Question: How many times will Milwaukee's leaders receive a wake-up call and ignore it? How many times will they keep hitting the snooze button when the alarm goes off?
Answer: Enough times to allow the city to sink into a state of chaos.
Mayor Tom Barrett insists that the city is not in crisis.
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm says that Milwaukee is "remarkably safe." (That's a direct quote.)
Common Council president Willie Hines tells CNN, "There's no racial tensions that exist within the city of Milwaukee."
Aldermen, the ones against the anti-gang loitering ordinance, the ones with spaghetti spines, fail to take action to address the problems.
Local NAACP officials cry racism rather than call for order, and align themselves with thug politicians like Ald. Michael Mcgee.
There is a stunning lack of leadership in Milwaukee. The incompetence is at jaw-dropping levels.
This hasn't just become evident with the Juneteenth Day violence, although that is the incident that currently is putting the city in the national spotlight.
The skyrocketing gun violence is a long-time trend.
The violence at Milwaukee Public Schools is routine. Some of the most troubling incidents are assaults on teachers and staff, and brawls that involve thug students AND their thug parents.
And then there is the heartbreaking murder of innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire, such as 4-year-old Jasmine Owens, dead because she was playing outside early in the evening.
Overnight alone, there were seven people injured in six shootings. In less than twelve hours, seven were shot.
Seven people were wounded, including a 19-year-old man who is in critical condition this morning after a shooting at 11 p.m. in the 2900 block of N. 12th St. A 17-year-old girl was also shot in this incident.
Other than the victim in critical condition, those wounded in the shootings are in stable condition today, police said.
There are no suspects in custody in any of the cases, according to police.
The shooting started in the city about 3:15 p.m. yesterday when a 26-year-old man was shot near N. Holton and W. Burleigh streets.
That was followed by other shootings in:
*The 1300 block of N. 36th St., where a 29-year-old man was shot about 9:15 p.m.
*The 3700 block of W. Garfield Ave., where a 17-year-old male was shot about 11:30 p.m.
*The 4500 block of N. 30th St., where a 23-year-old male was shot about 1:15 a.m.
*The 3200 block of N. 13th St., where a 19-year-old male was shot about 1:50 a.m.
Milwaukee has seen violent crime leap 27.7% in the city.
And how do the leaders respond?
Sheriff David Clarke believes, "Some of these neighborhoods are going to have to be occupied by the police 24-7."
Ald. Tony Zielinski pushed for an anti-gang loitering ordinance to get thugs off the streets. Mayor Barrett hasn't decided yet whether or not he will veto the measure.
Ald. Bob Donovan has railed against Mayor Barrett for his failure to lead decisively and take dramatic action to counter violence. Donovan suggested bringing in the National Guard to help patrol the city's most dangerous areas.
Only a handful of leaders in Milwaukee don't need a wake-up call. They get it.
The majority of the city's leaders are in denial.
It's as if they think by hitting the snooze button on the alarm clock, they can go on sleeping and ignore the reality that they MUST WAKE UP and face the harsh reality of day.
It's a disgrace. It really is. They are failing the people they were elected to serve.
Tom Barrett is being exposed as Milwaukee's version of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
8 comments:
First, you're contradicting yourself. On one hand, you condemn Hines for saying that racism and "racial tensions" cannot be blamed for everything; on the other hand, you decry the NAACP for blaming everything on racism. You can't have it both ways. What Hines was saying on CNN was this: people have to take responsibility for their actions -- you can't just blame "racial tension" for everthing. The Juneteenth brawl was NOT racially motivated. It does absolutely no good to blame racism for everything, which is what Tony Harris of CNN was suggesting.
Secondly, LOITERING IS ILLEGAL IN MILWAUKEE. Anyone with a fourth-grade education can look at the "anti-gang loitering" ordinance and see that it is total fluff. No teeth. It has a great name, and THAT'S IT. People like Clarke and "drive through" the city all they want, but Hines has to live there. Hamilton has to live there. If Clarke cared one lick about the city, he would have applied for the MPD Chief position. End of story.
First, you didn't read my post very well. I didn't condemn Hines for "saying that racism and 'racial tensions' cannot be blamed for everything."
He said, "There's no racial tensions that exist within the city of Milwaukee."
I disagree with that statement.
