Milwaukee Mayoral Forum Recap | This is what democracy in action looks like

Dear Common Grounders,
Welcome to the first in an ongoing series of longer form pieces written by and from the perspectives of some of our members. Our first piece was written by Ryan Kresse of member org SRH, a full service creative & marketing agency in Milwaukee. We hope you enjoy it as much as he enjoyed writing it.

This is what democracy in action looks like

First, the best news. Before our Democracy in Action Mayoral Forum even began, Common Ground Member Frank Finch III saved a toddler from getting hit by a car. Thank you, Frank!!!

Second, “Hello!” My name is Ryan Kresse, and I’m a copywriter at SRH. This was my first in-person Common Ground gathering, and I am grateful and humbled to have been a part of this historic moment. 

As you know, because you were most likely there, on Sunday, March 13, we hosted our Democracy in Action Mayoral Forum at St. Mark AME Church.

1,010 people attended both virtually and in-person to be seen, to be present, and to hear Alderman Bob Donovan and Mayor Cavalier Johnson speak to our issue campaigns. That’s more than any mayoral forum so far. When Common Ground shows up, we show all the way up.

I asked Dr. Christlyn Stanley how Common Ground was able to get so many people — seriously, that’s a lot of people — to attend. She told me, “We had a St. Mark team, and we had a goal of getting 110. We just signed them up one by one.”

There was no debate. There were no open-ended questions. We did not ask the candidates what they think about gun safety or safer, cleaner streets. Because who on Earth would say — out loud with a microphone in their hands — that they’re against safer, cleaner streets? 

Instead, we asked the candidates whether or not they would pledge to work with Common Ground on:

  • Safer, cleaner streets along Sherman Boulevard near Washington High School  

  • Safe driving, including Vision Zero and universal affordable drivers’ education for all high school students in Milwaukee

  • Gun Safety, including Milwaukee’s continued involvement in the Gun Safety Consortium

  • Jobs

  • Universal Affordable Broadband

  • Increased Racial and Gender Diversity in MPD and MFD

We held their feet to the fire — respectfully, of course.
We wanted a pledge, a commitment, a simple yes … or no. 

Both Mayor Johnson and Ald. Donovan pledged to work with Common Ground on all but one of these vital issues.

The only moment of drama during the forum came when Dorothy Walker-Cooper of Community Baptist Church asked the candidates if they would support keeping Chytania Brown as President and CEO of Employ Milwaukee.

Mayor Johnson, who previously worked with Ms. Brown at Employ Milwaukee, said yes and gave her an overwhelmingly positive endorsement.

When it was his turn, Ald. Donovan said, “Well, now you put me on the spot.” 

Donovan told the assembly that he couldn’t really say yes or no. He called it a personnel issue and said while Ms. Brown has a sterling reputation and a dynamite resume (both are true), “I can’t commit 100% until we sit down and talk.” 

Ms. Walker-Cooper insisted on a yes or no answer. And after an audible gasp from the audience and a little back and forth, Donovan and Common Ground agreed to disagree.

I later learned Common Ground briefed both Donovan and Johnson and gave them the questions 10 days in advance, so Donovan had plenty of time to do a little more research before saying essentially, “Uh, maybe?”

This mayoral forum seemed especially historic because, as Mayor Cavalier Johnson put it in his opening remarks, “Milwaukee is at a crossroads.” 

Milwaukee has the opportunity to elect its first Black mayor, and that is huge. But this moment seems somehow much bigger. And what I saw and heard on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, in the awe-inspiring St. Mark AME Church, listening to you and the candidates, gave me hope that we are ready to meet this moment. 

We’ve been through a long, strange, terrible thing. It’s not the worst thing that has ever happened, but it was bad. Nearly a million people in the US have died. People are still dying. That part is tragic and horrible. All of it was traumatic. And it was a hell of a lot worse for some people than others.  

And after years of corruption, lies, apathy, blundering incompetence, racism, greed, voter suppression, police brutality and other assorted evils, … we know we must stand together. 

To me, that’s why Rev. Dr. Joy Gallmon encouraged us to, “Go forth in the spirit of Ezekiel Gillespie and the Free African Society.” I knew who Ezekiel Gillespie was, but I didn’t know what the Free African Society was. So I looked it up. Thank you, Wikipedia.

The Free African Society began in Philadelphia back in 1787 when Richard Allen and Absalom Jones decided they were absolutely done with being treated as less-than by their white-dominated Methodist church. So they founded their own church and their own mutual aid society. Among other things, the FAS provided aid to widows, orphans, the sick and unemployed. They developed free schools and arranged apprenticeships. They taught their members how to build wealth. They performed and recorded marriages and births. 

In other words, the founders and members of the Free African Society took matters into their own hands, listened to their people, developed solutions, and got things done. Because no one else was going to do it for them. 

Common Ground has the chance to make Milwaukee a vibrant, healthy, prosperous city for everyone. It will be a lot easier to make that happen if we have support from the mayor and other elected officials, but we will get it done. 

No matter who the next mayor is, we will continue to work on issues that matter to the people in our communities. We will continue to build relationships. We will continue to listen. We will continue to hold our leaders accountable. We will continue to fight. We will continue to bend the moral arc of the Universe towards justice, equity, peace, health, happiness, and prosperity.







Betty Strigens