Mayor fails to acknowledge violence crisis
"I do acknowledge the positive things that are happening here in Milwaukee, but that's no excuse for not having a solution to the rampant killings in our city. "
Yesterday, Mayor Barrett was interviewed regarding Milwaukee’s spike in violence. Although he commented that the violence is out-of-control under his administration, he failed to address this epidemic head-on, only to side-step the issue by commenting that we should also take a look at the “good” that is happening in Milwaukee.
I do acknowledge the positive things that are happening here in Milwaukee, but that’s no excuse for not having a solution to the rampant killings in our city. To the reporter’s credit, he pressed the Mayor by asking him if the “bad” might outweigh the “good,” since homicides and nonfatal shootings are occurring at a record pace this year. Once again, the Mayor has no concise plan or commitment to address the issue, which leaves me to believe his plan is to allow this massacre to continue.
There are those who will compare Milwaukee to other cities by saying homicides are also on the rise elsewhere. This is just a cop-out. We represent this city, and we should care deeply about this city alone. More importantly, this is a part of the Mayor’s standard pattern of comparing Milwaukee to Detroit and other cities with negative economic and social indicators. The pathology of his logic is an attempt to lessen his responsibility, using a faulty comparative analysis to dull the impact of our homicide epidemic.
But the responsibility is his, and he knows it. His insistence on addressing the positives and glossing over the countless tragedies on our streets is a slap to the face of the victims we all read about and the neighborhoods where these crimes occur. You can have a “lock them all up” strategy, Mr. Mayor, but the devastated neighborhoods will continue to suffer in our city of poverty and economic blight. So I will talk about it, I will shout about it and I will get angry about it, because the overwhelming majority of the victims and perpetrators look like me. Yes, it is personal.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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