Governor Walker Says Wisconsin Is Moving Forward; but for Who? 

January 24, 2018

Governor Walker’s State of the State address touted what he considered to be several victories for Wisconsin during his time in office. Unfortunately, Black Milwaukee is making history for all the wrong reasons. 

Walker mentioned that Wisconsin is number one in cheese, cranberries, and ginseng. He conveniently excluded another number one: Wisconsin is rated the worst place to raise a Black child in the nation.  

Governor Walker also mentioned that the unemployment rate dropped to 3% under his watch. While that may be true statewide, it glosses over the fact that an analysis released in 2015 revels the unemployment rate for Black Wisconsinites is nearly 20%. The figure is even higher for residents living in Milwaukee's 53206 zip code, which also has the highest rates of incarceration in the country (another history making statistic). 

Walker continues to erase Black people from the narrative by refusing to talk about the lead that’s poisoning our water or mention the atrocities committed at Lincoln Hill where so many of our children were incarcerated. 

Walker refuses to acknowledge, through both his words and actions, the real issues that Black residents deal with on a daily basis. Wisconsin needs a governor who sees the beauty of Milwaukee and is ready to invest in making sure our neighborhoods have what they need to thrive. We will not forget this when we head to the polls in November.

###