Milwaukee Faces Déjà Vu In Williams Inquest Outcome & Who is Really At Fault?
Special prosecutor denies justice in the Derek Williams murder case and the Black community is outraged again, but who should we really be mad at?
Once again Milwaukee rears its ugly racist head, showing the familiar stench of police brutality and cover-ups everywhere from racial profiling-DWB (Driving While Black) and racism in our court system. These are not nightmares of our past. Milwaukee’s racism is very much alive and well.
**Side note and you want people to live and move here Mayor Barrett! Yeah keep hope alive!**
Not that Black folks need reminding. We know all too well what our reality is in Milwaukee. Sadly we have become complacent and apathetic to the life of the Negro in Milwaukee. We have been warned by crime reports, faulty and otherwise, as well as stories and sightings of renegade cops off of the reservation. Many of us have allowed ourselves to be easily led by false promises and false prophets.
The truth is, as much as we point the finger at the Milwaukee Police Department, the Fire and Police Commission, Chief Flynn, and Mayor Barrett, we too own some of this problem.
Firstly, for decades we have watched as the police target our young Black boys on these streets? We mounted our protests and shared our outrage in the form of 140 word Tweets or FaceBook posts. Not good enough!
Secondly, we have allowed elected leaders that did not truly earn our vote to represent us. They hardly do the work of our people so why would we expect them to do what is right in the time of crisis? I am not condemning all of them. However many of them have gone AWOL during this process. Who among us held them accountable for their unexcused absence? Some newly elected ran on the platform of making a difference in OUR community, promising government accountability from police officers, to teachers, to the court system, and where the hell are they now? I find them the worst of offenders.
Remember their absence when it comes election season in two to four years.
Thirdly, we allowed too many young, un-vetted, un-mentored, people though possibly well intentioned, have the reigns. They may have had their hearts in the right place but they made too many mistakes. They were disrespectful in some instances and needed the help of our historic marches to use as guides of what or what not to do. We as a community also left quality leaders without support and people power needed to boost their voice, our voice.
The Ernest Lacy movement comes to mind as a successful achievement where we came together to forward our concerns in one unified voice. We filled the courthouse inside and out with the entire community and sent a very powerful message. Why not use this case as a reference and these leaders as mentors or guides?
Some of the leaders connected to this case are said to be corrupt. There are claims mounting from credible sources that some have not only tried to make careers from this incident, they have also been accused of making monetary gain and took needed funding from the family and victim’s children.
This type of unfortunate development cannot stand and should be called out. If people are not in it for the movement of the entire community the entire community suffers. However since the entire community did little we all are to blame. Many elders sat back and watched the destruction, some complained they tried to help but were shouted down.
We cannot continue on this path of disconnect or working as separate entities. This makes for easy dismantling of our community. We must find a way to unify and put aside those things that divide us for the greater good. Milwaukee has been down this road long before some of the “leaders” were born and there is some rich history to be sankofa’ed for their benefit and knowledge.
A lesson we must take away from this is that this case will not be the last. I see it as being an unfortunate beginning of dark days ahead for Black Milwaukee if we do not learn and come together. We must get our elected leaders to answer to us. Their task IS more complicated. They knew that going in! Our community leaders need to unify and be well vetted by the community and we need to back them up and support them. If you are in this for a career, fame and fortune you will not last. If you are in this to move the community forward than you will have our full attention but it will take some time as we have trust issues and we have been abandoned before. This relationship goes both ways and to establish trust you must earn it. If we do not own the piece of this we need to, we truly will doom our community to repeat this vicious legacy of brutality.
However at the end of the day no one deserves to die at the hands of another man in this fashion, no matter what he did or did not do. Due process is due process for every person. End of story. No justice no peace!
Peace Family,
WW
Chair of The Umoja Project a Black Conservative Movement in Wisconsin.
Wonder Woman is a community activist and blogger.
She is a proud member of the JustUs League!
She has her own blog site at http://www/wonder2woman.blogspot.com
She also contributes to The Milwaukee Drum, the Black Convo Network, Insane Asylum Blog, and Black Bloggers Connect.
Contact info:
wonder2woman (Twitter)
Ps…..
WW is a runaway slave and helps lead many to the new Underground Railroad
Something needs to change in this city and it may start with the new, younger generation of activists and/ or politicians. It is obvious to me that those currently in power are used to Black people going along with the status quo. Or, perhaps, some of us did not know what to do to facilitate change. Whatever was done was not enough and now we have situations where a Black person’s life is not important.
Exactly!! I hope that within our new generation of leaders that there is a new voice of hope that leads us out of the apathy and “status quo” that we have found ourselves so content in. I know that there are many however many of them have to learn of Milwaukee’s turbulent past and how successful campaigns are waged and the mistakes made to avoid them. These are very important as I saw many of them repeated in this situation. However I also saw shining stars as well so I know all is not lost, but I saw those shining stars fighting a community that did not support them as we should have. We must come together. We have Darrius Simmons and many other cases yet unresolved. We need unity now more than ever.
Peace sister and thank you for your powerful comments!!
WW
I have so many ideas and what to help by sharing myself with the youth. The problem is I don’t know where to start. If you go to the city and ask for grants to start some type of social skills program you get a answer that say no. How can I help with limited income and nowhere to gather the minds. Is there anyone I can talk to about a space just to get started or link up with someone to help our youth.
Good questions…
First off you need to establish yourself and get a solid foundation. May will tell you it is one thing to have an idea and quite another to build up that idea. It requires connections to many people and organizations. I woudl reccomend finding outlets and people who are established and working with them. A good place to start is by creating a portfolio of your business or idea and taking it to your alderperson, Milele Coggs who is starting a Milwaukee initiative and who knows various outlets she can point you to. Another place to seek out is other organizations silimiar to yours who may point you in the right direction or wor in them and learn how they operate. This will help you learn how they get money, write grants, who they work with and who they connect with. These lessons are very valuable.
Other connections would be African American Chamber of Commerce, local businesses and working with churches and youth groups until you can build yourself to a sustainable organization on your own. I have many other suggestions. Please feel free to use my email at 411wonderwoman@gmail.com to gain more opportunities to narrow down how to help your organization thirve. Also as you know this is not the best time for non-profits but this does not mean that there is not opportunity to help establish yourself within the community. You do need to know it will take work, long hours and thankless days and nights. It will pay off in the long run when those young people come back and start paying it it forward. Trust me!!
Thanks for sharing this concern as a person working directly in this feild I know exactly what you are talking about. It is rough. But when you meet people who are wiliing to share their knowledge and help you with their wisdom we all gain and help the community move forward.
Peace and good luck!!
WW