| In the morning, the bathroom smells of used condoms and in the evening sweaty body odors rise from the floor below and the all too frequent smell of feces accompany the movement of young people engaged with each other. Another day, another night. Certain activity is best kept private, but in my experience, sexual activity along with drug activity is far from private, particularly if you are living in Madison while Black and try to do that living live in a building where the majority of tenants or owners (through parents) are young and White. The all-evening and all-evening Bacchus-like revelries go on without notice. The participants are White. They are the ones made to feel safe in knowing they will be protected to live -- like young people -- for soon, when college is over, these young Whites will stand straight again and join the world carved out for them. And so it goes. Another day, another night. Not all young people, White or Black, engage in free exercise of their inhibitions to the detriment of others around them. I have met many young people here whose leadership has ignited other students and many of us older folks in the community. I am not familiar with the areas of Madison deemed "troublesome" by the Madison Police, but I know that the city has focused its efforts on patrolling the activities of certain residents while turning its back on the behavior of others. I know that some of us who, racially look like this certain population, have not felt welcomed here -- no matter our potential to contribute to the city's development. I became interested in the Chronic Nuisance Ordinance once a friend sent me a small one-paragraph memo. I remember thinking this ordinance might address some of the issues I (and other Black residents) have experienced here in Madison. I thought this ordinance would look at the behavior of young White residents who are given a wink and a nod to abandon all inhibitions, particularly inside of campus or other housing structures. The Chronic Nuisance Ordinance is in its third or fourth draft. Who is counting? I spoke by phone to Madison Police Captain Jill Klubertanz about the Chronic Nuisance Ordinance. According to Captain Klubertanz, this ordinance would serve as a way "to force landlords to meet with us" to improve lighting or cut back shrubbery. The Department is trying to develop "something workable" to curve the number of "unresponsive" landlords, Klubertanz added, who refuse to meet with the police to discuss what action to take on property declared a nuisance to the community. A property is declared a "nuisance to the surrounding neighborhood" specifically where an arrest was conducted on the premise. Repeated arrests, Klubertanz said, "impact the neighborhood" and suggests the "kind of behavior" allowed on the property, often by absentee landlords. Here's a series of "ifs." The Department can receive reports from a ";certain address" and, if the Department's computer records indicate "trouble" at this previous location in the past, then the ordinance would support police in their efforts to contact the landlords. If, on the other hand, the police are called to a property and an arrest is made, there is, according to Klubertanz, a follow-up procedure that involves a "notice" requiring the landlord to contact the police to come up with a plan of action. If the landlord follows through, nothing happens. If in six months there are no further arrests at this property, the matter of a "nuisance to the surrounding neighborhood" is considered solved. If the landlord refuses to meet with the police, they can then be considered in "violation of the ordinance and can be fined and charged for the deployment of officers and paperwork involved in subsequent arrests on the property. Hope you were able to follow this. I suggested to Captain Klubertanz, who was a gracious interviewee, that this might target a "certain" population of folks in Madison. It is a common perception that Black people are drug users and dealers and that, if an arrest is made at a "certain" property, chances are the person arrested will be Black. The majority of drug users are White! I am concerned that this Chronic Nuisance Ordinance has drifted to that abyss where Madison continues to focus on "cleansing" the streets and neighborhoods of Black people. What is needed is EDUCATION that speaks to fairness. If -- and if again -- Black young people cannot and should not engage in a certain kind of behavior that is a nuisance, then no person can or should either. Behavior that is unbecoming of any human being and that targets another individual (regardless of their race or gender), should also not be allowed. Focusing on the behavior of some young black people while refusing to see how this obsession harms your own children, gives your own children the right to mistreat difference -- other humans --- well. I think we witnessed this form of authoritarianism played out by the young folks serving in uniform at Abu Ghraib and at Gitmo. It wasn't pretty! |
| Voices/Dr. Jean Daniels Chronic Nuisance Ordinance:Chronically targets Black |
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