Want To Know 吃瓜直播 Racially Motivated Policing? Ask Literally Any Person of Color in Milwaukee
Racial profiling in Milwaukee is as common to Black men as manhood itself.
I鈥檓 a lifelong Milwaukeean and a Black man. Born at the old Mount Sinai, raised in the Rufus King and Sherman Park neighborhoods, I鈥檓 a unicorn 鈥� a Black man between 14 and 40 years old who does not have a felony, misdemeanor, or record of any kind. I鈥檓 the exception to a rule that should have long ceased to exist.
Since 2012, over half of Milwaukee鈥檚 Black men in their 30s are, or have been, locked up. I won鈥檛 go into the horrible details of socioeconomic and political disenfranchisement, but let鈥檚 just say we started from the bottom, and, for a lot of people, we鈥檙e still there.
Being Black in Milwaukee means having the constant specter of police haunting your life.
One night I was carrying takeout pizza to my mom鈥檚 house. They came at me, guns drawn. Mistaken identity they said. Another time I was standing at a bus stop in a white neighborhood on my way to work. There were two white people, also waiting for the bus. The police chose to stop me.
After that, I felt violated and angry. I filed complaints with the mayor, an alderman, and a U.S. senator. Eventually an internal affairs officer called me to follow up. After a brief conversation, she simply asked, 鈥淲ell, wouldn't YOU stop a Black man standing at a bus stop at 6 a.m.?鈥�
If it isn鈥檛 obvious, my answer was 鈥淣o!鈥�
Black and Latino people are magnets for police harassment in this city. Police abuse of people of color here isn鈥檛 imagination. It鈥檚 reality. This has been true for a long time. From 1967 to 2017, not much has changed.
It wasn鈥檛 until I began working for the 吃瓜直播, talking to Black and Latino residents about Milwaukee police, that I realized there were thousands of stories like mine 鈥� stories from the mundane to the maddening to the horrible.
What follows is just a very small portion of what I鈥檝e heard:
A teenager walking home from playing basketball:
鈥淚 saw the cops following in an unmarked (the 鈥榡ump out boys鈥�). They stopped in front of my house and both of them got out of the car. The driver had his hand on his gun but he didn鈥檛 take it out. The cop asked, 鈥楬ow old are you?鈥� I said, 鈥�15.鈥� 鈥榊ou look suspicious. What鈥檚 in the bag?鈥欌��
A young man leaving work:
鈥淭hey stopped me saying 鈥榶ou fit the description of a robbery鈥�. They frisked me (without asking), put me in a squad, ran my name, and let me go.鈥�
A 20-year-old walking home from the park:
鈥淲e were walking to a friend鈥檚 house. The cops drove up and stopped. A bike cop came at us yelling, 鈥楲ay on the ground before I shoot you! 鈥f it鈥檚 more than two of you, we have the right to stop you.鈥� They took out all of my stuff and asked me for ID afterwards. I just finished playing ball, so I didn鈥檛 have it on me. After an hour they uncuffed me, let me out of the squad, gave me a $200-plus ticket for not having ID, then they let me go.鈥�
Over the last two years, I鈥檝e personally interviewed hundreds of people about their interactions with police. Overwhelmingly they tell me the same story of police harassment and intimidation. The evidence I鈥檝e gathered is the basis of the lawsuit the 吃瓜直播 recently filed against the Milwaukee police for its racially biased stop-and-frisk program
What stands out when talking to people is how many Black and Latino folks aren鈥檛 just having one or two stops every few years, as I've had. Some are getting profiled and detained almost weekly. Imagine being stopped multiple times a week by police for no good reason and how it would affect your life and how you go about the world. You鈥檇 begin to feel that some suspect your very existence.
These feelings don鈥檛 disappear because a police spokesperson comes forward and says racial profiling doesn鈥檛 exist in Milwaukee. Black and Latino People here see that statement for what it is.
A lie.
Whatever the Milwaukee Police call it, they鈥檙e engaging in a prejudicial, targeted, and invasive stop-and-frisk policy, focused on Black and Latino communities. These hundreds of thousands of incidents aren鈥檛 just an inconvenience. They have created life-long trauma, job loss, destruction of dignity, and sometimes incite the destruction of life itself. If you doubt that, Google Officers Vagnini, Manney, and Heaggan-Brown.
Milwaukee, it seems, has d茅j脿 vu from another era. Does the Constitution apply to Black and Latino people? Yes it does, and we鈥檙e going to make sure this city finds that out in court.
We either respect everyone鈥檚 rights and humanity, with equity under the law, or allow our city to remain a low-level apartheid state, with the inevitable consequences and upheaval to follow.
