Sick Day - Sunday, May 31, 2015
After church today when I got home I felt very sick. I started to watch the Milwaukee Brewers game thinking in a little while I could go out and work in the garden. However, I got sicker and sicker. I will spare you the details but after the 17inning Brewer game, lasting seven hours, I was still sick. Hope to be back tomorrow. Now I have more compassion for my friend who suffer illnesses.
Today it was cold, windy, rainy and dark. I thought these kinds of days were behind us. But as with life, not so good days always pop up and we need to be ready. As the Boy Scouts say we need to “Be Prepared.” Two ways that helps me to be prepared for the sunny or dark days of life are attitude of gratitude and keeping a sense of humor.
Most nights when I go to bed I feel a sense of gratitude. No matter what kind of day I had the ‘attitude of gratitude’ is in my heart. This is a blessing God gave me through the poor and ill friends that I have made the last ten years when I was not working for pay. After I made a charitable admonishment today to a friend, who suffers from a mental illness, he paid me a compliment by telling me how unique a friend I have been to him over the last eight or so years. No matter what he does or does not do, no matter if I approve or not of his actions I remain his close and good friend, he claims.
Another way to make it through dark and dreary days is having a sense of humor. A friend, who passes on my writings to Catholic Workers, usually refers to me as a member of the Milwaukee 14, a nonviolent action against the draft system that took place almost 47 years ago. On a recent email I wrote back, I thought humorously, asking what was the Milwaukee 14. He took my remark seriously since I am not known to have a great sense of humor. However, as I wrote in my posting the other night, Face Death and Laugh, the awareness of death that came to me, five years ago with the death of my youngest son, has stayed with me and I find it everywhere, war, on the streets and in the “War Against the Poor.” A sense of humor is necessary to survive living and still remain feeling.
There was not much observation is this observation of life, except for the observation of myself. Oh well, they say self-examination can be a good thing. Thank God and thank you for helping me live a humorous thanksgiving.
The other night in my posting I wrote about how I needed to use more pictures and less words. Today I was working on pictorial presentation about Tale of Two St. Vincent de Paul Stores of the Milwaukee Council of Society contrasting the Milwaukee St. Vincent de Paul Thrift store with the one in the suburbs. The news and internet is full of videos of men and women being beat or shot by policemen, justified or not.
There was a video of Red Arrow Park where Dontre Hamilton was shot fourteen times by a police officer, but the DA said the video was not relevant to the event and will not allow the attorney for Hamilton Family see it. New camera technology has made a picture or video easily available. The other night there was a video of Californian police officer believing a white woman at scene but taking down and arresting an eight month black women also at the scene. (There were no charges brought against the black woman.)
Thinking about power of picture and video I remember back to the early spring of 1969. I was out on bond for the Milwaukee 14 action and living in an apartment on State Street which was considered the ‘skid row’ of Milwaukee at the time. There was a famous judge in Milwaukee that every spring would have the police round up the men on skid row so he could send them to the House of Correction where they could work on the farm. I had a 35 mm camera in those days and started taking pictures of police arresting men on State Street. I made sure not to interfere with the arrest but just taking still pictures was upsetting to policemen and perhaps they were more careful in arresting the men. Others also start to take pictures of men being arrested.
On eve of Easter Sunday I was walking with a few other people up State Street to attend an Easter Vigil Mass that was to be held of a Church near Casa Maria, the Catholic Worker House of Hospitality. As we were walking on State Street a police car pulled up and started and the policemen started to beat and arrest a man on the street. We did not have a camera but stood and watched the action. My companions were told to move on and I was surrounded by police officers. They started yelling at me and demanding my ID. When I got out my license, in anger, I said something like damn or hell. That was it. As soon as I said these words a ‘paddy wagon’ with the ‘tactical police squad’ pulled up and arrested me and the original man. I told my companions who were watching to go ahead to the Mass and let people know what happened. I was taken to jail and sat there till Michael Cullen, co-founder with his wife, of Casa Maria, Catholic Worker House of Hospitality, came down to jail to bailed me out. There has been a collection at the Easter Vigil Mass for my bail. Charges against me were eventually dropped. However, the lesson I learned was to make sure I have my camera, or nowadays a cell phone available, so I or someone could catch the whole scene on film.
The Coalition of and for Students of Color at Marquette University have already made a number of videos of the new Marquette police force stopping or arresting black men on campus. (The black man that was arrested was for begging or panhandling something that St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus who established Marquette, did on a regular basis.)
So we now live in an age where often our best protection is not a gun but a camera. Video shots are making a difference.
Tristan and the dogs Tomorrow Sister Rose has scheduled two more prayer vigils at sites of homicide victims. We pray or sing in whatever way we are moved at these prayer vigils. If family members and friends are present, Sister Rose will ask them to say something positive they remember about the person. Almost all the time they talk about the person’s sense of humor, smile or funny incidents. Remembering the funny is not just true for homicide victims.
Last Monday, was the birthday of our deceased son. Talking about him in the car, Pat and I remembered that a great sense of humor he had before he got sick in his early twenties with a brain illness or mental illness. He could remember jokes and had a cutting sense of humor that made you laugh at yourself.
My other son and his family are putting down their dog of nine years tomorrow. He has some cancer in his system that is breaking down his organs. He is at home hospice care now but the pain is become too great. Remembering this dog, Anya, I need to smile. She was full of life and any food left out when she was around was in danger of being eaten. If you forgot about the ham or pie on the table, she would take it down. It did not always seem funny at the time but now looking back it is. Until she became sick she was always a very hyper dog, wanting to go outside to run and run.
My son’s family got Anya when she was a puppy. The picture above is one of my godson, Tristin, playing with Anya and her sisters and brothers. Most puppies are playful and active; Anya just stayed that way her whole life to the end.
Anya’s death is by natural causes. The two young men who we will remember tomorrow morning died from unnatural causes; they were shot. The violence in the city of Milwaukee has been high this year. The same old, same old remedies, like more police in high crime neighborhoods, are not working. There is a lot of blame and a lot of talk about the homicide rate but few are willing to attack the root causes of violence, poor education, high incarceration, discrimination and poverty. The city just keep pushing poor people into certain defined neighbors, racially segregated with high unemployment.
The deaths of homicide victims like the death of the city are from unnatural causes, man-made causes. It is hard to laugh at this man-made disaster. But in the darkest moments of death we need to smile and move on. We if we can face death all around us and still laugh, we can survive.
In front of the Child Welfare
office in MilwaukeeMy 87 year old friend, Ms. Lucille, has told me how cruel and greedy the Child Welfare System had become in Milwaukee. She told me hard to believe stories of how newly born children were being taken away from their mothers, low income, and given to ‘adoptive families’ who get a State subsidy for taking care of the child.
These are some of the same kind of stories I heard from Welfare Warriors, a group that advocates for the mothers. The other day I went with her to a protest of the State’s department of Child Welfare office. I heard another ‘horror’ story from a mother whose disable son was removed from her home and she does not have the money to hire a lawyer to get her son back.
At a ‘clarification of thought’ meeting tonight I learned that the Child Welfare system has been ‘privatized’ and that is the main reason for the system turning against the mothers. Instead of giving money to a low-income mother for children’s money is now given to agencies taking away the children and keep parents away from the children. Privatized Federal, State and City responsibilities has happen in many areas, prison, schools and utilities. The government is supposed to serve the ‘common good’ but the private business exists for the bottom line. Some agencies may say they are ‘non-profit’ but making more jobs and money seem to their true goal.
