Escaping Milwaukee Riots With a Call to Parents

We are currently on a 5-week music tour with my hubby. He's the one performing at various places around parts of Wisconsin and Michigan. The family is along for the ride, enjoying the hotels and hot spots along the way. Our first week is under our belts, but not without drama!

The last night of our stay in Germantown, near Milwaukee, as we were getting ready for bed in preparation of traveling the next day, a late breaking news report came up on the television broadcasting riots in Milwaukee.....  They mentioned it was Northwest Milwaukee, so I became alarmed since that's where we were staying. So, I quickly grabbed my phone and hit Google Maps to discover we were only about 13 miles from where rioters had caught a gas station on fire and were heading up and down the street looting and catching fire to other businesses along the way. There was so much gunfire that the fire fighters and other first responded were not allowed in the area due to safety concerns.

It all began after a black male was shot and killed by a police officer... My husband had performed a music gig that afternoon just about 4 miles from the incident. He said he heard a helicopter land at a nearby hospital - No doubt carrying either the police officer who was hit in the head with a brick, or possiblly the suspect who was shot. We don't know for sure. At the time, he had no idea anything dangerous was developing.

We were trying to remain calm and come up with a game plan should the violence spread to our area and we needed to get out in a hurry. Thankfully, that didn't happen. Things were calm where we were, and as we watched on the news, it appeared to be calming down in the city as well. But, one thing struck me.

Now, let me first say that we used to live near Ferguson, MO, so all of these riots around the nation just bring up bad feelings from the past for us. So, staying calm is not easy.We prayed with our kiddos and went to bed with a plan to pack up and leave early in the morning. We did, without incident. Thank you, God!

The things that struck me was how the mayor of Milwaukee and the news anchorwoman handled the situation. They did something that was not done in St. Louis. Instead, the news coverage there just seemed to incite more riots. Here, in Milwaukee, however, the news was reporting the request that if you had children out in that area to get them home - Text Them, Call Them, "yank them home by the ear if you have to", but get them home. The news reported added - It's after midnight - "no child needs to be out past midnight. These kids need to be home."

I was impressed that they were allowing parents the authority to be parents and to bring calm to the situation starting at the family level. This is unheard of in today's environment.

Hats off to Milwaukee. I wish you calm and justice.