“*You as students and this institution have a lot of work to do regarding how to we change the policies, practices and mindsets of what is happening today.*”
-Tony Baez, president of the Council for the Spanish Speaking

The Tenth Annual Carter G. Woodson Week series on Race and Violence in the United States continued Tuesday night in the Fireside Lounge, where five panelists with different ethnic backgrounds came together to speak on racial violence.

Tony Baez, president of the Council for the Spanish Speaking, began the night by stating how Milwaukee is a city in crisis. “This is a city that is extremely segregated, separated by many barriers,” Baez said, “Race is always an issue.”

Speakers of the forum got a chance to share their own personal experiences and views on how racial violence is such an important issue.

Biko Baker, a graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said that one of the problems with the African-American community is that African-American leaders and people have lost moral authority not only in the city, but in the country. Baker spoke of how the government used strategic attempts to undermine the African-American community.

Baker pointed to an example that directly affected where he lives on 7th and Walnut. “This was the hot spot for young African Americans to go to, but if you have ever been on 7th and Walnut, what’s there?” Baker said, “A freeway in the heart of the cultural district, the glue of the African American district.”

Since then, Baker went on to say that the economic base for African-Americans in the city has been taken out from underneath them because of industrialization and a shifting of the U.S. economy over the past 20 years.

“African-Americans haven’t been able to compete in the economy here,” Baker said, “In the city right now there’s up to 50% unemployment for African-American males.”

Mushir Hassan, from the Islamic Society of Milwaukee believes that most fear of violence centers on the fear of the unknown. “These fears are heightened since Sept. 11,” Hassan said about the Muslim community.

“When people find out I’m Muslim they ask, where’s your gun, where’s your bomb?” Hassan said.

Ultimate fear and ignorance about those who are different Hassan believes is what drives hate.

“Education and interaction can help reduce fears and anxiety,” Hassan said.

Paul Rivas, UWM teacher in the History Department, took a look at how the Internet is opening a whole new world of hate groups. “Marketing is what the Internet is all about and the hate groups have gotten into that,” Rivas said.

The Internet provides ways to introduce people to hate in less visible ways.

“Two websites I have gone to have (a game) where players hit the Mexican immigrant and get points,” said Rivas.

Baez believes that we need to educate the youth to reduce the racial violence in Milwaukee.

“More then 50% of violence in the Milwaukee Public Schools is created by teachers, not children,” Baez said, “They are teachers that don’t know what to do about young people of color.”

Baez ended on the note that our community has a lot we need to change.

“You as students and this institution have a lot of work to do regarding how to we change the policies, practices and mindsets of what is happening today,” Baez said.

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