Category Archives: Milwaukee Community Events

Calling All Civil Rights Leaders Past & Present in Milwaukee

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Between 1958 and 1970, a distinctive movement for racial justice emerged from unique circumstances in Milwaukee. A series of local leaders inspired growing numbers of people to participate in campaigns….

Calling All Civil Rights Leaders in Milwaukee

“We Are The Drum – A Rhythm In Wisconsin” – 2012

Since 1990, CAPITA Productions (City At Peace In The Arts) founded by Brother Booker Ashe and others has been presenting a Black History Program yearly for thousands in the Greater Milwaukee Area. 

This year we are adding a very special and overdue segment which will celebrate those brave marchers and demonstrators, from all backgrounds, who risked their lives for the cause of civil rights, especially in Milwaukee. It will be a dramatic reenactment of the Underground Railroad, prominent in the Waukesha area; the escaped slave Joshua Grover, and Fr. Jim Groppi’s “March on Milwaukee”.

For 200 consecutive nights hundreds marched for open housing through rain, snow and fear of physical attacks. These heroes have not been properly honored until now. Their stories should be known by our youth as well as everyone in Milwaukee and across the nation.

We are calling on those who lived this experience to share their stories with us in special listening sessions on Tuesday, November 15th and Wednesday November 16th from 5 pm to 8 pm and again November 19th from 10 am to 1 pm. We will meet at North Division Room #102, 1011 West Center Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

We are looking for all those who participated in the demonstrations, served on the NAACP Youth Council, Commandos, and all organizations that led or joined in some way, the historic Milwaukee’s Civil Rights Movement.

If you are interested in attending and would like more information please call 414-397-8661 or email arsmusic00@aol.com. (zero, zero). Otherwise we would love to see you at the meetings. Please share this announcement with everyone. We want to make sure we honor and thank you for your courage and brave acts that moved Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the nation so powerfully.

Thank you,

CAPITA Productions

An excerpt taken from

The Selma of the North:

Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee

Patrick D Jones

Between 1958 and 1970, a distinctive movement for racial justice emerged from unique circumstances in Milwaukee. A series of local leaders inspired growing numbers of people to participate in campaigns against employment and housing discrimination, segregated public schools, the membership of public officials in discriminatory organizations, welfare cuts, and police brutality.

The Milwaukee movement culminated in the dramatic—and sometimes violent—1967 open housing campaign. A white Catholic priest, James Groppi, led the NAACP Youth Council and Commandos in a militant struggle that lasted for 200 consecutive nights and provoked the ire of thousands of white residents. After working-class mobs attacked demonstrators, some called Milwaukee “the Selma of the North.” Others believed the housing campaign represented the last stand for a nonviolent, interracial, church-based movement.

“We Are The Drum – A Rhythm In Wisconsin” – 2012 Show Dates:

 

Public Shows:

Fri, Feb. 24th, Sat., Feb. 25th, Fri. Mar. 3rd & Sat., Mar. 4th at 7:30 pm-

Tickets will go on sale on Dec. 1st

Student Shows:

The dates are: Tues. Feb.21st, Wed, Feb. 22nd, Mon., Feb.27th

 & Wed. Feb. 29th at 10am & 12 pm. tickets are $4 per child.

For more info on the student shows, call Liz Coleman- 414-807-7322

You can find more about CAPITA by visiting us on our Facebook Page

www.facebook.com/pages/Capita-Productions

or Twitter @CAPITAProd

This is Thriller, Thriller Night!

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This is Thriller, Thriller Night!

Returning Halloween Trick-or-Treating in Milwaukee back to Saturday Night!

 

I will be dating myself in this article, but for good reason. In the 70’s we enjoyed night time trick-or-treating and all the things that Halloween conjured up leading up to that event. Moms would help us make costumes (no one dared come out of the house without one), dads would decorate the house and surrounding areas, neighbors would come together to assure safety, and earn bragging rights for their decorations or pumpkin carving skills! Pumpkins were left untouched and lit up the porches and streets at night to celebrate the coming of this most boisterous event for everyone. It was a community celebration that rivaled the old fashioned block party. It was a block party and everyone played a role, even that grumpy old neighbor would contribute something or risk getting egged!

