Photo by Tom Jenz
Shantel Carson
Shantel Carson
On Jan. 23, 2022, police found six African American residents shot and killed in a house near 21st and Wright in the central city. In the early evening darkness, the temperature near zero, neighbors gathered near the crime scene to wait for the police press conference. They stood quietly as if in a daze. Some were crying. I kept thinking: How do we explain this ongoing violence in a city that is supposed to be civilized?
Violence is on the prowl through several big cities of America —Chicago, Baltimore, St Louis, Philadelphia, Detroit and Milwaukee, often older industrial cities strapped with segregated neighborhoods with minimal economic opportunity. The violence problem is complex, prevention a formidable challenge.
But what actually comprises violence? The Milwaukee Police Department breaks down violence into these components: Homicide, Rape, Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Burglary, Theft-Larceny, Motor Vehicle Theft and Arson. There is also reckless driving. Last year, reckless drivers killed 65 people in Milwaukee and injured many more. For the last two years, crimes in almost all these statistical categories have increased.
Not long after taking office at the end of 2021, Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson said, “Folks in this city have had enough with the violence, particularly the deadly gun violence that we've seen plaguing this community year in and year out.” Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman clearly stated his position: “Impacting violent crime, reckless driving, improving community engagement and insuring department accountability, I can say without hesitation, those priorities have not changed.”
Deaths in the Family
Board of Health member Julia Means is a nurse. In a meeting at her church for people affected by violence, there were 27 parents and grandparents in attendance. “All of them had more than one death—of a grandchild, a child, and one woman buried three,” Means said. Central city resident Shantel Carson has lost five family members to murders in four separate incidents in only two years.
Killed by a white policeman in 2014, Dontre Hamilton became a national story. His mother, Maria Hamilton, is the leader for Mothers for Justice United, an organization of Black mothers who have lost their sons to murder. At a Mothers For Justice United rally, I met Naomi Knight, who is the mother of Brian Bell, Jr, who was 22 when he was murdered in an alley near North 76th Street. As with many of the central city murders, the killer has never been caught. Teresita Johnson suffered a terrible loss, her daughter shot and killed by her boyfriend. Six months later, Teresita’s niece, Carrie Scott Haney, also lost a daughter to a domestic violence murder. I also met a Family Dollar security guard in the central city. While trying to prevent crimes, he has been shot twice and pepper sprayed four times. These are Milwaukee citizens whose lives were tragically affected by violence. They are not cold crime statistics put out by the police.
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Violence Prevention Strategies
Various city departments have been handling violence prevention. There are two important components, the Office of Violence Prevention, a division of the Milwaukee Department of Health, and 414LIFE which falls under the purview of the OVP but whose employees work for the Medical College of Wisconsin. I find this arrangement rather ironic since violent incidents are generally instant acts, and yet violence solutions seem to be slow-moving, bureaucratic acts. To find out more, I interacted with politicians, department heads and street leaders who are trying to reduce violence in the city. The challenge seems to be this: Can they work together to reduce the violence?
The city leader in violence prevention since 2008 has been the Health Department’s Office of Violence Prevention. OVP has a 2021 budget of $3.7 million, which is soon to significantly increase through funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Anitta Holliman became OCVP director in May of 2021. She is a licensed therapist and professional counselor and has worked in private practice, in school and community clinics and in prison settings. She has also practiced group and individual therapy. Her approach is to tackle violence prevention by reducing trauma. Holliman told me, “We cannot sustain a reduction in violence without trauma prevention, healing and wellness.”
The Office of Violence Prevention lists 30 strategies, and those are in addition to the six goals under the 2018 Blueprint for Peace (see sidebar). She said, “These principles guide our work. We partner with system partners, community-based and neighborhood organizations, and people who are working to prevent and interrupt violence. We convene meetings with our partners, and we help fund organizations that serve youth, domestic violence victims, and family trauma. We also attend community events and work with groups that are trying to stop the violence. And we respond in real time to dramatic situations: a shooting, a homicide, a domestic violence incident.”
De-escalation Mediation
OVP has partnered with the Medical College of Wisconsin to address violence incidents. Former OVP director and current Director of Violence Prevention Policy and Engagement for the Medical College, Reggie Moore, heads up the 414LIFE program. One of the 414LIFE programs, Violence Interruption, focuses specifically on gun violence, residents who are at the highest risk of shooting or threatening to be shot and those involved in some sort of conflict. Violence Interrupters do the groundwork.
Moore said, “Our violence interrupters have the deepest understanding of violence, have experience in the communities that have a high violence rate, and provide skills and training around conflict de-escalation mediation. Violence Interrupters have credibility in these communities and on the streets because at one time they may have experienced pain or even committed crimes but have since transformed their lives. However, they do not operate as enforcement personnel. That is police responsibility.”
Blueprint for Peace
As Director of the Office of Violence Prevention in 2018, Reggie Moore was responsible for developing a Blueprint for Peace for the City of Milwaukee.
- Stop the Shooting, Stop the Violence
- Promote Healing and Restorative Justice
- Supprt Children, Youth and Families
- Promote Economic Opportunity
- Foster Safe and Strong Neighborhoods
- Strengthen Capacity and Coordination of Violence Prevention Efforts
