REVEREND JESSE L. JACKSON, SR. RAINBOW PUSH JOIN THE COALITION FOR JUSTICE AND THE DONTRE HAMILTON FAMILY

IN MILWAUKEE WISCONSIN

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2015

For Immediate Release
Phone: 773-256-2700 Email: pressdepartment@rainbowpush.org

RALLY AND PRESS CONFERENCE
Wisconsin Eastern District Federal Courthouse, Milwaukee 517 East Wisconsin Avenue (Stairs) Media will be directed to Podium, East of the Main doors. Dontre Hamilton Shooting Death, Call For Federal Intervention

Press Conference: 3:30pm Press Conference with Reverend Jesse L. Jackson

Rally To Follow: 6:00 pm Rally Peace and Justice in Milwaukee Now
Holy Temple First Born M. B. Church
4960 W. 18th Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Pastor Lezar Burnside (414) 264-4002

Chicago, IL (Friday, January 2, 2015)

—Rev Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., the Rainbow PUSH
Coalition, the family of Dontre Hamilton, the Coalition for Justice and his legal team, MICAH Members and Milwaukee NAACP Members will hold a press conference and rally on Friday, January 2, 2015 seeking intervention from four federal agencies: (1) the U.S. Department of Justice; (2) the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; (3) the U.S. Department of Education; and (4) the U.S. Department of Labor

This action comes as a result of the shooting of Mr. Dontre Hamilton a young unarmed African-American male who had some mental health issues that was shot 14 times in a downtown Milwaukee park by a white police officer. U.S. Attorney James Santelle said that his office is reviewing the incident for possible federal civil rights violations. Rev. Jackson is calling for increased federal intervention from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Labor.

Rev. Jackson stated: "When we examine data about Milwaukee we see:

1. African Americans disproportionately arrested and imprisoned in Milwaukee vs. the State of Wisconsin
• Wisconsin leads the nation in the incarceration of African American men • 12.8% of the state's African American men vs. 1.24% of White men are now
incarcerated, twice the national average of 6.7 percent. • Wisconsin also leads the nation in locking up Native American men (7.6%). • Over half of all African-American men from Milwaukee County in their 30s and half
of men in their early 40s have been or currently are in adult DOC correctional institutions.
• Two-thirds of the incarcerated African American men in Milwaukee County have come from just 6 zip codes: 53206, 53209, 53210, 53218, 53212, and 53216.

2. Unemployment rates in Wisconsin vs Milwaukee for Blacks versus whites
• Milwaukee’s unemployment rate was 7.7% (6.3% in county) vs. 5.4% for Wisconsin.

3. Home foreclosures in Milwaukee
• The total number of foreclosed properties listed for the City of Milwaukee is 2,500 with 1,400 Bank Owned and 1,100 City owned.

4. Number of food deserts in Milwaukee
• A Food Desert means little access to supermarkets that sell fresh produce and healthy food options. In or around the Milwaukee County area we can identify up to six residential tracks that have the necessary elements – i.e., being low income and low access measured at 1-10 miles - that would typically identify the area as a food desert.

5. High School graduation rates of African Americans vs, Whites and other groups in Milwaukee vs. Wisconsin
• The average Wisconsin four-year public high school 2013 graduation rate was 88%, but the average for Milwaukee was 60.6% - down from 61.8% in 2012.
• Milwaukee’s four-year graduation rates for Black and Hispanic students fell between 2010 – 2013, while the graduation rate for White students rose.
• Milwaukee’s four-year public high school graduation rate (2010-to-2013):
a) b) c) d)
Increased for white students, from 70.8% to 74%. Increased for Asian students, from 74.3% to 77%. Decreased for Black students, from 59.5% to 58.3%. Decreased for Hispanic students, from 59% to 56.4%.

6. The status of access to health care, Medicaid for A/A and others
• Gov. Scott Walker opposed President Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) and substituted BadgerCarePlus, which is costing Wisconsin $100 million more over 2 years than the ACA would have cost. The ACA would have paid 100% of the costs over the first 3 years and 90% of the costs thereafter. But adults with incomes above the poverty threshold previously covered by BadgerCare Plus are now required to buy subsidized private insurance on the marketplace set up by the ACA. Even after the federal subsidies, they will have higher premiums and cost- sharing – and less access to health care – than they previously had with BadgerCare Plus. In other words, Gov. Walker is financing his Medicaid expansion with the money the state will save by moving the less-poor adults from Medicaid to the subsidized private plans sold in the ACA marketplace.

We need a multi-level federal government intervention in Milwaukee to combat the killing of unarmed young African Americans; to combat 2,500 home foreclosures; to combat an African American incarceration rate of 12.8%; to combat an unemployment rate of 7.7%; to combat a declining high school graduation rate of 58.3% for African Americans. We need to revisit the Kerner Commission Report, which supplied us with an analysis of the problems, put forth a plan of action and proposed a budget big enough to meet the need.

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marksallen2800@aol.com
Chairman & COO National Black Wall Street Chicago
(Rev. Willie T. Barrow Consumer Education and Consumer Action Project)
Founder/Lead Organizer, Illinois Voter Restoration Civic Education Project
Chief of Staff to National Chairman, National Black Wall Street USA
"And The Ordinary People Said" News Blog, www.chicagonow.com
Chairman, Community Reinvestment Organizing Project
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The Rev. Al Sharpton calls Mark Allen "one of Chicago's legendary political activists and one of the best organizers of his generation"