A Burning City is in Need of Healing

This past weekend marked yet another tipping point in the life of our city.   On Saturday afternoon, August 13th, an armed man was shot by a police officer while fleeing from a traffic stop, prompting a public outcry giving way to mayhem and violence.

Sunday morning brought us the burnt refuse of terse and conflicted community at war with itself.

For two days following a night of rioting, the National Guard moved in to the city to support the police force in maintaining order.


As the smoke has settled on the smoldering refuse of the days, details have  emerged that cause us to look inward at our city and the state of our communities.

The victim, 24 year old Sylville Smith, had a history of criminal offenses placing him at odds with the law.  The gun that was in his possession would turn out to be stolen property, taken unlawfully from a home in Waukesha, along with some 200 rounds of ammunition. Photos would emerge of Smith postulating amongst friends with fire arms.  However, other reports have indicated that Smith had secured a "conceal and carry permit", suggesting that he was within legal rights to carry a gun for the purpose of self defense.  At no time did Smith fire at the apprehending officer.

News broadcasts posted throughout social media of a community feeling betrayed by the police force operating with intent to "serve and protect", while other more inflammatory videos were posted of community members seeming to revel in the destruction of the community.  In one stirring news interview, Smith's pained and grieving father begs for the community to "put down the guns" and drugs that are so frequently implicated in the community's undoing.

One of multiple images that emerged
 of shooting victim, Sylville Smith, in
days following the shooting. 

Burnt refuse of BP gas station.

As usual, all of this gave rise to a polarized, politicized discourse on race, guns and the role of the police, which seems to find no shortage of opportunities to be rehashed over and over again in recent months.

Although what happened this past weekend in Milwaukee cannot be considered independent of a larger national context where the relationship between our nation's police and our black communities is under close examination, Milwaukee has it's own unique history and need areas that factor into this week-end's outcomes.

 All sources seem to agree that Saturday's riots point to great need in the city, but  there is no consensus on exactly what the need is as we face great division on what a solution might entail.  With this being the case, it is no wonder so many of us are left to feel discouraged and helpless against these odds.

But what good can our collective discouragement do for us?  Isn't that what has gotten us into this situation to begin with?   Lives were lost.  Businesses were destroyed.  Buildings and cars were burned.  Yet the real tragedy may be that despite the pricey cost in social collateral and public peace, nothing will have been learned from these audacious events.

We come to point where we as a city must ask ourselves, what is happening with our city?  What is fueling this fire?   What past sins have we inherited from our city's heritage?  What is it that is looms in our present day, above the smoke of crime and poverty and social segregation?   What would healing look like within and between our city's fractured communities?   How precisely did this one one incident on a given Saturday, send us headlong into a night of discord and destruction? What might we learn from the immediate factors that prompted the most recent outburst of disinhibited social destruction?

These are bold but necessary questions that one cannot meaningfully answer in isolation.   Ultimately, our solution to social concerns will need to involve social action.

What role might our churches, schools, and community organizations serve in extinguishing the fires set before us, and with facilitating growth and healing going forward?  How can each of us live out our private lives in a socially conscious manner to affect at deeply sustaining and personal level, the type of shift in living that will promote health social living across levels of society?

In this crisis lies an opportunity.   An opportunity to learn, grow, and improve upon the reality that far too many of us privately simply succumb to.  There is a better future available to us, provided we are courageous enough to envision it and dedicated enough to see it into fruition.

As we move forward in upcoming weeks, hoping to put the last couple days in clearer view, let us take an intentional and deliberate pause, and consider what it is we are each called to do in hopes of promoting a better future for our city.  Professionals, educators, religious leaders, service workers, neighbors, each of us holds a unique role in this city and with forging solutions to our challenges.

Mt. Mary University

Currently, an opportunity exists to come together, in an active inventory of our city's needs.

The Social Living Conference is an annual affair taking place at Mt. Mary University this year on September 23rd and 24th.  The Conference offers a unique format for considering the components of healthy social living, through a considered assembly of presenters from a broad range of expertise and experience.

This year's conference is particularly suited to address our current plight, as we tackle the multifaceted and nuanced relationship between community and healing.

 The conference serves as an opportunity for psychologists, counselors, and social workers to network and gain continuing education on matters pertaining to social betterment and treatment.  However, the conference also allows a chance for community leaders and interested learners to join in, in considering ways we as a city can come together and address the needs that exist beyond the clinical hour, in the shared society that shape the private lives we live.

In upcoming weeks, we will post some of the anticipated highlights of this conference.  Allow this to serve as your official invitation to join in on a conference designed to promote a better tomorrow.

Conference registration has already begun!  Follow this link for details on how you can register to participate in a one of a kind coming together, and stay tuned for more on this blog.  We look forward to having you.

Blogger Ben Rader, PsyD with son Solomon