Milwaukee 53204: Film Analysis
As Marquette University’s Mission Week focusing on “Racial Justice: Black, White, and the Call of the Church” comes to a close, I find myself reflecting on the meaning of racial justice, as well as how to properly engage in this difficult topic in the city of Milwaukee. I had the opportunity to expand my knowledge while viewing the film Milwaukee 53206, which focuses on one of our community’s poorest zip codes as well as the nation’s most incarcerated zip code. The social ills of this area are not just a result of one issue, but multiple issues within the community including the average yearly income, socioeconomic status, quality of life and family relationships, and other social determinants.
While the social determinants of health and health disparities of 53206 may differ from many of those in the Marquette community, I came to realize that many of the people in the film were not much different than me. For example, on the surface, Beverly’s daily life differs vastly from my own. As a single mother, she is …show more content…
completely in charge of taking care of her kids on top of helping her mother who suffering from dementia. However, once the audience got to know Beverly, I was able to understand how she similar her ideals are to my own. She puts her family first, has a strong faith life, and works hard to provide a comfortable life for herself, her kids, and her mother.
An important issue that became apparent to me while watching Milwaukee 53206 was the discrepancy in quality of life after incarceration. The dehumanization of prisoners after being released makes it difficult for them to adjust to their old lifestyles. In the film, a story caught my attention about a man named Chad Wilson and his experience with re-entering society. After being released, Chad struggled with overwhelming challenges such as finding a job without a clean slate and finding people that that will accept him for his past and support his future. Limited education and work experience are also big factors in preventing ex-prisoners from being economically independent, which can indirectly revert them back to crime and back to the prison system. This left me heavyhearted because many prisoners want nothing more than to be free, but once they are out in the world again, they can feel helpless and untrusted by society. Chad’s situation, however, proved that it is possible to obtain a high quality of life post-incarceration with the right resources and support system.
Milwaukee 5306’s theme of “A Community Serves Time” places the issue of the high percentage of incarcerated individuals on the whole community.
A comment at the beginning of the film made me feel somewhat uneasy: “Want to be a doctor or lawyer? That’s for white people”. This quote depicts the preconception or expectation for the community’s younger generation to end up on the streets instead of continuing their education and getting a job. Because of this, I believe Dennis’s purpose from Fatherhood Initiative to emphasize family life and how the absence of a fatherly figure can affect one’s childhood is very influential and valuable. I remember Dennis asking the prisoners, “How many of you have had your father tell you they love you?” This stood out to me because my father is a huge influence and I cannot imagine my life without him, and I think it is important to accentuate the significance of having positive role models and caring relationships as a
child.
These statements made me think about the community living in 53206 from a different perspective. Is the high incarceration rate only due to preconceptions? Or are there truly unequal opportunities and/or resources in these poverty ridden areas? While observing the different education systems within the segregated areas of Milwaukee, I realize that facilities tend to be poorer in poverty ridden areas. As the facilities fail to keep up to date, younger generations will have more difficulty and face more barriers in reaching their goals. For this reason, children may turn to the streets in order to make a living. It is disappointing and hard to think about children who have just has much potential but do not have the adequate resources to reach their goals. That being said, I believe that it is our job to serve these communities rather than try to avoid them. At Marquette, the students are here to serve and understand the differences within Milwaukee to promote societal change. At the beginning of the Milwaukee 53206, Dennis interviews a young boy about how he plans to not go down the same path to incarceration like many of the people in his community. The boy talks about being himself, staying in school, and wanting to start an organization for other kids to follow their dreams. This makes me feel hopeful because as Marquette students, we are called to help the younger generations of impoverished communities like 53206. By volunteering and instilling goals for society, we can act as positive role models for the children because they are not only the future of Milwaukee, but also the future of America.
