Celebrating Black Culture in Milwaukee County with Rick Banks

AALAM Talks

In this episode, Walter speaks with Rick Banks, the Senior Program Manager of African American Affairs with the Milwaukee County Office of Equity. Rick was inspired to get involved in leadership after witnessing the election of Barack Obama and studying Economics during the 2008 recession.

They discuss initiatives to increase recognition of black culture in the county, support cultural institutions, and improve African-American health. Rick shares how the non-profit organization MKE Black started from an idea to create a database of black-owned businesses on a website or mobile app that eventually grew into a nonprofit organization supporting business development for local black businesses.

Tune in to hear an inspirational, thought-provoking conversation between Walter and Rick as they discuss why solidarity is essential in a segregated city, how homeownership and housing stability are key, what economic development can do for black Milwaukee's future success, and why leadership succession planning is important for long-term movement sustainability.

Episode Highlights

06:18 - What we did was we went out and engaged residents, knocking door to door and asking, "What is it like for the black community to thrive?" And getting that data, getting that response, and then using that to inform and organize.

11:49 - Economic development, and so making sure that from the county, that we're doing the best that we can to make sure that we're getting as many black-owned and other minority-owned businesses as vendors for county dollars and county contracts, and making sure that we're supporting.

20:17 - I think that black people, and specifically in Milwaukee, like this renaissance we're having and is positioning us well to be able to fully take advantage of that.

21:05 - I want to make sure that we're in some way developing some policies that are ensuring that folks' housing is secure, and that they're living in high-quality homes and things like that. And I think when we do that, and if we can build a system where domestic violence victims don't have to worry about the burden of not having to find housing to get away from their abusers and things like that, we can start to lay a lot of these other societal issues. I think a lot of it comes down from housing stability.

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