Photo credit: Tom Jenz
Common Council President Cavalier (Chevy) Johnson (left) and Frank Nitty II (right)
There have been hundreds of reports on Milwaukee TV news and other local media about Black Lives Matter protesters. The coverage is brimming with sound bites, quick quotes and reckless rhetoric, but often devoid of practical context. I keep pondering these questions: What specifically do the protesters want to change? What would those changes look like in reality? What can be done about systemic segregation?
For answers, I managed to bring together two of the most prominent Black leaders in the city to meet for the first time for a conversation. Common Council President Cavalier (Chevy) Johnson is second in line to be Mayor. After nearly 20 years in public service, he is still only 33 and open to innovative ideas on how to change Milwaukee. Thirty-nine-year-old Frank Nitty has been the main Black Lives Matter protest leader on the streets. Nitty calls his movement The New Milwaukee.
We met in Johnson’s City Hall office. When Nitty walked in, right away Johnson complimented the protest leader on his t-shirt. Nitty wore camouflage shorts, red sneakers and a Bucks cap over his dreadlocks. But his t-shirt stood out, a graphic of Frank Nitty portrayed as Superman.
Grinning, Nitty said, “An 11-year old girl made this shirt for me.”
Meeting of the Superpowers
In contrast, Johnson was wearing a dark blue suit, striped sky-blue shirt, gray tie and a close haircut. “Frank,” he said, “I really like Superman, but Batman is my favorite superhero. I’ve read the Batman comic books, seen all the movies.”
“I like Superman because of his superpowers,” Nitty said, “but if I had to be one of the two, I’d be Batman because he was a real person. He didn’t have superpowers.”
Johnson built on that. “Batman works hard, trains himself in physical and intellectual abilities. If you give Batman enough time, he can beat anybody. But he never kills anyone.”
Nitty went on, “Batman helps people in trouble. He always comes to the rescue when people need him.”
Johnson sat at his desk, Nitty and I in chairs before his desk. Frank Nitty is single, no girlfriend and no kids. Chevy Johnson has a wife and three young kids. I was thinking, isn’t it strange how a shared identification of a comic book superhero germinates the first connection between these two different Black leaders. But I was eager to hear about the current controversies shadowing Milwaukee’s culture and politics. I brought up the role of police.
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Police Reform
Johnson said, “Our present law enforcement system just isn’t working anymore. There needs to be a rebalancing of how police protect and serve residents in troubled neighborhoods. Of course, the police should not go away, but there should be other resources to help them. If there is a situation where violence could occur as in a mental health crisis, you don’t need a policeman with a gun. You need a trained social worker.”
Nitty jumped in. “When there is a violent or domestic violence situation developing, Vaun Mayes and his Community Task Force or myself and my people sometimes get to the scene first. We diffuse the conflict. Reason we get called first is because Black people don’t trust the police. But here is the problem. We don’t get paid. We’re volunteers. I can see a program where people like myself get city funding to help overcome neighborhood trouble before it blows up. Right now, groups on the ground like ours are not supported by the city.” Nitty looked at Johnson. “That’s partly why I came here today. You are a new city leader, Chevy. You can help make changes.”
I asked if the police should be retrained to handle these kinds of domestic or mental health situations.
Nitty shook his head. “No, police don’t need no retraining. That’s just more funding for the police. Ideally, groups like ours would act as liaisons between the police and the people in conflict. This could prevent violence from erupting. Too many police don’t act with compassion and understanding with our Black people.”
“I agree,” said Johnson. “It’s not a question of training police. We don’t need to send cops with guns into every situation. Frank isn’t packing a gun when he diffuses situations. eople may not know this, but the police department gets the vast majority of the city budget. We in city government can help Frank and his people to interdict. Police respond only after a 911 call, and that might be too late. What we need is a system to call on this other resource like Frank or Vaun Mayes to diffuse potential violence situations. But keep in mind any change in police matters is controlled by the Fire and Police Commission.”
Real Problems without Real Resources
I said, “The FPC is a regulatory body, the members appointed by the Mayor. The members are not elected.” Earlier, I had contacted the chairman of the FPC, Steven DeVougas, by phone and email several times, but he never returned my inquiries.
