Roy Evans, a lifelong resident of Milwaukee, practicing attorney and advocate on issues related to the rights and responsibilities of African-Americans, decries the garbage-strewn streets and uncivil behavior that he sees in the black community.
I love my community but, sometimes it “makes me wanna holler.”
I was surprised by the positive feedback I got from a previous article I wrote for the Milwaukee Community Journal on Dec. 13, 2017, entitled “Milwaukee’s Black Community: Where Is The Civility?”
I am always thankful that we are able to communicate with other people with whom we can share our thoughts and opinions. The Milwaukee Neighborhood News is a consistent forum and catalyst for community expression and dialogue and for that I think we should all be grateful.
“Makes Me Wanna Holler” is the title of a book (1996) written by Nathan McCall about his life’s journey of poverty, crime, imprisonment and redemption in measuring the value of life and purpose. He expressed frustration with trying to counsel young wannabe gangsters to establish values beyond themselves and to see themselves as part of a community of people that had pride and hope. But it’s hard to talk to someone who does not think beyond their own situation or value the importance of community. Sometimes I know exactly how he feels and it also “makes me wanna holler.”
My grandmother, a wise woman, once told me that “you should never hate another person, but it’s OK to hate what they do.” I find it a struggle sometimes to separate my hate for what people do from the fact of who they are. (To my grandmother, I apologize and ask forgiveness for this transgression.)
As I travel the streets of Milwaukee every day, now that the flowers and plants are in bloom, I look forward to getting out and enjoying the sights and sounds of my community. However, I am in total shock and filled with a profound sadness to witness streets full of trash and garbage laying on every corner and decorating every fence line. Yards with wind blown plastic bags and candy wrappers reminds me of the uncaring nature of our uncivility towards our community as well as towards each other. I see not only potato chip bags and blunt wrappers but discarded fast-food containers along with beer cans and soda bottles and other items that we should deem hazardous to our health.
Why has this phenomenon become so normal? Should it be acceptable as a community norm? This behavior demonstrates, to me, hatred towards one’s collective responsibility to have pride and take care of common community spaces. It makes me wanna holler when I see people, young and old, discard garbage and trash on the streets as if it were against the law to put it in the many available garbage containers that line our streets and alleys.
What is the mindset that causes people to do this? When traveling outside my community I curiously witness much less trash, if any at all, piled up along my route. So I ask, “Is there a correlation between a conscious effort to keep one’s streets clean and the deliberate unconscious effort to not care about what our streets and community should look like?” For example, some people say I should stop talking about the “old days,” or what I like to call “before the freeway,” but let me ask: In the old days before the freeway would the black community tolerate or accept garbage-strewn streets and the uncivil behaviors that accompany them?
As I can remember, before the freeway there was hardly any trash and certainly no garbage on the streets of Black Milwaukee. People who threw trash and garbage in the streets would be looked upon as “enemies of the community” who’s uncaring behaviors would be denounced as totally unacceptable and a threat to community civility. Back then we did not have as many fast food drive-throughs, corner store junk food disbursement centers and liquor store parking lots that cater to the “meals on wheels” and “party in the car” generation.
I can certainly understand and agree that these are different times, but proclaiming that these are new times and a different generation is no excuse. As youth we were taught to not litter by our parents, teachers and, by example, other adults, so what is the reason for the seemingly uncaring difference in our children and young adults today?
Even though, for many reasons, we live in a community that experiences some of the highest rates of poverty in the country there is NO excuse whatsoever for having a poverty mindset that negatively impacts everybody else in a community that are also struggling with the effects of poverty.
When picking up trash on a daily basis alongside my house and in my yard I am reminded that I should not hate people but that it’s OK to hate the things that they do, and I can assure you that I hate picking up other people’s garbage. Some time ago I gave up using the N-word but when picking up trash, even though I detest its connotation, it’s the only time I allow myself to utter it, under my breath, in order to relieve the stress of picking up other people’s mess.
We can’t go back before the freeway, but the black community will never gain or regain its glory as a vibrant, orderly, productive community until we go back to some of the basic fundamentals of what community is supposed to be like. Community starts with clean streets and a respect for common shared living spaces, which is critical in making our community a civil society and safe place to live. Nevertheless, the plague of trash and garbage strewn about our streets is hard to understand and it “makes me wanna holler.”
GRNDPAKWH says
Forty years ago I was offered a job in Milwaukee. I was impressed with the cleanliness of the city when we came for a visit. I grew up in Chicago and did not want to move to another city strewn with garbage. Sadly, I now envy my old neighborhood in Chicago when I look at the trash on my streets.
Dr. Jennifer Potts says
This article is right on time. I agree with Attorney Evans. At times, there are so many pieces of garbage, dumped articles and senseless litter until it makes many of us want to holler. My community is constantly organizing block cleanups, paying companies and individuals to pick up the trash (Business Improvement District), purchasing and placing garbage cans, as well as being connected to the City of MKE services. Community does start with clean streets and simply picking up your trash and placing it in the proper garbage bin. This is a public health hazard.
