MILWAUKEE—Milwaukee’s African community has been the scene of underdevelopment for many years.
The recent global focus on Wisconsin and Milwaukee due to budget cuts enacted by governor Scott Walker is just a small part of a larger problem facing the black community.
Recent reports show black unemployment in Milwaukee holding at 34%, while the U.S. average is 16% for blacks.
For black males the unemployment rate is over 53%.
In 2005, 4416 Africans per 100,000 citizens living in Wisconsin were incarcerated, compared to 415 whites.
Black Infant mortality (calculated per 100,000 live births) during the period 2005-08 was 15.7, compared to 6.4 for white infants.
In the Sherman Park area of Milwaukee alone, infant mortality rates for black children (19.5 per 100,000 live births) are worse than in the Gaza Strip Occupied Palestine (17.71 per 100,00 live births).
These numbers illustrate the systemic underdevelopment of Milwaukee’s African community.
Clearly these problems could not have originated with a governor who has been in office for only seven months.
The All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project (AAPDEP), a non-profit organization of the Uhuru Movement, understands that these problems facing the black community in Milwaukee, as in other places Africans are located, is due to lack of self-determination.
When the black community builds programs to address the issues it faces, this lessens the burdens of budget cuts and reliance on charitable organizations.
Charity undermines the path for self-determination and demoralizes the recipients of such “gifts.”
AAPDEP’s mission is to unite the skills and resources of Africans for the development of Africa and African communities worldwide.
The newly formed Milwaukee AAPDEP branch has been spreading the word about the organization’s national and international work, while strategizing on local work in the Milwaukee community.
We are scheduled to do a neighborhood cleanup in the Park West section of the city, where the median household income is less than $23,000.
Our goal is to reaching out to the people and to scout for land for a community garden.
A community garden has many rich, but simple,benefits: having the African community engage in developing healthy, sustainable food options for the community at large.
Affordable food options are imperative for the well being of the people in this community.
AAPDEP Milwaukee also aims to build programs within the black community, including education, health care workshops and community markets.
We call on black people who are interested in challenging the conditions that we face in the community to help build our interest as a whole.
Let’s unite our skills and actively create the path toward self-determination.
For more information, visit www.developmentforafrica.org.
Contact nate@developmentforafrica.org to get involved in the work locally.
