Milwaukee Pride?

The interesting thing about hanging out with that group of kids was their Milwaukee pride. The whooping affirmatives when someone would shout Who loves Milwaukee?

It just never occurred to me to appreciate Milwaukee. To prefer it.

I tried to get current and former Milwaukee residents to tell me what Milwaukee means to them. I didn't get many responses. To me, Milwaukee has been an involuntary home, though home for anyone until adulthood is involuntary. Rather, home was Louisiana, and Milwauke was just where I grew up. Home has always been somewhere else. Even if I did feel just as awkward and displaced there as I did here.

How could I call Milwaukee home, I always wondered, if I claim a biracial heritage in a segregated city? How can I feel allegiance for a town that wants to force me to choose, and that discourages ambition? Milwaukee, to me, was a crossroads. If i was unfortunate enough to be raised here, I would reject it and leave as soon as possible.

But here I am. Here I've been for two years.

More on this later.