It's not about black, white, or blue -- it's all about green

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The song's become the same.

Cop shoots black man. Angry crowd gathers egged on by the bright lights of the media.  The cops back out. The corner burns.

The cops come back. The crowd goes away. The corner is ash. With nothing more to see, the media packs up its lights waiting for the next one.

No elected leader has come to this corner in Milwaukee - the black side of Milwaukee.  Not the mayor. Not the sheriff. Not the governor. Not the presidential candidates. They talk big from far away.  But the corner runs itself.

"You have an accomplished liberal mainstream media here in Milwaukee, but this is also happening nationwide," said Sheriff David Clarke, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, to FOX News. "It is afraid to ask this dysfunctional underclass for some self-evaluation."

"The Democratic Party has failed and betrayed the African-American community," said Donald Trump, Republican nominee for president.

The absentee father of the dead man eventually takes some responsibility, but only after the deed's been done.

"I just got out of jail a few months ago, but I've been going back and forth in jail," said  Patrick Smith, Slyville Smith's father in a previous interview. "They see these things. I'd like to apologize to my kids because this is the role model they look up to."

Slyville Smith, a black man, was killed Aug. 13 by a black cop. He had a stolen handgun and 500 rounds of ammunition. That's the extent of the official version of events.

There is bodycam video, but it has not been released. Nor has the officer's name. In this vacuum, the neighborhood fills the void - some of it rumor, some of it conspiracy. None of it good.

The officer and the dead man may have known each other. The Wisconsin attorney general is investigating.

"I heard there was always some beef with them," said Lolita Thurman, Smith's second mother. "You know, it was something with Slyville and the guy and his girlfriend or something like that. The baby mama or something."

"He's our age, he's black too, and he knows Slyville," said Kenzell Young, who knew both of them. "And he knows Slyville. That's real ironic to me that makes me feel like that it was more than just being a police officer. I feel like there was some personal feelings in there too."

Around here, you might say the true City Hall is located on Burleigh Street just down the way from the gas station rubble - The Fo - Sho'  barber shop.

"You had to actually be here to see it unfold because, like I said, it was peaceful at first until the police got deployed out," said Flippin, from the barber shop. "Until the news had to keep it on the news 24 hours. Now it's like 'Ok, hey get up here, come on dog, come up here. Hey we up here in Sherman Park.'"

LeDuff: "Now the lights are on."

Flippin: "Lights, camera, action. We're on the news."

Customer: "Let's get it."

Flippin: "We never had this much attention in Milwaukee."

Customer: "Let's get it."

Flippin: "Never had anybody looking at us. We been having killings. We have cop killings. Never had this. You got kids whose mamas never graduated high school, never had a job past 10 years. (They) want some kind of recognition. They want be seen, want to be heard."

"Yeah, we need help, we need help in Sherman Park," said Johnny Miller, a Milwaukee resident. "Every community around the country needs help because they are putting all the money downtown and those shiny big giant buildings they're building downtown. They employing people but they're not my color, they're not me." 
 
"Now you got kids that's out here with no fathers because they got (taken) out the house because of the government programs," said Andrae Virgil, owner of the barber shop. "To get benefits."

Johnny: "That's during the Kennedy administration."

Andrae: "That's right. So now ..."

LeDuff: "Well, they decided to leave the house in exchange for the ..."

Andrae: "No. no. no. no."

"Us black people, we got so many excuses why this is happening, why this is going on and why this is," said Nicole Henderson, Milwaukee resident. "And why this is going on and why that's going on. But the real effect is take responsibility.

"There's jobs out here. Go find 'em. Go find 'em. I was a single mama. I worked every damned day. I take care of all my children. I don't need a man to do what I got to do. There are too many excuses. Burning that (expletive) up over there? Man, listen. It starts at home. Mama, daddy, one of you take responsibility. Snatch your damn kid up and let them know this ain't what it is. This ain't how I take care of you. Get it together."

Black and white and blue. We've got a problem in America, that's for sure. The corner's on fire, but we've always had problems in America.

Today, it's more than just black versus white, says the barber on Burleigh Street. The bigger problem, he says, is green.

"Money," Andrae Virgil said. "It's money. Money is the answer to all things."

LeDuff: "And there's none here?"

Virgil: "There's none here." 

The Wisconsin attorney general said today that the body camera footage would not be released for fear of prejudicing the investigation. An expected move but every day that goes by, the rumors grow larger.