One of the advocates present tonight was a young woman who worked for one of the agencies supervising home visits for of child and mother. She saw something was ‘terrible wrong’ with the system and now is an unpaid advocate for mothers, accompanying them to court. After the meeting how she was raised Catholic but after seeing how the local Catholic lay Society of St. Vincent de Paul was ignoring the poor she lost her Catholic faith. She told stories how she or her clients would call the Milwaukee St. Vincent de Paul central office looking for help only to be told something like we do not aide person in your zip code. She was happy to hear about our efforts to expose the local Society for taking money and donations given to the poor and using it to hire persons and create an expensive thrift store in the suburbs.
I think there are a lot of persons out there who have seen the suffering of poor, often by same agencies that claim to serve them. How do we join forces with persons like the Welfare Warriors or Coalition for Justice to “stop the war in the poor”?
There have been a few essays working around my head. I decided to first use this Diary of Worm to first record them. Where else I send to publish them except on www.nonviolentcow.org remains to be seen This one will be also be available at Catholic Workers and Military Training on Catholic Campuses It is about Dorothy Day, co-founder of Catholic Worker movement and her view of military training (ROTC) on Catholic Universities campuses.
Dorothy Day’s Worst Nightmare
When Dorothy Day died in 1980, the US military was still in the process of moving away from the selective service draft system to the militarization of the education system and installing, therein, bases for recruiting. Also, it was still perfecting the teaching of killing based on reflex action, aka killing without conscience. Today, the military has perfected the militarization of our education system and has quietly installed this reflexive killing into its training programs.
In the April 1948 Catholic Worker, Dorothy Day wrote the following: “Some of us at THE CATHOLIC WORKER have been going to the colleges and distributing a leaflet against UMT (DMS) [Universal Military Training & Departments of Military Sciences]. And most everyone, to whom we gave the leaflet, has expressed acceptance of UMT (DPS) and has thought it a good thing. There are no antiwar organizations in the colleges these days, at least not in the Catholic colleges. There is a sense of the inevitable, that war is to come, that morality has nothing to do with it, that it is a question of licking Russia (or terrorists) before she gets too strong, before she gets the atomic bomb.”
In the above quote if you substitute DMS, Departments of Military Sciences for UMT Universal Military Training and terrorist for Russia you get a view of today’s Catholic universities and colleges, with no antiwar organizations and a sense of the inevitable, endless wars. However, the military training in Catholic colleges and universities is not that of Dorothy Day’s time … and therein resides the nightmare.
Dorothy Day was one of the early resisters in the struggle to remove military training from Catholic universities and colleges. Many Catholic colleges and universities desired to bestow awards and honorary degrees on Dorothy Day during her life time. She respectfully refused such honors from Catholic universities. Among her reasons for not accepting honorary degrees was her strong opposition to US military presence and influence on campuses. To Father Leo McLauglin S.J. of Fordham University she wrote: “The existence of ROTC in the colleges and universities makes it impossible for me to accept. To the President of the Catholic University in April 1971 she wrote: I have had to refuse seven colleges and universities for the reason they had ROTC and in one way or another were closely allied to the Federal Government. In many areas they receive research grants, many that have to do with war and defense.” (See “What is the story behind Dorothy Day accepting the Laetare Medal from Notre”)
After the Vietnam War, many colleges and universities, both private and public, refused to have military training on campus. The Department of Defense developed a new strategy for the militarization of education. For 4th −8th grade students the DoD developed the Starbase “youth outreach program for raising the interest in learning and improving the knowledge and skills of our nation’s at risk youth so that we may develop a highly educated and skilled American workforce who can meet the advanced technological requirements of the Department of Defense.” The program provides students with 25 hours of stimulating experiences at National Guard, Navy, Marine, Air Force Reserve, Army and Air Force bases across the nation.
The Junior Reserve Officer Training Program (JROTC) was greatly expanded after Vietnam. There are now over 3000 JROTC high school programs for Army, Navy/Marines and Air Force “to foster leadership, patriotism, appreciation, training and recruiting for the US military”. For example, in Chicago there are over 40 military academies or JROTC programs in high schools, mostly in areas where low income people of color reside.
The Department of Defense took a different direction in officer military training programs (ROTC) in colleges and universities. During the time of the military draft, 80% of officers were trained at military academies and only 20% in colleges and universities. Now it is reversed. Due to the reluctance of universities to have military training on campus, the schools that elected for military training on campus, called host schools, had their programs enhanced. Other universities in the region, called partner schools, had recruiting offices on campus but sent their students interested in military scholarships to the host school for classes and training programs. Even at this low level of participation, universities and colleges both large and small from Harvard and Stanford to University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee were reluctant to have military recruiting on campus. This was corrected by an act of Congress in 1996.
The 1996 Solomon Amendment is a federal law that allows the Secretary of Defense to deny federal grants (including research grants) to institutions of higher education if they prohibit or prevent ROTC or military recruitment on campus. The law was challenged by law schools in colleges and universities opposed to the presence of military recruiters on campus. In 2006 the Supreme Court upheld the law on recruiting.
Many Catholic colleges and universities became partner schools and sent recruited students to host schools like Marquette University. For example, the Air Force ROTC program at Marquette hosts students from 13 colleges and universities. As of 2012 there were only 23 Catholic Universities and colleges that still had a military training on campus. Only two Catholic Universities, Marquette University and Notre Dame, host all three DoD departments: Army, Navy/Marines and Air Force. This reduction of Catholic universities hosting military training might seem like a victory for Dorothy Day and other ROTC resistors, until one looks at the content of the military training.
In a study of soldiers in World War II, the Department of Defense found that only one of four soldiers fired weapons directly at the enemy. There was a natural reluctance to kill another human that the military sought to overcome. After scientific study of the brain, the US military developed a way of firing a weapon that bypasses a person’s conscience. It is called reflex killing or reflexive killing. The best explanation of this training technique is described in a paper presented to the Joint Services Conference on Professional Ethics in Washington, DC, January 27–28, 2000 by CPT Pete Kilner, instructor at the U.S. Military Academy. In a paper titled “Military Leaders’ Obligation to Justify Killing in War” he says: “Training which drills soldiers on how to kill without explaining to them why it is morally permissible for them to do so is harmful to them, yet that is the current norm. Modern combat training conditions soldiers to act reflexively to stimuli—such as fire commands, enemy contact, or the sudden appearance of a “target”—and this maximizes soldiers’ lethality, but it does so by bypassing their moral autonomy. Soldiers are conditioned to act without considering the moral repercussions of their actions; they are enabled to kill without making the conscious decision to do so. In and of itself, such training is appropriate and morally permissible. Battles are won by killing the enemy, so military leaders should strive to produce the most efficient killers. The problem, however, is that soldiers who kill reflexively in combat will likely one day reconsider their actions reflectively. If they are unable to justify to themselves the fact that they killed another human being, they will likely—and understandably—suffer enormous guilt. This guilt manifests itself as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and it has damaged the lives of thousands of men who performed their duty in combat.” The military command refused to morally justify reflexive killing but it is still taught. Due to this method of killing without conscience, the number of soldiers firing weapons at target has increased from 25% to 98%.