Second, I criticize the NAACP for not condemning the anti-social behavior of thugs.
Third, providing law enforcement with an additional ordinance to combat thugs is worthwhile.
Fourth, Clarke obviously cares about the city. He stepped up patrols on the lakefront to reclaim it from the thugs.
He also ran for mayor. Yeah, I think that qualifies as caring.
End of story.
You're blaming the Juneteenth beating on "racial tensions"? How very CNN. Honestely, Hines is right. There aren't racial tensions in Milwaukee. There's plenty of violence, teen pregnancy, drop-dead dads, but not much racial tension. In Milwaukee, whites and blacks don't even interact enough to have tension. Where are the hate crimes? (Jude situation was not a hate crime, by the way.)
Lefties always want to blame every problem in society on "racial tension." It's a total cop-out.
Another thing about Clarke (who is friends with Hines): He obviously did not read the MPD audit, because if he did, he'd know that there are vast inefficiencies...we could have 400 more officers on the streets if we staffed cops where the criminal activity exists. (e.g., District Three, rather than Distric One.)
I enjoy the blog...hope to see you return to your cogent analysis.
Anonymous,
You're putting words in my mouth.
I didn't say that the Juneteenth beating should be blamed on racial tensions.
Certainly, some people see lots of racial tension in Milwaukee. They make a living out of stoking it. They try to score political points by highlighting it.
Clarke has his critics. Some criticism is justified, but in general, I do think he's a positive voice in the Milwaukee community.
Mary,
Fair enough. I have nothing against Clarke. I had his sign in my front yard all through the last election...I just think you're not giving Hines his due. And I do think that Clarke needs to brush up on how the current MPD system works. (Or doesn't work, rather.)
Back to Hines, he simply seems unwilling to blame every malady on "racial tension," and I am equally unwilling to do so. Is his opinion so misplaced that it deserves "Wall of Shame" status? Seeing Hines grouped in with Clinton, Reid and Co. strikes me as odd.
Just my two cents...
I do think Milwaukee's leaders need to be more aware and responsive to what's going on in the community.
Of course it's wrong to blame every malady on racial tension. It would be totally inappropriate to do so because it's simply not the case.
You have to admit though that Hines' statement made him seem out of touch with problems in the city. For me, the remark summed up the lack of leadership in Milwaukee when it comes to tackling the city's ills.
I know Hines has since released a statement explaining his comments to CNN.
I find it to be well-reasoned and I like his emphasis on the thugs being responsible for their own actions, not some vague notion of racial tensions.
I don't blame Hines alone, far from it. There's a cluelessness that plagues city hall.
The buck stops with the mayor. I really should have put Barrett on the Wall of Shame for saying NOTHING for two days.
Yeah...the mayor couldn't work anything into his schedule, I guess. Very, very odd to me, as your recent post points out. TMJ's Shelley Walcott has a similar post on the station's blog -- comparing Juneteenth to the "major storm," for which Barrett held a press conference about three weeks ago. And I think James T. is addressing Mayor AWOL, too.
There's definitely something amiss on that side of City Hall.
On the other side, though, I can't say enough about the Alderman for the 15th District. (And you're right, that was a good statement...cleaned things up a bit.) I saw Hines today, talking to about 200 young African-American men at Johnson Park about the choices they make. He was in front of a portable jail cell, and he had the youths go in and out. They were amazed at how small it was. Powerful, effective stuff.
To me, that's the kind of thing Barrett needs to do...and Clarke too, for that matter...As much as I like Clarke, I think both of those guys are pretty disconnected from the problems.
That's a really good point about Barrett's tornado WATCH press conference. He made a big deal about the city being able to handle a crisis if a damaging storm hit.
I think the Juneteenth Day violence should have been on Barrett's radar screen. It certainly warranted an immediate high profile address to Milwaukee's citizens.
Hines definitely deserves credit for his efforts. Good for him. I hope the jail cell experience had an impact on the young men. It sounds like it would be very powerful.
I think Clarke is much more in touch than Barrett. He's not afraid to talk tough and back up his talk with action. Barrett, on the other hand, seems more concerned with his political future. He doesn't want to offend so he hides out until he's shamed into responding.
I can't imagine Clarke going AWOL for three days after the Juneteenth Day incident. Barrett's response was truly weird.
Post a Comment