Polish Americans and the Counterprotests against the Marches on Milwaukee, 1967–1968.

The 1967–1968 Marches on Milwaukee led to the passage of a strong open housing city ordinance. The first march routes challenged what people then interpreted as Polish American space. Journalists and other observers assumed that Polish Americans led the opposition to the marchers. Certainly, there were Polish American bigots heckling the marchers. Polish Americans did complain using racist arguments in letters to public figures and to newspapers. Yet a nuanced survey of these documents in manuscript collections shows that these documents reflected the widespread racism found throughout the city. While the response to the first two marches reflected a racist response of local Polish American residents, white power organizations and other activists organized later counterprotests and counter marches. The counterprotests ended with the John Birch Society coopting the counterprotesters into a political organization with a legislative agenda. The white power protesters should be seen as more of a part of continuing American racism and the emerging New Right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]