Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Letter to The Big Show regarding 9/27 - 5:00 Feigin Discussion

Hello gentlemen,

I was up against the final break and the next caller when y'all diverted from the poignant conversation regarding the comments of Peter Feigin. I was so moved by the nature of the conversation that I stopped my car and pushed back an appointment by :30. But I didn't get on air.

To me, this was a tragedy considering a few of the ignorant voices which did get time on the air. I'm re-listening to the 5 o'clock hour now. Just heard Gary saying the essence of what Dr. Tony Evans, a black preacher I admire, said,

"If it doesn't apply, let it fly. If you're gettin' ticked off it might."

That said, the thing which inspired my call at first was my confusion as to the outrage over his statements, which morphed into a passionate need to address some lies some callers live by with actual facts. The former can be addressed by the 'let it fly' principle. The latter cannot be allowed to stand. We live by too many lies which gird our ingorance and division.

But today I read Leroy's piece, and I am again in tears. Last night it was because of the words of Dee in Fennimore. I wanted to hug the man through the radio. Yes, Leroy is right to ask what we can learn from the lesson of sports fandom when it comes to unity despite diversity. I'll come back to that later.

However, we must address the issue of the misinformation posing as facts on the air.

Milwaukee wasn't led by Democrats for 100 years, This is an idea repeated over and over by people who want to simplify and pass blame. The fact is that for a quarter of that time this city was governed by Socialists, or "sewer socialists" who enabled the city's reputation as the best governed in the entire nation. That fact is not disputed by historians, only by internet hacks and trolls with an agenda. The basis for modern municipal government was created here in Brewtown, and we ought to be proud of that.

http://www5.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/school/siefert/about/history/

In fact it led to decades of prosperity for minority residents (black and other ethnicities) who found sustaining jobs with which to support families. In the 1980's for example, the black male median wage was the highest in the country here. Those jobs are now gone, squandered for a myriad of sociopolitical reasons.

If you're a supporter of community policing, you ought to know that we had three times the force during that same period, and our crime rate reflected it. Not that policing solves all of societies ills, but there was a rapport between residents of all races and classes and the police at that time. Unlike today, it didn't take an aldermanic request to get special beat cops or foot patrols in the urban neighborhoods. People knew their officers. That trust which was built then is now also gone, because the police are overtasked and unfamiliar with the neighborhoods.

For instance, police no longer come out for many property crimes, one simply gives info to a call center over the phone. And when our home was invaded a few years back in Uptown it took three calls to 911 and :45 minutes for police to arrive from five blocks away, while two individuals were in our house and one was standing lookout in the back yard. It took four hours for a detective to arrive. They refused to dust for prints or test the blood on the ground from an injury that happened by smashing our window.

Our neighbors to our south at the time happened to be black. The same young men had tried to break into a window of theirs between our homes. When I asked if they wanted to speak to the police they were adamant that they didn't trust them. I was shocked at the time, but soon began to understand why.

I live a few blocks from "ground zero" of the recent riots. This has not discouraged my devotion to the city or this neighborhood. In fact, I am more in love with it than ever, realizing that like a parent with a sick child, one does not abandon them when the diagnosis is made. Rather, one draws closer, doing all that they can to keep them safe and provide an opportunity for healing.

Feigin simply said precisely what is true about Milwaukee. We are THE MOST segregated city statistically since the last census, formerly second to Boston in that regard. This means that it's getting worse, not better. Segregation has led to the worst sort of institutional racism and abandonment from political figures at the state and local level. Like our governor saying, "If you want to keep people in the city, you should have a great city." while defunding our schools and dismantling our economic landscape in ways never seen before. Puttin' it bluntly as a white man... If more white folk still lived in the city, I GUARANTEE that we would see more funding for the schools and more community policing, more socioeconomic development, et al.

The fact is, the folks in the rest of the state don't support that, and they're overwhelmingly white like me. They stigmatize and blame this city for it's tangible needs, despite the fact that it is the single most important economic driver for the state economy. UWM where I used to work has been decimated by defunding when it was on the cusp of the most significant positive growth in its history, due to pregnant prejudices elsewhere that misinformed the public. Meanwhile, if one looked closely they would see that it admits and helps the most veterans BY FAR of any WI institution, and admits and assists the most minorities in the state.

