When I was choosing my research question I asked myself, "What is something I see everyday that I don't want to see anymore?" I thought about high tuition prices and discrimination towards women. Trying to pick between those two, I started gazing off across the room. And then it hit me. During my stare off into space, I counted only three African American students in the class out of twenty white students. And then I did the same for all my other classes. I have zero African American students in my French class, one in my history class, one in my math class, one in my triathlon training class, and one in my speech class. Majority of my classes have around 30 students yet in each of them there are only around 1 African American student. The insanely low numbers were absurd to me! I knew right away that I had to make my topic about it so I constructed my research question to be, "How is the segregation in Milwaukee, WI so prevalent and what is being done to stop it?" 

My personal context for the research project truly stemmed from what I witness in Milwaukee. I grew up in a very blessed family. We were stable financially and we lived in a safe neighborhood. But in that whole neighborhood, only one African American family resided there. I never noticed it when I was little but when I started attending my public elementary and middle schools, I began to realize that majority of our African American students had to be bused in because their parents were unable to drive them to school. These same students usually had clothes that were too small for them, not enough school supplies, and little winter apparel for when the degrees dropped below zero. It confused me so much how my life could be so different from my friend Shante's because I was unaware of the serious segregation in Milwaukee. As I got older I started to feel more and more upset about the injustices within the city. I tried helping out by volunteering for different organizations that focus on the oppressed but it still was not enough because not enough people care about this issue. I am qualified to write about this because I truly want to see a change and the first step for change is educating the people who can help the movement.


The article, "Race and Reality: The scourge of segregation" written by Ray Sanchez focuses on the claims made by the Milwaukee schoolteacher Reginald Jackson. Jackson claims that Milwaukee's isolation has huge impacts on the relationships people have. The isolation comes from cultural and political wars, not welcoming environments, segregated neighborhoods, and the assumption that African Americans are criminals. Jackson's interests are to help desegregate Milwaukee by educating people on the situation. He values Milwaukee and what it has to offer but makes it clear that a change needs to happen. Jackson's credibility was revealed after he recently spoke at Marquette University, a well-regarded university in Milwaukee. Jackson presented his findings in a confident and mature manner, which also added to his credibility. CNN stands as one of the main news outlets for the world, which only affirms their credibility. I think he did a great job by backing up his views on Milwaukee with hard facts to make the article unbiased. 


 The article "No shock, Milwaukee metro area has the worst segregation" by James E. Causey focuses on the segregation in Milwaukee, WI as well. Causey talks about the poor neighborhoods, crime and dropout rates, and hopelessness among African Americans in Milwaukee. Causey angrily addresses the segregation in Milwaukee and what the effects are to that population. His number one interest is to start integrating the city because he thinks that everyone can learn more from others who do not look or think like them. He values the positives that a more inclusive city would offer while pointing out the negatives of a segregated city. Causey regularly writes for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a reliable newspaper for the city. Local credibility is extremely important for my topic because these authors are going to understand the struggles of the African American community the best due to the fact that they see it first hand. Although that verifies the credibility, this piece concludes to be very biased as it is considered an opinion piece. Even though the piece exposes biases, I still think he had great things to say. That being said, Causey's passion throughout the piece and interest to integrate the city reinforces that he is credible when discussing this subject.


The article "Why is Milwaukee So Bad For Black People?" by Kenya Downs from NPR states that Milwaukee, Wisconsin stands as one of the worst places in the country for African Americans to live due to the gap in education, horrifying incarceration rates, and intense segregation. African Americans make up 40 percent of the city's population yet the city has the largest achievement gap between black and white students in the country, it incarcerates the most black men in the country, and is the most segregated city in America. People's successes are at stake due to this problem and Downs attempts to help that by educating people with this article. The author, Kenya Downs, is credible due to her experienced background. She has worked with CBS, ABC News, MSNBC, and currently works for NPR. Downs also focuses mainly on Afro-Latinos and African-Americans, which adds to her already reliable credibility. The article is nonbiased due to her reliable facts and that she includes all the points that show why Milwaukee is bad for African Americans. In other words, she does not shy away from any aspect of this argument but utilizes every example. The data proved to me that her claims were real and relevant. 

This research is undoubtedly arguable because it has been an argument since slavery started. Even though that was years ago, people today still think that it is okay to suppress African Americans and that could be done by just calling them the n-word, which I hear on the daily. These sources show that some citizens of Milwaukee, Wisconsin think that African Americans should stay where they deserve to be or that it is their fault that they are stuck in the vicious cycle of failure. The sources also expose that some citizens think that it is unsafe to start desegregating the city. Although the sources cover different focuses, all the sources agree that the African American community in Milwaukee is being oppressed. For example, recently in Milwaukee, a jewelry store locked their doors on an NBA player because he was African American. That just shows that people are scared and not open to the change. I am glad that I will have different perspectives though because it will make me want to change this problem more! It will be my motivation to prove these people wrong. As of right now I am not going to revise my research question because I like how specific it is but if I were to, I would focus on the school systems for African Americans in Milwaukee because those are a great example of how the city needs to lift these kids up. There are not specific schools for American Americans but since the city is so segregated, there are schools that are mostly African Americans students. I would look into these schools because these schools are behind and less successful than schools with mostly white students.