Milwaukee 53206 affected the way I will practice a Marquette nurse because it made me realize that people make mistakes, and those mistakes do not define us. It is easy to jump to conclusions about a person regarding their past decisions, but it is my job as a nurse to treat everyone with respect regardless of what situation they are in. In spite of everything, inmates are human beings. While they might have made poor choices, they still have feelings, thoughts, love, and pain, just like we do. At the core of everything, health care is a human right and everyone is inherently dignified, no matter their history. As a Marquette nurse, I will commit myself to serving others, regardless of their past, and instead work for their future.
While the social determinants of health and health disparities of 53206 may differ from many of those in the Marquette community, I came to realize that many of the people in the film were not much different than me. For example, on the surface, Beverly’s daily life differs vastly from my own. As a single mother, she is …show more content…
completely in charge of taking care of her kids on top of helping her mother who suffering from dementia. However, once the audience got to know Beverly, I was able to understand how she similar her ideals are to my own. She puts her family first, has a strong faith life, and works hard to provide a comfortable life for herself, her kids, and her mother.
An important issue that became apparent to me while watching Milwaukee 53206 was the discrepancy in quality of life after incarceration. The dehumanization of prisoners after being released makes it difficult for them to adjust to their old lifestyles. In the film, a story caught my attention about a man named Chad Wilson and his experience with re-entering society. After being released, Chad struggled with overwhelming challenges such as finding a job without a clean slate and finding people that that will accept him for his past and support his future. Limited education and work experience are also big factors in preventing ex-prisoners from being economically independent, which can indirectly revert them back to crime and back to the prison system. This left me heavyhearted because many prisoners want nothing more than to be free, but once they are out in the world again, they can feel helpless and untrusted by society. Chad’s situation, however, proved that it is possible to obtain a high quality of life post-incarceration with the right resources and support system.
Milwaukee 5306’s theme of “A Community Serves Time” places the issue of the high percentage of incarcerated individuals on the whole community.
A comment at the beginning of the film made me feel somewhat uneasy: “Want to be a doctor or lawyer? That’s for white people”. This quote depicts the preconception or expectation for the community’s younger generation to end up on the streets instead of continuing their education and getting a job. Because of this, I believe Dennis’s purpose from Fatherhood Initiative to emphasize family life and how the absence of a fatherly figure can affect one’s childhood is very influential and valuable. I remember Dennis asking the prisoners, “How many of you have had your father tell you they love you?” This stood out to me because my father is a huge influence and I cannot imagine my life without him, and I think it is important to accentuate the significance of having positive role models and caring relationships as a
child.
These statements made me think about the community living in 53206 from a different perspective. Is the high incarceration rate only due to preconceptions? Or are there truly unequal opportunities and/or resources in these poverty ridden areas? While observing the different education systems within the segregated areas of Milwaukee, I realize that facilities tend to be poorer in poverty ridden areas. As the facilities fail to keep up to date, younger generations will have more difficulty and face more barriers in reaching their goals. For this reason, children may turn to the streets in order to make a living. It is disappointing and hard to think about children who have just has much potential but do not have the adequate resources to reach their goals. That being said, I believe that it is our job to serve these communities rather than try to avoid them. At Marquette, the students are here to serve and understand the differences within Milwaukee to promote societal change. At the beginning of the Milwaukee 53206, Dennis interviews a young boy about how he plans to not go down the same path to incarceration like many of the people in his community. The boy talks about being himself, staying in school, and wanting to start an organization for other kids to follow their dreams. This makes me feel hopeful because as Marquette students, we are called to help the younger generations of impoverished communities like 53206. By volunteering and instilling goals for society, we can act as positive role models for the children because they are not only the future of Milwaukee, but also the future of America.
Milwaukee 53206 affected the way I will practice a Marquette nurse because it made me realize that people make mistakes, and those mistakes do not define us. It is easy to jump to conclusions about a person regarding their past decisions, but it is my job as a nurse to treat everyone with respect regardless of what situation they are in. In spite of everything, inmates are human beings. While they might have made poor choices, they still have feelings, thoughts, love, and pain, just like we do. At the core of everything, health care is a human right and everyone is inherently dignified, no matter their history. As a Marquette nurse, I will commit myself to serving others, regardless of their past, and instead work for their future.