Love Milwaukee
DON’T TAKE THE BAIT
It’s July in Wisconsin, which means a few things: trips to the lake, weekend festivals, and fighting off mosquitoes. And for people in Milwaukee, it means the annual replaying of a tired but persistent narrative about our city.
If you live in Milwaukee, you know what we’re talking about. If you don’t, you might have heard (or maybe have even repeated yourself!) that the city is nothing but danger and despair. But you probably didn’t hear how the Milwaukee residents unite and stand together to keep each other safe in times of distress. You probably don’t know about all the people working every day, not just to respond to tragedy, but to prevent it.
Just like anywhere else, Milwaukee has issues and work to do (as is the case in most densely populated areas, it needs to be invested in and not starved of resources). But we must acknowledge and reckon with heartbreaking violence without reducing the home of 561,000 of our fellow Wisconsinites to a narrow-minded cliche.
Some Historical Background
Milwaukee generates a disproportionate share of Wisconsin’s tax revenue (you can view revenue and expenditure data for every municipality since 2001 here), and yet for decades, the state has returned only a fraction of that revenue to the city, redirecting the rest to statewide services and rural infrastructure. As Noria Doyle so clearly put it earlier this year, “the political climate pits these interests against each other, fueling a sense that every dollar sent to Milwaukee is a dollar lost in rural counties, and vice versa. This is a false dichotomy, yet it thrives because it plays well in soundbites and campaign mailers.” This truth is masked by racist rhetoric that blames Milwaukee for its budget gaps and public safety challenges, while ignoring the structural barriers imposed by the state legislature for over a century. As the state’s only ”first-class” city, Milwaukee is the only city that has many state-set restrictive mandates and frozen revenue-sharing formulas.
“The political climate pits these interests against each other, fueling a sense that every dollar sent to Milwaukee is a dollar lost in rural counties, and vice versa. This is a false dichotomy, yet it thrives because it plays well in soundbites and campaign mailers.”
Rather than being a fiscal burden, Milwaukee has functioned more like Wisconsin’s economic donor, forced to do more with less, even as its residents endure underinvestment in schools, housing, and healthcare. And with the passage of Act 12, which changed the way tax revenue gets redistributed, 2.5 million Wisconsinites are now forced to spend their municipal sales taxes not on things they need, like new roads or clean parks or more bus routes, but on jails and police– which are reactive systems to crime but do nothing to prevent it in the first place.
Breaking Down the “Urban-Rural Divide”
We’ve heard about the “urban-rural divide” for decades… but guess what: it’s a false narrative that’s been used to justify policies that hurt everyone. While there are indeed some socio-econ-political trends that this narrative stems from, those nuances have been hijacked and exploited by policymakers to propel a divisive narrative that pits us against each other, furthers misconceptions about both rural and urban economies and people, and allows them to avoid accountability for the harm that they cause to us.
The Brookings Institute has an informative breakdown of this false narrative, the wrong assumptions it relies on, and the harm it causes. We encourage you to read it thoroughly. “Prioritizing calls to ‘heal’ the rural-urban divide conceals the real divide of American racism, acts as if there are no working-class Black and brown people living in small towns, and furthers the unstated assumption that the country can’t heal if white Americans aren’t accommodated first.”
Narrative Example
In Milwaukee, we believe in the power of each other. We are teachers, bus drivers, nurses, retail workers, students, faith leaders, caregivers, and more. We are a community that cares for one another.
Milwaukee also struggles with the expected and intended result of a state legislature that has starved it of resources for decades- an increase in violence rooted in despair.
We all deserve policies and programs that help people from Milwaukee to Menomonie, from Hudson to Omro. We know that all Wisconsin families-- including in Milwaukee-- deserve wages that can put food on the table and pay the bills. We know we deserve to be able to go to the doctor when we need care, have our mental health needs met, and move through our streets without fear.
We believe in Milwaukee because we believe in Wisconsin. And we are committed to building a thriving place to live, no matter what city, town, or village we call home.
Remember…
Just like any strong community, Milwaukee shows up for each other. Milwaukee is no different than any other Wisconsin town with hard-working folks who want the best for their families. Any narrative that tries to pit the rest of Wisconsin against Milwaukee is one that is working against us all.
DOs and DON’Ts
DON’Ts
Silo each event/attack or make the elected officials (Judge, Governor) the sole targets.
Focus on the process by saying arresting elected officials is “unacceptable”- it undermines the concept that no one is above the law.
Repeat the regime’s framing - “rule of law” is not mobilizing and risks muddying the conversation with both sides claiming to be for the same concept.
DOs
Create a broader story with your audience and the desired agents of change as the protagonists: this is an attack on Wisconsinites.
Focus on outcomes by calling this an attack on our freedoms.
Call for justice and demand to move forward!
EVERGREEN GUIDANCE
LEAD with shared values — such as community, safety, prosperity, equity, justice, or fairness — in a way that names race and class while bringing people together.
FOCUS on the creation of good — delivering jobs and healthcare, funding schools and communities, creating a process where every Wisconsinite can safely and freely cast our ballot, etc. — tangible positive outcomes, rather than the amelioration of harm (e.g., “provide for every child so they can achieve their dreams” instead of “fix our broken system”)
CAST ‘we the people,’ everyday Wisconsinites, as protagonists: Only by acting together can we move Wisconsin forward — in contrast to how our opposition is trying to hold us back. We turned out in record numbers to elect leaders to care for us and act in our interests. We pulled together throughout this pandemic to deliver meals, support neighborhood businesses, support our kids and care for loved ones. That’s why it’s so important that we bring our neighbors and communities into the story as its main actors and as active agents who can and will change the outcome.
CHARACTERIZE the opposition: Who is violating our values? How are they doing it? What is their motivation? What role does race play? These are all questions we need to answer clearly (without jargon!) in our messaging.
DEFINE + DELIVER: define this moment as a pivotal crossroads and deliver a positive, inspirational vision for the future we will create together for a Wisconsin where we all can thrive. We believe that we will win.
AVOID the opposition frame (e.g., crime, riots, government waste, freeloaders) and PIVOT to our frames of freedom, safety, community, etc. They want us to use their language- even if it’s a lie- so the narrative fights stay in their frame of fear.
DO NOT REPEAT accusations, even to refute them. (e.g., do not say “crime is....”)
AVOID the 'recipe': as always, say the brownie, not the recipe. The freedom to vote, rather than the abstraction of democracy. The ability to see a doctor when we need it, rather than simply saying expand healthcare.
DO NOT start with or get stuck in despair: people know something is wrong already. The job of a good narrative is to remember that we are not in a facts fight– we know the truth is on our side already (and if facts were all we needed, we would already have the world we want). Our job is to pull people out of despair and into a shared feeling of hope and potential.