Sunday, August 17, 2014

St. Louis-Area Segregation Reminiscent Of Milwaukee Region

Can't help but seeing a lot of the Milwaukee region - - white flight, the special "Oak Creek" state law forbidding additional Milwaukee annexations, a legacy of housing discrimination in the 'burbs, continuing transit disconnects and apartheid-style zoning barriers - - in the mess that is on full display in the St. Louis/Ferguson, MO history and current tragedy.

This fact has been cited repeatedly: Ferguson has 53 police officers, of whom only three are African-American.

But don't get on too high a horse, Milwaukee region.

Remember the ugly incident a few years ago when two white volunteer firefighters ran an African-American man off a fishing spot in Waukesha County - - confronting him with a German Shepherd and a gun?

Data published later showed that among all 600 firefighters in the Milwaukee suburbs, only one was African-American, and a new hire, at that.

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