Posted on 11/18/2005 3:16:29 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Two state legislators want the governor to create a task force to examine why African-Americans are imprisoned at a higher rate in Wisconsin than in any other state, including the states of the Deep South.
Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, and Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, are circulating a memo asking their colleagues to join in a written request to Gov. Jim Doyle.
Black said the idea came up after the Black Commentator published a story in July listing Wisconsin as the worst state to be in for African-Americans.
John Odom, a longtime Madison civil rights activist, brought the article to Black's attention.
The online magazine of commentary found that Wisconsin led the nation in the percentage of African-American residents in prison, at 4.06 percent, compared with 0.35 percent of whites.
Iowa was next with 3.30 percent of African-Americans incarcerated, followed by Texas with 3.29 percent and Oklahoma with 2.98 percent. The remainder of the top 10 ranged from 2.85 percent to 2.75 percent.
African-American residents of Wisconsin were incarcerated at a rate 11.6 times higher than whites, according to the Commentator.
"Tamara and I would like the task force to look at what causes the extremely high incarceration rate, and whether everybody is treated the same when it comes to race in regard to arrest and conviction," Black said. "It is a question of fairness and justice, and a significant concern to the African-American community. We would also like to learn what we can do about it - in education, social services, policing and the criminal justice system."
Grigsby said the article in the Commentator provided a prime opportunity to ask state officials to recognize the issue as a problem and a priority.
"I hope we can get some answers to why some of these things are happening, and some solid recommendations for legislative options that may help to address the problem," she said.
Dan Leistikow, a spokesman for Gov. Jim Doyle, said Doyle will consider their request.
"This is something the governor has been deeply concerned about since his days as attorney general. He has launched significant reforms of the corrections system, including a new focus on prevention and treatment," Leistikow said.
Odom said that though high prison rates for blacks had been known for a while, the Commentator article made it clear that Wisconsin was the worst. He said he appreciated Black's responsiveness when he raised the issue.
"My concern was that there is no reason why our progressive state should have such a dubious designation," Odom said. "My feeling was that a blue ribbon task force or at least legislative hearings could bring together the brightest people who have experience and knowledge who could give us new ideas to bring improvement in helping young people get their education and find gainful employment. Their career path doesn't have to include prison."
Odom said the issue is two-sided: Young African-Americans have to be represented adequately in the criminal justice system, but lots of work also has to be done on education and strong family structures.
The UW-Madison's Center on Wisconsin Strategy "State of Working Wisconsin Update" in 2004 identified "a shocking series of indicators where Wisconsin posts shocking levels of racial disparity, often among the worst in the nation" in areas including poverty, unemployment, education and incarceration."
The COWS update for 2005 found that African-American unemployment rates in Wisconsin in 2004 were 16.4 percent, compared with 4.2 percent for whites.
Pamela Oliver, a professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has already studied the prison issue extensively.
She found that black prison admission rates rose steadily in Wisconsin through the 1990s, while white incarceration rates rose modestly.
"A major source of the rise is increased probation and parole revocations, which rose for both races but more rapidly for blacks," Oliver said on a Web site citing research findings.
"By the late 1990s, most black new prison sentences were for drug offenses. Black sentences for drug offenses rose in the 1990s while sentences for serious crimes declined."
Black said he would like to find out why Minnesota has a dramatically lower incarceration rate.
"The point is that our current situation is not acceptable," he said. "A task force can focus attention on the issue, bring in experts and take a serious factual look at the situation, and develop the political resolve to do something about it."
I guess I'm not yet totally inured to all of this nonsense and all of these endless 9th grade debating techniques that have nothing to do with any of those seemingly trite concepts such as truth or honesty.
Personally? Your rant was the best one I've read all week. :)
And I'm on a roll tonight; look for my posts on illegal aliens and their mischief in my state as well. ;)
It used to be the `progressive' state of Minnesota that had more blacks per population incarceration, from what a head honco at Corrections Corp of America told me years ago.
I totally understand your viewpoint. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Wisconsin Home of the Grand Cheese Whizzer' of the Klue Krock Kolby
WI welfare mom's aren't noted for raising many Eagle scouts.
Maybe its the cheese..
Could it be the liberal (pun most intended) use of the 
?
The REAL question these two [pre-edited by poster] should be asking is, "Why does Wisconsin have a disproportionate number of race pimps, notwithstanding our proximity to Illinois and the Reverend Je$$e?"
"Maybe its the cheese..."
You Cheesebaiter! ;)
PHEW! Thank God, I'm just black.
It's reassuring to know that the COWS are working on this.
(Time for that group to change their name.)
Hey, Ralph! I hope against hope you weren't offended. My concern is more the criminal element in our state, than what color they happen to be. ;)
Not at all, Diana. I fully understand that some people prefer to not follow the rules and it doesn't matter what color they are. OTOH, when the criminal is running down the street in Anytown, WI, and the police ask for a description, it's a whole lot easier to spot the black one :-)
I think it's because Herb Kohl, Russ Feingold, and Jim Doyle are racist.
Well, not actually. But it has about as much credibility as those who call Bush or whatever other Republican a racist, so I don't see why I should stop saying it if they don't.
Good! Because I've really enjoyed discussing issues with you. You live a few hours north of me so I'm not sure what the make-up is in your new home, but where I live is a total mixed bag of colors and nationalities; too many illegals here from other countries because Madison welcomes all illegals with open arms and it really shows now in our local crime rate. But that's another thread for another day... *Rolleyes*
My MIL (Mrs. O'Malley, as I call her) and I were discussing our open borders problem today while we were hitting the Christmas Craft Shows in the area. She thinks America should've locked her doors after the last Irishman got here, LOL!
Isn't it telling that nobody from law enforcement or the prison system ever seems to be interviewed, it's always some quack from one or another once-proud ivy league school. This is an editorial trying to pass as a news story. The purpose is to confuse the public's mind - remember "racial profiling" is by definition unsupportable, but rhetoricians want to conflate virtually any police activity as somehow racist and evidence of systematic bias and abuse, etc. etc. I do agree on some key issues however - but would argue it's not a matter of race but of class.
"Poor" folks are much easier to arrest, I Suppose, because of the situations common to the condition, (Homeless, for example) and they lack the resources to defend themselves subsequent, and it just snowballs over the years. I'm sure everyone agrees that those with financial stake in their local communities and have invested and so on, familial obligations - tend to produce more revenue and are not generally prone to criminality, and cities and states can't stick it to the poor since they don't have any money, and the truly rich have dodges and all sorts of ways around taxes.
I'm not sure of the racial makeup of my town either but I've been here two months and I can count the number of black people I've seen on both hands, without using my thumbs.
we need to be sending our criminals to Massachussetts, California, New York and best of all to New Jersey, home of crime.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.