Photo credit: Tom Jenz
"Voice of Youth and Experience: State Assemblyman David Bowen"
33-year-old State Assemblyman David Bowen has movie star looks and a confident personality to go with the package. As the son of Jamaican immigrants, he could be starring in his own movie as an influential and involved Black leader. His district runs east from 35th and Capitol all the way to the lakefront including Shorewood. It’s one of the most diverse districts in the state, from the white, East Side upper middle class to the poorer Black neighborhoods.
Bowen told me, “I grew up in the inner city in the Sherman Park area. My family had lived all through that neighborhood.” As a teenager, Bowen became a community organizer, attending Bradley Tech High School. He went on to attend UWM but got pulled back into community organizing, working with high school students, getting them to work for non-profit organizations. Later, as program director for the Urban Underground, he continued to work with young people. In 2012, he got elected to the Milwaukee County Board. Although he had not planned to go into politics, Bowen served for three years, then ran for the State Assembly in 2014 and won. After serving six years, he is a senior member of the Assembly.
I told Bowen, “Many white citizens and white groups in the suburbs and small towns support BLM, but they are afraid of the stereotyped dangerous Black neighborhoods.”
He said, “I think they need to learn to recognize that systemic failures have helped to create those setbacks for inner city Black people. People that live in these Black neighborhoods do not want crime. The white systemic attitude is that crime must be the fault of the Black residents. Most people in these neighborhoods are loving and hardworking. But this story does not get out in the media.”
With his strength of personality, Bowen can be controversial. He sometimes joins BLM protesters because, as he said, “I want to make sure people’s rights aren’t being violated.”
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.