The streets were filled with ghosts and goblins, princesses and superheroes, or beloved cartoon characters hauling bags heaped with goodies, fruit (yuk!) and pennies! Afterwards we bragged about our costumes, the candy count, the merriment! It was indeed a great time to be a kid in Milwaukee. The 70’s were simply magical despite the negativity we were sheltered from and/or took a truce from on occasions such as Halloween.

Now we fast forward to today. Because of over sensationalized news stories about crime and food tampering during trick-or-treating; Milwaukee like many cities moved its official trick-or treat hours to Sunday afternoon. On Sunday afternoon, vans of costume-less kids and ghetto “adults” steer the vans into the “good” communities to beg for their treats. People get mad with each passing year because there are fewer and fewer doors that open up. The destruction of pumpkins and tearing down of Halloween decorations has replaced this once pleasurable community building exercise. Possibly this happens in retaliation to the time change or maybe in response to the closed doors and lack of participants.

I feel it is time to take back our Halloween nights like so many of our surrounding neighbors do. In fact Mayor Barrett celebrates with Washington Heights and does not participate in the “Sunday Funday” event he helps continue! Like our good neighbors, we too can reinstate night time trick-or treating and get back to community building and all the things we used to do, if we are willing to work at it. I know there will always be people who ruin the fun, but if the good outnumber the bad, we can certainly give it a try. We now know that crime is down in Milwaukee thanks to Chief Flynn’s constant reminders of such. We also know that the stories of sabotaged candies and treats were unfortunately mostly family related and are not as wide spread as we were first told. In fact they are few and far between. We also have x-ray machines that can scan goodie bags in seconds and if needed, some communities ask for donations and have a few representatives buy the candy and disperse it among the participating households.

Since I am familiar with Washington Heights, I will use them as the example of what we are missing out on. I already discussed the community building aspects, but they do A LOT!! Movies in the streets, games and face painting, streets blocked off for safety for the little ones who can dance and play in the streets, awards for best costume, best house decoration, best concepts and much, much more. One year I saw a small flash mob perform “Thriller” and it was fantastic! The kids are treated to quality family time and the night is a spectacle that is worthy of revisiting as a citywide happening. Neighbors volunteer as security working each corner and barricade. Other than the kid who ate too much candy, there are few incidents or disturbances reported.

However if you go to the Heights on Sunday afternoon, including the mayor’s house, you won’t get much. It is liken to a barren wasteland of what appeared to be a great party. Remnants of what looked like a “festival of fright” are all that remain. People every single year drive to the “good” houses in search of the “good” candy, lined up with blaring vans, extra bags for “ailing” relatives, and no costumes, all for not. Washington Heights like many surrounding communities already did Halloween the night before and they don’t do Sunday much anymore if at all. Many communities are doing their own thing in the evening hours on Saturday nights like Washington Heights and are meeting with great support. Meanwhile it is a fading tradition here in Milwaukee because point blank the daytime event sucks! Not to mention how boring it is to get in a costume and parade around in the middle of the day taking the fun and thrill away from night time events. It is not scary; unless you include the “depths of ghetto” people will exhibit. That is scary indeed! Adults, parents, a little fyi…grow up and act like you have sense! Pretend if you must. Do it for the children. Spend some time with your kids and train them in the way they should go! You are robbing the next generation of an outright good time and the freeing experiences of being a kid participating in a very old and rich tradition in Halloween. Also would it hurt to clean up after yourself and teach your kids to not walk on grass and use trash cans? Yes a teachable moment can also be had during trick-or-treating. How ignorant can some people be? You don’t have to answer, I already know!

My thoughts are that maybe if Milwaukee did bring back trick-or-treating to Saturday nights, maybe the not-so-knowledgeable people (aka hood rats) will learn how it’s done. Maybe their kids will get to enjoy Halloween as it was meant to be. Maybe they too will enjoy the nighttime bewitching Halloween fun and start to pitch in with community building efforts such as this. They would get to know their immediate neighbors, they would get to meet and talk with MPD and city officials in a positive setting, feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves, and of course walk away with some great treats and smiling, painted faces. Why should we keep depriving kids of this fun Hallowed Eve for the sake of things that are no longer relevant? If Chief Flynn and Mayor Barrett say Milwaukee is safe, we believe them right? If the candy tampering was mostly due to a few highly publicized domestic issues, it would be simple to have scanners on standby. Last I checked hospitals were still scanning goodie bags. There are also portable scanners as well.