Johnson said, “There is also Reggie Moore at the Office of Violence Prevention. Frank, you ever work with Reggie?”
Nitty said, “I talk to Reggie Moore at times, but even if I could get funding through the Office of Violence Prevention, then I have to depend on what the OVP wants me to do. No department comes to me with real resources, but many departments come to me with real problems. In several events that the OVP supports, I’ve paid for the event resources out of my own pocket, food, grills, basketball courts, deejays, music. We supposedly are teaming up, but I’m the one spending the money. Point is, I have to keep raising money with no help from the city.”
“The city does have resources,” Johnson said. “It’s a question of where these resources go, how the money is spent.”
Nitty said, “In all of my protests and events, there’s been no violence, no shooting, nothing. People come with respect, they’re peaceful, bring their kids. We are creating peace. We are also helping families. Everything I do is with my own cash or donated cash. Just imagine what I could do with an actual city resource, the city behind me.”
Nitty added, “The government has a program called Violence Interrupted, but the same old groups get this money over and over. Yet, me and my group are the ones who get called by the citizens. People don’t call those funded groups. No one from the city has ever said, ‘Hey Frank, how can we help to see that your work flourishes, how can we help you grow?’ There are even white groups who get funding to help with poverty, but they might just have an office and board members. How do I know what they do for Black people?”
Overcoming Fear
I pointed out that I’ve never even seen a white person on the streets of the hardcore inner city other than a service worker. I added that many suburban white people support Black Lives Matter, but they are afraid to get involved with inner city Black people and their neighborhoods. Their perception is that these areas are dangerous, crime-ridden.
Johnson said, “It’s the indoctrination over decades of the mainstream media reporting that the inner city is dangerous. ‘Don’t drive on 35th Street or cross south over Capitol Drive.’ There is this notion that if you go down there you will get killed. I grew up in those neighborhoods and I’ve never been robbed. And think of the current rule that Milwaukee policemen are not required to live in our city. That means you might get a white cop from Waukesha moving through the inner city with a gun. His first reaction might be fear because of his prejudice.”
Nitty said, “When we did march through some white communities like Shorewood and Port Washington, the whites were accepting of us. My lesson for those suburban whites is that Black people don’t commit crimes. Poor people commit crimes, whether it’s Black on Black or white on white crimes. Our main goal is to bring people together, not just Black lives but all lives.”
Black in Milwaukee
Nitty’s comment made me recall Zora Neale Hurston, the noted Black woman writer from the Great Depression years. On the Black experience, she wrote: ‘There is something about poverty that smells like death. The soul lives in a sickly air. People can be slave ships in shoes.’” That was 1942.
“According to Mayor Tom Barrett,” I said, “the solution to the police issue and Black Lives Matter is to form a task force. He calls it the Commission on Police Accountability and Reform. On three occasions, I’ve contacted Reggie Moore at the Office of Violence Prevention and also the mayor. I suggested that Frank and Vaun Mayes be appointed to that task force. Who better than these Black leaders on the ground? But they did not respond.”
Johnson said, “If I were mayor, I would not have done a commission or task force. We already have community task forces in our government.”
Nitty said, “But some of these committees are doing what my group is already doing except that we are on the streets. They are not. We’re not just talking and holding endless meetings.That’s partly why I wanted to meet with you, Chevy, because you have influence on some of these groups. See, we don’t always agree with the Mayor and his committees. Meeting you here today, I am now finding out that your perspective is not what some people think. You and I do agree on some things. When I decided to meet you, I didn’t know if this would be a debate or if we’d be talking on the same side. I want to know a powerful guy in government who supports my causes.”
“I support Black Lives Matter," said Johnson. "I get it. I’ve lived in zip code 53206, lived the life of an inner city Black man. I’ve seen domestic violence, the use of guns, not personally but people in my family, other people that I care about. Black people not having enough to eat, lights shut off because they were late on a bill, power shut off so they were cold in winter or had to use candles. As a kid, I’d been through evictions. One of the houses I lived in was set on fire because the downstairs person had a beef with the landlord. My family lived upstairs. We were in the house at the time of the fire. These are experiences Tom Barrett would never have. I see things differently than Barrett could or ever would. I was the first person in my family to get through college. As mayor, I’d be supporting your cause, Frank. I’ve been there.”
