Violence DOES have a Zip Code

Eugene Kane's Tuesday column in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel addresses violence, where it's found and reactions to it.

Kane writes:

When I write about violence in Milwaukee, I usually know who the people are by the address.

That's the result of living in a segregated city; when crime happens on certain city blocks, many residents can comfortably predict the race of the people involved both as victims and suspects.

Too many assume they know a lot more than that; they usually don't.

The news out of Cazenovia - a small western Wisconsin community shocked by two separate tragedies in recent days - reminded me how little insight some Milwaukeeans have into the lives of people living outside our metropolitan area.

...The Weston Schools shooting was particularly troubling in light of an alleged shooting plan discovered in Green Bay - another place outside our area - that was averted because of the actions of a concerned student who warned police about the main suspects' deadly intentions.

Disaster was averted in Green Bay because a concerned student went to the police and tipped them off to the plot.

Think of all the rapes, shootings, and murders in parts of Milwaukee and police receive no cooperation from community members. Victims' families plead for help, seeking justice, and their neighbors remain silent.

See the difference?

News about senseless gunfire among young people isn't unusual in Milwaukee. What's unusual for some is the immediate reaction of outsiders when it's elsewhere.

When tragedy hits a small town or city, the sympathy wells up for all involved. When young people die in Milwaukee's central city, too often the reaction from outsiders is to point fingers and blame residents for tolerating the violence.

Kane doesn't realize that he just made an important distinction.

"Senseless gunfire among young people isn't unusual in Milwaukee."

It is unusual in Cazenovia. That's the point. That's why the incident is particularly shocking. Of course, the immediate reaction is different.

Then, Kane complains that some consider violence to be tolerated in certain areas of Milwaukee. Clearly, it is tolerated or violence would be unusual in those parts of the city.

Suburban and rural white students caught in gunfire get immediate grief counselors dispatched to the scene. Black and brown city kids surrounded by violence have to resolve their emotional issues all by themselves.

When white kids in rural and suburban areas are involved in a terrible shooting, their communities are not placed on trial.

Do you think that might have something to do with the fact that violence in suburban and rural areas is an aberration and not the norm?

...It should be a simple thing to understand that a rash of school shootings in mainly white areas of the state (and the nation) doesn't necessarily mean white people in general are overly violent or that most white parents are not good parents.

But it's getting harder to get some people to accept the flip side of that premise. This has always struck me as terribly unfair.

Where does Kane get off being so quick to determine what white people think regarding violence and parenting skills and the "flip side of that premise"?

What's his basis for such accusations?

As usual, Kane speaks in generalities.

That strikes me as terribly unfair.

The violence in Milwaukee's central city is caused by the specific people - and their inner demons - who commit the crimes. That reality shouldn't be used as a whipping stick against law-abiding black residents with no connection other than their proximity to the shooting.

Yes and no.

True, specific people should be held accountable for the violent acts that they commit.

BUT, it's not unreasonable nor is it unfair to hold the law-abiding residents accountable for failing to cooperate with police. They are complicit in allowing violence to thrive in their neighborhoods through their own inaction.

So it was interesting to hear about the tight-knit nature of a community like Cazenovia that led some in town to close ranks in the aftermath of tragedy, some refusing to talk to reporters. That reminded me of the reaction of many black residents who resent the swirl of media that shows up whenever something bad happens on their block.

Refusing to talk to reporters is not the same as refusing to talk to law enforcement, effectively blocking criminal investigations, and ultimately aiding and abetting the criminals.

The fact is violence in certain areas of Milwaukee is an unusual occurrence. In other areas, it's business as usual.

Violent crime is concentrated in specific parts of the city. That's undeniable.

All too often, the good people on the block don't get outraged over the violence that their neighbors commit; at least not outraged enough to do everything possible to hold the perpetrators accountable, bring them to justice, and quell the violence.

That's not a racial thing, as Kane claims. It appears to be more of an attitude thing that prevails in certain zip codes.

To pretend otherwise is to ignore the reality of the situation.