Time to take back the night and rebuild our communities in an uplifting and positive way. Please Mayor Barrett (and Common Council), since you are on this “Sabbath” kick (much like Obama’s Beer Summit), how about a Halloween Sabbath and give us back our night time trick-or-treating just like your kids get to have?

Peace Family,

WW

 

 

I have included the 2011 Haunted House and Halloween Guide provided by Onmilwaukee.com

http://onmilwaukee.com/market/articles/hauntedhouse10.html

Shepherd Express Milwaukee Halloween Guide

http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/flex-96-milwaukee-halloween-guid.html

 

Support MPL. Our Libraries Need Us!

Please do help support some of our other local Nature Spots and your local library as they too offer great Family Halloween events that we need to attend. Especially the library since the city wants to cut hours and deems it not as valuable. It truly is valuable and we need to show our support to our libraries!!

http://www.mpl.org

“State of Emergency” Community Call to Black Women

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“State of Emergency”
Community Call to Black Women

When: Sat, September 3, 2011
Where: Coffee Makes U Black 2803 N. Teutonia Ave.
Time: 9:30AM – 11:30AM
For more information call
374-2364 or 562-5225

In the prophetic words of one of our great “heroes” Fannie Lou Hamer “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

Black women aren’t you sick and tired of being sick and tired?


On August 7, 2011, Sharon Staples a mother of 7 children and carrying twins was gunned down in the City of Milwaukee because she refused to give up her purse to young teenage Black men who were robbing her.
This type of behavior will continue to happen unless we come together and make changes in how we interact in our community. It is time to turn things around. There are some solutions that will be presented and we want you to bring your ideas too. Black men are invited to participate as well.

Developing A Poor People’s Movement

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Developing A Poor People’s Movement

(Next Meeting Date September 17, 2011 at 10:00 am)

See below for more information on the meeting

Dear People of Milwaukee:

Our time has come. The voice of the poor people of all ethnic groups and religions will be heard starting now. It is now time for the poor people of the country and all those who wish to break free from the establishment, to take back this country from the nonsense that is going on in Madison and Washington. We must get ready to clean up the mess that has been created by the Tea Party and its sponsoring organization, the GOP. We must also voice our disaffection with the Democratic establishment and their allies for allowing the conditions to fester and grow the way they have for the last three decades.

We are appealing to all real activists, all dissatisfied Democrats, sympathizers and all other voters who wish to make a change, to join with us to accomplish the beginning of our movement to bring our issues to the forefront of the debate to take back our country.

The lies, unfair policies and indifference to the poor by the establishment on the left and right of the political spectrum, can no longer be ignored. It is said that, “if you tell a lie long enough, people start to believe it.” Well, we have been lied to for the last time.

In the upcoming elections the time has come for us to select real fighters willing to filibuster, create parliamentary headaches and consistently demand that the poor people of our community are no longer dismissed and sold out.

We especially appeal to the veterans from all the wars to please help us get rid of the establishment in Madison, which determined to give the future of our country to plutocrats and their corporate allies.

In closing, ask yourself if you are better off now, than you were two to three years ago? If the answer is “no,” then join our efforts to speak out and demand that our nation restore its promise to bring every American into life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Let’s bring our country back to its promise to the people.

If you are ready to take steps to TAKE OUR GOVERNMENT BACK, please join us in our efforts and become a member and/or volunteer e-mail rmiranda@wi.rr.com 

Thank you,

Robert Miranda and Earl Ingram

The Poor People’s Movement

We meet again on Saturday, September 17, 2011 at 10:00am

1329 West National Ave., Milwaukee WI  53204

 

Ribs, Recalls, and Reality. Milwaukee Blacks Wined & Dined for Votes!

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Ribs, Recalls, and Reality

August 2nd the group “Wisconsin Jobs Now” held a barbecue with free prizes and food aimed at potential Black voters in a part of the highly contested district of Alberta Darling who is facing Sandy Pasch. The effort fed people then took them to vote absentee afterwards. This activity is being questioned as to its legality since bribery is forbidden in our voting process. However these tactics have never stopped groups like ACORN or Citizen Action of Wisconsin and others from bribing people, namely Blacks in the past. Remember the “Smokes for Votes” in the Gore/Bush presidential race? In 2000, Connie Milstein of New York, provided homeless Milwaukeeans cigarettes in exchange for their “Democratic” support/vote. She was fined $5000 for her lethal campaign. Subsequently, the Milwaukee Police Department released a damning report about the state of voting and election fraud in Milwaukee city. The report exposed voting fraud in Milwaukee and the lack of action to thwart these attempts from either the Government Accountability Board or Milwaukee’s Election Commission.

