"But housing discrimination was at the top of their list." "Five years of trying to pass Open Housing bills in the Common Council had failed, and in 1967, Vel Phillips' constituents looked for another strategy." "[shouts and cheers] Andsowe said,let 'sgo to the belly of the beast." "That's when the issue really blew up." "[dramatic music]" "InAugust1967, 200 activists marched across the 16th Street Viaduct in Milwaukee demanding the right to live in any neighborhood in the city." "Among them the NAACP Youth Council," "Father James Groppi, a Catholic priest, and the Commandos, a self-defense group from the Inner Core." "Youmarchacrossthatbridge and on the opposite side there is a mass of white people, angry white people, letting you know that you're in the wrong part of town at the wrong time of day." "Residentshurledbricks, bodily fluids, and racial slurs." "Thesizeof thecrowds is mind blowing." "And it's just so vicious and violent and ugly." "It's hard to minimize it." "Policebeganthrowing tear gas and creating dense plumes of smoke." "It was just mayhem and pandemonium." "At that point, I thought to myself, this is absolutely nuts." "[sirens] VelPhillipswasnot among the marchers." "She watched the confrontation from home on the nightly news." "Itwasstunning." "It was horrible." "Thenextday, Milwaukee mayor, Henry Maier tried to restore order." "AndI urgethosewho livein the area of march to please stay off the streets." "Icamehomefromcity hall  and I just sat down and" "I just had a good cry." "Velneededthemarchers." "She needed coverage to put pressure on the Common Council to pass an ordinance." "Withthebanonmarches in place, Phillips was back to where she began in 1962." "Wewereso disillusioned." "ShejoinedFatherGroppi and other Open Housing activists for a rally at St. Boniface Parish." "Thiswasalargechurch, it probably sat 1,000 people." "And it was packed, standing room only." "Speakingtothecrowd, Father Groppi asked if they were ready to march." "The crowd shouted its approval." "[whistles, cheers and applause] But Phillips hesitated." "She was a lawyer and an officer of the court." "If she marched in the face of the ban, she would be in full defiance of the law." "Now,thelinehas beendrawn." "You either have to be this side and support them, or you're not." "And it's very, very violent out there in the streets." "And being in her position of power, she's this official member of the Common Council, she's a part of the middle class black leadership, it would have been easy for her to not go down into the street." "It would have been defended and justified by a whole lot of powerful people." "ButI wasfedup at that time." "Despitethefear and despite the counsel from some very close to her, she makes a different choice." "Which shows that she has gone to a very different place than many other black middle class leaders have." "Becauseitwasfor my fair housing," "I felt nothing was going to stop us." "VelPhillips,FatherGroppi, and the rest of the crowd defied the mayor's edict and took to the street." "Thedecisionwasmade to march." "St. Boniface was on 11th and Clark." "We got as far as 9th and North Avenue, so that's about six blocks." "And the police closed in and started to arrest people." "Vel Phillips was one of the first arrested." "Andtheytreatedyou  like you weren't a real person." "Feeling all over you when they patted you down." "It was just demoralizing." "Phillipswasreleased the next morning, but her mother, Thelma, was not happy with her daughter's jail time." "Oh,gosh!" "She was embarrassed." ""What will I tell my friends?"" "I said, "Mom, just tell your friends that your daughter is doing what she thinks is best in her capacity as a member of the Milwaukee Common Council."" "Shemarchedagainthatnight." "Ithinkthat'swhenshegot a reputation for being very brave, and tough." "Thewhitecommunitybecame increasingly violent." "Forthemostpart, there was a backlash." ""How dare they do this to our city."" "Everyoneinofficialpower starts to say," ""This is not acceptable." "We can't have this."" "They're forced into that position because these images are going, not just in Milwaukee but they're going across the country." "It's an embarrassment to the city." "TheOpenHousingactivistskept upthepressure." "Theideaamongalotof young people, myself included, was we're going to make the world better." "[laughter]" "Itwasaclose-knitfeeling." "We all looked after each other." "Ifyoulookatthepictures