Members of the Catholic Worker, co-founded by Dorothy Day, were traditionally leaders of the movement to remove DoD military training from Catholic campuses. However, over the years the resistance efforts of Catholic Workers and other war resisters have taken different directions: protests against drones, nuclear bomb facilities and military spending. This is understandable and good. However, I believe Dorothy Day, with select schools developing large departments of military sciences and the teaching of reflex killing, killing without conscience, would have directed more of her resistance effort at this concern. Catholic universities teaching war, violence and killing now promote the ‘endless wars’ we currently face.
When Dorothy Day heard the Marquette University archives had applied for a grant for the Catholic Worker collection from the Rockefeller Foundation, she informed Bill Miller, her biographer, that if Marquette accepted the grant “no more papers will go to them until we get letters assuring us this will be not be accepted” (recorded in her diary on February 4, 1976). Six days later she reported receiving a “terse letter” from Miller pledging “not to use any Rockefeller funds for archives or his work.”
What would Dorothy Day do with her archives at Marquette if she knew that Marquette University was one of the two Catholic Universities in the county to host military training on campus for Department of Defense Army, Navy/Marines and Air Force and was teaching soldiers ‘reflex killing’? Perhaps she would consider disassociating herself (and the NYCW) from the Archives (stop sending records) only if the libraries received “blood money” from the DoD. But we are just speculating. Sadly not many Catholic Workers or Catholics would stand with her today in her strong beliefs that Catholic universities not host these military training bases, ROTC, which bring in great amounts of money and contribute to militarizing our entire education system.
Catholic Workers believe Dorothy Day is enjoying life eternal in the presence of God. So the real question becomes what are we going to do today about this worst nightmare of Dorothy Day?
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Dying, wet dandelions This morning when I work up in the basement bedroom of his house I noticed outside the window some tangled, dying dandelions that had fresh drops of rain water on them. I meant to take a picture as soon as I went upstairs but a delicious breakfast that had been made, distracted me for awhile. When I got outside I noticed that the rain drops on the dandelions were gone but still took the picture. There was a strange beauty in these dying wet dandelions.
Today was also the birthday of my deceased young son, Peter. Peter was a good looking young man with a great sense of humor till he got ill in his early twenties. As many persons with mental illnesses he got beat up a few times and his noise was crooked. He was possessed with demons of the brain suffering some very low moments. Yet he survived for quite a wild creating some interesting artwork along the way. When he was 39 he became more aware of his great suffering and one day took his life.
When my wife, other son and I think about him it is usually the moments before his illness where he was creative and with a great sense of humor. In his illness he kept the creative part of himself but, except for rare moments, lost his great sense of humor. He showed great courage by surviving as long as he did with such great pain.
Like the dandelions this morning outside the window Peter’s life was not very good looking after he got sick. But he kept the beauty that was him and we were many times blessed as we now have with our older son and his family. The dandelion might be cold and wet, dying, but keeping its beauty.
Archbishop Oscar Romero Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of El Salvador, who was assassinated while he celebrated Mass in 1980, was beatified by the Catholic Church today. He was a true hero of the poor in El Salvador and Latin America and was killed for his concern and passion for the poor.
The article below describes this blessed person. When I was in El Salvador I met with some young people, although they were not alive, were inspired by Oscar Romero. They were living proof of something he said a few weeks before he was killed: “I have often been threatened with death. I must tell you, as a Christian, I do not believe in a death without resurrection. If am killed, I shall arise again in the Salvadoran people…You may say, if they succeed in killing me, that I pardon and bless those who do it. Would, indeed, that they might be convinced that they will waste their time. A bishop will die, but God´s church, which is the people, will never perish.”
The Tablet (UK) / 21 May 2015
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/features/2/5595/raised-to-the-altars-one-who-fell-for-the-poor
Raised to the altars: one who fell for the poor
by Robert Ellsberg
A champion of the poor or someone mixed up in politics? A man who died for the faith or because he was a political inconvenience? Archbishop Oscar Romero’s beatification today confirms his stature and illuminates his model of holiness
The beatification of the slain Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, in his own city today, moves him one step closer to receiving the title long ago bestowed by the acclamation of his people: “San Romero de los Americas”. The honouring of the man comes 35 years after he was gunned down as he celebrated Mass in the chapel of a hospital, having preached a sermon the day before in which he called upon Salvadorean soldiers, as Christians, to stop carrying out the Government’s repression of the people, and spoken out continuously about the abuse of human rights and the plight of the poor.
As the first bishop murdered at the altar since Thomas Becket in the twelfth century, Archbishop Romero would seem to have an easy claim on most definitions of martyrdom. For Romero, who clearly anticipated his fate, there was never any doubt as to the meaning of such a death. In an interview two weeks before his assassination, he said, “I have frequently been threatened with death … Martyrdom is a great gift from God that I do not believe I have earned. But if God accepts the sacrifice of my life then may my blood be the seed of liberty and a sign of the hope that will soon become a reality … A bishop will die, but the Church of God – the people – will never die.”
There are inevitably symbolic or even political considerations involved in any canonization, extending beyond the selection of saints to the interpretation of their lives: what is the gospel message that this life proclaims? What significance does it hold for the Church of our time and for the future?
Within days of Romero’s death, there were different messages about Romero. The crowd of 250,000 at his funeral was seen by some as a demonstration; Cardinal Ernesto Corripio y Ahumada, the personal delegate of John Paul II, said at the funeral that Romero was a “beloved, peacemaking man of God” and that “his blood will give fruit to brotherhood, love and peace”.
No doubt since then there have been expli¬citly political considerations at play in the long delay of his beatification. Many influential prelates in Latin America and Rome felt that the canonization of Romero would be “utilized” by the Left, that he would be the poster boy for liberation theology, and thus promote div-isions in the Church. There were also supporters of the cause who insisted that Romero was wrongly identified with liberation theology, that he was in fact a traditional bishop, a man of prayer, and that these features – and not the circumstances of his death – should be emphasized. But there were also theological issues at stake. These concerned the particular criteria for martyrdom, which indicate that a martyr’s death must be prompted by “hatred of the faith” – odium fidei.
Working Together We Can Do It. Tonight I was sorting through the pictures of the two St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP) Thrift stores and contrasting them. Wow, the pictures say it all. The store in Milwaukee, where the poor live and shop lacks variety and quality of items. The SVDP Thrift Store in the suburb is full of variety and quality of items. So much for purpose of SVDP thrift stores is “to serve the needy.” I will publish these pictures on this site soon.
I was reminded that I have used a lot of pictures, in the past, on this web picture. I have not updated my own photo gallery, Bob’s Photo Gallery since 2013. My articles and posting have become wordy and not used pictures. Pictures cut more to heart than words. New summer resolution: Use More Pictures and Less Words on www.nonviolentcow.org
Here is one sent to me via Facebook that you might have already seen. The picture says a lot more than about ants.
Although these days I try to be positive the news brings me down. Here is some news we can live without.
Pentagon sending 2,000 anti-tank weapons to Iraq These anti-tank-weapons are needed following the rout of U.S.-backed forces in Ramadi by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The fleeing Iraqi forces once again left weapons, like US supplied tanks behind to be used by ISIS. Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said that as of April 9 the U.S. had spent 2.1 billion since it began bombing in Iraq in August.
