{"id":27778,"date":"2018-05-31T15:55:47","date_gmt":"2018-05-31T20:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=27778"},"modified":"2018-05-31T15:55:47","modified_gmt":"2018-05-31T20:55:47","slug":"deconstructing-our-segregated-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2018\/05\/deconstructing-our-segregated-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Deconstructing Our Segregated Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
Black residential segregation as reflected in 2000 Milwaukee Census<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In his commentary on May 24, 2018, \u201cBucks guard Sterling Brown is lucky he wasn\u2019t killed by Milwaukee Police,\u201d<\/em><\/a> Martenzie Johnson\u00a0casually observes that \u201cMilwaukee is one of the most segregated cities in America, is one of the worst cities for black Americans, economically, the worst city for African-American children to grow up in and is home to the zip code with the highest incarceration rate in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

I moved to Milwaukee in 1984 to become a Marquette Lawyer.\u00a0 I took my first law school exam on my 30th birthday \u2013 Torts by Professor James Ghiardi.\u00a0 In May of 1987, like every Marquette lawyer graduating before me and after me, I took the attorney\u2019s oath.\u00a0 I swore to \u201csupport the Constitution of the United States,\u201d the one ordained and established in order to \u201cform a more perfect Union.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0I never left Milwaukee and I am proud to say I am from Milwaukee.\u00a0 Yet I am at a complete loss of words to describe how it is that we, my law school and my fellow Marquette lawyers, go about our busy daily lives virtually unconscious of living in\u00a0\u201cone of the most segregated cities in America.\u201d\u00a0 If you believe you can frame the types of questions that, if answered properly and acted on, will help us deconstruct our segregated Milwaukee, then I strongly encourage you to write and\u00a0to weigh in now.<\/p>\n

In October 2015, I was involved in a three week medical malpractice trial in Outagamie County.\u00a0\u00a0Judge Mark McGinnis was presiding, who is\u00a0one of the best trial judges currently on the bench.\u00a0 I came home Friday to rest and prepare for the final week of trial.\u00a0 A little after 1 am on October 31, 2015 the incessant ring of the telephone\u00a0pulled me from a deep slumber.\u00a0 The voice of a woman said,\u00a0\u201cMr. Thomsen, we tried for 45 minutes, but we couldn\u2019t save your son.\u201d\u00a0 My wife, Grace, sitting up asks:\u00a0 \u201cWhat did they say?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s gone.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cNoooooo\u2026\u201d turned into a mourning howl.\u00a0 It is unforgettable.\u00a0 And so it is that in one\u00a0instant the eye\u00a0of a category 5 hurricane shreds your bed, your son\u2019s mother, your wife, his sister, his fianc\u00e9, his daughter, his uncles, aunts, cousins, grandmothers, friends — my life and theirs too.\u00a0 Judge McGinnis and defense counsel all agreed to a mistrial if I asked for one.\u00a0 I returned to finish the trial.\u00a0 The case had progressed\u00a0and in a way that could not have been replicated.\u00a0 The lawyer’s\u00a0oath is a demanding one.<\/p>\n

Yet somehow in the eye of the hurricane you can find love: the love of my son\u2019s fianc\u00e9, of my now daughter-in-law\u00a0Sydney, and my granddaughter, Sienna.\u00a0 They are proudly biracial.\u00a0 Sydney is considering law school.\u00a0 I suggested that she become a Marquette Lawyer.\u00a0 She said “no” because Milwaukee and Milwaukee County are too segregated.\u00a0 The truth\u00a0hurts so much.<\/p>\n

In this blog on May 1, 2018<\/a>, 3L Andrea Jahimiak commented on the\u00a0pending ACLU lawsuit against the Milwaukee Police Department alleging that its officers routinely conduct unconstitutional stops and frisks motivated by race and ethnicity.\u00a0 Given our own very\u00a0segregated city, is this really a surprise?\u00a0 Andrea closed out her blog entry hopefully noting that the \u201cclass-action lawsuit is forging change\u00a0\u00a0But only time will tell.\u201d\u00a0 I hate to say this Andrea, but time is indifferent.\u00a0 Rather it is what you and I\u00a0fill our time with that makes all the difference.<\/p>\n