of the time and the look on her face, you can see a sense of belonging." "Shehadfoughtthislonely crusade for a long time and there was something that was welcome to her." "There's a sense of connectivity, a sense of being a part of the struggle." "Iwastryingtofigureout how I really felt." "It was like, this is my work." "InSeptember,aftertwo weeks of daily marches, the Common Council again voted 18-1 against the Open Housing ordinance." "Phillips had run out of patience." "It'squiteapparent to me that the members of this honorable body, to put it in the terms of my Commando friends, these cats are just too dumb, just too dumb to know when they have something going for them." "It's bad enough to have to deal with a bigot, but when you got a dumb bigot-- [cheers]" "WhileVelPhillipsremained on the front lines of the housing protests, her husband Dale kept the home running, cooking, cleaning, and raising their two boys." "Myfather,in someways, was an early Mr. Mom." "Healwaysdidfloors, whatever cooking, whatever was necessary." "He wasn't hung up on "roles."" "He was just a solid Midwest guy." "Hewasverysecure." "He was a good lawyer." "He didn't feel that he was competing." "He knew that I loved what I was doing and he wanted me to be happy." "They're,I think,truly a team in a real sense." "A lot of these teams, the man is the person of power and it's the supportive woman, you know, Coretta King or Malcolm X's wife." "And here we have the woman being the one who's out front and achieving the power and the position and things with a very supportive husband." "Thegrowingmediaexposure brought unwanted attention to Vel's home." "There were phone calls." "Thisman,he wouldcall and say, "I'm watching you." "I think black people like yourself should go back to Africa were you came from."" "It was scary, you know, and I wondered if we should get some guards or something." "Shereceived hate-filled letters." "Thislettersaid,"P.S." "If you see a brown streaks that's because I used this for toilet paper before I sent it to you."" "I had it in my hand, and I just dropped it like that." "Thena shotwasfired into her kitchen." "Thebulletlandedright in the middle of the oven door." "Whena bulletcomesthrough a window in your home, she could have said, I'm done." "Who's gonna blame her?" "That's threatening on a whole different level." "You could become a crusading leader and be willing to die for the cause and nothing will deter you." "But if we say we're gonna go kill your kids, that's an act of terror that happened there." "Thingswerereallydangerous." "That's when I sent the children to my mother." "She was living in California at the time." "They'd say, Michael especially, "Momma, why don't you come to California?"" "Just such a sad time." "TheOpenHousingmarches went on for 200 days, continuing into early 1968." "Therewasacorepeoplewho were there night after night." "Tocomeeveryday like clockwork, like it was a job for over 200 days." "This little white man, he said, "I'm very confused." "What is it that you people want?"" "I said, "Just say America is a big pie." "We want a piece of the pie." "We want a piece of America."" "He look stunned, and he said, "That's all?"" "I said, "Well, that's a great deal if you don't have it."" "OnApril4th,1968,the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr." "was assassinated." "Soon after, President Lyndon Johnson and Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968." "It included legislation that for the first time specifically outlawed housing segregation." "Milwaukeeiscritically important to the passage of that national civil rights act of 1968, the Fair Housing Act." "Walter Mondale cites from the Senate floor, Milwaukee as an important case of how important the issue is and the need for change." "Inresponseto the new Federal law," "Milwaukee's Common Council approved a citywide" "Open Housing ordinance." "Six years after she first introduced the ordinance," "Alderman Phillips had finally won." "Ofcourse,it wasjust mind boggling and wonderful to know that we really had it." "Theseareheroes." "Milwaukee heroes, Wisconsin heroes, and American heroes, that deserve their place in the national narrative." "If we care about justice and equality, all of us should embrace Vel, Father Groppi, the youth council, the Commandos, and everyone who came out to support that." "Mymotherwouldalways tell us, "If you really want it, don't dream small dreams." "Dream big dreams.""