Israeli settlers reportedly chop down 800 Palestinian olive trees. There are over 500,000 Israeli settlers living in settlements across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Wisconsin is the 7th “drunkest” State in the United States. Total alcohol consumed per capita: 3,010 gallons, Beer consumed per capita: 1,450 gallons, Wine consumed per capita: 380 gallons, Spirits consumed per capita: 1,180 gallons
Website ranks Wisconsin as ‘worst state for black Americans’ This includes Wisconsin with the highest rate of incarceration of African American males.
Wisconsin’s black children remain trapped in poverty, study says The state ranks last in the country in the overall well-being of African-American children based on an index of 12 measures that gauge a child’s success from birth to adulthood, according to a new report being released Wednesday by the Wisconsin Council on Children & Families.
Wal-Mart Selling Sacramento Municipal Water At Huge Mark-Upin California worst drought. Also Nestle continues stealing World’s Water During Drought in California.
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Today I overreacted when I went to a Common Council committee meeting that was supposed to be a routine approval of a reconstruction of our street. The alderman who was representing the view of the majority of homeowners gave a half hearten approval of the proposed plan and the one residential homeowner who opposes the plan gave a statement opposing the road renovation for now. I felt compelled to talk but the chairman of the committee kept asking me if I supported the proposal or not. I said yes and kept going but finally ended without saying what I wanted to say. I stood up to leave the chair and immediately the meeting went on to another issue. I asked why they did not vote on the proposal and the chairman said they did and in a blink of the eye it had been approved. I went it to the hallway and found the homeowner who opposed the plan talking with our alderman. I patiently waited for him to finish and went to ask him a question as he rushed back to the meeting room. I shouted out if this was the final obstacle to obstacles put in our way on this reconstruction. He shouted back ‘No’ and went out the room. Later his assistant cleared up the matter by saying the proposal had to go to Common Council. I knew this and also know that approval is automatic if the reconstruction is in the budget and alderman in the area wants it. Our alderman is also chairman of the Common Council and thus has more power.
One remark he made during the hearing gave me particular concern. When talking about his original idea that people rejected and the one he, with approval of people was making, was that he was recognizing democracy. I believe democracy is not what happened in getting this proposal for our street so far. The alderman was pushing his own plan while pretending to be responsive to us. He still was today. This makes me fear the plan will somehow get sidetracked as the lone opponent asked for today.
I would love a world that working together, even with our conflicts and different opinions, we could get together and struggle to achieve the best for everyone, even the least. This would be a world where despite our difference we love one another and work together in government for the common good. But this is not the air we breathe. The air we breathe in America is full of pollutants, competitiveness, exceptionalism, power and glory.
I allow this kind of air, like this morning, bother me. I am getting better at just saying what I have to say and doing what I have to do and letting things go. But I have a ways to go. I cannot let the air we breathe take my life over and control me. I need to respond not to react.
Free Bread for Well Off,
No Bread for the Hungry. The largest Catholic lay organization in the world is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP). “Inspired by Gospel values, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a Catholic lay organization, leads women and men to join together to grow spiritually by offering person-to-person service to those who are needy and suffering in the tradition of its founder, Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, and patron, St. Vincent de Paul.”
Over the years the Milwaukee Society of St. Vincent de Paul has wandered greatly from this mission. Thrift stores have been created to help the local members provide clothing and other necessities to the poor. “Serving Christ’s needy is the primary goal of all St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Stores.” In Milwaukee the Society of St. Vincent de Paul had one thrift store, in the south central part of the city, the second neediest neighborhood. However, where a store is really needed is in the North Central side of Milwaukee, the poorest area of Milwaukee, the most racially segregated, (African American) with poor education system, a high rate of unemployment, a high rate of incarceration and children in poverty, there is no thrift store.
The select central leaders of the Milwaukee SVDP, a small group of white suburban people, decided to invest 3.2 million dollars to purchase and build Thrift Store in a suburb of Milwaukee, an area that is mostly white with a household income twice that of areas in North Central Milwaukee. The promise was that the suburban store would eventually make a profit that could ‘trickle down’ to the poor.
Today I decided to take a trip to the two stores, one located in Hispanic neighborhood of South Side and one located in a middle class suburbs. Both stores are called St. Vincent de Paul Thrift stores and both stores had about the same number of customers shopping in them when I visited. However, that is where the similarity ends. The area around the suburban store is full of thrift stores, with a private one right next door. Where a new store serving the poor is really needed, North Central Milwaukee, there are only a few thrift stores. The store in the suburb is much larger, wide open with an abundance of available items. For example, in the very small men’s department of the South side store there was about 12 pair of jeans on sale. In contrast there was a very large rack of jeans available for the white suburban shoppers in the new store. Another example was there was a tidy section of knickknacks in the South Side store where the suburban store has rows and rows of shelving for knickknacks. The same could be said for other items, toys, electronics, furniture, children clothing, books and other items. The prices were similar in both stores but the variety and quality of items was so much greater in the suburban store.
The new store has an extremely high operating cost, with around 40 employees and large debt, while the South side store is owned by the Society and has about 12 employees. The new suburban store will have an extremely difficult time making its operating cost each month, let alone paying off its debt of 3.2 million dollars. Chances of any ‘trickle down’ money are poor or impossible.
The central leaders of the Milwaukee Society are quietly conducting a fundraising campaign on behalf of poor but the majority of money raised will go to pay down the debt of the new suburban store that is not even sustainable. The select leaders are doing this despite the Rule of the Society in the USA that “all money belongs to the poor” and “Funds donated to the Society, however, must be used only for works that involve the personal service of Society members.”
Some of us have tried to express our concern that donations and money given for the needy are being used to serve the not needy. All our appeals to officials in the Society have been ignored and has led to our characters being attacked and, in my case, suspension from the Society which I so love and respect for its commitment to works of mercy.
Maybe pictures of both stores will work to make the point about the hypocrisy, racism and immorality of the Milwaukee society represented in these stores. I will publish them soon but for now I would like to share with you one picture that represents the sinfulness of the actions of the small group controlling the Society in Milwaukee. As you leave the suburban thrift store there are racks of free bread and bakery for the people who do not go hungry. At the SVDP thrift store in an area full of hungry people there is no such rack of free bakery. Bread for the well fed not for the hungry tells the Tale of the two thrift stores and how the Society in Milwaukee has lost its way.
The police chief and mayor have been in news pleading with parents, church ministers and citizens to change the young men in our community who are committing senseless acts of violence. We can preach giving up violence to young men all we want, but children and young adults learn more from what we do than what we say. When a young African-American male is stopped in car because the policeman thinks he is suspicious or a an African-American man is arrested by 8 police officer for begging, a long Christian tradition, on the Marquette University campus they learn more about how others think of them than from any words preached to them.
A long time ago human beings learned that they cannot effectively change other people but can really only change themselves. John the Baptist called for a “change of heart” to prepare for the Way of Jesus. Ammon Hennacy, a Christian Anarchist and Catholic Worker probably said it best in his book “Book of Ammon”. “We really can’t change the world. We really can’t change other people! The best we can do is to start a few thinking here and there. The best way to do this, if we are sincere, is to change ourselves!” In the same book he says: “Too many of us dissipate our energy by being “for all good causes,” attending meetings and passing resolutions, organizing and presenting petitions — all this effort to change others, when if we really got down to it we could use this energy to change ourselves… We become tired radicals because we use our weakest weapon: the ballot box, where we are always outnumbered, and refuse to use our strongest weapon: spiritual power.” Ammon lived before the digital age which has intensified this false sense of change.