Learn More 吃瓜直播 the Issues on This Page
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Press ReleaseJun 2025
Criminal Law Reform
Supreme Court Affirms First Step Act Sentencing Reductions. Explore Press Release.Supreme Court Affirms First Step Act Sentencing Reductions
WASHINGTON 鈥� The Supreme Court ruled today that the sentencing reductions under the First Step Act of 2018 apply to people whose pre-Act sentences are vacated and who are subject to resentencing after the law鈥檚 enactment. The First Step Act was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2018 to reduce the federal prison population, reform extreme sentencing laws, and expand rehabilitation and reentry programs. Among its provisions, the law significantly lowered mandatory minimum sentences for certain federal drug and firearm offenses. Today鈥檚 decision means that people who were originally sentenced prior to the First Step Act but resentenced after the law鈥檚 effective date can benefit from these critical sentencing reforms. 鈥淔or many people facing extreme sentences of 50-plus years, applying the First Step Act can be the difference between dying in prison and having a chance to return home,鈥� said Emma Andersson, deputy director of the 吃瓜直播鈥檚 Criminal Law Reform Project. 鈥淭he First Step Act was a landmark achievement in federal sentencing reform, and this decision ensures that it will mitigate extreme and outdated sentencing laws for more people. The 吃瓜直播 was vocal about supporting the First Step Act when it was passed, and we continue to advocate for the law to be fully implemented as Congress intended.鈥� 鈥淲e hail today鈥檚 decision in Hewitt as a win for the common-sense sentencing reform Congress enacted with the First Step Act,鈥� said Cecillia Wang, national legal director of the 吃瓜直播. 鈥淛ustice Jackson, writing for the majority, speaks with the authority of a federal sentencing expert, and the language and purpose of the statute has always been clear. Individuals who are being resentenced get the benefit of Congress鈥檚 reform.鈥� The 吃瓜直播, 吃瓜直播 of Texas, CATO Institute, Due Process Institute, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and FAMM, working with Covington & Burling, filed an amicus brief in support of the petitioners who sought application of the First Step Act in their cases and resolution of a split in the courts of appeals on the law鈥檚 reach in cases like theirs. The question at issue is of exceptional importance to people facing resentencing, and applying the First Step Act in these cases is consistent with Congress鈥� intent. This case is part of the 吃瓜直播鈥檚 Joan and Irwin Jacobs Supreme Court Docket. The amicus brief can be found here. -
Iowa Supreme CourtJun 2025
Criminal Law Reform
State V. Hidlebaugh. Explore Case.State v. Hidlebaugh
This case asks whether it violates equal protection principles to impose a prison sentence, instead of probation, based on a defendant鈥檚 inability to purchase a house. The 吃瓜直播鈥檚 State Supreme Court Initiative and the 吃瓜直播 of Iowa filed an amicus brief arguing that imposing a harsher sentence based on a criminal defendant鈥檚 inability to purchase a home impinges on the equal protection guarantees in the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and article I, sections 1 and 6 of the Iowa Constitution. -
Michigan Supreme CourtJun 2025
Criminal Law Reform
State V. Fenderson. Explore Case.State v. Fenderson
This case asks whether the government can elicit inculpatory statements from a defendant by giving him misleading information about his rights and applying coercive pressure, then using the statements against him in a criminal case. The 吃瓜直播鈥檚 State Supreme Court Initiative and the 吃瓜直播 of Michigan filed an amicus brief arguing that such actions by the government violate a defendant鈥檚 rights under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and, independently, Article 1, Section 17 of the Michigan Constitution, which affords even broader protections against self-incrimination than the Fifth Amendment. -
TennesseeMay 2025
Criminal Law Reform
Prisoners' Rights
State V. Bishop. Explore Case.State v. Bishop
This case presents two questions: first, whether, under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article I, section 7 of the Tennessee Constitution, Union City Police Department officers possessed probable cause to conduct a warrantless search of the defendant鈥檚 vehicle based exclusively on the alleged odor of cannabis, and second, whether the Court of Appeals had jurisdiction to overturn the defendant鈥檚 conviction. The 吃瓜直播鈥檚 Criminal Reform Legal Project and State Supreme Court Initiative, along with the 吃瓜直播 of Tennessee filed an amicus brief arguing first, that after Tennessee鈥檚 legalization of hemp in 2019, an officer鈥檚 alleged detection of the odor of cannabis is insufficient to establish probable cause to conduct a warrantless search of a vehicle in Tennessee, and second, that the court of appeals improperly held that it lacked jurisdiction to overturn the defendant鈥檚 conviction.