues and poverty in the south. While such racism has been used to explain why so many were left to starve and drown in the rising waters of New Orleans, the problem does not solely affect the south. In Wisconsin — Milwaukee in particular — we seem to have the same sort of problems.
So congratulations. Our area has recently been rated the worst place in the nation to live if you are black by a national online magazine, The Black Commentator. Despite all of the great things Wisconsin can boast, a widely diverse population that enjoys equality is clearly not among them.
But how exactly did we receive such a distinction? These ratings from The Black Commentator are based on the number of white prisoners compared with the number of black inmates behind bars. While this is merely one way to measure disparities between blacks and whites in a state, higher incarceration rates tend to create ripple effects in communities all over the country. Many that have been incarcerated are not able to find decent work once released, negatively affecting the economy. This, in turn, leads to more despair and in turn "exacerbates racial inequality, deepens black poverty and wreaks widespread destabilization on black families and communities," according to The Black Commentator.
Even if this list were compiled using only one determining factor, it is unacceptable to let such an injustice occur in Wisconsin. Something must be done about the unequal treatment blacks receive under the law.
African-Americans in Wisconsin are incarcerated at a rate 11.6 times that of white Wisconsinites. As of July, roughly four percent of the black population was behind bars, as opposed to the .35 percent of the white population. With an increasing number of blacks imprisoned for non-violent drug crimes, this problem does not seem likely to go away anytime soon.
As if all this isn't bad enough, the census bureau has just named Milwaukee — a city with 41 percent of children living in poverty — the seventh-poorest city in the U.S. It has the highest teen birth rate for African-Americans and a resoundingly high drop-out rate for high school students, both of which are surely related to the incarceration issue.
What, if anything, will make these problems fade away? Is there something we can do to ensure the black community isn't forced to carry the stereotypes and hardships that come from being locked up at the rate they are now?
The Black Commentator cites bad public policy as an explanation for these problems and they call for a mass movement as the only way major changes can be made in public policy in America. The rates of recidivism and the lack of re-entry services are just the beginning of the hurdles to overcome in the future. Any way you slice it, there are huge injustices occurring in this state and the entire country that need our attention.
Julie Isen ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in political science.