Today I printed the first copy of an email newsletter focused on Racism in Milwaukee and the USA. Here it is minus the Trickle up or down poster, since I do not know how to, yet, attach a document to a web page.
Friends,
Overt racism in modern society is rare and is a media sensation when it is displayed. Covert racism, sometimes call ‘color blindness’, in society is common and mostly ignored by media. Jim Crow laws and practices have been replaced with “The New Jim Crow”. Cornell West calls the book “The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander “ [An] instant classic. . .The New Jim Crow is a grand wake-up call in the midst of a long slumber of indifference to the poor and vulnerable.” The book helped me to see and articulate something I was feeling that was happening in Milwaukee and other major cities.
Articulating the “new Jim Crow” or covert racism in Milwaukee is made easier since Milwaukee is the most segregated major city in the USA, one of the poorest, and has the highest number of African American young adults who are or have been incarcerated in a state, Wisconsin, that features the highest percentage of African Americans incarcerated in the USA, the country with the highest percentage of citizens incarcerated in the world.
This newsletter “Racism in Milwaukee and USA” will eventually find its way to web at www.nonviolentcow.org but for the first issue I start with something very dear to me The Society of St. Vincent De Paul, the largest lay Catholic organization whose Mission is for person to person visits with the poor and marginalized. Also there is TED talk about racism in USA included. (See M.A.P.S.Maps of Segregation, Poverty, Criminalization of African Americans and the Catholic Churches in North Central Milwaukee. Bob Graf
Racism in Milwaukee and USA
Volume 1, Issue 1
The New Jim Crow or racism is growing and spreading everywhere. I use Milwaukee, my home city, as a starting point for this infrequent newsletter but you can find this covert racism everywhere.
National Catholic Reporter
The National Catholic Reporter is holding back from print an article on racism in Milwaukee called Proposed St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop causes contention in Milwaukee. It appeared on NCR Online but, in the last two publications has not appeared in the print edition. Check it out: http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/proposed-st-vincent-de-paul-thrift-shop-causes-contention-milwaukee
Why is NCR not printing it as is the norm when they hired a free lance reporter to do a story.
Racism in USA
Color Blind or Color Brave
As I was writing the above a member of the Marquette University Alumni Association sent me this TED talk by finance executive Mellody Hobson who says we must talk about racism. The TED promo for the talk says: “The subject of race can be very touchy. As finance executive Mellody Hobson says, it’s a “conversational third rail.” But, she says, that’s exactly why we need to start talking about it… that speaking openly about race — and particularly about diversity in hiring — makes for better businesses and a better society. Check it out at http://growthworksinc.com/Blog.html?entry=color-blind-or-color-brave
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