Photo credit: Tom Jenz
"Neighborhoods Matter"
A native of central city Milwaukee, Marvin is in his early 50s. He’s from a neighborhood classed as one of Wisconsin’s poorest and most dysfunctional. “As a teenager, I was in and out of trouble,” he told me. “Did some bad things. It’s not a good place to grow up in.” Then, he added, “The central city, I call it ‘the hood,’ is like a slow cancer that eats away at you. First, you lose faith in your community, then in your church. Your dad gets killed or put in prison, or he leaves, and then you lose your faith in family and even in God.”
Currently, Marvin lives in a Christian Fellowship House and does odd jobs to get by. He tries to practice the Christian teachings including peace and forgiveness. He hopes to one day see a time when racism no longer matters.
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.
