Here & Now

A Struggle to Slow Down Violence in Milwaukee

Frederica Freyberg:

In other news and in a quote ripped from national headlines, “Milwaukee is in the grip of the worst violence in its modern history,” wrote the “LA Times.” Violent crime is on the rise across the country. In Milwaukee, after a mass shooting that killed six people last month, the medical examiner there says the city is on pace to see 300 homicides this year, after a record 197 homicides last year. The Milwaukee Health Department has an Office of Violence Prevention, and in particular, one man serves as the community injury and violence prevention manager for that office. Jamaal Smith joins us now. And thanks very much for being here.

Jamaal Smith:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

So from our comfortable perch here in a studio in Madison, put us in the head of people living in the midst and even perpetrating this violence, why is it escalating at such alarming rates?

Jamaal Smith:

Yes, great question. I think people are not weighing, really, the impact of the pandemic, and how that has physically, mentally, psychologically affected our communities. Prior to the pandemic, Milwaukee was on a four-year historic decline, with even 2018 and 2019 seeing less than 100 homicides. And then now once the COVID pandemic hit, we suddenly saw this astronomical rise in violence. And we saw a number of guns that were in our communities. We saw people who are feeling pain from the pandemic in possession of a weapon that inflicts pain on others, as well as themselves. So when we really look at the impact of violence that’s happening within the city of Milwaukee, it’s really just a reflection of the amount of pain, the anguish, the frustration and anger that exists from the emotional toil of the COVID pandemic as well as a lot of generational and current trauma that many people have experienced. And it’s just been exacerbated throughout this pandemic. So that’s why we’ve unfortunately seen this historic rise within the city of Milwaukee.

Frederica Freyberg:

You speak to trauma as a root cause, and trauma is born of so many factors culminating together: poverty that pervades everything from health to housing to education. How can the health department be everything for everyone? How can you fix violence?

Jamaal Smith:

That’s something that we don’t even approach it as us doing it as an individual entity. We may be the Office of Violence Prevention, but every person in the city of Milwaukee is a part of violence prevention efforts. Whether that’s business executives, MPD or sheriff’s department, resident organizations, community-based organizations, grassroots, policy makers. We are all a part of the violence prevention efforts. That’s why our mission is about bringing together or establishing partnerships with families, communities, youth, and others to really focus on the ways to prevent violence within our communities, right? So it has to be an all hands on deck approach. It’s all encompassing. It’s multi-disciplinary. Everybody is at the table when it comes to violence prevention.

Frederica Freyberg:

Meanwhile we talked earlier in our program about how everything is politicized, including violent crime. Republicans saying Democrats are weak on crime and want to defund police. Democrats saying there should be police reform and that Republicans are weak on social justice. Is there a way to come together on the issue of violent crime?

Jamaal Smith:

There’s a couple ways you could take that. I think the first way is realizing that the United States is 4% of the world’s population yet we make up 25% of the world’s prison population. So we don’t have an issue in terms of incarceration. So there has to be another discussion in terms of how we invest in improving the lives of others, which then helps to also prevent crime from happening. That’s one. But then the other aspect of that is there has to be a collaborative approach to the way we address this. So many times we always focus on who’s right and who’s wrong, versus how do we work together with the aspect of talking about prevention. We need everybody at the table. We need Republicans. We need Democrats. We need police. We need community-based organizations. Everybody has to be at the table to have a discussion about the ways that we do prevention efforts. It cannot be just a one-off or one entity that’s working towards prevention.

Frederica Freyberg:

What is it like for someone like yourself who’s dedicating your life to violence prevention to see the surge in violence in your city and elsewhere?

Jamaal Smith:

It’s maddening. It’s frustrating. And it’s hurtful because not only as someone who works in the office of violence prevention, but as a husband and a father, that concerns me as well in terms of the protection of my wife and my son, in addition to my family members as well as other people in the community. So it’s really understanding the fact that there’s so much pain that’s existing in our city. I think that’s why, to your previous question, having arguments and focusing on this from a political aspect, this is not what we need right now. We really need to create those spaces or focus on developing an ecosystem of collaboration that helps address prevention from a public health lens. And we want to see better in the city. Everybody in the city wants to see better in this city. If that’s the case and we are all concerned about the health and the safety and the sanctity of the city of Milwaukee, then all of us are responsible to see that that happens.

Frederica Freyberg:

We look forward to those forces coming together, and helping people like you and the people of the city and the people of the state of Wisconsin get some resolution to this. Jamaal Smith, thanks very much and thanks for your work.

Jamaal Smith:

Absolutely. Thank you for having me.