'He had a passion for justice': Milwaukee activist is remembered

Driven by a hatred of injustice, this Milwaukee community activist will be remembered for his work which includes racial justice, child welfare and civil and human rights.

Milwaukee's activist, writer, speaker and educator John Hagedorn, 76, of Milwaukee, died Oct. 31 of cancer.

A celebration of life ceremony has been scheduled for early next month.

Hagedorn had been a professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago in the Department of Criminology, Law & Justice department from 1998 to 2018. He wrote multiple books on gang culture and harmful stereotypes of gang members. His last book was "Gangs on Trial: Challenging Stereotypes and Dehumanization in the Courts," which was published in 2022. He spoke at international conferences, authored numerous essays and journal articles and was an expert witness on gang behavior.

He ran Milwaukee's first gang diversion program in the 1980s and obtained his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee in Urban Studies.

"He had a passion for justice," his wife, Mary Devitt said.

Hagedorn participated in many activist demonstrations and even was arrested for his causes

Throughout his life, Hagedorn participated in many marches and protests to strive for equality. Some, he got arrested for, and he was passionate about these causes.

His last arrest was on Dec. 19, 2014, for protesting against police violence, said Devitt.

He, along with 74 others, walked to support Dontre Hamilton. A police officer, Christopher Manney, at the time fatally shot Hamilton on April 30, 2014, in Milwaukee's Red Arrow Park. Manney shot Hamilton 14 times during the confrontation.

Hagedorn participated with his son Marty, Devitt, and his ex-wife, Kathe Raynier, in a demonstration on I-43 during the evening rush, which temporarily closed traffic.

"John and I remained engaged with that fight and with the issue of police violence and continued to work with Dontre’s mother Maria and her family," said Devitt. She added that this work built on his activist work for justice for Ernie Lacy, a 22-year-old black man who died in 1981 in police custody after an altercation with the authorities.

He fought in many big movements, said Devitt. In the sixties, he was active in the civil rights movement, during which he marched with Father James Groppi, a Catholic priest and a noted Milwaukee-area civil rights advocate. He also helped organize the Milwaukee 14 on Sept. 24, 1968, during which protesters raided a federal office in downtown Milwaukee, took around 10,000 draft cards and burned them on an open area of grass across the street to protest the Vietnam War. In the 1960s, he also marched in Milwaukee's fair housing marches.

"He was always active," said Devitt. "He always had a lot of things going on."

'Humanizing gang members'

As Hagedorn interviewed people who were in a gang and researched their experiences and culture, he became an expert witness, wrote books and essays, and gave lectures with the goal of "humanizing gang members," Devitt said.

For instance, according to Ms. Magazine, Hagedorn spent more than nine hours interviewing a female who was convicted of first-degree murder when she was just a teenager. Hagedorn learned that she, as similar to other young gang members, suffered a history of sexual and physical abuse when she was very young.

“I’m extremely angry at the defense attorneys at the time who never even thought that something had happened to her…she just kept being demonized as a monster,” said Hagedorn in the magazine in 2016. Devitt said he never thought that the people who were in a gang should have done the crime or should not have been punished.

However, Devitt said her husband advocated that people in a gang were negatively stereotyped and treated worse than others who committed the same crime.

"He was a very good interviewer and because of his understanding of gang life," Devitt said. He has studied gangs in Milwaukee for 15 years as he was once the main investigator at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Urban Research Center.

Hagedorn also researched female gangs as he wrote, Female Gangs in America: Essays on Girls, Gangs and Gender in 1999, initiated an all-day symposium on Latino Gang Research where the discussion was on the structures of Latino gang structures and that impact at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Hagedorn also co-authored The Fracturing of Gangs and Violence in Chicago: A Research-Based Reorientation of Violence Prevention and Intervention Policy, which impacted different discussions and communication about gangs in Chicago.

Hagedorn's most treasured award

While Hagedorn received many accolades and awards for his research and teaching, an honor he was proudest of was one he received for coaching basketball.

For three years, he coached his two youngest children, Zach and Jess Devitt, for their basketball team through Woodland Schools. When he was done coaching, his team gave him a framed plaque honoring his coaching characteristics, such as being "compassionate," Devitt said.

"He was very proud," said Devitt. "He took the same equality focus to being a basketball coach. He had a deep appreciation for the kids." She acknowledged they may not have won as many games, but he taught them lifelong values.

"Our lives were crazy, chaotic and never boring," Devitt said.

Hagedorn is survived by his children Zach and Jess Devitt, Tracey and Marty Hagedorn and Katie Starr and his stepdaughter, Bryna Goeckner. He also had 10 grandchildren.

Hagedorn's celebration of life

Hagedorn celebration of life will be at 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 6 at the First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee, 1342 N. Astor St. in Milwaukee with a reception following.

Here is where to make a memorial donation in Hagedorn's memory

Palestinian Red Crescent Society at www.palestinercs.org/en

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Movement at https://bdsmovement.net, an organization that works for longer-term solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Middle East Children's Alliance at www.mecaforpeace.org

Cathy Kozlowicz can be reached at 262-361-9132 or cathy.kozlowicz@jrn.com. Follow her on X at @kozlowicz_cathy.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee activist remembered for his human and civil rights work