20/20: "What happend to the Black Community"

To whom it may concern,

"we are facing a crisis", "where do I go from here", "how do I rebound", "who can impact my life positively", "Who is at fault", "How do we grow"....

All of these questions deserve an answer for the black community in Milwaukee but the answers still remain a mystery. Who is going to educate the black community? The answer can be found in the households of the community. As we grow and mature as individuals we often find ourselves looking for the answers to our own questions within. In American suburbs you will find that family no matter what the circumstances typically stay together to continue the perception that all is well and issues can be worked through. It does not matter where you fall in the "Economic Food Chain" or what I like to call the EFC, you still deal with issues that determine which way your life can go and for some of us we make decisions using simple logic while others simply confuse decisions because they have thought to much about the situation that is. In black America you will find that family remains strong no matter what the situation is but it is the lack of support for politics, economic advancement, education, and just black people that remains an issue. I can not begin to understand the struggle and what people go through when they find themselves in situations where the outlook is gray at best but I have and continue to work in areas of Milwaukee where the kids in the community have not been afforded the opportunity to succeed. We have government institutions who feel that the only way to combat the situation is to close schools in these areas. Does this bring about change? Indirectly it does but at the same time it continues to act as a catalyst for "urban medicority" and by that I mean it allows for the people of the community to resort to just settling for the bare minimum in terms of education, economic advancement, and political participation. Indirectly it brings about change because in the long run people in the community who are about change will not allow for this to be a perpetual problem. When will this occur? I can not answer that question but as we have seen in the past it takes a collaboration on the part of politicians, business men and women, community scholars and the people of the community.

Today, I saw first hand where the black community in Milwaukee stands. I was out on my daily cruise and noticed that the Eastside of Milwaukee was being swarmed by children in Halloween costumes. The kids where out with their parents doing their yearly bidding for candy. I noticed that the parents and children where from the "north" side of Milwaukee. For all who have not been in Milwaukee County should know the Eastside is an affluent area and the north side is the working class part of town or the "inner city". These black families may realize their situation and have found that the only option for their children to trick or treat is to head into unfamiliar territory. As an educated black man in Milwaukee, I see this as a problem because it is saying that the black community is not safe enough or organized enough to have a community trick or treating. SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE.

One life, one love, and always pass left