But here we are again, Black folk whoring out the tiny bit of Darling’s district that is Black not for cigarettes but ribs. FOR RIBS? Seriously? And you wonder why people want to see ID’s? We didn’t sell out for jobs (because Pasch helped them get away), not for OUR community (because she had to use a GPS tracker to find us), not to say sorry about not honoring those college tuition reimbursements Doyle and her party trotted out last time and NEVER delivered on. I guess she figured the best she could do was offer a healthy “alternative” in ribs and hope to smooth over the whole “jobs /college thing” as if it was no big damn deal. Yes she does have direct ties to these organizations so she might as well have helped Speed Queen glaze the ribs herself!

Darling took the hardline and stood with Walker on the Collective Bargaining agreement. There is no need to rehash the events that followed. There is a need to point out all that has come from the historic votes and events that occurred thereafter.

  • Schools and local municipalities that did not make back door agreements with unions saw unexpected savings in their budgets. Those schools no longer were forced to work with WEA Trust, the union entity that charged extreme premiums for healthcare plans. With this savings they are now able to keep positions that were once on the chopping block, re-fund extinct or soon to be extinct programs.
  • Union members did not voluntarily sign up for memberships like we were told they would which showed that many union members were forced into the unions and when offered the chance to keep their memberships, they opted out. The unions are now going door to door begging and pleading for payments and union dues.
  • Walker also caught a break because Illinois chose to go the route our Democratic leadership wanted us to take, that being the route of tax hikes and increased fees. Businesses from all over Illinois are flocking to Wisconsin for relief and therefore bringing jobs, a healthy tax base, and prosperity to our state.
  • Our new found popularity across the nation also increased tourism and filed the hotels and attractions. Guess folks wanted to see what the hell is wrong with Wisconsin. They came for the fight but stayed for the after party!!
  • Homeowners and tax payers are not seeing increases in services and instead are able to depend on at least a few more years of financial freedom from a ridiculous tax burden.
  • We began to pay our debts to neighboring states and replenish the Dem/Pasch raped Patient Health Care Fund that the Dems had no intention of paying back.
  • For the months of May to June, Wisconsin created over 9000 jobs and voted to extend unemployment. We did good!

However Sandy Pasch and the Dems would have you to believe Wisconsin is a doomed forbidden rotting wasteland! That is simply not the case. We are moving FORWARD!!! If not than why would Lena Taylor and the 14 fleeing Dems support Milwaukee’s new cadillac streetcar if we were so desolate and forsaken? Because we can!! (Although to me that is still debatable.) You don’t see them out there screaming to the world that Wisconsin is closed for business right now. No more “Ed Show” or MSNBC fame and fortune. You want to know why that is? In part because it is tourism season and that is taboo. Secondly, they just do not have  the factual evidence to support such nonsense! They would be telling a lie even they could not get away with.

Pasch is part of the old Doyle regime of tax and spend until it hurts, and then tax some more. Her recall effort was to stick, jab and duck. She never discussed her insane voting record that inferred she never had a thought of her own and was void of any deep leadership qualities. Darling on the other hand takes it on the chin and keeps fighting. She has proposed legislation for our seniors and for our kids. Among her many battles she has proven herself a gladiator in the good old boys Wisconsin boxing ring.

Sandy is in this for Sandy alone. Let’s not get it twisted. She has not shown a care for us and nor will she ever. Darling, she is a politician. I am not a fool, but she has shown support across the aisle and across Lake Drive and her record speaks to that. Pasch went on all the radio shows and line for line recited her script of how Alberta Darling was the “devil incarnate” and how she would be the savior of us all.

Who wants to go back to the past Ms. Pasch? Please answer that question. And Mr. Ingram cannot help you answer; this one is all on you. Depleted funds, owing other states so we become like Obama and crew owing the Asians, taxing businesses to demise, raiding funds, small Black business owners not having any power or finances to fight for what’s left of the inner city, not making good on promises to OUR youth to get them into college. Sure we want to go back to that place. That and a plate of ribs to go please and thank you! NOT!

