Neighbors and Tory Lowe Clean Up the Community

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On Saturday morning, April 13, I found myself on West Center Street in front of North Division High School in the inner city. The occasion? I had been invited to attend the 3rd Annual 101.7 The Truth Tory Lowe Community Clean Up. The goal? To create a cleaner, safer environment for inner city neighborhoods. Carrying plastic bags and trash grabbers, residents and volunteers roamed lawns, streets and alleys, picking up litter. Surrounding were vacant houses, a clapboard church, a boarded-up bar and, a few blocks away, the Highway 43 4-lane freeway. I could hear the hum of tires. 

I tracked down Tory Lowe at the welcome volunteer tent. Lowe is a community advocate, civil rights activist and radio talk show host who can be heard on “The Tory Lowe Show” weekdays from 1pm to 4pm on 101.7 The Truth. 

We talked. 

I started out with, “Tory, you are leading the 3rd Annual Tory Lowe Community Clean Up sponsored by your radio station 101.7 FM The Truth. What’s it about?” 

“This cleanup has been going on for 14 years,” he said, “but only three years on the radio. I’ve always been an activist, and 14 years ago, I began my activism through voluntary neighborhood cleanups. It was a way for me to get to know my community by picking up trash in the neighborhoods. When I became a radio talk show host three years ago, I transferred that energy to the airwaves. Today, we have over 200 volunteers, a lot of them my listeners. We have the Good Karma Brands Media Company supporting the cleanup. It’s a beautiful thing.” 

“Cleanups aren’t all you do,” I said. “For a number of years, you’ve been involved in helping with domestic violence victims.”  

He nodded. “Yes. Citizens and even police detectives would sometimes tell victims to call me to help mediate situations. I always felt it was up to us, the Black community, to resolve violent situations. We live in these neighborhoods where violent incidents happen. We are the ones who probably know who committed violence.” 

I said, “It seems to me you’ve transferred that energy to the community cleanup events.” 

“Of course,” he said, “but I’m never gonna stop being a domestic violence advocate. As for our cleanups, nobody is ever gonna tell people to stop picking up garbage. No danger there. My goal is to work with volunteers to create a beautiful community, and that will lead to what more we can do after that. Me, being a radio personality, can only add to the project.” 

Everything is Controversial

I reminded him, “You are kind of controversial as a talk show host and Black activist, right?” 

“I am, yes, but everything in the community is controversial,” he pointed out. “You put up a stop sign, and it’s controversial. The Republican Convention is coming to Milwaukee this summer, and it will bring controversy, but it will also put a lot of money into our city and the Black community.” 

A few minutes later, I spoke with Kyle Wallace, the Director of Content at 101.7 The Truth. I asked about his job. He told me, “I work with the talk show hosts and our producers on style, ideations and content.”  

I asked Wallace for a comment on the Tory Lowe Community Cleanup that was happening right here in this neighborhood. 

“This is real community engagement, residents coming together to clean up the streets and lawns,” he said. “I like seeing it spring to life. My company, Good Karma Brands, owns WTMJ radio, our station and several other radio stations. Any time we have the chance to do something good in the community, we get behind it. 101.7 The Truth has now been on the airwaves for three years. The station was designed to bring Black community voices to the public. That’s the biggest thing because Milwaukee is 39% African American. This event is about beautifying the city.”

The cleanup crew spent all morning on the job. Beside the West Center Street area, they moved on to the Silver Spring Neighborhood Center on 64th Street and finally to West Leon Terrace along 64th Street.