On August 13, 2016, the north side of Milwaukee became a war zone, with rioting, protests, looting, arson, and shootings. The rioting was sparked by the fatal shooting of Sylville Smith by police. The shooting of Smith was enough spark to push the protesters to their limits as there were nine other shootings preceding the nine hours before the traffic stop of Smith.
Should the city of Milwaukee, the state of Wisconsin, and the world be surprised of the Milwaukee Uprising and the protests leading up to uprising? The answer is no. Milwaukee is the most segregated city in the United States and it craves equality and peace due to the oppression the north side has faced.
This city cries and prays for peace, but what does peace mean to all the people in Milwaukee? Yes, we want the city to be peaceful from the protests and rioting, but what do the people protesting inequality want? What is their peace? Their peace is different as they would have not protested unless they had peace and freedom. These people have lived in oppression for thousands of years and I do grant there has been strides in fighting for equality, but not enough, hardly enough. Racial oppression does exists. Racial profiling does exists. White privilege does exists. To say these things do not exists or to say it is impossible to fix is graveyard talk. It fixes nothing and contributes to more of the problem.
What do we do? We first need to stop pretending that there is not a race problem in the United States. We need to engage in a nation-wide conversation about race, especially when 90% of white people in America have an implicit racial bias. We are not born with this implicit bias, but instead it is learned over time through media, conversations, and our daily social interactions. This implicit bias needs to leave, but how?
We need a conversation about race, which includes stories of hope, pain, threat, opportunity, conflict, and resolutions. When we talk about issues of race we sometimes feel we are going make a mistake, but it is the only way we can aspire to make a peaceful world that has equality for all. Share personal stories, painful stories, as this is the only way we can change and learn. America can change! Humans are an adaptive species and we need to use this gift to change our implicitly learned biases.
Be ready to listen and be ready to share your stories. It is a must, if there is any hope in creating a more peaceful world for all. Peace doesn't mean go back to the way things were before the storm, but creating freedom and equality for all.