Now, if we ask ‘how do we change ourselves’ Gandhi has a simple statement: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Now living in a world spinning with information, a world of radical individualism, where right and wrong is not very clear defined, where some lives matter more than others and where the gap between rich and poor is widening. There are just so many distractions. Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement showed us the way to revolution. “The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us?”
Today I helped a friend who lives in poverty help another friend get the medication she desperately needed. It took my friend all day to help her friend. It took me just a little while to get the money for prescriptions. As the lady was leaving the pharmacy she thanked me for my little help. My friend who lives in poverty also profusely thanked me. I told both of them to pray for me as I have been blessed by God via them. I ask God to apply the grace and blessings I received to a “change of heart” for myself.
Nonviolence Begets Nonviolence Yesterday in the news the USA reported that with 100 Special Forces it had invaded Syria and killed an important ISIS leader and taken his wife into custody. Today the news in USA reported that despite intensive airstrikes by the US, ISIS had a great victory in Iraq taking over the key city of Ramadi, with over 500 civilians being killed.
The Mayor of Milwaukee announced Sabbath Ceasefire for this Sunday. There were nearly a dozen shootings in the 24 hours leading to this Sabbath Sunday. The Mayor asks “how do we change this?”
I know doing more of what we are doing in the Middle East is not making the situation better but worst. In Milwaukee I would answer the mayor’s question with something like I wrote on Facebook tonight in response to article on shootings.
“Milwaukee has created a horrible environment in North Central Milwaukee where unemployment is over 50%, young black man are incarcerated, mostly on nonviolent action including probation and parole violations, imprisoned and released in same area, poorest area in second poorest city in USA, housing stock is bad, hunger is great, public education is underfunded, guns a plenty, people lack basics like stoves and refrigerators, children are taken from parents and breakdown of families, the most racially segregated area in most racial segregated city in USA. I am not saying we should not hold people accountable for actions but I am saying we can change the neighborhood environment. Governor Thompson’s task force on prisons and prisoners said long ago: prisoners and prisons “are bound to grow as long as the root cause of crime—poverty, lack of education and lack of family support—go unaddressed.” Or as Peter Maurin,co-founder of the Catholic Worker, said” “make that kind of society where it is easier for men to be good.” “The answer Mayor “is blowin in the wind.”
I do not know all the answers for violence in Middle East and Milwaukee but I do know that doing more of what we are doing only will increase the violence. When will we ever learn that violence begets violence.
I am not a fan of American Pop music but tonight I saw, on TV, Rihanna perform a song called “American Oxygen. The lyrics were simple and repetitive. They could be taken as just another patriotic song. An example of words is below. However, the images flashing on the screen behind Rihanna gave a deeper meaning to the song. Check it out for yourself on YouTube, American Oxygen. In this case the images speak million times the words.
Lyrics of American Oxygen.
Breathe out, breathe in
American oxygen
Every breath I breathe
Chasin’ this American Dream
We sweat for a nickel and a dime
Turn it into an empire
Breathe in, this feeling
American, American oxygen
American oxygen
Breathe in, this feeling
American oxygen
Today Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was given the death penalty in the Boston marathon bombing in 2013. There was no doubt he was guilty of the crime but who gives the State, via the jury, the right to take human life?
The Catholic Church and the Consistent Ethic of Life is committed to protection of human life which is threatened in today’s world by war, abortion, poverty, racism, the death penalty and euthanasia. For some the life ethics only applies to certain threats to life, like abortion. Some Anti-abortion people claim you are taking a human life in an abortion yet are willing to support the taking of an adult human life. When someone authorizes the bombing of house of suspected enemy in Pakistan they are killing whoever is in the house, the person they seek or innocent children.
To be consistent in ethic of life is difficult but one you realize that every human life is sacred and precious in eyes of God, no matter how small the person is or if the person has committed a terrible crime, you really have no choice. There might me a question of is this human life, but once you claim it is, being an unborn baby or the ‘enemy’ on battlefield you must respect it and protect it. There may be some cases of self-defense when taking a human life is justified but when the alternative to death penalty is life in prison without any chance of patrol the consistent life ethic says we must choose life over taking of life.
The Catholic Church used to justify death penalty when it was the only way to protect society. But we not have a more effective and less expensive way to accomplish this goal.
However, the urge for revenge or making people pay for crimes, some even call it justice is strong. We want an ‘eye for an eye’. Mahatma Gandhi said: An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. Politician, victims or family members often say they want ‘justice’ for the person that committed the crime or who they suspect. Often what they are saying they want revenge or punishment to the person who did harm to them, family or government.
In this day and age of ‘instant results’ many people carry a gun so they can shoot someone they feel is a threat to them. Sister Helen Prejean, a Roman Catholic nun and prominent opponent of the death penalty, testified on Monday that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the convicted Boston Marathon bomber, had expressed sympathy for his victims. She believes he was genuine in his remorse and sorrow. Her testimony did not matter since us as a society must have our ‘pound of flesh’ for this heinous crime. Will the death penalty stop others from killing? He has been shown not be a deterrent any more than life in prison. Will the killing of Dzhokhar Tsaraev motivate others to take similar action, out of revenge or just hate of America? Probably. The “War on Terrorism” has created more “terrorist” than there ever was before 9/11 and the “War on Terrorism”.
The killing of human life just leads to more killing of human life.
Stop Talking! This morning I got an email from a local peace group reminding me about 5 events: a screening of movie called “Inequality for All”, about the threat to democracy disparity of wealth brings; a discussion on “Alleviating Poverty, Who Is Responsible?”; a prayer service on “Healing the legacy of Segregation”; a talk on “A Catholic Response to Global Warming”; and another talk about “Poverty in the Milwaukee Metro Area/What You Can Do About It”.
I realize all the events are well intentioned but I am old enough to know all the talking about poverty, segregation, and inequality has not changed anything. If fact, I believe the situation in Milwaukee has grown worse over the years. Now people in need not only need food, but a stove to cook it on, a refrigerator to store it and bed to sleep on. I am tired of talk, more talk and no action.
This relates to the racism I was talking about in the posting last night: “white people doing things they think will help the poor people of color while doing just the opposite.”
A friend sent me a copy of the Lawyer’s guild report on shooting in Madison of unarmed biracial young man who was suffering a mental health crisis. My response, below, says something about we can do to change ourselves so we can facilitate real change in the city.
If a person has a car crisis and is injured the person is automatically taken to the hospital, conscious or not.
If a person has a heart attack crisis the person is taken to the hospital, conscious or not.
If a person has a stoke crisis the person is taken to the hospital conscious or not.
If a person has a brain breakdown, mental health crisis, the person is taken to jail or killed by a police officer.
If a person has cancer the person is not called ‘cancerous.’
If a person has a mental health illness the person is at times called ‘mentally ill’.
The former police chief in Milwaukee was working on having every police officer in Milwaukee go through Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training. CIT training consists of specialized training in dealing with individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. The present police chief came into office and eliminated CIT training which had been proven in other cities, like Memphis to reduce police killings of person with mental health illnesses. It was only after the tragic death of Dontre Hamilton and call for justice and the nonviolent and consistent actions by Coalition for Justice and Hamilton family he reluctantly agreed to some training.
The present police chief said recently that 911 should not be the default call for persons in mental health crises as it is for heart attacks, strokes and car accidents. What should it be?
