OH+Questions

QUESTIONS: 1. What was your status and job in the 1960's? What was the mood of Milwaukee in 1960? "I was a detective and i worked 4 to midnight second shift. Very average family. The mood was anxious." 2. What were you doing at the start of the riots? What was your first case to control? "I was working that night as a detective and we left work and were sent to a woman that got shot on 14th and State St. We got there and she was laying on the front grass of the apartment of the grass where she lived and she was shot four or five times. She was white and her black boyfriend shot her." 3. What were people at home thinking about the riots? What was their reaction to them? "We didn't get involved because we had a curfew and they shut the town down but we weren't happy, it was panic and fear, moving and burning." 4. Were the riots well covered in terms of media? Did the media coverage play a part in the severity of the riots? "The media contributed to the severity of the riots but not in a large way. They over reported the riots." 5. Were the end of the riots any different from the beginning? Do you feel like they were more or less violent? "There was less burning, shooting and looting so i would say yes they were less violent towards the end." 6. What was the impact of the riots? Do you still see an impact on Milwaukee today? "Probably, that the blacks and the whites had to talk over their problems. I think that the riots have made Milwaukee better in terms of racial equality and racist neighborhoods." 7. What impact did the riots have on you and Jackie (Grandma)? "I retired. They were violent and vicious and we decided it would be better that i retire." Personal Story: "My boss, was the captin and he drove up in front of a house where there was a sniper and he had a shotun. He got shot through the car in the face and he went to the hospital and almost died. He lost part of his jaw and still remained the captin." Extra Questions: 1. What were some of the worst injuries you witnessed? Not only to citizens but to fellow officers as well. "People were killed and a police officer was blinded." 2. Did you as an officer have any special procedures to follow? "I had to solve the killings of people when they were shot but that was my job." 3. Were you put onto patrol during certain hours or whenever they needed you? "We worked twelve hours a day. I worked twelve hours at night. Then i went to court the rest of the day." 4. What were some of the common things people did in these riots? I.E. smash cars... "They smashed store windows, cars, burnt buildings and shot people." 5. What was the thing you remember most about the riots? "The thought that i wish they never happened."