Photo credit: Tom Jenz
"Black Mothers Matter"
Maria Hamilton is the leader of Mothers For Justice United. I spoke with her at the Mothers March in Sherman Park on July 4th.
She told me, “In the inner city, when someone is murdered and the police can’t find the killer, it’s forgotten. The mainstream press ignores the crime. The politicians bury it. But here we are, the black mothers of our black sons, the victims. Even after years go by, we are still affected. We want to know why police investigations aren’t done more thoroughly. If it’s a black on black murder, the media and even the police ignore the story. When a mother calls the detectives to find out about her son’s murder, she is told, 'It’s an open investigation.' This is very hard on the mothers. We moms love this city, we choose to live here, pay taxes, raise children, and we don’t feel we’re protected. As for our aldermen and mayor, what do they do for us? Many don’t even come into our neighborhoods. Maybe they should be in jail for not doing anything.”
Maria’s 31 year old son was killed in 2014, gunned down by a white policeman in Red Arrow Park in a tragic and explosive incident. His name is Dontre Hamilton.
Central City Stories is a collection of visual narratives from Milwaukee's central city by writer and fine arts photographer Tom Jenz. You can see more of his work at TomJenzAmerica.com.
