THE RESTORATION OF COMPASSIONATE LAW

Located across from the Milwaukee Justice Center in the Milwaukee County Courthuse

Community design workshop with Milwaukee County employees

This mural, called 'The Restoration of Compassionate Law', was born from a workshop where county employees were asked to name what they felt needed improvement in the system and how those improvements could be made. 

The mural acknowledges the system for what it is, and the parts that have trouble working well together. From there it shows how the courthouse community can become warmer and more accessible to people's different needs, create an atmosphere of dignity, and where each of the parts is equally valued as part of a bigger whole.

People from all walks talking together in the hallways, different languages represented

EQUITY

Many employees at the workshop had training in racial equity. From my perspective we're all parts of a bigger system. Equity is about each part being able to contribute to and participate in that system so it can really reflect and serve its individual parts. Equity means not picking and choosing the parts we like and disrespecting the parts we don't like.

The mural honors what the system is, each of us as parts of one whole. It acknowledges the parts that are hard to integrate and shows better ways of bringing those together; for example people can have less fear of the system when it is warm and accessible; when it is integrating different cultures, inclusive, equitable and welcoming. It shows compassion, people helping people and supporting one another.