Milwaukee

Are things just fine here?

Or are we a City in Trouble?

This was Allis-Chalmers, a symbol of the industrial era. The world has moved on, but Milwaukee is stuck in the past. Picture courtesy of Lakeview Press.

Why is Milwaukee's homicide rate twice as high as New York City's? Why is Milwaukee's infant mortality rate higher today than it was in 1978? Why do 46% of African American's in Milwaukee live in segregated, high poverty areas, while in Boston only 6% of African Americans live in such areas? Are these issues somehow connected?

These and other questions are addressed in John Hagedorn's essay, "Murder in Milwaukee" in the Wisconsin Ingterest. For a shorter, more popular version, see "I Do Mind Dying" in December's Milwaukee Magazine.

Milwaukee's leaders don't seem to understand the urgency of transitioning our city to the information economy. Nor do they seem to understand that investment in the information economy needs to happen in the central city, and not just downtown. Violence in Milwaukee, like everywhere is strongly related to hopelessness.

Chicago has similar problems with segregation, but they also have a booming information sector, focused on futures trading and B2B, business to business services. Chicago's Technology Action is a City Task Force which has recognized the importance of the "digital divide" which keeps unwired neighborhoods socially excluded and desperate. Whether the booming economy in Chicago will share the wealth with poor minority neighborhoods will determine the future of that city.

In Milwaukee, we need leadership to move us into the information era before it is too late. And we need leadership which recognizes the centrality of including the central city in any plans for revitalization.

Finally, we need to face the facts, and not look at our city through rose colored glasses. This page asks its readers to think, to decide for themselves. It lists a few books and articles, on both sides of the issue, to stimulate healthy questioning.

The Business of Selling Drugs in Milwaukee

Drug Posse and Homegirl Studies Final Reports

Concerned? Contact John Hagedorn and let's figure out together how to save our city.

Other Good Books on the History of Milwaukee

The Healthiest City:Milwaukee and the Politics of Health Reform by Judith Walzer Leavitt.

This book is a classic in understanding the history of city politics. Milwaukee's tradition of attention to public health matters may help in getting the focus on violence off a one-sided law enforcement response and into a public health framework.

1982. Madison: University of Wisconsin.

Love and the American Delinquent by Steven L. Schlossman.

A look at the early days of Milwaukee's Children's Court including some material on gangs of the industrial era.

1977 Chicago: University of Chicago.

This is Milwaukee. by Robert W. Wells.

This book is a good humored series of anecdotes about Milwaukee. Fun to read, with lots of stories, but lots left out. Did you know that for a long time, Milwaukee was spelled and pronounced "Milwacky.?" Wells portrait of the not so dry prohibition years is instructive.

1970. Milwaukee. Renaissance Books

Development of the Labor Movement in Milwaukee. by Thomas W. Gavett.

The standard history of the labor movement in Milwaukee, from labor's perspective.

1965 Madison: University of Wisconsin

Read About Milwaukee... and think...and act.

City Building in America by Tony Orum

This book compares Milwaukee to Cleveland, Austin, Texas, and other cities. Orum argues that segregation, among other variables, has made Milwaukee a "declining city." Read his fine history of the innovative spirit in Milwaukee's industrial past.

1995. Boulder. Westview.

Long Way to Go: White and Black in America by John Coleman

This book is a passionate argument to understand the centrality of race in the politics and life of our city. Some people still don't seem to "get it."

1997. New York. Atlantic Monthly Press.

Black Milwaukee: The Making of an Industrial Proletariat by William Trotter

Reading Trotter's book on the struggles of African Americans to become workers in industrial Milwaukee exposes an American tragedy: African American won the right to become industrial workers in the twilight years of the industrial economy.

1985. Chicago. University of Illinois.

On the other side, there is the booster's reading list of the city of Milwaukee, featuring books by hizzoner, Mayor John Norquist, Charlie Sykes, and John Gurda. While Trotter's excellent book on Black Milwaukee in the forties makes the list, John Coleman's 1990s A Long Way to Go and Anthony Orum's City Building in America, are conspicuously absent. Of course, my books on gangs and child welfare don't seem to have what it takes to make the list. I wonder why?

The discerning reader might look at the City of Milwaukee's web page of recent economic developments. Look hard for any mention of the information economy. Then you can jump to the 150 reasons we love Milwaukee. The information economy ain't one. Neither is race relations.

If there is going to be an economic revival of the city, it will have to be based on information and services, not the "here today, gone tomorrow" jobs of manufacturing. Among other things, this means extensive involvement with the city's universities. At UWM, they have The Milwaukee Idea to try to bring some constructive change. For comparative data and analysis of the state of Milwaukee's economy, go to the UWM Center for Economic Development Home Page. Especially look at the data in their very impressive report on the Economic State of Milwaukee: The City and the Region, May, 1998, by Marc V. Levine, with Sandra J. Callaghan.

While some people think that internet jobs are only for the highly educated, check out what Father Jim Holub has been doing with former gang members. Maybe City Hall ought to pay more attention to Homeboyz Interactive for some tips on the future.

Order John Hagedorn's books from Lakeview Press.

Back to Hagedorn's Homepage.

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