Nitty nodded. “I think you’re one of us, Chevy. We both come from the same place. Two years ago, I took a Black kid from New York to the video game national championship and he won, beat the white kids. And I built an App on the Google and Apple stores. Our social media group has 195,000 members, and I get 1.6 million posts every 28 days. I probably have 100,000 followers on my Facebook. My point is that the city needs my people to fight crime. Media and politicians talk about things after they happen. My group tells you about things before they happen.”
Nitty talks in rapid phrases as if trying to tug you inside his house where you can sit and converse with his ideals. Johnson speaks in carefully measured words. He wears a green YMCA wristband illustrating the four core values of the YMCA: Caring, Honesty, Respect, and Responsibility. He knows politics takes patience.
Too Many Silos
I asked if either man had heard the term silos, said I’ve had leaders tell me there are too many silos, self-interested groups and non-profit foundations where each leader is protecting the money source. I said, “Frank and Vaun Mayes are on the outside of these powerful silos.”
Johnson said, “The silos paradigm is one of the things that really frustrates me. A lot of groups and a lot of meetings. It’s like they talk, talk, talk, and talk until they can’t talk no more. I mean, why don’t we DO something? Single fingers are not very effective, but they can make a fist.”
Nitty said, “I’ve been out on the streets for almost two months. Our people now see we can all come together without these silos. It’s like a pipeline. It can get smaller, but the water will still flow through it. I’ll talk to anyone who is open to change. I’m glad I am here right now talking with you, Chevy. Maybe we can help each other get through the pipeline. I’ll make sure everyone gets what they are supposed to get. We can make that pipeline wider.”
As these two Black leaders talked, I realized that they were coming from different places but still had the same goal. Being a man of the streets and leader on the ground, Frank Nitty was more idealistic. Chevy Johnson leaned to the practical, having to deal with layers of political and self interest groups.
History of Segregation
I said, “In my experience of walking the inner city streets for the past seven years and talking to Black residents, they tell me, and I’ve personally noticed that conditions have gotten worse, stores closed, buildings and houses abandoned, streets in disrepair, alleys littered. What can be done to fix the infrastructure of the inner city?”
Johnson said, “If you drive Capitol Drive west from the lake to the Waukesha County line, you can see the history of segregation in north metropolitan Milwaukee. The lake area is full of white prosperity and the wealthy, but when you get west past Holton and drive on until 49th street, you see predominantly Black residents living partly in poverty. Then prosperity slowly picks up again and gets whiter and better the further west you get.”
Pausing, Johnson went on, “As a teenager in zip code 53206, I’d walk North Avenue and think this area is dangerous, buildings boarded up, windows busted, and the businesses that are open aren’t run by Black people. As a young Black man, that experience seeps into your psyche. My dad always told me to get off the block, meaning you gotta expand your horizons. Right now, my goal is to work with foundations to get more businesses in the inner city. But it’s hard to convince potential investors to take a chance. My thinking is that Villard Avenue west of Teutonia could be like Brady Street north, but it would be a Black community of stores and business owners. Why can’t that Black section have similar success to Brady Street?”
Nitty said, “There are too many vacant buildings in the inner city and too many of them are owned by the city. Right now, I’m fixing up a large building on 39th and Hampton, 190,000 square feet. I plan to help the homeless and also put up classrooms for teaching. I have volunteers that are doing all the work, carpenters, electricians, painters, construction people. Here’s the problem. I don’t own the building. Only 7% of buildings and houses in Milwaukee is under Black ownership. Why is it so hard for the city government to hand over these vacant properties to Black people? If the city provides me with a building, I will fix it up with my volunteers, attract stores and businesses, and then the city can give it to me. I get volunteers who want to improve their community. But they won’t do the work if the city still owns the properties. These properties are eyesores. Know what I’m sayin? People depend on me because they can’t depend on you all, and if we can’t depend on you all, then nobody is helping us.”
I could see Nitty getting emotional. He soldiered on, “I don’t know what to do. That’s why I came to this meeting. Until we start owning this stuff, we ain’t never going to be able to do it proper. All these foreclosed city properties, grass don’t get cut, trash all over the yards, that’s messing up our neighborhoods. You don’t see that shit when you go to Menomonee Falls with their foreclosed properties. Milwaukee don’t give a shit about our Black community.”