The present police chief believes in “data driven policing” which leads to more stops and frisk of African American males which leads to more arrest, which leads to more African Americans being incarcerated and released to the same environment and more stops and frisk and more arrest.
Maybe the Chief has learned from the massive data breakdown of hard drives on police computers that even non-humans can fail. If the city and police department would spend as much money on African American males as it is paying for computers and the major recovery of the lost data we would see some change.
Stigma Stains the Soul of the individual and the community doing the stigmatizing and the stigmatized. What are we going to do about it, more talk or take action?
Will you help bail me out of jail if I get arrested from the freedom of speech, or better yet for a nonviolent action?
“Racism is not over, but I am
over racism.” St. Vincent de Paul Society (SVDP) of Milwaukee continues to discriminate against poor people of color. If you are one of the few persons in need in the white middle class suburb of Greenfield you are liked to get help from this society dedicated to serve people in need by one to one visits. However, a person of color living in the North or South Central area in the city of Milwaukee is most likely to get the message from SVDP central office we are not serving your area at this time. The new suburban thrift store created in Greenfield, not serving the needy, is not making its monthly operating expense let alone deal with the over 3 million dollar debt to purchase and outfit it.
A few of us have tried to point out to the small group of white persons controlling the Milwaukee Society but no dialog was allowed. When we appealed to local, regional, national and international Society we were ignored and accused of doing the opposite of what we were doing, organizing outside the society. Although the Milwaukee Society was demonstrated to break many Rules and Spirit of the Society, the white powers of SVDP have ignored our protest and not responded to our facts, while punishing some of us by suspension for speaking “truth to power”. What do we do now as the Milwaukee Society continues to raise money in name of poor to keep the new suburban store not serving people in need?
What is happening with SVDP represents the new face of racism in Milwaukee: white people doing things they think will help the poor people of color while doing just the opposite. For example, reducing money for public school education, breaking the teacher’s union and using money for public education to fund voucher and charter schools has left a number of public schools in poor neighborhoods in distress. Instead of funding poor performing public schools the State is considering a bill that would take away these public schools and turn them over to County Executive to be privatized.
The public transportation system in poor neighbors of people of color,living in high unemployment areas, is deteriorating, leaving the poor usually without cars, no way to get to work. The city’s response is to build an expensive trolley system in the downtown area where the wealthy are returning after removal of the poor. The State’s response is to build bigger expressways so tourist and suburban people can get in and out of city faster.
This type of racism, the imagined superiority of white and people of power, dictating what is good for the poor in central city, like “data driving police” rather than reducing police stops without justification of black and brown persons, is the new face of racism. How do we change this type of racism without resorting to violence of those who do not have a voice?
Tulip Time - Tuesday, May 12, 2015
The time for daffodils has past and now it is tulips time. Tulips are in full bloom, maybe not for long, but long enough to be the flower sensation right now. In Holland I have seen field of tulips that last awhile. Here tulip time is short lived but is one of beauty.
Tulip time is when we feel the spring of hope. Tulip time is when we believe that we can change things. Hope is in the air at tulip time. Tulips come in many colors but are all a similar shape, diversity in unity. Tulips return year after year. Plant a bulb in the fall and it will keep coming back in the spring. Tulips are easy to like. They come for a short awhile, are pretty and are low maintenance plants. Tulip Time is back.
“Outside Agitators” in Ferguson, MO When Baltimore recently experienced a night of violence over racial tension resulting from an African American man dying in police custody, the Governor of Maryland blamed the violence on “outside agitators”.
On the news tonight there was a plea by a community leader for no protest tomorrow when the District Attorney in Madison, Wisconsin announces if he will press charges or not for a police officer’s shooting of unarmed African American male. Concern was expressed that “outside agitators” might come to Madison to stir up trouble.
Watching a NBS basketball playoff game on TV the other night the home team crowd started chanting “USA, USA”. I presumed they were cheering for their home team although the other team was also from the “USA”.
When I was at a Special Olympics soccer tournament last Saturday the person asked to warm up the crowd encouraged everyone to chant “USA, USA”.
I detect a pattern here; the bad guys are the “outside agitators” and the good guys are the “USA”.
In December over 70 of us were arrested in protest for justice for Dontre Hamilton, an unarmed black man shot 14 times in a county park by a white police officer, as we were Trapped on the Ramp. A group of us were placed in a small holding cell and one young white person kept being called out of the cell for integration. He was a young man from Northern Wisconsin who had just lost his job at a Wal-Mart and in a last minute decision decided to catch a ride with some friends to Milwaukee for the protest. He was not from Milwaukee and thus he was suspected of being an “outside agitator.”
Chanting “USA, USA” at an Olympic event is understandable but what does it mean at a Special Olympic soccer game in a small town or at an NBA basketball playoff game? When racial tensions break out in a community why does it have to be “outside agitators” causing it? Do you know of any “outside agitators” in the “USA”?
Our Godson hMother’s day for us was one of great joy and sorrow. We were watching over our three grandchildren, or they were watching over us, while our son, accompanied by his wife, was away having surgery. Today he returned home to rest after a successful operation.
During the weekend we noticed that their family dog of nine years was not herself. She would not eat and was just lying around with no energy. A family friend of my son and his family took her to a Vet hospital yesterday and tonight driving home we learned that her stomach was full of cancer and she was coming home to die.
Tonight I was reminded what a Native American told me that we, human, animals and all life, were united. He said Native Americans prayed to an animal before killing it to have the Great Spirit forgive him or her for taking the life of an animal in order to eat and survive.
I doubt if this thought offers much consolation for my grandchildren but for me it helps. The once hyper dog that always wanted to go on walks and runs was constantly searching for human food and full of life in the present would be no more. My ten year granddaughter has lived with this dog for nine years.
The weekend was full of life events like track meets, an indoor football game, taking the grandchildren out for a Friday Fish Fry, the Special Olympics soccer tournament and my oldest grandson’s high school prom.
We came home on a sad note, that their family dog was coming home to die. But if we really believe that all life is connected we believe the spirit of this dog, always ready to play and eat, will still be around in Spirit. This dog’s life touched a lot of people and brought great joy, as well as frustration, to many lives.
Prom 2015Proms in high schools still happen and that is good. In a world full of tragedy, distorted values and busyness it is good to take time out for a high school prom.
My grandson, a junior in high school, attended his prom tonight with a friend. Living in Brown County they had their pre-prom pictures taken the atrium of Lambeau Field. My grandson spend most of the day playing in the band for the Special Olympics and being a referee for their soccer game. He came home changed his clothes and left for prom.
His prom brings back memories of high school proms I attended in the 60’s. We did not have to rent a tux and had the prom in our high school gym. But nevertheless I remember feeling awkward but enjoying the prom.
Watching too much news and sports I could use a ‘prom’ in my life today. It would mean my wife and I doing something for ‘fun’ which we talked about after her recent retirement but have not done much of. We are talking about biking, fishing and swimming, enjoying nature, this summer around Milwaukee.
In light of today’s the world in USA where everyone is so busy working, making money, on their ‘digital devices’ or taking in more and more information fun takes out a new meaning. Is watch TV or playing video games ‘fun’? I guess so for some but for us, at least, fun consist of just being and not doing.
Reading a book, as my wife is good at, can be fun just as much as watching TV shows or news and sporting events on TV.
At least we can say Proms in high schools still happen and that is good.
