Voices of Sherman Park: Three years later: Faith leaders reflect | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Caroline White
August 16, 2019
We checked in with four faith leaders in the city and asked them their thoughts about the unrest in Sherman Park three years ago.
Name: Bishop Walter Harvey
Ministry: Parklawn Assembly of God
Did the unrest change your church community’s relationship with the neighborhood? If so, how?
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“Yes, the uprising changed our church both personally and corporately. Both myself and our faith community feel blessed by the unfortunate tragedy in that we developed new friendships with people affected by the uprising. I was humbled to help provide bereavement and funeral care for the family of Sylville Smith.”
What were the effects of the unrest on your church community? How have you addressed them?
“Our church community was already an externally focused church but the uprising called us to a deeper focus on being the best church for our community.  We redesigned our youth and adult services, staffing, budget and vision to accomplish this.”
What do you want folks to know about Sherman Park that they may not know? What issues still need to be addressed?
“The neighborhood is experiencing economic flourishing.  Our church’s PRISM Economic Development Corporation is launching Milwaukee’s first ever incubation kitchen for Sherman Park food entrepreneurs. Sherman Park is a place where God is working. We want to join Him in His great work in a great neighborhood.”
Do you think police-community relations have improved since 2016 in Sherman Park?
“Yes, our church partners each week with the 7th District police captain in providing spiritual covering through prayer and community outreach in identified areas where violent crimes have recently occurred.  We have seen a reduction of negative activity in these ‘hot spots.’”
Name: Rev. David Totsky
Ministry: Sherman Park Lutheran Church
Did the unrest change your community’s relationship with the neighborhood? If so, how?
“It really didn’t change our relationship with the neighborhood. It helped bring us closer. I remember the day after the day of the uprising, they had shut down the Burleigh and Sherman intersection that night to avoid any problems, but things just shifted a block south. So when I came in on Monday, we had all kinds of trash and some signs that were not appropriate for display on a church property. I was cleaning up, and some of the neighbors came over and started helping. So as a community, as a neighborhood, we’ve actually in some ways gotten closer. There were some benefits, but there were a lot of negative impacts as well.”
What were the effects of the unrest to your church community? How have you addressed them?
“It really did not directly impact the church community because it wasn’t a religious or theological type thing. As we reached out to the community, it did bring the neighbors closer. Many of the members of the congregation do not live in the neighborhood. The congregation itself is 95-years-old. So I’ve got members who are still coming in from the suburbs: the kids, grandkids and great-grandkids of the founding members. There’s been some impact but not a whole lot.”
“We’ve kept things going. When others suggested we stop our evening services, we kept them going. Because if there’s a time for the church to be here, that was it. That was very important for us– we didn’t limit or curtail any of our activities. The uprising itself was a Saturday night, and I had phone calls that Sunday morning asking if we would still have a service. I said ‘Of course we are.’”
What do you want folks to know about Sherman Park that they may not know? What issues still need to be addressed?
“That as we said right from the beginning, much of the uprising, much of the disturbance, was not the Sherman Park community. It was people from outside of the area. The people who actually live here were not real pleased with the way it was being portrayed; that the Sherman Park community was up in arms when it wasn’t. It was people from outside and that was very evident. The second night of the disturbance, when we started having the yard signs that had been printed out–that had been professionally done–that was not the Sherman Park community. By and large, the Sherman Park community is a very strong, very good group of people. It was just your typical summer. It was hot. Tensions had been brewing, and that incident served as a spark that got things going. People from all over came. People in the community said they’d never seen so many Illinois license plates and out-of-state plates in the area. It wasn’t the Sherman Park community, and we were very dismayed by what was happening. That’s not what this community is like, it’s not what we’re about. It’s still the old, traditional Milwaukee neighborhood where you know the people. After the incident, I was in the community, I was talking to people in the neighborhood and on the street, and by and large many of them were not happy with what was going on. They were very upset when it was portrayed that the Sherman Park community had done this. No, it happened in our community, in our area, but it wasn’t this community.”
Do you think police-community relations have improved since 2016 in Sherman Park?
“Maybe they’ve improved a little bit. I didn’t see them, and people in the area did not see them, as something that was bad. If anything, there’s been more visibility with the police. We’ve got more of them on foot, on bicycle. They’re around. They’re getting to know people. Things have gotten better, but by and large I don’t believe they were bad. Like I said, much of it was from other communities within the area.”
Name: Pastor Jay English
Ministry: Parklawn Assembly of God
Did the unrest change your community’s relationship with the neighborhood? If so, how?
“Yes, it has changed everything.  After the uprising, one of the main things we kept hearing from people outside of the church was “Where have you been?” and “You’ll be gone once the cameras leave.”  It forced us to look at everything we were doing as a church and to start being intentional about spending more time serving the community as compared to just praying for it.”
