“You may have heard of ‘self-segregation,’ the idea that black people wanted to be in segregated housing.” said Reggie Jackson, speaking at “The Hidden Impact of Segregation,” his address at Plymouth Church on May 5. “That has not been the case in Wisconsin. Housing is segregated by intention and policy.”  According to Jackson, housing segregation has been institutionalized by a history of corporate influence and government policy at every level. Jackson is Head Griot of America’s Black History Museum, Adjunct Professor at Concordia University and a frequent researcher and speaker on housing and social justice issues (“Griot” (Gree-yoh) is a west African term for storyteller or teacher). Over one hundred people attended the discussion and met with representatives from organizations working to address racism and segregation.

Milwaukee ranks as the  “most segregated” metropolitan area in the U.S., and Wisconsin is the second most segregated state in the nation, said Jackson.  Jackson reviewed the history of Wisconsin housing segregation progression, citing policy specifics at both local and national levels. He noted effects of contracts for individual sales restricted sales to “Caucasian” buyers; the conracts were legally enforced until 1948. On the Federal level, an agency called the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation shaped real estate reality, and gave realtors and lenders resources to implement color-coded maps for discriminatory purposes.

On 1938 housing maps, designed according to federal policy, designated red or yellow areas to guide home lenders and insurance companies to charge higher interest rates. In his research Jackson found maps with neighborhoods colored red  because of the “detrimental influence” of Polish residents, “infiltration of Mexicans,” “Negro slum residents and lower-type Jews.” This structural discrimination suppressed home values in those areas and prevented many black, Latinx, and other families from obtaining loans and taking the first step to securing a place in the middle class. In addition, educational funding based on property values causes schools in historically redlined districts to be chronically underfunded, compounding institutionalized barriers. The accrual of wealth of whites based on home ownership was promoted by these maps, while the lack of home ownership by Blacks resulted in long-term economic disparities.

In a Q&A session, Jackson responded to written questions from the audience. To one query about effective ways to repair and respond to racism and housing segregation, Jackson mentioned a number of strong organizations. On the question of reparations, Jackson stressed that “people think that reparations is writing a check,” but emphasized that reparative justice needs to focus on housing and education. Members of Bridge the Divide ([email protected]); RID Racism (www.ridracismmke.org) and SURJ (showingupforracialjustice.org) staffed tables to give relevant volunteer information to Grassroots North Shore membership. All of us at Grassroots North Shore thank those participants for their time, with a special thank you to Reggie Jackson for his effort and leadership.  

With the Iowa Caucuses just a week away now, the attention of the nation is riveted on the contenders and their every move in both parties. But a much more consequential election in Wisconsin is a mere three weeks away.

What could be more consequential than the first votes in the presidential contests? The first votes for Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice.

The February 16 primary in Wisconsin will pit three candidates for that crucial office against each other. Two of the three — Judge Joe Donald and Judge Rebecca Kloppenburg — represent sound judicial temperaments and years of relevant experience. One of the three — Rebecca Bradley — has little judicial experience and believes that the role of the State Supreme Court is to show great deference to the legislature and the governor.

pledge to vote!

Because the spring primary is a very low turnout affair, a few thousand votes could make a huge difference. If we can muster enough support for Judge Kloppenburg AND Judge Donald, Rebecca Bradley could be eliminated from the election on April 5, the one that will determine who sits on our Supreme Court for the next several decades.

And that's why I VOTE EVERY TIME IN EVERY ELECTION. What happens in February determines what can happen in April. My vote counts the most when few other voters bother to turn out. If progressives want to start winning again, every one of us must VOTE EVERY TIME IN EVERY ELECTION.

pledge to vote!

Long ago when the world was a younger and far simpler place, rational people were wont to frolic about in the State of Nature, flexing their freedoms and exercising their rights.   And it came to pass that while they were frolicking, flexing and exercising, they oft came to harm other rational people.  In those days, hurt and harm were measured only by damage done to property.  As was the custom at that time, those so aggrieved, along with their circle of friends and kin, were expected to retaliate, exacting compensation and revenge, and inflicting appropriate punishments to the offenders.

As time passed, and more and more rational people engaged in frolicking, flexing, and exercising, and more and more aggrieved retaliated, the wise people among them came to realize that the harm-retaliate cycle was not sufficient, and the practice of mediation and adjudication by persons outside the cycle came to be. 

The world grew and the complexities of the burgeoning society increased as well.  It became apparent that harm done to others was no longer limited to property and there was great ambiguity regarding how to mediate and adjudicate these conflicts.  Something else, perhaps a code of ethical behavior, was needed.  And thus, the advent of laws designed to document the nature of harming and define the appropriate punishments.  Having laws to use as the basis for mediation and adjudication proved of great benefit; however, something was still missing.  Mediation and adjudication were at the end of the process:  the law needed maintenance and enforcement prior to that point.  The answer, of course, was government.

But alas, at some future time, rational people felt unfairly fettered by government and laws, and cried aloud for a return to frolicking, flexing, and exercising.   Get rid of government and laws – let us all return to the State of Nature.  No matter if others are harmed; that is their just due for they are not among the strong who frolic, flex, and exercise.  Fie unto them – they are weak and lazy and deserve all that befouls them.

