Posted on Saturday, 2nd August 2008 by Glenn D. Frankovis
I’ve been reading about the financial problems of the Black Holocaust Museum in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and I can’t help but wonder how this happened. In a recent column Eugene Kane writes that this failing is not merely a result of a weak economy but also the result of a lack of support from the black community. “The economy is partly to blame for the closings, but there are other culprits: namely, African-Americans in Milwaukee who regularly complain about the lack of institutions yet fail to support what they do have at the moment.” I agree.
It is written that the cost to sustain the operations of the Black Holocaust Museum would be $125,000 to $175,000 annually. The Journal editorial board concludes their editorial with a telephone number to call if one wishes to make a donation. The fact that the amount needed is small, and that the matter has reached such a point of crisis as to require the attention of the Journal, causes me to wonder why. For example, how much does bling cost a professional athlete and could some of that money be better spent? The state has three major professional teams consisting of how many black athletes? Would it be too much to ask that some, or all, pool their resources to save this Museum? For that matter, if every black family in the Milwaukee metro area gave just one dollar for each member of their household, then the problem would be solved. This is, after all, a cultural museum to preserve a piece of black history.
Posted in Home | Comments (17)
17 Responses to “Whose responsibility is it?”
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August 2nd, 2008 at 10:50 am
Excellent blog post.
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:10 am
There are sources of wealth in Milwaukee’s black community, one that leaps immediately to mind is Bishop Sedgwick Daniels. He owns an estimated $1 million worth of cars, including a 1999 Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph, one of only about 1,500 such cars ever produced. A 2004 Rolls-Royce Phantom, another limited-edition automobile with a base price of $338,000. A 2004 Maybach 62, a 20-foot-long German import that can cost more than $500,000, a $160,000 Mercedes and a Hummer and he was willing to spend $70,000 on a fence around his home in River Hills.
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:11 am
Some REAL good questions! Perhaps not giving is a “cultural thang”.
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:27 am
Frankly, I don’t care about this place. I don’t see why anyone should. There was no “Black” Holocaust on the scale of the Nazi Germany Holocaust, so the name hypes the word beyond meaning.
And there is nothing here to commemorate. Milwaukee was simply not central to Black history, either as a bad place or as a hotbed for reform. This isn’t the place for such a museum, even assuming there should be one. We’re in the minor leagues here. Try Selma.
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:45 am
Comemmorate the riots of 1967? The gallery of alderthugs (though they might have to give equal billing to the WHITE elected crooks)? The Jasmine Owens exhibit? Seems to me there’s plenty of Milwaukee history that has a place in such an exhibit.
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:20 pm
I think every major city should have a Black Holocaust museum. In the museum they could have names of all the poor black men who have been gunned down since we start LBJ’s Great Society. That would number be approximately a quarter million names. The U.S. has had several thousand black on black murders each year since the mid 60′s.
Do the math, that is a true holocaust
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I am so thankful Hegerty bounced you to the curb.
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Lost in the whole mix is the person who started the museum, James Cameron, who has become a martyr of sorts in the city (As evident by the section of street named after him) and the nation as well.
Cameron was with two other people who committed a robbery, and a homicide of an innocent person, James Deeter. Cameron contends that he left prior to the killing. He was later convicted as an accessory to murder, a charge which would be issued as felony murder in Wisconsin. The fact that he was almost hanged prior to a trial by an angry mob is troubling, yet it does not absolve him of his culpability in the murder. He is also someone that is not worthy of of having a street named after him, or deserving of the status as a victim as he had received.
I have been to The Black Holocoust Museum and have personally met and spoken to Cameron. He was very vague about any details about the incident, and minimized his involvement. The historical details of the incident are sketchy at best other than his conviction. It amazes me the star treatment that this convicted murderer has been given nationwide. On this blog, we would call his actions, the actions of a thug.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron_%28activist%29
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Well Mike, one of the really great things about retirement is that I don’t have to ever again stand between a thug and somebody like you.
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Mike Mathias is a crime busting cyber cop!!
One key stroke at a time.
August 2nd, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Well Gus, it’s obvious he’s incapable of rendering an articulate opinion on this topic. Perhaps he will come back and tell us just how much he has contributed to the Black Holocaust Museum.
August 2nd, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Be careful, he might call you Fuzz or Pig.
August 2nd, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Michael, don’t be hatin’.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Michael,
When you can solve this, and the 70% illigitimacy rate.. talk to me..
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/crimoff.htm#lifetime
Based on current rates of first incarceration,
an estimated 32% of black males will enter State or
Federal prison during their lifetime, compared to
17% of Hispanic males and 5.9% of white males.
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:39 am
Here’s an example of a guy who could help: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=779239
Maybe Mathias would rather I lay responsibility on “Big Oil” and their “obscene profits”, but then he’d have to take issue with Eugene Kane (see my link in the original post above) who also seems to be asking where the black community is during this time of need, and in Mathias’ world that would be racist.
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:46 am
Yeah, Glenn, maybe they’ll let him peel it right off his signing bonus “pre-tax” as a charitable contribution. He’ll hardly even miss it.
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:30 am
I would be thankful if Mathias’ Physician gave him the correct doses of psych medicine.