Photo by Tom Jenz
George Floyd mural on North Avenue, Milwaukee
George Floyd mural on North Avenue, Milwaukee
On Sunday, June 19, I had the pleasure of attending Juneteenth, Black Independence Day on MLK Drive. Now a legal holiday, Juneteenth honors the day in 1865 when Union Army soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced to the enslaved people that they were free. Milwaukee has hosted Juneteenth Day celebrations since 1971.
Blessed with a weather-perfect day, Juneteenth lived up to expectations. First, a dazzling parade, two hours long from beginning to end, followed by an all-day block festival. I saw lots of happiness and unity among children, teens, senior citizens, families, and partiers. I saw smiles, heard laughter. I saw the brightest colors and the brightest attitudes, a strolling ribbon of 50,000 people browsing the 400 street vendors that lined the 12 blocks. The Grand Marshal was Milwaukee’s first Black Mayor, Cavalier Johnson. The Juneteenth aura has seen other changes in Milwaukee leadership: Black Police Chief, Black County Executive and a Black County Sheriff. Black residents comprise nearly 40% of the city’s population.
I decided to ask an important question of anyone who would talk to me.
Here is My Question
Two years ago, George Floyd was murdered, and that incident caused mass protests and violence in Milwaukee’s central city and across the nation, even where we are standing on MLK Drive. In the last two years since the George Floyd tragedy, do you think things have changed for central city Black residents?
Here are Their Answers
Tory Lowe (Afternoon talk show host on 101.7 The Truth, Black Talk Radio, broadcasting live from the Juneteenth event)
I think we are still working on making progress. Sometimes, it takes years for change to happen. It can be slow progress. We might be able to measure changes by 2023. Any great idea or business takes three years to develop. If you own a business and by the fourth year, you are still in the red, you need to scrap that business. We’re still waiting to see a definite change.
People were reacting to 2020 and George Floyd in different ways. For instance, the Black Lives Matter organization leaders were buying houses with charity money. That was bad. As far as the everyday people, they were saying we need each other. Here today at Juneteenth, I do see white families, Asian families, Latinos. This is the most diverse I’ve ever seen Juneteenth. But the Black community organizers are still not being heard because the establishment wants to keep control. If anybody has the pulse on the Black community, it is the street organizers. Even me.
For 12 years, I’ve been a community organizer, the most requested advocate of domestic violence situations, and I’ve hardly ever spoken to any of our elected officials and leaders. As a 101.7 talk show host, I’m an advocate of all problems facing the Black community—education, employment, evictions, child protective services and victims of violence.
Police Captain Sheronda Grant (Head of Milwaukee Police District 5 including the Juneteenth site)
I believe some things have changed for the better, but we still aren’t where we want to be. We on the police force have to work together with our community residents in order to bridge those gaps. I haven’t been Captain of District 5 for that long, and I see this as an opportunity for me to leave my footprint here and to work with the men and women who wear this uniform to improve community relations. We are here at the Juneteenth freedom celebration, and we the police are the security for this event, and there are roughly 50,000 people here. My goal is for our residents to see us police as people, not just uniforms.
Duane (Senior Citizen)
Not really much change has happened because the same implicit violence is going for the police. But I will say the inner city is changing very slowly for the better. There is always hope, but only time is gonna tell.
Sandy Solo
(Landlord and Black activist)
It seems like things have actually gotten worse. What remains the same is that Blacks stick together. We are at Juneteenth right now, and I see a lot of beautiful people here. Today is supposed to be a celebration of the end of slavery, but sometimes it still feels as if we are enslaved.
Dr. Sequanna Taylor (MPS school board member, 5th District County Supervisor and community activist)
I don’t think things have changed drastically, but I do think there is more awareness about the impoverished conditions that Black people live in. I find that more leaders are open to listening and making changes. But it won’t happen overnight. When we say “Black Lives Matter,” we are not saying nobody else’s lives matter. We are saying that all lives cannot matter until Black lives matter. We just want to be included. As an elected leader, I believe I have to stay on the ground and listen to community organizers and residents. If you are closest to the problem, you are closest to the solution. I live in the same community I serve.
