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UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Push Back: Race, Jobs and the Struggle for Power in the Late Twentieth Century Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5tk0x3c9 Author Baker III, Robert Earl Publication Date 2013 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Push Back: Race, Jobs and the Struggle for Power in the Late Twentieth Century A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History. by Robert Earl Baker III 2013 Copyright by Robert Earl Baker III 2013 ii ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Push Back: Race, Jobs and the Struggle for Power in the Late Twentieth Century by Robert Earl Baker III Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor Scot Brown, Chair In the mid-1960s, the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was at a crossroads. The exploding African American population, combined with the growing strength of the Civil Rights movement, challenged the socially democratic principles on which the city was founded. While the growing black population provided surplus labor for the robust manufacturing sector, the racially restricted housing market helped foster a discriminatory, yet often times "color-blind" political climate, that challenged and undermined the growing political strength of the African American community well into the late 1990s. This dissertation surveys the last 40 years of local public policy and African American activism in Milwaukee to deepen the growing discourse around Michelle Alexander's concept "the New Jim Crow", challenge the notion that effective black activism ended in the 1960s, and to uncover how black activists in the late twentieth century struggled for power. i While today's political discourse is dominated by the debate over cutting the social safety network, in the 1980s and 1990s, the political and business elite in Milwaukee first advanced the ending of AFDC, the growth of the local prison economy, and the development of an anti-youth central business district, to maintain control of the local political narrative, divert resources from public institutions and sustain the racial status quo. Although wrapped in anti-discriminatory rhetoric that frequently avoided mentioning race, the local political narrative hinged on stoking racial fear to justify eliminating social services and public programs and ramping up police presence in black communities. Although many African American organizations and causes were unable to adjust to this multi-pronged barrage of punitive color-blind policy and the subsequent rise of rampant joblessness, a coalition of black leaders led by former black-militant-turned turned-local-bureaucrat Howard Fuller, was able to shift the local political narrative, challenge white-led institutions for public resources and forever alter the public economy by shifting resource allocations in the Milwaukee Public School System. Today, the movement to advance choice and alternative schooling may be perceived as a product of conservative activism, but a deeper analysis of the social and political context in which these movements first took root reveals a much more nuanced, yet radical, brand of black activism that was only made possible by the growing political strength of post-Civil Rights black America. ii The dissertation of Robert Baker III is approved by Tobias Higbie Walter Allen Richard Weiss Scot Brown, Committee Chair University of California Los Angeles 2013 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Glossary of Useful Terms……………………………………………………………….v List of Abbreviations…………………………………………………………………..vii List of Tables……………………………………………………………………….….viii. Acknowledgements……………………………………………….…………………….ix Vita……………………………………………………………………………………..xii 1. Introduction..................................................................................................................1 2. Backdrop: Work, Poverty and Crime..........................................................................43 3. Mayor Frank Zeidler’s Attempts to Build are Thwarted…………………….………68 4. Frontlines: The War on Drugs Exacerbates Tensions……………………………….94 5. Push Back: The rise of “Tough Love” Policies…………………………………….129 6. Opportunity: A Survey of Grassroots Struggle……………….……………………158 7. Howard Fuller and the Future of Black power………………………………;……196 8. Black Milwaukee Revisited .....................................................................................246 10. Bibliography………………………………………………………………………256 iv GLOSSARY of USEFUL TERMS Activist: Community member engaged in the act of improving one’s community through grassroots action Black Power: Historically associated with the Black Nationalist and cultural movements of the 1960s and 1970s, for the purpose of this study, black power means the social, cultural, political and/or economic empowerment of black people Chapter 220: A statewide bill passed in WI in I975 that attempted to end segregation by busing inner city youth to suburban schools Civic Process: Democratic participatory processes, like voting, or legislative advocacy to cause change Color-Blindness: A term developed by Critical Race theorists to describe the trend by politicians, the courts and decision makers to ignore race and the impacts of racism in public settings. Color-blindness has made it difficult to advocate for racial justice. Commandos: Milwaukee’s NAACP Youth Council 1964-1969 Critical Race Theory: Theory promoted by legal scholars who study the impacts of race in the law and politics Justice for Ernest Lacy Coalition: Ernest Lacy, an innocent man, was killed by police in 1981. As a result, a coalition of activists and organizers formed to mobilize the community for justice Mobilize: A term associated with community organizing, usually meaning to take action Movement: Grassroots organizations and individuals working together to advance policy or social changes Neo Liberalism: A trend in local, state and federal government, which sees elected officials privatizing public goods and services Open Housing: Housing that isn’t defined or limited by state-sponsored segregation v Organizer: Community member engaged in mobilizing peers and community members for a specific cause Politics: The struggle for finite resources Political Economy: Historically the term “political economy” has been associated with Marxist theory. For the purpose of this study the term is used to describe monies, jobs, and investments procured from public dollars Power: The ability to influence decision makers to act in one’s best interest. Often demonstrated through mobilizing people or money. Stakeholders: Person or group of people who identify with a specific plan of action or institution vi IMPORTANT ABBREVIATIONS WPA – Work Progress Administration CETA – Comprehensive Employment and Training Act DOC – Department of Corrections MPD – Milwaukee Police Department MUSIC – Milwaukee United School Integration Committee NALC – Negro American Labor Committee NAACP – National Association of Colored People CORE – Congress of Racial Equality MPA – Milwaukee Police Association MTEA – Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association MATC – Milwaukee Area Technical College SDC – Social Development Commission AFDC – Aid for Families with Dependent Children vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Milwaukee African American Population 1900-2000………………………..45 Table 2. Milwaukee Total Violent Crimes 1990-2005……………………………….102 Table 3. Milwaukee Homicide/Murder 1990-2005……………………………….….103 Table 4. & 5. Chicago and Milwaukee murder per 100,000 1980-2005……...……,…105 Table 6. Milwaukee Police Funding Adopted Budget 1986-1992……………………118 Table 7. Milwaukee Violent Crime and Murder by Race 1990-1999…………….…..136 Table 8. Milwaukee African American Population 1970-1990………………….……137 Tables 9, 10 & 11. 1986, 1990, 1994 Gubernatorial Results……………………….….149 Tables 12 & 13. Infant Mortality and Prenatal Care First Trimester 1985-1995………152 Table 14. Milwaukee Low Birthweight 1985-1995………………………………..…..153 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation project almost never happened. In fall 2003, I became an organizer for the Los Angeles Organizing Committee of the National Hip-Hop Political Convention. By the time we got to the national convention, a powerful event held on Rutgers University’s Newark, NJ, campus June 16-19, 2004, I was serving as the California State Chair and spending less time on research. By fall 2004 I was a full-time organizer with the League of Young Voters, a national organization of which I am currently the executive director. Prior to becoming a full-time organizer practitioner, I had begun writing a prospectus focused on “hip-hop as a tool of political resistance,” yet as hip-hop studies were growing on university campuses, and I spent more time organizing, I was having trouble coming up with something unique to offer the academy. I want to thank Professor Scot Brown for helping me find my way, and patiently helping me construct my project. He pushed me to think critically about the role black politics played in the 1980s and 1990s, and, although I started my graduate program a decade ago, he felt it was possible to write a strong history about black power in the late twentieth-century Milwaukee if I started my inquiry by assessing some of the questions brought up by Joe William Trotter’s Black Milwaukee: The Making of the Industrial Proletariat 1915-1945. Although I was worried about the “recency” of the project, and initially resistant because