MILWAUKEE — With the bang of the 4th of July, fireworks are the far more troubling sounds of gunfire across the City of Milwaukee in the last week and a half. Thirteen children under the age of 18 have been shot in the last 10 days, including two boys who were killed in the last two days.
“Every time we lose a child, it means we need to get up out of our seats, come out of those rooms and come to the streets where things are a problem,” André Lee Ellis, Founder and Executive Director of the André Lee Ellis & Co. Community Garden said. “If goodness is out there in abundance, trouble will have to cease.”
Ellis runs Community Agricultural Growing Experience, or CAGE, a mission to bring in young Black men to help rehabilitate and grow by teaching agriculture and how it will benefit them in their lives. On a sweltering Wednesday afternoon, Ellis isn’t the only one on his hands and knees picking weeds. There’s always bound to be a couple of teenagers too.
“I’m grateful for everything,” Kwentin, 17, said. “I’m grateful for seeing a new day, a better day. Tomorrow is not promised. You got to live your life while you can.”
Kwentin says he knew the 16-year-old killed near 47th and Burleigh on July 4. It’s the third such friend he’s lost to gun violence in his young life.
So far in 2023, 12 kids have been killed by guns in Milwaukee County, roughly on pace to match last year’s total of 24 people under 18 killed by guns. Since the pandemic, each year has had more than 20 people under 18 killed by guns, a dramatic increase from the three years prior, where the total never hit double digits.
Kwentin has been coming to CAGE for about a year now. He says it brings him peace and provides a sanctuary from the violence of the outside world. It can be painstaking work, but he’s glad to do it.
“The weeds represent the troubled youth we work within our community,” Ellis said. “You pull the weeds, put them in the compost bin, nurture and care for it and turn it over. By next summer, you have good soil. The weeds become good soil for good seed to grow great food.”
“I can see I’m moving myself in a better position than last year,” Kwentin said. “I’m doing better.”
“I wish we could say that we had a weekend free of violence,” Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said. “Unfortunately, that was not the case.”
Wednesday, Norman announced the department’s second annual Operation Summer Guardian. It’s a program looking to make an impact on violence in the city through increased patrols to build engagement within those communities to have an impact on the tragic statistics.
There are 27 neighborhoods MPD identified as hotspots for violence through data from ShotSpotter, non-fatal shootings, and homicides.
Additionally, MPD will more strictly enforce a curfew for kids from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Any children caught in these incidents will receive a $94 fine. But the buck doesn’t stop there.
“Parents and guardians,” Norman said. “Help us keep your children safe. If your child is out after hours without a valid reason and is involved in an incident. We will cite you.”
Parents of kids caught after curfew will receive a $195 ticket. Norman is hoping this will grab the attention of parents to be more engaged and present in their kids’ activities.
“We have to come together as a community to ensure that we’re doing the best thing that we can to not only impact, intervene, but in the end, hold bad behavior accountable,” Norman said.
It’s a similar message at CAGE.
“Many of our young Black men sit in court with not one family member,” Ellis said. “We have to change that narrative and how the court system handles it.”
But in this village, Ellis has a tried and true way of solving this.
By getting his hands dirty both literally in the dirt of his garden and figuratively, by getting involved with young men at their lowest points.
“You come in here as a troublemaker, we reduce the trouble. You leave as a maker.”
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