Census Says Milwaukee Is #1 (In Segregation)

An article up at Salon.com shows that Milwaukee has won the ignominious title of being the most segregated city in America. Yes, even more segregated than Chicago which is #3 in the list behind New York City.





"Most of our history is very similar to Chicago, Cleveland or even Baltimore," says Marc Levine, professor of history and economic development at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. "Every place has had the zoning ordinances, then restrictive covenants, the practices of realtors. The standard history. What makes Milwaukee a little bit different than these other places, which explains why we're consistently in the top five and often No. 1, in segregation? We have the lowest rate of African-American suburbanization of any of these larger cities."

If you're wondering if this can somehow, some way, be blamed on union-busting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the answer is yes. Walker took the lead in a campaign against public transit to connect the suburbs to the city during his time as county executive. He thought the funds would be better spent on highways.

"There is virulent opposition in these exurban counties to any kind of regional transit system, particularly a regional rail system. There have been proposals over the years, but they're always DOA," says Levine. "Governor Walker's big issue as state representative and county executive was 'Over my dead body light rail,' and he fought with Milwaukee's mayor over funds for regional rail. He very much represents that suburban and exurban base."

I say we nuke Waukesha County from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

This is really dispiriting news. The Chicago Reader had an article in February about racial segregation there that included this bit which applies equally well to Milwaukee:

But perhaps the greatest evil of racial segregation is how it concentrates the poverty of blacks, as Massey and others have shown. Because of historical—and some continuing—discrimination, blacks are more likely to be poor. When this is combined with segregation, it means blacks are far more likely than any other group to live in concentrated poverty. It's hard to be poor; it's much harder to be poor and surrounded by poverty and all the harmful cultural norms and behavior, such as crime, that accompany it. It's a kind of poverty whites rarely experience, and one tough to escape.

Remember: Last year Milwaukee was shown to be the 4th poorest city in the nation. How is it going to move beyond its Rust Belt status with such an albatross around its neck? When Milwaukee does well, our whole state benefits. When Milwaukee is in decline, the whole state suffers. The article above at the Chicago Reader is not only about segregation there but also about attempts to deal with it. Is anyone from Milwaukee reading this who could enlighten me about how much of an issue it is there? Do local politicos pay any lip service to it?

The poverty rate in Madison is increasing as well although we're a long way from Milwaukee in terms of segregation and sheer numbers of people.

There are times when it seems like our state's politicians and business leaders see Wisconsin's way forward as simply being more biotech jobs. That's our in to global economy. But they speak about the growth of poverty and all of its attendant issues all-too infrequently.

Since I mentioned Madison, I'll note that the census says we're up to 233,209 people. We're by no means a metropolis but that's about 42,000 more than when I moved here. And there's less of us white folks by percentage. I think that when I came here Madison was something like 84% white. Today it's 78.9%. Again, we're still very alabaster but we are much more brown than before. The largest minority is Asian at 7.4% followed by blacks at 7.3%. Latinos are right behind being 6.8% of our population.

And have you seen what happened to Detroit? The census is saying that the city's population stands at 713,777, a loss of over 237,000 from 2000. To add insult to injury, it was listed as the poorest city in America in those same rankings above that had Milwaukee at #4. That line from Kentucky Fried Movie is a lot more threatening these days.