50 years ago more than 100 members of the Milwaukee Youth Council of the NAACP marched north up the 16th street viaduct in Milwaukee where they met 100 more protesters. They gathered to speak out against local practices preventing people of color from buying or building homes or moving into primarily white areas.
These protests followed a half-decade of civil disobedience speaking out against unfair voting laws, segregation and the war. Sit-ins, marches and other forms of peaceful became wildly popular and necessary tactics to give those living on the margins a voice. This weekend impromptu protests broke out after President Donald Trump signed an executive order many are calling a “Muslim ban.” At the same time people gathered in Washington to speak out against abortion. Last weekend men and women marched in hundreds of cities across the country to speak out against Donald Trump’s rhetoric and stand up for women’s rights. As one clever sign put it, “Protest is the new brunch.” There are undeniable parallels between the time 50 years ago when Father James Groppi led the fair housing march in Milwaukee and today. To name a few: oppressors who won’t acknowledge the existence of oppression, massive demonstrations speaking out against leadership, a leader trying to cut down the press and a nation where blatant, unabashed racism has few consequences. In my journalism capstone course this semester we’re trying to create a data-based project relating to the 1967 March on Milwaukee. There are two stories I’d like to look into. First, I’m curious about protest culture. It feels like protests are “in” right now, like they were 50 years ago. Does the amount of protest in our nation ebb and flow like the economy? Is there a pattern to protest or is it all simply reactionary? Has social media motivated people to protest more often? Some of these questions are probably far too large for me to find an answer to this semester, but these are the things I’m wondering about. Second, Father Groppi was a white man leading the charge for black people. Is this common? If so, why? Did it used to be more common? Could that kind of thing happen today? What is the influence of white people on organizations like Black Lives Matter? What is the role for white people there? Some of these questions might be easier to do my own research for. Getting in contact with BLM would be easy enough, but some of these questions are far more qualitative than quantitative. I’m interested to see where this project goes and what we do with it. It’s entirely possible neither of the topics discussed here will be covered, so check back later to see what direction we take the project.
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AboutOn this page you can find blog posts about my adventures in journalism, ponderings about projects, experiences with storytelling tools and updates on what I'm working on. Archives
February 2017
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