Barbara Richards says
I am most stuck by the phrase”before the freeway” in this article. When I moved to MIlwaukee to teach in MPS n the mid eighties I took a continuing ed class on the history of Milwaukee that highlighted this injustice to the black community. I learned that the destruction of the Walnut Street business district was a crushing blow to the Black community. More recently I listen to Reggie Jackson tell the narrative of red lining and covenant housing and the blocking of the rise of the black community to middle class and beyond. We cannot blame individuals or a whole community that is systemically held down. We can act to change the systemic blocks and to Pick Up the Trash! The trash that lingers unheeded in our hearts and minds creates a fear that blocks this transformation of our community.
Dr. Jennifer Potts says
Barbara,
I agree with you, we must pick up the trash. It is an ongoing job, however, it is necessary.
Jp
roy evans says
I was born in Milwaukee in 1947 and lived in the heart of Bronzville (13th & Vine) for over 18 years. We were segregated back then but had a strong sense of community and self pride. When black Power started to assert itself in the early 60’s the freeway was built, on purpose, right through the heart of Bronzville in order to break up the black community infrastructure for all practical purposes. Our institutions were destroyed, (except for churches) including the Public School system, and the voids were filled with new comers who never experienced the power and unity of the black community in Milwaukee. There are reasons that Milwaukee is rated one of the worst cities in America for blacks to live that I think are worthy of discussion. After the freeway has had devastating consequences for Black Milwaukee. We can not change things unless we fully understand why conditions came to be and how they have influenced the way we currently are. We can not go forward without looking back.
blurondo says
Thank you for focusing our attention on a issue that has troubled me for a long time. Being a Milwaukee resident for over 70 years I am deeply saddened by what I see when traveling through some neighborhoods.
I have always believed that Milwaukee, all of it, is my city and I want to be proud of it wherever I go.
Perhaps this behaviour is going to be corrected when it is part of the rearing of a young child.
Denise Wooten says
Finally I have a comrade in arms on the issue of blight and trash. Thank you Attorney Evans for bringing this plague on our community to light. I have often wondered why the deliberate littering comes to a screeching halt at 60th and Burleigh as I drive west. Upon tracing the same route east the streets appear as a dumping ground recepticle for all kinds of waste. Is it a mental or perceptive reaction that the individual feels about the different communities? I have witnessed full bags of fast food litter flung from car windows in neighborhoods east of 60th Street that seem to remain inside vehicles while the driver and/or passengers departed Wauwatosa and other surrounding villages. It seems that the perpetrators deem streets they do not live on as filth zones where the residents do not care about health or safety. I live on 14th and Ring where I know this assumption is not true. We also are tired of disposing and clearing away trash, broken glass, beverage containers that are thrown from cars speeding through our streets. I often wish I could track license plate numbers where I could return these unwanted deposits, but then that would make me no better than those who think so little of the well being of others IJS
Steve Hipp says
You hit the spot attorney Evans! I run a business right in the heart of the Northwest Side and I have to call the city about twice a week to clean up trash, tires, furniture, etc. What a waste of taxpayer dollars when there is a self-help center right up the street. I also witness just random fast food trash thrown out the car window. Too bad the respect for the neighborhood is so low. I look forward to continue to spend money on our business property to make it look as nice as possible and hope it rubs off.
P. Reichmann says
I couldn’t agree more with these statements regarding the problem of litter. (The incivility issue I cannot claim to know much about except perhaps when it comes to blasting music from cars at night when trying to sleep, the disregard for neighbors when Independence Day comes and people feel they must shoot off fireworks when people are trying to sleep, the practice of stopping in the middle of the road and thereby blocking traffic.) I live near Columbus Park which is frequently littered with fast food containers, liquor bottles, condoms, used disposable diapers despite the ready availability of trash receptacles. I’m no longer as able bodied as I used to be when I would carry a bag with me when walking my dog and would pick up trash. The worst part of this problem, I think, is all the broken glass. My husband and I continue to try to keep our neighborhood clean.
Patricia Mueller says
I walk with a group of women in the morning. My neighborhood is fairly small and each day we pic up all the litter from each street in the neighborhood. It’s epidemic and it is not just the more segregated communities, it is all over. While our litter may not be as bad as some areas it returns every day. Sadly most people no longer have respect for much of anything. I don’t know how to reverse that. I wish I did. But certainly more emphasis needs to be put on some of the basic values we were raised with. Sometimes I think about how, no matter rich or poor, there should be nothing that stops of from cleanliness. We can all afford a broom or simply bending over to pick this stuff up. Be an example. Love this sentence from the article: Community starts with clean streets and a respect for common shared living spaces, which is critical in making our community a civil society and safe place to live. Thank you for speaking up. Thank you attorney Evans.
Tracy Kelly says
Well said, it has gotten so bad, they just throw rubbish out the car window. I wish that families would go back to basics.