To the little part of Darling’s district that is Black; did you sell out your vote? Who thought getting a plate of ribs was worth their integrity? Did you bother to ask whitey if he would reimburse those college tuitions like he promised us? Or did you just do a little happy dance and smile for the white cameras, eating your barbeque like good little negro soldiers? Or did you take your plate and get on the bus, no questions asked? If it had been Walker or Darling would you have screamed racism? Since it was the Dems they got the Black access pass? I guess 2012 will bring us malt liquor or Icecube and Coors? What y’all want next time? Fried chicken from JJ’s? They will get it for you as long as you keep delivering your souls/votes and never cash in on the promises they make over and over again.

Black people, I am telling you we are worth more than cigarettes and the ribs we took in exchange for our pride and self-worth. We deserve better from both parties but going back to what was, is not sending a message to anyone other than our pocket books. A vote for Pasch to get back at Scott Walker won’t be felt until many years from now if at all. If you had been waiting to get payback, maybe taking a minute or two to see what was and what is, could benefit you and me. You don’t have to trust me; the facts are issued by the state and the feds. Even Obama is hanging his hat on us to save his own behind. You calling him a liar? Investigate for yourselves and be freed!! The numbers do not lie, the countless businesses moving here do not lie, and the school districts no longer beholden to their beloved unions do not lie. We are mending a broken Wisconsin.

Is there more work that needs to be done, hell yes!! We didn’t defeat Evilina and can now start singing “Can you feel a brand new day…” We are not there yet. We have only just begun, but we have to pledge our allegiance to us and not to the mighty “unions inc!” who poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the state to get their cookies back. If you do not like the Koch brothers, than you should really hate the fact that unions spent all this money to get back their playground at your expense. Think about it…The 2012 elections are right around the corner and if the unions had this much for small potato recalls in one battle ground state, something’s burning and it ain’t the ribs evidently. They had too much damn money, more than any Koch, more than Scott Walker, more than Darling or the others facing recalls, more than the entire state put together! That is a lot of power and money. If we were facing reality we would be honest and say maybe Scott Walker, on this one issue, had a point. Say it in secret and watch how good it feels to actually be stating a truth. Maybe you will join me and start saying it out loud. Watch out now!!

Seems we just do not want to admit our wrongs. What are you afraid of? Lena Taylor won’t like you? We might catch a break? You might not have to pay more for wheel taxes and photo ID fees and whatever else they can think to tax or increase? In this case whether you like the man or not, Walker made the right choice and fought the right enemy, so did Alberta Darling and so did all those who stood their ground in the face of a most nasty political fight. We are still here. Don’t let the ribs take you back to ground zero. Hell Speed Queen ain’t even that good anymore. It certainly is not worth my vote. If you are going to wine me and dine me, it’s got to be steak or lobster and nothing short of that will suffice.

Now let’s continue this movement and walk in reality and leave the ribs and the other white man’s poisons alone and get together on this road to recovery. We can do this but it takes some healthy discourse and not the crap spewed all over the TV, the radio, the billboards, and everywhere else the unions, Pelosi, and the Dems think we be at. We are not owned and the unions have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that they have been sucking us dry for far too long. They are the evil rich!! Now it is time to give them a reality check and give this governor the okay to keep moving in the current direction. And to be perfectly clear (for those of you who seem to want to tie me on the man’s buttock constantly) I am not in agreement with Walker 100%. We got work to do on him, but moving backwards to prove a point is not the answer.

Reality vs. Ribs? Which one will win? I hope at least y’all had the beef ribs or did you partake of the swine?

Peace Family,

WW

PS….A BIG THANK YOU to all those who came out to support the Frederick Alexander Meade event. More to come but I could not rush that piece. It was too significant to be rushed. It was historic, magnificent, sealed and anointed by God and thank you to The Milwaukee Drum and Earl Ingram for giving me the tools to help get the event its proper due. Thank you Milwaukee!! WE did it, YOU did it, Meade indeed did it!!

 

For more information on the Ribs for Votes Debacle:

http://maciverinstitute.com/2011/08/free-bbq-and-prizes-for-voters-raise-questions-of-legality-collusion/