Racial Dot Map Shows Over Half of Wisconsin’s Black Neighborhoods Are Actually Prisons

By Tanasia Kenney - August 17, 2016


The Racial Dot Map for Madison, Wisconsin. Image courtesy of Lew Blank.

After doing some digging into the locations of Wisconsin’s predominantly Black neighborhoods, a teenage researcher discovered a disturbing trend among African-American communities in the Badger state.

Lew Blank, 17, was tinkering with the Weldon Cooper Center’s Racial Dot Map when he realized that over half of the state’s Black neighborhoods were actually jails or prisons. The remaining Black communities in the state were either Section 8 housing, homeless shelters, or apartment complexes.

According to Blank’s research, there are approximately 56 Black neighborhoods in Wisconsin — 31 of them are jails. The young researcher posted his startling findings on the Young, Gifted, and Black Coalition’s official blog. Using the Racial Dot Map, Blank identified predominantly Black communities, which were defined as “a certain area where the majority of residents are African-American.”

For instance, the map shows that the city of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin has a predominantly white population. However, the city’s sole Black neighborhood is the Chippewa Valley Correctional Institution. Surprisingly, there are 14 other cities like this where the only Black neighborhood is a correctional facility.

http://atlantablackstar.com/2016/08/17/racial-dot-map-shows-half-wisconsins-black-neighborhoods-actually-prisons/