MORAL:  Beware those that bellow for the freedom of bygone days.  They are the very reason that rules and laws are needed.

Crossword fans know that a newt is a variety of salamander and political junkies know that neither the thrice-married Newt Gingrich nor an electoral district shaped like a newt bodes well for the health of our body politic. Nevertheless the state of Wisconsin has a large number of oddly newt-like electoral areas, more familiarly known as gerrymandered districts. How did we come to call them that?

In the 1812, Elbridge Gerry, then the governor of Massachusetts, wanted to benefit his own political party. So he decided to redistrict the Boston area.  On the map, the new district he drew looked like a salamander.  With tongue-in-cheek, the Boston Gazette combined the governor’s name with part of the word salamander and coined the term gerrymander to describe his actions. We’ve used the term ever since to describe the process of “manipulate[ing] the boundaries of an election or constituency so as to favor one party or class.’

A Washington Post  graphic beautifully shows how gerrymandering works.

Across the country, a number of legal actions in recent years have targeted what are seen as inappropriate, even unconstitutional, reapportionment.  (For a more detailed history of the prior attempt to overturn the clearly partisan WI 2011 redistricting see Blue Cheddar, July 9, 2015.) Lately there has been growing interest in challenging gerrymandering. An Arizona case just decided by the US Supreme Court in June 2015 ruled that "the people of Arizona were on firm legal ground when they took redistricting out of the hands of the legislature in 2000 and placed it in the hands of an independent district." The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign calls the decision "a tremendous victory for democracy. This gerrymandering that is done every ten years makes a joke of representative government and effectively muffles the voices of millions of voters."

A New Federal Court Challenge

In Wisconsin, a new legal effort has begun in hopes of overturning our current electoral map before the 2016 elections. Filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin on July 8, 2015, the suit argues that "the Current Plan is, by any measure, one of the worst partisan gerrymanders in modern American history" and that "because severe gerrymanders are likely to be extremely durable..., it is unlikely that the disadvantaged party’s adherents will be able to protect themselves through the political process“ (Brief filed July 8, 2015).

Chris Ahmuty, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, is giving an online presentation, sponsored by Grassroots North Shore, on Thursday, May 15, at 7:00pm on the topic "Public Education as the Bulwark of Democracy: What Has Gone Wrong in Wisconsin."

You can register for this webinar here: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=EA53D88283493D

Everyone needs to understand what we stand to lose if we allow our public schools to be increasingly privatized (and run for profit) through voucher and charter school initiatives. According to a recently published report from the Economic Policy Institute,

"it appears that charter privatization proposals are driven more by financial and ideological grounds than by sound pedagogy:

• National research shows that charter schools, on average, perform no better than public schools. There is thus no basis for believing that replacing traditional public schools in Milwaukee with privately run charters will result in improved education.
• To truly improve education in Milwaukee, we must start with the assumption that poor children are no less deserving of a quality education than rich children. As such, the schools that privileged suburban parents demand for their children should be the yardstick we use to measure the adequacy of education in the city. This means subjecting all schools—whether public, charter, or voucher—to the same standards of accountability, including measurements that account for the economic and disability challenges their students face, and that recognize the value of a broad curriculum and experienced teachers who are qualified to develop the full range of each child’s capacities." [Source: http://www.epi.org/publication/school-privatization-milwaukee/, April 24, 2014]

Join your friends at Grassroots North Shore on Thursday evening: you can participate in your robe and slippers after all. Because on the Internet, no one knows what you're wearing!

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation: Factory Farms Harm the Environment

Kim Wright, Executive Director of Midwest Environmental Advocates, Inc., discusses how the increasing industrialization of farming in Wisconsin is damaging the environment, polluting wells and other water resources, and impacting public health. CAFOs, also known as factory farms, are heavily concentrated in a few areas of Wisconsin and are especially dense near Green Bay. The problems they cause include air pollution and contamination of private wells.

You can see Kim's presentation and the question and answer period here:
https://www.anymeeting.com/023-498-913/EF52D885854C

In the question and answer period, some people wanted more information about getting well water tested. Here's a link to resources for that issue: http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr-ap/watershed/Pages/GWWell.aspx

Kathleen Dunn's radio show recently discussed the food stamp program and how the new cuts to the program will affect recipients.  The usual folks called in and perpetuated the myths and stereotypes regarding food stamp recipients.  No matter what facts were presented by those in the trenches, such as the director of the HungerTask Force, people continued to talk about "personal responsibility," "getting a job," and controlling what people are allowed to buy with their food stamps.  This PBS portrayal of actual food stamp recipients tells the real story of people who are hungry in America and why they came to need food stamps.

The problem of hunger is not concentrated solely in our cities. It afflicts large areas of rural Wisconsin even more than it is experienced in Milwaukee County and the areas around Racine and Kenosha, as the map to the left shows. The darkest areas show where the highest concentrations of the hungry live.