I AM THE FORCE

Here we go again.

Attackers sought in driver's beating
'They were having fun,' shocked witness says
By JOHN DIEDRICH and RAQUEL RUTLEDGE
jdiedrich@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Dec. 27, 2005
A 50-year-old Milwaukee man was dragged from a car he was driving and severely beaten Monday night by a group of at least 15 teens and young men after he honked at them to get out of the street they were blocking. They just started stomping on him, beating him. They were having fun, like it was normal, like it was an everyday thing ... I was in shock. Witnesses said the attackers jumped off cars and did flips onto the man's head, laughed and blasted music as if they were having a "block party." The victim, identified by family as Samuel McClain, suffered "severe head trauma" and was in critical condition late Tuesday at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Wauwatosa, a hospital spokesman said.

There is a sick culture in Milwaukee's inner city. Punk kids, almost always black, engaging in cowardly and brutal "wilding" attacks against the weak and defenseless. They killed a mentally disabled man last year, and now we have the latest example of thug life. These kids are despicable, and will hopefully be sent away for a very long time. But that clearly won't solve this problem.

In the movie "Crash", a black man complains about white people on the street being afraid of him. These kids from Milwaukee and others like them are the reason these stereotypical fears have not gone away. And these kids are also a major reason that Milwaukee can't turn the corner into becoming a big city with a bright future. It was almost laughable to see Mayor Barrett calling for an end to the violence. Does anyone think that a Mayor Pratt would have been less ineffectual? No way.

Has Michael McGee, Jr. condemned this attack? What about Leon Young or Spencer Coggs? What has the worthless black leadership of Milwaukee ever done to end this kind of thuggery? Nothing. It's not in their agenda. Their agenda is to keep their cushy and undemanding jobs, and play the race card whenever it's convenient. Real leaders would do something to change those kids. But we have no Bill Cosbys in Milwaukee.

How long will Milwaukee's black community accept the thug life of their children and the bankruptcy of their leaders? The poverty pimps have made their money and reputations on Milwaukee as it is. Will they ever try to do something to eradicate the sickness? I doubt it.

So what is to be done? I don't know. Locking everyone up isn't working. The Boys and Girls Club isn't working. Mayor Barrett and Alderman Hines aren't working. Bill Cosby's preaching isn't working. But he is the only guy that I've heard addressing the real issues. Where are these kids parents? What are those parents' expectations? Where is the personal responsibility?

Maybe I could one day play a role in preventing at least one kid from joining that gang of thugs. I'm not sure what else to do. Their current influences are clearly not doing the job. I don't want the future of Wisconsin's largest city to look like a scene out of "Escape From New York" or "The Road Warrior". And railing against them or locking them up just isn't cutting it. Grown-ups have to find a way to make the thug life unacceptable to these kids, or the racism and violence will never end.

Despicable.