But I digress. My point is simply to say that people who don't live here in the 'hood make the decisions for us based upon ignorance. That ignorance can be called prejudice, or classism, but it's not inaccurate to call it racism. Because if you ask many of these voters in the 'burbs and rural WI (where I am from) they'll tell you that race has a lot to do with it. Even some of your callers blamed black folk outright. It's en vogue to spew racist lies now akin to every other post on the jsonline comments section...

Living here in MKE for 25 years now, and in Uptown for 16, I can say that Mark Twain was right. Where you go is fatal to ignorance and prejudice. Mine died long ago and I abandoned much of my immutable political positioning. Leroy Butler gets at this without making it so. He touches on something championed by Ury and Fisher (Harvard) in their foundational book, "Getting To YES", a book most every law school requires but which ought to be required of every citizen.

To distill it's point into a basic idea. Most people tend to negotiate from a position of ideology and this makes them unable to compromise. Sustainable agreement comes when people abandon positions and come together based on interests. Basically, we agree to work on what we agree needs to be done for the common good. Instead of doubling-down on divisive beliefs that may or may not be based in fact, we choose to set aside without giving up completely, those beliefs, so that we can find a common benefit.

This is easy when it comes to sports fandom. Most of us don't have any real skin in the game. (Even though some of us are shareholders. *wink*) So it's easy to get together and ignore the divisive for the sake of what brings us fellowship and joy on most days. This doesn't perfectly translate to world views. Yet, it can if we do a massive cranial-rectal extraction as a society.

I could write more and more on this subject. My wife ran an urban project for years in the inner city, and we networked with numerous agencies and individuals for the common good. She also facilitates restorative justice circles in MPS, in colleges, and churches. So I am blessed with perspective. I've worked for peace overseas. I've seen a lot, enough that I have chosen to live among the urban poor. That's been difficult but enlightening.

Again, though, Feigin was right. There's racism in local institutions and even within local businesses. One Uptown business owner said to our Uptown Business District President that she was "sick of seeing black folk wasting their welfare checks in her bar and restaurant". This from a person who owns a joint that is admired externally for being diverse. And she said this to a person who has biracial grandchildren, so, oops! White current and former MIlwaukeeans will tell you that they typically won't travel south of certain landmark streets or west of the river. If you're white and you say you're moving here you'll get whispered a lot of racist lies.

I have to redirect people so often when they let this sort of thing slip. They seem to think that white folks are in a quiet fraternity of bigotry.

Anyway, I wanted to share this and SO MUCH MORE with y'all. As a white dude in Uptown with a sociology degree I am aware of the issues we face. We have plenty of data from entities like the Public Policy Forum that speak to our public transit system being in "triage" while charging the highest fare in the lowest 48 states. Meanwhile, ridership is 90% by urban poor who have no alternative form or transport. Just one fact of many.

Feigin points out facts in an honest way and the cognitive dissonance is tweaked among the folks who cannot align this with their narrow world view. He says the truth and states a commitment to help work to fix it, as a business owner that truly can have an impact, and people miss the YES we could get to, and hear only their angry inner bigot telling them to assign blame. It's because if BLACK LIVES MATTERED they'd be prompted by their humanity to actually work for justice and reconciliation.

It's exhausting to do the work of the prophet, because you get battered and beaten by those who don't want to hear your message. I've not got the stamina for such things as I once did, but I am committed to helping anywhere I can. I am also deeply in love with this city and it's residents. I also have a lot of love and respect for you guys on the show. Keep the sports and sociology always a part of the landscape of discussion. We aren't just alive to find joy in diversions. We ought to also find a more durable joy in transcending above and beyond such tragic circumstances and entrenched oppression.

I have an idea. Would allyall be willing to host a community discussion and forum on that which Leroy initiated and which Feigin framed? I'd like to suggest that we pick up Dee in Fennimore, and I would be available as a community liaison as well, LOL. But we need a safe space to discuss such things in a wider way. We could get sponsors from the local community and have it go toward both a police charity and some local social justice and advocacy organizations. Just a thought toward action.

Peace and prosperity,
Christian (in Uptown)