Monday, January 18, 2010

King Day And Greater Milwaukee

I didn't live in Milwaukee when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in 1968, but it doesn't feel like our city and its environs have made a lot of progress on meeting his goals.

Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties remain among the most segregated and separated two-county regions in the country; the City of Milwaukee remains beset by poverty that is concentrated here in part through exclusionary zoning codes, transit disconnects, and the intentional export of employment and capital further and further from the central city.

The Kerner Commission, created in response to the riots that struck the country after Dr. King's murder, said with some understatement that we were moving towards two societies, separate and unequal, and the Milwaukee-Waukesha County region continues to illustrate that intolerable reality.

This is not to say that there aren't people working on these issues every minute of every day.

Just that the effort has to be broader, and more intense, or our sadly bifurcated region will continue to stagnate - - economically, politically, morally.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you ever been to Detroit?

Really... as silly as your commentary is to those of us who have seen the full impact of your liberal policies, have you ever seen the full embodiment of your bad ideas?

Liberalism has destroyed families, regardless of color. Hardly a tribute to King.

James Rowen said...

To anonymous:

You get the non-sequitor award of the year.

Anonymous said...

What you hear people say about race (to avoid the racist label) and what they really think are very different. The suburbs demonstrate that perfectly. Cities everywhere will continue to shed people who can afford to live elsewhere.