What were the effects of the unrest to your church community? How have you addressed them?
“One of the primary effects was our realizing that our church had not been addressing many of the main issues that led to the uprising in the first place.  Things like economic development, personal and career education and police-community relations.  We have begun addressing these things through our Upstart Kitchen Initiative for food entrepreneurs, our YTH Evolution Community Outreach for youths 12-18 years of age and partnering with Milwaukee police to provide listening circles and panel discussions between community residents and local police officers.”
What do you want folks to know about Sherman Park that they may not know? What issues still need to be addressed?
“I would want them to know that the people of Sherman Park are absolutely amazing.  An overwhelming majority of them are amazing, hard-working people who are doing what they need to do on a day-to-day basis to bring their dreams into reality.  People here are incredibly friendly, willing to help others and are absolutely open to building authentic relationships.  So don’t believe everything the television tells you about the Sherman Park area.”
Do you think police-community relations have improved since 2016 in Sherman Park?
“In my honest opinion, it hasn’t improved enough.  There are simply not enough opportunities for people (specifically youth and young adults) to interact with officers in an organic environment that would allow both sides to see each other as real people with families and dreams of their own.  The truth is that today’s generation doesn’t necessarily respect seniority, titles, badges and uniforms the way these things have been respected in the past.  Today, this generation’s level of respect rises in direct correlation with the quality of the personal relationship that has been built.  Until we address that issue, we’ll never get things to where they need to be on both sides of the equation.”
Name: Venice Williams
Ministry:  Alice’s Garden (Williams calls herself a cultural and spiritual midwife. She’s celebrating 30 years serving Milwaukee.)
Did the events and aftermath change your relationship or feelings about the neighborhood? If so, how? (
“The answer is ‘no.’ As I stated right after this happened, the very next day within the first 12 hours, anyone who did not see this coming was not paying attention and did not know the community and was not truly vested in the community. Maybe the answer isn’t no. I think, if anything, after the events of that particular weekend happened, it just made me want to continue to do the work I had been doing in the city for 27 years, even more so: In particular, to reach out to young adults more. My history in this city is one of youth and family ministry, and that has been good, impactful work. So I take my original answer back, it didn’t change how I saw the community, but it made me focus more on creating pathways for young adults.”
What were the effects of the unrest on the community? Have you played a role in the healing process?
“I think some eyes that had been closed were opened. I think how folks’ eyes were opened is that there had been a perception that our young people were complacent, that our young people were OK with accepting things as they were. I think there was a misconception that our young people did not see a bigger picture and did not want more equity and opportunity within their communities, within their schools and in how they were treated. That was an eye-opening moment in time for some older adults who just were not paying close enough attention. For my work, for me and what followed, it just became even more important for me to continue to listen to the voices within the community. To continue to listen to young folks in particular, who were feeling dismissed or left out or devalued, whose presence and opinions and views of what a healthier, more liberated Milwaukee weren’t being heard fully. For me, it became even more important to not just provide job opportunity and garden space and conversations to address these things but to really sit with young adults and create a couple of different things that would amplify their voices and amplify their journeys. One of those things being the cry for life-giving work-work that we can be engaged in and proud of.”
What do you want folks to know about Sherman Park that they may not know? What issues still need to be addressed?
“One of the things that continues to be important is that there is no one image of who a Sherman Park resident is. Sherman Park represents a continued diverse Milwaukee over multiple generations. The reason I say that is there is a time when Sherman Park was held up as one of the most integrated neighborhoods in Milwaukee. That was a badge of honor that was really being worn in Milwaukee. Integration does not mean that you’ve addressed the issue of the people. Integration does not mean you’ve addressed racism. There’s not a monolithic community. We need to be careful. There are some things we can learn, not just from the events three years ago, but in how the Sherman Park area was birthed in its whole. That’s that simply bringing people of different ethnic or racial backgrounds together doesn’t mean that you’ve addressed the deep issues that a community needs to address.”
Do you think police-community relations have improved since 2016 in Sherman Park?
“I don’t know. My honest answer is I don’t know. I do know that when I go into the Sherman Phoenix, it’s rare that a police officer is not there. Buying ice cream, a spring roll or something. I know that that venue has created a place for the opportunity for communication and interaction. That’s where I’ve seen the more interaction. I live on the edge of Sherman Park, so I’m not sure what bridges were created, built crossed as far as the community right after that. I do know that the Sherman Phoenix has become a bridge. You can enter and see police officers and community members. They can see each other in all of our humanity and maybe reach some common ground, which is that we need to eat or we like ice cream. Also, I see police officers having conversations with families and small kids, so that is where I’ve seen bridges crossed the most.”
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