Milwaukee Bucks president Peter Feigin is learning a lesson that even people in the presidential race learned the hard way this year: In today’s era of connected media, you can’t say something aimed at one receptive audience and not expect it to get out to every audience, including those who may find it offensive.
Feigin was in Madison speaking to the Rotary Club of Madison about the Bucks’ new arena and how it will help the inner city parts of Milwaukee, but this is how he phrased it, according to the Wisconsin State Journal (via Rich Kirchen of the Milwaukee Business Journal and Fox 6 in Milwaukee).“Very bluntly, Milwaukee is the most segregated, racist place I’ve ever experienced in my life. It just is a place that is antiquated. It is in desperate need of repair and has happened for a long, long time. One of our messages and one of our goals is to lead by example....“We know we can’t cure the world. But we are very determined to get ourselves involved in programs that we can measure a difference in and put our claws into for a long period of time and show a difference.”
“We know we can’t cure the world. But we are very determined to get ourselves involved in programs that we can measure a difference in and put our claws into for a long period of time and show a difference.”
As an outsider, I’m not going to pretend to know Milwaukee’s history of racial divide or how that plays out in the city at this point. If the Bucks are serious about helping bridge divides in the city, then good on them. More teams — and more players on teams — should help to do that, and NBA teams may be in a unique position to help bring sides together.
However, I’m not sure if what Feigin said will help that cause or just makes people more entrenched.
As noted by the Business Journal, the Bucks have pushed the contractors to hire Milwaukee city and Milwaukee County residents, and the organization has promised to pay at least $12 an hour for the service-sector jobs in the arena once it opens.