"Put the Guns Down Festival" and "Take Back Our Neighborhood" Marches Highlight 'New Normal' in Majority-Black Milwaukee

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow." -- Men In Black

In 1950, Milwaukee was 96.6 percent white and only 3.4 percent black. 

By 1970, Milwaukee was 15 percent black and 85 percent white. 

Only a decade later, Milwaukee was 71.4 percent white and 22.9 percent black. 

1990? Try only 60.8 percent white and 30.2 percent black. 

At the turn of the millennium, Milwaukee was 45.4 percent white and 36.9 percent black. 

In 2010, Milwaukee is now a majority-black city, with 40 percent of the population black and 37 percent white. 

The 2011 Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission showed that the rate of homicides for blacks in Milwaukee is 27.9 per 100,000; for Hispanics, 9.7 per 100,000; for whites, only 1.7 per 100,000. 

For those wondering, the white population in Milwaukee still exists as if it's 1950. 

The black population in Milwaukee is doing its best impression of the black population in New Orleans. 

Milwaukee Police Department, by Maralyn A. Wellauer-Lenius (from irreplaceableAracdia Publishing)  is a pictorial history of the history of the city's police. In chapter six, titled 'The 1950s', an unpleasant fact is spelled out:

Sandwiched in between the war years and the rebellious and turbulent 1960s, the 1950s were more tranquil times - the "Eisenhower years." Following World War II, the whole country, and the birth rate, was booming. Everything seemed safe, sane, and secure in Milwaukee. Public relations messages from the MPD assured citizens that "the policeman is your friend." Community-wide programs for bicycle and traffic safety kept police in touch with you, and Milwaukeeans enjoyed a real sense of peace and well-being.  

Coronet magazine presented the MPD with an award on February 20, 1952, commending the city as the "most crime free metropolis in the nation."Three years earlier, the MPD's Detective Bureau was presented with the Call the Police Valor Award, "for courage, intelligence, devotion to duty as guardian of the law."

Named the "most crime free metropolis in the nation" back in 1952, when the city was 96.6 percent white.  Where once the police existed to protect the interests of white property owners (and to offer a third-parental to white children, a benefit of your tax-dollars going to work for you), now police engage in a hilarious game of community relations with the warring black population in a program called "Take Back Our Neighborhood" [South side Milwaukee neighborhood rallies against violence, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8-29-13]:

 As she marched with others from one crime scene to another, pushing her young grandson in a stroller, Maria Pedraza said she's lived in her south side house for 37 years and she's not moving. 

Yes, she's seen a lot of changes in her neighborhood through the years. But, she said, she calls police when she sees trouble. 

"You have to be vigilant and you have to be involved," she said. 

So at high noon Thursday, she joined about 50 south side residents gathered in front of Holy Name of Jesus Parish on S. 11th St. With police, ministers and community leaders she pledged to work together to stop the violence, and she prayed for peace and safety. 

The "Take Back Our Neighborhood" rally and march was organized by the Milwaukee Police Department, community and faith leaders in light of the recent wave of shootings and killings this summer. 

It's still 1950 for whites in Milwaukee; it's New Orleans-type conditions for blacks in Milwaukee

Records show there have been 67 homicides in Milwaukee this year, compared with 54 for the same time period last year.

Not to be outdone, but the 9th Annual Put Down the Guns festival was held in Milwaukee only days after the "Take Back Our Neighborhood" event, a grim reminder black violence isn't going anywhere but up, up, and up as the white population dwindles away in the city [Anti-violence fest poses upbeat counterpoint to grim Milwaukee trend, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9-1-13]

Dozens of protesters marched through the streets of Milwaukee's near north side on Sunday chanting, "Stop the violence with peace and love," as part of the ninth annual Put the Guns Down Festival. 

Hundreds gathered throughout the afternoon at King Park, near N. 15th and W. Vliet streets, to call for an end to the violence that many said is pulling apart their community and threatening their children's lives and futures. 

"Seven thousand black males die in homicides every year in the United States," said Muhibb Dyer, 38, of the Wisconsin Chapter of the League of Young Voters, which sponsors the annual event. "This is a critical issue of our time, and we have to do more as a society to address it." 

Locally, August was one of the most violent months in recent memory, according to Milwaukee police, with eight people killed and nearly two dozen injured in the first week alone. 

The city has had 66 homicides so far this year. The August spike in violence comes after a 19% increase in nonfatal shootings in June and July, compared with the same two months in 2012. 

For many at the festival, gun violence has touched them personally. They hear shots fired in their neighborhoods at night and wake up wondering whose funeral they'll attend today. Parents and grandparents are afraid to let their children play outside or walk to a nearby park. 

Before the parade, marchers gathered in a circle and one by one called out the names of loved ones who have been killed by gun violence. There were nearly 30 in all. 

Susana Lamon of Milwaukee was at the park with her 3-year-old son, Deandree Ellerson Jr. 

"His father was murdered before he was born," she said of Deandree Ellerson Sr. Lamon said he was 27 when he was killed. 

"He was sitting in a vehicle and was shot in the back of the head," she said. "They said it might have been an accident or a robbery. They never caught anybody. 

"Every day is bittersweet." 

The causes of the violence, community members said, are myriad, from drugs and the lack of jobs to a society that punishes parents for disciplining their children. 

More must be done, they insist, to improve education, create family-supporting jobs and chart a path back into society for young people who get into trouble. 

"It's as basic as love," Dyer said. He thinks the black-on-black violence that plagues central cities and the mass school shootings that often are carried out by white gunmen in suburbs around the country are symptoms of the same disease. 

"I think it's a hyper-materialism that focuses on possessions and not on human beings and what we can do to build character and families, and educate every child so they can still have an American dream," he said. 

We've already covered why there are more school shootings at white schools than black, but the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel fails to mention most school shooters/mass shooters have mental issues requiring some form of medication; what can you blame black violence on (save white racism, which doesn't make sense when you look at how violence grips majority black cities nationwide).

From 96.6 percent white in 1950, earning the title "most crime free metropolis in the nation" to a city drowning in the blood of black criminality in 2013 (and with it, businesses seek safer cities to make an honest buck and outside capital investment stays away).

How did Milwaukee get so black? It was a welfare magnet.