Eviction of Blessed Poor
in North Central Milwaukee Blessed Be the People of the North and South Central City of Milwaukee,
Blessed Be the People in the Central City who struggle for food, when food stamps are cut for the elderly, ill and unemployed.
Blessed Be the People in the Central City that have the courage to stand up for human rights where there right are violated.
Blessed be the People in the Central City who live with children poverty and death, which is rising in USA and in poor cities like Milwaukee, the second poorest in USA.
Blessed be the People in the Central City who have landlords that no longer provide stoves and refrigerators and do not eliminate beg bugs.
Blessed be the People in the Central City who live with abandoned or vacant houses on the block owned and neglected by absentee landlords, private or city.
Blessed Be the People in the Central City who are constantly profiled, stopped and check by police.
Blessed Be the People in the Central City who lack transportation, cannot find work or work at low paying jobs.
Blessed Be the People in the Central City who are often blamed for the violence and crime that results from a breakdown of neighborhood and families.
Blessed Be the People in the Central City who live with increasing underfunded public educational system that does not give children the opportunities other children enjoy.
Blessed Be the People of Central City who watch the City move them away from downtown to spend millions of dollars on trolley and improving the lakefront to serve the rich who now can only afford to live downtown.
Blessed Be the People in Central City who act out nonviolently for justice and peace in an extremely neglected environment.
Blessed be People in Central City, especially the young adults, Black and Brown, who face increasing criminalization and incarceration.
Blessed Be the People in Central City and their victims who, in anger and frustration, act out with senseless acts of violence.
Blessed Be the People in Central City who provide food and health care for the hungry and sick.
God gives all his blessings and grace to poor and marginalized.
Woe to you landlords in the Central city who in the name of profits neglect the people who live in your houses.
Woe to you Societies and Organizations that raise money in name of poor but who do not invest in the people of the central city.
Woe to you who profile and isolate people in the Central City.
Woe to you politicians who develop areas of the city but not in the Central City.
Woe to you that call people in central city names and blame them but who not offer opportunities or friendship.
Woe to you who create an ugly environment in Central City and blame the people for the mess.
Repent you sinners and set straight the Way of Jesus and do the Will of God.
Part of our fence in the backyard was falling. The middle part of fence was leaning. I did not want to put up a new fence like I did on the other side of the yard when the fence fell down so I called my friend Joe. Joe is an all around handy man, like my father was before he suffered Alzheimer. He can fix plumping, built fence waterproof floor and a number of other endeavors that can be expensive. With one store to Home Repair store and about an hour of work I now have a strong fence, not falling or bending.
One of the neighbors who supported the reconstruction of our street which took us three years to come up an acceptable plan wrote today that he had a change of heart after our public meeting and was now circulating a petition to stop the reconstruction. He said he could wait another five years to start the discussion again that took us three years to do. My response was that I am too old and the street is in terrible shape and unsafe to wait another five or eight years for possible money to be there. In five or eight years I will be near eighty and maybe have great grandchildren rather than grandchildren.
Maybe, like my father, I will have Alzheimer by that time and all the hassles we went through these last three years will no longer be remembered by me.
I have a friend whose memory is slipping and he, despite the concern of all his friends, is driving. I feel helpless in this situation. I saw with my dad what a role memory plays in everything we do, even driving which we had done for many years.
My wife says I say ‘I forgot’ a lot these days when remembering or am reminded of things I said I would do and did not. So I have replaced ‘I forgot’ with ‘I remember’. Problem solved.
What was this posting all about? I remember. It was about a fence fixing friend.
Rain slowed down work on the garden today but rain is a blessing to the garden. It often rains in our own life but how we deal with it makes it a blessing or curse. Today I discovered that two good friends, both who have suffered greatly with illness had a setback. One is in the hospital with a stroke and the other one learned today of the death of her younger brother. Both friends are known for taking suffering, illnesses and death and turning these calamities into something positive. I feel blessed being in the present of these two women who can turn darkness into light.
One of my new favorite sayings has a similar sentiment “The really happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery when on a detour.” At one time a reporter writing a story about me headlined it by saying I turned ‘curses into blessings.” I think I have lost some of my ability to do this. Tonight when an absentee landlord and a resident of Wells Street wrote an email to many residents, not me, encouraging residents to vote no on street reconstruction that greater majority wants I felt discouraged and like I had to respond. My response was measured by probably be used against me and the message neighbors have expressed on street reconstruction.
When it rains, let it rain and turn the rain until something good. Do not react to rain but take it in and have it come out positive. I used to be called a very positive person but lately been asked why I am so negative. I have been negative since I forgot the lesson of the rain that can make plants grow out of the dirt.
In 2007, Richmond, California was
America’s 9th most dangerous city. Desperate
for a different approach to law enforcement,
new police chief Chris Magnus fired bad cops,
suspended all stop-and-frisks, and improved
community relations. City Hall also launched
an experimental program that identifies residents
most likely to commit serious crimes and provides
them with a mentor and a monthly stipend of
$300-$1,000. Richmond’s homicide rate has since
dropped by 66%--the lowest in 33 years. Today’s Homicide News
1)In a senseless act of nonviolence a gun man killed three persons on Trestle Trail Bridge in park in Menasha and turned the gun on himself.
2)Two persons try to enter a meeting of Muslim hate group with loaded guns. They shot a security person but policemen at the entrance killed both of them.
3)A gun was accidentally shot off in a crowd in the city of Baltimore. Everyone panicked. No one injured.
4)There are four prayer vigils tomorrow at the site of homicide victims and we will include five other victims of homicides. Milwaukee is breaking all records for senseless killings this year.
Two of these events made National News, the second and third ones. One and four are more tragic stories of senseless violence but did not make it. The second and third situations involve hatred and racial frustration, although the shot fired in Baltimore was of national interest because of recent media coverage. Of course any hint of terrorism makes the national news.
In Baltimore some are talking about the root causes of the outbreak of frustration at the death of black man. In Milwaukee some are talking about having ice cream socials with police and community or having an expanded neighborhood watch program in North Central Milwaukee.
The senseless killings in the Fox Valley, Menasha, Wisconsin is in a white middle class community where this kind of stuff is not suppose to happen. However as the doctor in the press conference said this morning on local TV the scourge of senseless violence has touched this community. In Milwaukee many people blame the criminals, broken family and victims, for senseless violence.
One story that is neglected by local and national media offers hope of how to heal our nation from this violence. It came by way of Facebook from a group call US Uncut.
“In 2007, Richmond, California was America’s 9th most dangerous city. Desperate for a different approach to law enforcement, new police chief, Chris Magnus. fired bad cops, suspended all stop-and-frisks, and improved community relations. City Hall also launched an experimental program that identifies residents most likely to commit serious crimes and provides them with a mentor and a monthly stipend of $300-$1,000. Richmond’s homicide rate has since dropped by 66%--the lowest in 33 years. Officer involved shootings also declined to less than one a year.”
Although the above example reduces crime significantly and comes at less cost than our present policing and criminal justice system. the idea of putting potential criminals in a healthy environment and paying them to be good goes against our capitalistic system where crime and prisons are profitable businesses. In Richmond we see what good policing looks like, paying people to be good.
Three Sisters as featured on the
reverse of the 2009 Native American
U.S. dollar coin In gardening and agriculture there is a method called Companion planting. Companion planting is the planting of different crops in proximity for pest control, pollination, providing habitat for beneficial creatures, maximizing use of space, and to otherwise increase crop productivity. For example I plant marigold flowers around the edges of my raised vegetable garden in front of the house.
