WUWM: Race & Ethnicity Reporting

The documentary Circles highlights the need for juvenile justice reform — with a focus on one family's story.

The film, which is featured at the Milwaukee Film Festival, follows school counselor Eric Butler. He does restorative justice work with youth in an Oakland school — giving kids that have dealt with the trauma of the system or their environment a safe space to be heard.

A whirlwind of events has surrounded Shorewood High School’s planned production of To Kill A Mockingbird. The superintendent of the Shorewood School District, Bryan Davis, addressed members of the media Wednesday afternoon to confirm that the school would part ways with the idea of putting on the show.

Following pushback for the play’s use of the n-word, it went from being a three-night event, to a one-night showing followed by a community talkback session.

Baseball is considered America’s favorite pastime. It’s always drawn fans to the ballpark for food, beer and fun. It’s no different for fans going to Miller Park, especially since the Milwaukee Brewers’ latest winning streak has revamped Milwaukee's love for baseball and the team. However, most of the fans filling the seats in Major League Baseball, like the players, are predominantly white.

When you think of a family, what comes to mind? Whatever the image — a mother and father with two children, a single parent, or siblings and friends — it can differ across cultures. A new exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum shows how the definition of family varies in the black community.

Hundreds of people came together at new the Fiserv Forum this week to discuss ways to heal the Milwaukee community from the effects of trauma.

The three-day Healing Trauma, Healthy Communities Conference kicked off Wednesday night with a community gathering. 

The sold-out event introduced the audience to what trauma is, its effects, and how to heal going forward.

How important is it for a student to be taught by a teacher of the same race? That's something that's been on the mind of community member Ann Stanton, so she submitted a question to Beats Me — our series that allows you to ask questions about race, education, innovation and the environment.

“What is the ratio of black students to white teachers, and the black teacher makeup in MPS? What impact does that have on student achievement?”

One of the officers who was present at the January tasing and arrest of Sterling Brown of the Milwaukee Bucks has been fired, Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales announced on Thursday.

But it wasn't the officer’s role in the arrest that led to his termination. It was his actions on social media afterward.

Since 2012, the Milwaukee Fellows Initiative has been helping young black men graduate from college, and encouraging them to return to Milwaukee to help strengthen the community afterward. What started as a scholarship program has evolved into a program that helps meet the needs of its fellows throughout their college journey. 

White privilege is a phrase that can be heard in many conversations surrounding social justice issues across the country. Now, it will be the subject of a new stage play coming to Marquette University that opens Labor Day weekend.

Malaina Moore is the mastermind behind the White Privilege stage play. She’s a junior theater major, also working on a minor in social justice and welfare.

Hip-hop has taken over Milwaukee. The popularity surrounding the genre is being used as a way to spark conversations about social issues through the city's inaugural Hip-Hop Week, which kicked off Monday at Miller High Life Theatre downtown.

In addition to performances by artists this week, hip-hop music has been incorporated into a series of events. They focus on things like financial literacy, health and employment opportunities.

The #CLOSEmsdf Coalition is calling for the closure of the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF) downtown.

Members of the campaign say the Wisconsin Department of Corrections facility is violating the human rights of those being held there and is unfairly incarcerating people for crimeless violations of supervision.

Murder in Milwaukee -- that’s the name of a new documentary from the BBC. The documentary chronicles the Milwaukee Police Department as they work to curb gun violence, and looks at the relationship between police and African Americans. But the depiction of Milwaukee as a “lawless” city has angered some community activists.

The late Lloyd Barbee is perhaps best known as the lawyer and state legislator who fought to desegregate Milwaukee’s public schools. A new book lays out just how broad Barbee’s fight for justice was.

Beyond education, Barbee pushed for open housing, women’s rights, and decolonization. He would often sign his letters with the quote - “Justice For All.” And that’s the title of the new book, Justice for All: Selected Writings of Lloyd A. Barbee.

The book is edited by his daughter -- another civil rights attorney -- Daphne Barbee-Wooten.

The 2017 Milwaukee Film Festival kicks off this week. Its centerpiece film takes us into a story familiar to many Milwaukeeans. In 2014 Dontre Hamilton was killed by a police officer in downtown Milwaukee.

The Blood is at the Doorstep, from director Erik Ljung, follows Hamilton’s family as they grieve, heal, and fight for change in their city.

If you were to witness someone being harassed would you know what to do? A group of Milwaukeeans is teaching people how to step in and calm potentially violent situations. 

Bystander intervention training is designed to build confidence so more people feel comfortable confronting racism, homophobia, and other kinds of harassment.

Race and Ethnicity Reporter Aisha Turner sat in on one of these trainings.

On a Friday night at the Riverwest Public House, facilitator Stephanie Roades gathers about 15 people for class: “We're gonna start with a basic warm up.”