Violent protests broke out in Milwaukee after a young black man was shot and killed by police. A group of angry residents — fed up with what they see as increasing police brutality against blacks in the city and across the country — set fire to a gas station, auto parts store, beauty supply store and a bank. In the aftermath, most residents in the city’s predominantly black, middle class Sherman Park neighborhood decried the violence and destruction, preferring instead to gather for prayer, but at the same time, confirmed a widespread feeling that poverty and joblessness is replacing the area’s former economic stability, and that racism plays a factor.

I spent two days and evenings interviewing residents in the neighborhood and witnessing both prayer rallies and protests.

Racial Violence in Milwaukee Was Decades in the Making, Residents Say (By John Eligon, Aug. 14, 2016)

Angry After Milwaukee Police Shooting, Protesters Turn Against Media, Too (By John Eligon and Kay Nolan, Aug. 15, 2016)

When Police Don’t Live in the City They Serve (By John Eligon and Kay Nolan, Aug. 18, 2016)