Where’s the outrage?

On Oct. 28, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the BBC program “Murder in Milwaukee,” “has sparked outrage among some residents and prompted an alderman to demand answers from the Milwaukee Police Department.” (“BBC Documentary sparks outrage”).

The BBC program was unquestionably graphic and personal and one’s heart goes out to all those impacted by the horrific gun violence that’s scourging our city.

On several occasions in the documentary Milwaukee’s professionals express both hopelessness for the future and attribute the gun violence epidemic to two major factors — unemployment and poor schools.

It is interesting, and sad, that while there is outrage from elected officials in regard to the documentary, there is almost no outrage in regard to one of the root causes of the problem — the horrific state of education for poor black children in Milwaukee.

Without directly saying so, the documentary had the courage to connect the dots: many poor, African-American children are trapped in failing schools resulting in “lost boys” who go on to murder or be murdered or incarcerated.

Within the last month, the state published the results from the state Forward exam taken in the spring of 2017. The publicly available results show that Milwaukee has six 80/80 schools serving approximately 1,000 students where zero percent of students are proficient in reading. (An 80/80 school is a school serving 80% low-income and 80% African-American students).

There are an additional 13 schools serving 2,600 students where 2% or fewer of the students can read proficiently.

Where is the outrage? What are the community and our elected leaders doing so that today’s children don’t become tomorrow’s murderers?

For a start, let’s celebrate what is working. Milwaukee College Prep, a Milwaukee Public School charter school now operates four exceptional schools serving almost 2,000 children. Last year, all four of its schools earned a five star, “significantly exceeds expectations” rating. If all of our 80/80 schools performed half as well as Milwaukee College Prep, Milwaukee would be a very different place.

The top schools on the 80/80 list of schools include district, charter and voucher schools, with eight of the top 16 spots being filled by Lutheran schools. Let’s not just celebrate these schools but let’s learn from them and encourage them verbally, politically, and with our resources. Let’s publish data so if parents choose to send their children to certain schools, they know if no children in these schools were proficient in reading.

As painful as “Murder in Milwaukee” was to watch, I’m thankful that it shed a clear light on what needs to be done for the killing to stop. Let’s be honest and work together to make a more serious attempt to educate our most vulnerable children. Henry Tyson Superintendent St. Marcus Lutheran School Milwaukee