Wisconsin is the worst place to be black according to four panelists who referred to a report in Black Commentator magazine at the \Education Not Incarceration"" forum in the Red Gym Tuesday.
The forum, sponsored by UW-Madison's Multi Cultural Student Coalition, called on the Madison community to acknowledge Wisconsin's serious racial issues.
The panelists revealed many statistics they said showed that Madison is not as progressive as it seems. They highlighted a report that Wisconsin leads the nation with 4 percent of its black population incarcerated.
Wisconsin also holds one of the country's highest racial disparities in its prison system, according to UW-Madison sociology professor Pam Oliver. In her studies, Oliver determined Wisconsin's blacks to be 20 times more likely than whites to be incarcerated.
During the discussion, panelists offered their reasoning for what they called shocking statistics. ""Too many people are being hauled off to jail for the wrong reasons,"" said Barbara Golden, a Madison resident and parent.
Golden underlined the frivolity of many arrests. In one example, she cited a five-year-old who was tossed into the back of a police car for throwing a temper tantrum at school.
""We as a community need to nurture our children into adulthood, not turn them over to the police,"" Golden said.
""There is definitely a connection between public schools and incarceration due to the large amount of insubordination,"" Golden said. ""Black kids are under more scrutiny than white kids.""
As a way to combat and overcome that scrutiny, Roberto Rivero, a UW-Madison alumnus with a self-created major on social change and youth, started the Good Life Alliance. As a ""hip-hop educator and MC,"" Rivero runs the after-school program, which serves black and Latino youth with rap and break-dancing workshops that teach kids about hip-hop's history and philosophy.
Rivero engages students in workshops that tap into their culture. Instead of using hip-hop as a way to glorify kids' view that possessions are the key to success, he uses drama, poetry and rap lyrics ""to show the youth that they are smart,"" Rivero said.
Despite innovative efforts like his, 50 percent of Dane County's Latinos and blacks are not graduating high school, according to Rivero. Currently, the amount of money spent on prisons in Wisconsin is about the same as is spent on the UW System, according to MCSC member and UW-Madison senior Josh Healey.
UW-Madison sophomore Alison Horn worked with professor Oliver over the summer. ""I feel like it's important people are aware of problems, even if it doesn't affect them,"" Horn said. ""I see injustice and it pisses me off.\
