Open Housing Marches of 60′s
in Milwaukee

President Obama gave an excellent speech today about American’s “unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” It was right that our first African American president give his second inauguration speech on the day we honor civil rights leader Martin Luther King. However, the only civil rights he mentioned today were the civil rights of gays and lesbians.

What about the civil rights of African Americans that Martin Luther King Jr. and so many others fought for in the 50’s and 60’s, even to point of sacrifice and death? As I grew up in the civil rights struggle of the 50’s and 60’s in Milwaukee we fought for equal rights of African Americans for jobs, housing and education. In the 60’s we fought against “institution racism” of Marquette University, where the there were few African American students besides basketball players. We marched from the north side to south side for open housing rights, so African American can live where they wanted to live in the city. There was a strong movement for integration of schools. There were victories on many of these fronts.

Yet today the North Central area of Milwaukee where we march from is the most segregated area in the city of Milwaukee, the most segregated city in the USA according to the US census. Milwaukee is more segregated than Birmingham which Dr. King thought was the most segregated city in the USA when he wrote letter from the Birmingham jail in 1963. The same area is now the poorest area of the fourth poorest city in the USA. The public school system is this area is now in shambles, underfunded and ignored. Good people now stigmatize this area as crime ridden, not recognizing the roots of crime are in poverty, racism, poor school and health care.

Who is fighting racism, segregation, poverty in North Central Milwaukee today? Where is the struggle for civil rights here and many other areas of this country similar to it? Who is fighting for civil rights today?

At times I have been involved with North Central Milwaukee for most of my life. The poverty, racism, discrimination, homelessness, violence I find in this area has increased since the 50’s and 60’s of my youth. Unemployment in this area is now ever 50% since the manufacturing base as moved out of the area. As I discovered when they closed our Church in this area in 2011 the Catholic Church have moved out of the area with the whites. See Catholic Church in North Central Milwaukee. People I visit these days with home visits from the St. Vincent De Paul lack the basic necessaries of a home, beds, refrigerators and stoves. And these are the fortunate ones that have a shelter. The newspaper reported today that this is the first winter in recent times that there are no additional shelter beds for people truing to get out of the freezing cold.

Civil rights of African Americans are more ignored now that we have an African American president. Yes we can be proud of an African American president but if it means more poverty, discrimination and unemployment for African Americans then shame on us, our President and me. Where is the civil rights movement when we need it?

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