Sunday, August 31, 2008

When The Race Card Does Not Fill Out A Full Deck

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has published a very interesting analysis of the City of Milwaukee's response times to citizen complaints about potholes, and concludes that the whiter the neighborhood, the faster was the pothole repair this past, brutal winter.

City officials, awaiting the results of an in-house study, said the story merits investigation, and even aldermen in districts where pothole repairs went relatively quickly said the disparities were unacceptable.

Those are proper, thoughtful and outcome-oriented reactions - - exactly what you want from public officials.

One blogger - - his post is here - - leaps to the conclusion that south side neighborhoods - - where whites live in greater proportions - - will get worse service this winter as a result of the story.

The blogger says, in part:

"You know what this means, don’t you? Milwaukeeans on the south side, you are about to get screwed.

"Residents of the north side, along with their representatives, aided by the bleeding heart Milwaukee Journal will play the race card right up until the first snowflake of next winter. Meanwhile, south side residents and their representatives will, frightened of rocking the boat, will clam up. There will be a concerted effort to make sure the north side’s winter woes are addressed firmly and immediately.

"There’s nothing wrong with that, mind you, just not at the expense of other areas of the city."

Here is what makes this one of the wierdest Wisconsin blog postings ever:
A) The blogger talks about what "we do in Milwaukee," but doesn't live in Milwaukee. He lives in Franklin.

B) The blogger is not involved in Milwaukee citizen complaints during his day job. He works for a State Senator from Waukesha County.

C) The blogger claims the story plays the race card - - but it is his analysis that stirs the racial pot by saying that some intentional racial victimization is right around the bend.

To paraphrase the blogger, is that what we always do in the suburbs?

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