Johnson said, “The city has an inventory of vacant properties. I don’t know why it’s taken so long to unload these buildings and houses. The problem in the inner city is you can’t get stable neighborhoods. A city-owned house drags down the value of your house if you live on the same block. A house or building owned by someone outside of Milwaukee who just rents it out, well, that drags down the property values. If these Black renters could own those houses, then the money they’d normally pay for rent would be staying in Milwaukee.”
“We fight for justice,” Nitty said, “and justice has the scales, and the scales should balance. So if we the minority people own houses and business, then the scales balance. If the city gets some of these vacant buildings into the people’s hands and foregoes payments, the people will turn those buildings into businesses that build equity and pay taxes. People who do volunteer work for me depend on my brand, The New Milwaukee. If I don’t own a building and we fix it up for free, and then it gets sold to an outside buyer, the people lose faith in me. I shouldn’t be spending my own resources to fix up another person’s building. I am truly dedicated to investing in Milwaukee, but Milwaukee has to help my movement. I want our Black and minority people to own buildings and businesses. I want them to have the power that ownership brings. If you have that kind of equity, pride will follow. This is what The New Milwaukee is all about.”
Johnson said, “Frank, have you ever visited the City of Milwaukee web page that has all their buildings for sale?
“Yes, I have,” Nitty said. “But they want money for a building, too much money. And so the buildings just sit there empty.”
Practical Problems
Nitty brought up education, the practical kind. “Another goal of my movement is about empowering the Black person. Let’s say you are a Black parent and your son wants to be a star basketball or football player, you can take them to professional training and they can play for clubs. But what if Black kids want to make phone apps or stream video games or music videos, they gotta learn that all on their own. One of my programs is to take these nerds and give them a platform on how to computer code or stream. The highest watched YouTube video is a video game streamer. Last month, he made like 2 million dollars. But in the Black community, we tell our kids to get off the computer and go outside. In the white community, parents bring their kids food and soft drinks when the kids are on the joystick. I want to start an internship for Black kids to learn news production, music and video business where they are taught how to be producers, writers. I want to see interns learn to be carpenters, plumbers, electricians, realtors. One of our goals is to have the kids create businesses in their own names and teach them financial literacy. I call my program the Urban Nerds.”
Johnson said, “If I understand you, Frank, you’re saying that if you had a city-owned building, your volunteers would fix it up and you’d institute your training programs?”
“Yes,” Nitty said, “that’s the goal, but these are working volunteers. We still need the basic products, the electrical wire, drywall, lumber, plumbing fixtures, the permits, and so on. That all costs lots of money.”
Johnson said, “I’d like you to look at the city website, pick out a few buildings and send those to me. I will get this to the powers that be. As I said, we in city government and foundations need to stop talking. Instead, we need to be doing. We need to try something new. We have a new Department of City Development Commissioner. I want to get his opinion.”
The new Department of City Development Commissioner is Lafayette Crump, a Black lawyer who has a long history of development consulting including for the construction of Fiserv Forum, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.’s office tower and the new BMO Tower. He tries to get minority workers hired. But at Crump’s inquiry hearing, no alderman or zoning committee member asked him about how to solve the heavy problem of vacant city-owned buildings.
Can Things Get Done?
It was late. We had been talking for an hour and a half, and I could tell that Nitty seemed more relaxed now. He said, “I’m really glad I came, Chevy. Perception is not what it is on either side, I hope. There’s two sides, and then there’s the truth.”
Johnson seemed pleased. “Frank, I agree, and I’m glad you came. Hope we can get things done.”
As we were leaving, I thought about the Batman character Frank and Chevy admire. Batman is the hero, a dedicated leader you want to do something great for your city, your people. What better hero could you have than Batman? He is a person not with infinite physical power but yet with infinite will power, and he dedicates his life to justice
But are the city’s various self-serving entities and special interest groups too entrenched to change? If the future has Chevy Johnson running the city and Frank Nitty leading on the ground, there might be hope for Black Lives Matter and the other minorities. Like the Batman character they both admire, Nitty and Johnson are dedicated to helping the people.
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