I have had the opportunity to handle several civil rights Section 1983 cases since becoming a Marquette lawyer.\u00a0 I have represented too many young African American men injured or killed by racist unlawful conduct.\u00a0 This includes\u00a0Tandy O\u2019Neal, who was\u00a0shot in the back in the course of a SWAT warrant entry into his apartment for a dime bag of marijuana.\u00a0 Tandy O’Neal was\u00a0left paralyzed in the shooting that was called justified by the district attorney\u2019s office, yet in depositions the officers admitted lying in their reports.\u00a0 Other former clients include\u00a0Justin Fields, a young college student, shot in the back and killed over basically a parking incident,\u00a0and more recently 22 year old Adam Trammell, who needed mental health care in May of 2017 but instead was\u00a0tased him at least 15 times by police officers while he was naked in his bathtub.\u00a0 Adam died in their custody<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Time does not<\/em> tell.\u00a0 And it is not just an issue of bad policing or bad police.\u00a0 There are many honorable officers who serve and protect all the people.\u00a0 The central problem is the objective state of our own segregation from each other.\u00a0 So I am asking my law school and fellow Marquette Lawyers to weigh in and to help deconstruct our segregated reality.\u00a0 I want my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter to want to visit Milwaukee and even live in Milwaukee.\u00a0 To feel safe.\u00a0 To feel loved.\u00a0 To be recognized at first glance as fully human.<\/p>\n

Following \u201ca recent incident of racist behavior on campus\u201d this spring, President Lovell and the leadership of\u00a0Marquette University\u00a0claimed<\/a> they were \u201cnot blind to the challenges that our society and Marquette face\u201d and that we all \u201cmust do more\u201d to be inclusive, civil and committed to diversity.\u00a0 If this is what we are now going to do, I suggest the following as the next two steps on the road to the complete deconstruction of our segregated existence and the creation of a new Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

First, in reading the proposed settlement agreement in the class action lawsuit referenced by 3L Andrea Jahimiak, I observed that it called for a consulting firm from Chicago to monitor the MPD.\u00a0 So I am thinking, why is it that Milwaukee and Marquette Law School are incapable of performing such a basic function?\u00a0 Is it that our deliberate indifference to our segregated existence precludes us from even imagining and monitoring a more perfect union, at least in Milwaukee County?<\/p>\n

Why couldn\u2019t Marquette Law School use its convening power, through for example, “On the Issues with Mike Gousha,” to laser focus us in deconstructing our segregated existence. The Racial Justice Program<\/a> in February 2017 was well received.\u00a0 Why not institutionalize the program?\u00a0 Let\u2019s hold two programs each year committed to racial and economic justice.\u00a0 Let\u2019s spend the next 25 years measuring how we deconstruct our segregation and create economic and racial equality and justice in our community.\u00a0 Let\u2019s hold ourselves accountable and measure our progress.<\/p>\n

Second, I humbly suggest the first \u201cissue\u201d we measure is the state of mental illness and the criminal justice system.\u00a0 Dontre Hamilton suffered from mental illness yet he was gunned down and killed\u00a0on April 30, 2014.\u00a0 Adam Trammell needed mental health care but was tased over 15 times naked in his bathtub and died in police custody.\u00a0 Terrill Thomas, who only needed mental health care, died from dehydration in our own county jail.\u00a0 We need to act to stop this!\u00a0 It is not the duty of law enforcement\u00a0to treat the mentally ill, it is our duty.\u00a0 As the Fair and Just Prosecution Mental Health Innovations Site visit (Miami-Dade) Material notes:\u00a0 \u201cPeople with serious mental illness are more likely to be killed by the police;\u201d\u201cJail conditions can be harmful to the mental health of those in custody;\u201d and \u201cjailing people with mental illness poses an enormous financial burden while community mental health services represents a cost-effective alternative.\u201d\u00a0 If the Miami-Dade Criminal Mental Health project can be successful in Florida, it can be successful here.\u00a0 See Decriminalizing Mental Illness \u2013 The Miami Model \u2013 New England Journal of Medicine, 2016.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Marquette Law School has significant convening power.\u00a0 Our County Executive, our County and Municipal governments, our city Mayor and other city elected representatives, our major health care players, our judges, law enforcement, community organizations, and our District Attorney John Chisholm, who is already advocating for this \u201cradical\u201d change, can be called to convene this fall to actually start to solve the\u00a0problem created by\u00a0our\u00a0deliberate segregation.\u00a0 We are planning for a new mental health facility yet the plan does not appear to fully maximize the benefits of a true reboot.\u00a0 St. Joseph\u2019s Hospital serves our African American Community.\u00a0 Yet, its very existence is on life support.\u00a0 If Miami-Dade can do it, i.e<\/em>., create real meaningful changes, why doesn’t Milwaukee?\u00a0 And why don\u2019t we do it now?\u00a0 After all, we took an oath to form a more perfect union.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his commentary on May 24, 2018, \u201cBucks guard Sterling Brown is lucky he wasn\u2019t killed by Milwaukee Police,\u201d Martenzie Johnson\u00a0casually observes that \u201cMilwaukee is one of the most segregated cities in America, is one of the worst cities for black Americans, economically, the worst city for African-American children to grow up in and is 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