Antonio Freeman (Legendary Green Bay Packer wide receiver, popular sports figure and activist)
You know, it almost feels like a homecoming for me to be back in Milwaukee, but I don’t think much has changed. For us to make progress, our Black youth has to make progress, and I am active in helping young people. We badly need to improve the Milwaukee Public Schools so that young people can get a good education. If the youth learn responsibility and discipline, they will make the future changes Milwaukee needs. Right now, leaders need to get involved on the ground.
Anita Johnson (Activist with Souls to the Polls, Get out the Vote)
No. I don’t think things have changed. I think things have gotten worse, more killings, more violence. There is a lack of respect between ethnic groups. Where racism used to be hidden, it is now flushed out in the open, and people just don’t care whether they hurt you or not. It’s a shame that you can’t go to church or go to school and feel safe. That’s why I say it’s worse
Milwauee Mayor Cavalier Johnson (Grand Marshall of the 51st Juneteenth parade)
In Milwaukee with our new Police Chief Jeff Norman, his department has been working to improve the relationship between the police and community residents. But there is a lot of work left to do in other areas too, and I think we are improving as a city. I try to get out among the public, but it’s all of us working together. It’s residents, police, elected officials, and citizens working with the police department to achieve the public safety we all want. Overall, we are headed in the right direction. Leadership matters.
Tattianna (18-year-old, activist with Wisdom Action Network, Get Out the Vote and recent graduate of Vincent High School)
I’d have to say, not really. As much as we try to get out on the streets and change things, we still have the same things going on. It don’t work. But we at the Wisdom Network try to do what we can, knock on doors, have residents participate and come out and vote.
Vaun L. Mayes (Community Activist from Program the Parks MKE and Community Task Force MKE)
The only progress I see for our Black communities has been the changes in our police department under Police Chief Norman. I mean, real forward progress in everyday life. The improvement has been in the actual treatment of Black people. We also have accessibility with Chief Norman, and we did not have that before with previous police chiefs. He is willing to listen to people, especially with the reckless driving problem. There are occasions when a single mom may be speeding, and she gets stopped, but her car is her only means of transportation. Chief Norman understands these situations and is dealing with speeding and other misdemeanors on a case-by-case basis.
Earl Arms (Host of the Black Nouveau show on Milwaukee PBS Television and Milwaukee native)
If anything has changed, there is more of an awareness of the plight of Black people within our city, the state and the country. Do we still have a long way to go? Absolutely. As unfortunate as the George Floyd event was, it was probably needed in order to have Americans wake up realize we have work to do to achieve true freedom and equity.
Lyndee Belanger (Senior Director of Talent, Recruitment, and Special Education Compliance at Milwaukee Excellence Charter School)
I believe positive momentum is spreading, more people and organizations getting together to share ideas and plans. But sometimes we don’t get the opportunity to showcase what we are doing. You open the newspaper and watch the TV news, you see a lot of bad happenings. We often don’t get to hear about the good things. For instance, there are about 350 vendors here at Juneteenth, many nonprofits with good accomplishments. And the thousands of people here, engaging one another, spreading joy, spreading love, and wishing each family a Happy Father’s Day. What hasn’t changed enough is the story that is told about Milwaukee, and it’s the wrong story and the wrong spotlight. If the negative gets normalized, then it’s hard to improve. I’m involved in helping Black youth get educated, and the media story told about Milwaukee’s Black young people is often too negative.
Joseph Wilke (Activist with the Black Men Build organization and a Rapper and Hip-hop artist known as SilkE dot Jose)
Yes, I think things have improved because just look at this beautiful reaction we have right here on Juneteenth and the power of what can grow from this. Lots of conversations about how the groups and organizations can collaborate. The collective consciousness is on the vibration of healing, of how we can come together at community events and share ideas.