Marigolds are said to deter some common insect pests, such as tomato, eggplant and chili pepper which I am growing in this garden. Another example are the Three Sisters, main agricultural crops of various Native American groups in North America: winter squash, maize (corn), and climbing beans (typically tepary beans or common beans).
Some plants should not be mixed with other plants. For example, when I first plant my perennial flower rain garden, also in front of the house, I planted a plant I thought was called a Wisconsin sunflower. It actually was a tall flower that had a small sunflower on top. In a few years I realized this plant was a very invasive species and was taking control of flower garden. I tried pulling them up but they kept coming back. I finally realized they spread by underground roots. I build underground a wall along the side of garden and dug up the rest. They come up later in summer so now I have tulips in this space but will eventually have massive number of these ‘false sunflowers.’
Communities and neighborhoods are like companion gardening. If we plant racial, diversity, income diversity, decent jobs and transportation, decent housing, a good educational system and city services in the neighborhood it will flourish just like in companion planting. However, if we plant racially segregate, a neighborhood of poor people with lack of employment and transportation, poor housing and educational system with poor city services we will create an environment of violence, hopelessness and broken families. Some will blame the people in neighborhood for crime and violence and call them names.
Although people must be accountable for choices we cannot change people by blaming them or calling them names. However, we can, as Peter Maurin, the co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement used to say, “We have to make the kind of society where it is easy for people to be good.” I heard a similar sentiment by the Pope after 9/11 when he said we cannot excuse the ‘terrorist’ but we need to look at the root causes of such great hatred of Americans. The former governor of Maryland said something similar recently about the problems in Baltimore: We need structural change in our communities, jobs, good education, decent housing, and good schools to avoid more similar situations.
In today’s editorial section a Judge that handles homicide cases pointed to “bad thoughtless violent behavior” as the reason for violence in North Central Milwaukee, a neighborhood, with poor education and housing, racially segregated, poorest neighborhood in second poorest city in USA. This sentiment is has some truth to it but leaves us hopeless. We cannot change bad thoughtless violent behavior. However, we can as a city create an environment which it is easier to be good. We can change our own behavior and the environment of this neighborhood.
History has taught us the root causes of crime and violence, that we can affect, is poor housing, high unemployment, extreme poverty, racial segregation, good city services and transportation. But as individual and community we do not make the necessary investment but take the more expensive way out, incarcerating more people, more policing and prosecution, poor city services, not creating jobs in this area and blaming the people. We sow what we plant. Companion planting is an ancient way of growing. When will we ever learn that a more effective cue for violence and crime is to create an environment and “society where it is to be good?”
The Yin-Yang symbol represents contrasting
forces of the world working together to
figure out a social order harmonically. Diversity of people working together brings more unity. However diversity of issues and groups to deal with them can be an obstacle to unity. For example, this week there were three marches and rallies I was invited to for justice for people of color. There was a march of Solidarity by Black and Brown students at Marquette; there was a Coalition for Justice March and rally on anniversary of death of Dontre Hamilton, an unarmed black man shot 14 times by a police officer in a downtown park; there was a rally and march by Voces de la Fronter for rights of immigrants.
The local Catholics for Peace and Justice Newsletter lists has a listing of over 25 actions and events around peace and justice issues for the month of May by different organizations: Poverty 6, Segregation and Racism 2; Immigration 2; Environment 7; Violence, Crime, Guns 6; Religion and Prayer 2. There are many more events, actions around peace and justice issues not listed in this newsletter. You can attend one or two talks, rallies, prayer events, films and actions a day by a variety of organizations. This is where diversity of groups and organization working on issues of peace and justice divides us.
Many of the groups working on these issues, national and local use the internet. Emails, Facebooks pages come our way each day asking us to sign a petition, read an article, call someone or donate money. Many groups follow the popular media. When something makes the news there are groups asking us to do something or give money for their work.
This kind of diversity can divide us. Organizations vie for attention and money. As one major peace and justice persons told me: “You have your issues and I have mine.” Just think if all the groups working on environment issues would put their differences aside and work together on one specific issue and after receiving some closure move on to new issue. If a number of organization working on peace and justice issues, would pool their resources and work together on one specific issue just think of how much change we could make on that issue before moving on.
However, “the powers that be”, capitalist of the military/industrial/education empires keep throwing more and more issues of peace and justice at us, more war, injustices and, more harm to poor. We respond by more information, more groups, and more competition for money. Divide and conquer has been a tool of the rich and powerful for many years. Issues of justice and peace become more distractions for us and a source of people losing interest or just moving from issue to issue.
Diversity in Unity, working together, is a powerful tool for change. Diversity of organization working on same or diverse issues weakens our ability. Can we just work together with fewer issues at one time but with more nonviolent power for real change? Diversity is good but this diversity is obstacle to unity.
Marquette Public Safety becomes
Marquette Police Department today Today I had some more insight of how diversity of issues and organization leads to lack of unity and working together. But I need more time to dwell on this thought. So tonight I present a letter to friends of Breaking the Silence that builds on last nights posting MU Center for Prosecution of Black and Brown Persons
Friends of Breaking the Silence,
Awhile back Marquette Security officers got the right to be armed.
Today the Marquette University Security Office of Public Safety becomes the Marquette Police Department.
A few weeks ago Marquette University announced $1 million, three-year initiative with the support of Aurora Health Care, Harley-Davidson, Marquette University, MillerCoors and Potawatomi Business Development Corp to fully fund a dedicated Community Prosecution Unit – led by a full-time Assistant District Attorney and full-time community prosecution coordinator. Marquette University’s Center for Peacemaking will coordinate this effort called PARC, Promoting Assets and Reducing Crime.
At the Solitary March of Marquette students, Monday, black and brown students, calling themselves, The Ad Hoc Coalition of and for Students of Color talked about the discrimination and special treatment they and neighborhood residents of color faced at Marquette and the near West Side area. After a year of just talk by administration officials they took action. One student of color told me he was on a scholarship at Marquette but could not afford to live on campus so was staying with his brother in North Central Milwaukee. Now he fears the color of his skin will further endanger his life, since Marquette Police, like Milwaukee Police, could profile people of color.
Many police officers, like the police officer that shot Dontre Hamilton fourteen times are war veterans that were trained, like Marquette military officer students, in reflex killing, killing without thinking or using conscience. (The officer that shot Dontre Hamilton has applied for full disability since he now suffers from PTSD.)
If you need the concern more spelled out see the posting MU Center for Prosecution of Black and Brown Persons?
Marquette University, funded by big business, will now have the ability to arrest and prosecute people of color on and around the campus. The TV news claims Marquette is the first private university to do this.
My question is to you: Will we Break the Silence about Marquette militarize the security by making them police and to have own State prosecutor for the neighborhood. We often complain not have more Marquette students in our struggle to rid Marquette of the three military bases on campus. We all know that increased policing and prosecution does not decrease crime. Perhaps if we join students on campus in their efforts to stop discrimination by Marquette they will support our efforts to hosting Marquette military training centers for DoD for Southeasten Wisconsin.
What are we going to do about armed Marquette police and special neighborhood prosecutor? If you think we should keep silent just say so. If you think we should break the silence and support students and neighbors just say so. If Yes we can come together and act. Contact
