Mayfair – Tumult in Wisconsin’s Shrine of Consumption

Much has been written and said about the tumult at the Mayfair Mall on January 2.  Commentators have argued the theft and destruction grew out of, among other things, the general rebelliousness of teenagers, deep-seated racial tensions, and/or colliding urban and suburban subcultures.  All these arguments have validity to them, but the very nature of the Mayfair Mall itself may also have played a role in the disturbances.

Mayfair epitomizes the modern shopping complex.  It has more sales per square foot than any other shopping complex in the metropolitan area.  A staggering 16 million shoppers pass through the mall annually, making Mayfair the busiest mall in all of Wisconsin.  With its flashing signage, swooping escalators, and elaborate display windows, Mayfair is a striking shrine devoted to late capitalism’s excessive consumption.

The central belief at Mayfair and hundreds of comparable shrines is that the purchase of goods and experiences will lead to personal happiness.

Continue ReadingMayfair – Tumult in Wisconsin’s Shrine of Consumption

Wisconsin’s First RNC Chairman

On the seventh ballot of their meeting yesterday, the members of the Republican National Committee elected Wisconsin state party chairman Reince Priebus as their new chairman.  Contrary to some reports, Priebus is not the first national party chairman from Wisconsin.  That designation belongs to Henry Clay Payne, who chaired the RNC for a brief time in 1904.

Payne started his political career in 1872 at the most grassroots level – the Young Men’s Republican Club of Milwaukee County – as a volunteer for President Grant’s reelection campaign.  As a reward for his party service, he was appointed postmaster of Milwaukee in 1876 – this before civil service laws protected such positions from political patronage.  At one point, he told the citizens of Milwaukee, “As long as I am postmaster, I shall employ only Republicans if I can find those that are competent.”   When Democrat Grover Cleveland won the presidency in 1884, he promptly fired Payne as postmaster, labeling him an “offensive partisan.” 

Continue ReadingWisconsin’s First RNC Chairman

Milwaukee’s Residential Segregation – It’s Not Simply Black and White

The Milwaukee metropolitan area is taking what seems to be its annual beating in the media because of its racially segregated housing patterns.  According to a new report from the Brookings Institution based on 2005-09 census data, the City of Milwaukee and the surrounding area including Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha Counties is virtually tied for first  (or last!) with Detroit and New York City for the highest degree of black-white residential segregation.  A second study conducted by John Logan of Brown University ranked Milwaukee second in residential segregation by race to only the New York City metropolitan area.  Newark, Detroit, and Chicago were next on Logan’s list.

To what extent are the troubling rankings and the patterns to which they point truly based on race?  American racism is hardly dead and buried, but in our society race often obscures the equally pernicious workings of socioeconomic class inequality. 

Continue ReadingMilwaukee’s Residential Segregation – It’s Not Simply Black and White