Angela PetersonMilwaukee Journal Sentinel
Journal entry — May 2024
When I first met Martinus Roper, I was intimidated. With a robust frame and standing 6-feet-1 inch tall, he doesn't freely share a smile. But a softness emerges when he receives a call from son Jaysten Lucas-Roper, who wants his dad to sync their mobile devices so that they can play video games together. Roper, the assistant program director at Greentree-Teutonia Community Learning Center, reassures the 5-year-old that he will call back during a break.
Roper’s attention to his son mirrors his actions toward those he helps at the center. Many of the life lessons he shares with those from the community of Greentree — where his history spans 35 years — are literally kept close to his heart. Today, it is displayed in bold letters across the hoodie he wears, “Love Yourself. Every Flaw. Every Imperfection. Every Part.” The hoodie is of his own design, from I Am An Entrepreneur Apparel LLC, a business he started four years ago.
Words of motivation and uplifting phrases are also part of the landscape at the center. Displayed on the wall behind his desk are nearly a dozen thought-provoking expressions and mottos that help keep Roper connected to the community he serves. They are also personal reminders of his accountability to himself. One phrase in particular resonates unlike any of the others that he wrote:
3 Reasons To Show Mercy
- It could be you.
- One day it might be you.
- One day it was you.
Yet even with the positive affirmations that he immerses himself in daily, and weekly therapy sessions, recently something was off. “I started feeling like I didn’t have enough energy. I was going into situations empty, especially with the job and the family. I was feeding off of saving others," Roper said. "That’s what was making me happy. But that wasn’t true happiness. You have to be able to pour into people, and I wasn't feeling like I was able to do that. I was forgetting about myself.”
So Roper decided to do something he'd never thought he’d do, put himself first.
For the last three months, he has risen at 5 a.m. for morning meditation. “I turn on a prayer on YouTube and get my mind set for the day. You don’t have time during the day with so many things going on. You have to make time for yourself,” he said.
Martinus Roper was 5 when his mother, Tonya Washington, moved to Greentree in 1988. The well-kept housing complex on Milwaukee's north side had large oak trees and was inviting. Although it sits on 14-acres, it still feels cozy. It was the first apartment for the single mother and her young son.
“It was an area that was safe," Washington said. "The neighbors were caring, and we knew each other.”
Ten years later, Roper’s sister, Malayia, was born. Missing in the home was the consistency of their father, Dwayne Meridith, who battled with drug addiction through much of his 30s.
“I think growing up without my dad was big for me. I wanted him to fight for me. That’s my trauma,” said Roper.
Unlike Meridith — who was in his 20s when he had his son — Roper, at 41, is using the experiences from his childhood to raise his 5-year-old son differently.
“I’m not so sure at 22 if I would have known how to be a father," Roper said. "I’m just trying to make corrections with my son. I want to be the first contact. I want him to see his dad getting up in the morning praying for him. I want him to hear his dad say 'I love you,' because we didn’t do that growing up. We knew it, but it was never said.”
For Roper, the absence of his father forced him to mature early. At 13, he asked his mother to help him get a work permit.
“I wanted to be a man," he said. "I wanted to prove that I could do without my dad. I wanted to prove that I could be a grown-up, even though I was still a kid.”
In 2001, after 13 years at Greentree, his mother became a homeowner. But even when the family moved away, the experiences of living in Greentree never left Roper.
In 2005, he applied for the position of assistant program director at Greentree's learning center. He has held the job for 19 years.
It was a role that he had been crafting in previous positions, while working in socially driven community organizations similar to Greentree, such as Rosalie Manor Community and Family Services, where he was an abstinence educator.
In his new role at Greentree, he was able to develop programming that best suited the needs of his community: father-son nights, bonding experiences for young men of color, financial literacy and more.
“He is definitely action in motion,” said the Rev. Carmen Porco, longtime chief executive of Housing Ministries of Wisconsin, which operates Greentree and five other low-income housing properties.
“He has been a brother to many and has also been a father image and model to many, particularly since he models it with his own child," Porco said. "They see that it isn't just words to him, it's dedication.”
One example of that was his decision to return to college. In his position, Roper encouraged youth to seek out higher education, while he had completed only one semester at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
In 2009, he enrolled in Cardinal Stritch University's "Lifetime Learners" program at Greentree, which helped residents earn associate's degrees in business management. He graduated in 2012.
“I was preaching and teaching it and I wasn't living by it, so I went to school for them to see me going to school,” Roper said.
Making residents aware of entrepreneurship
While attending Milwaukee Tech and Trade High School, now Bradley Tech High School, he devised a plan to make some extra money.
“I was always hustling," he said with a smile. "I wasn’t supposed to, but I was the person selling sodas and sneakers from my locker during class transitions."
Roper’s position allows him to help adults and youth understand their potential as business owners.
In 2018, during the center’s seven-week summer enrichment program for youth ages 9 to 18, his class curriculum was based on the television show "Shark Tank," in which creators of new businesses pitch their ideas to try to get funding from investors.
Roper formed two teen groups whose assignment was to create their own business model with a logo, products and a business plan. From the assignment, the groups created "Living Letters" and "Luxurious Tees." Roper invited local business owners to serve as mentors and judge the final student project.
“I was just sitting there at the table just watching and listening to them present. They were excited and had never dressed up before. They took so much pride in it. I had a light-bulb moment. I wanted to bottle that energy up from that day,” said Roper.
Shining a light on mental health
As Roper continues to evolve in his role at Greentree, mental health resources are among the things he'd like to see addressed in the community.
"Let’s start with this foundation for the kids: Let’s start with my mom is at home and fighting with her boyfriend. Let’s not let him grow up and be 30 years old before he decides to figure out why this is happening," Roper said. "Let’s get him that help earlier; then he is able to do the homework a bit easier.”
Again, Roper draws from his own experiences and his own relationship with his father. Time and forgiveness on both sides have helped them work through the past and build on the future.
“It’s the best it’s ever been, " said Roper of his relationship with his father. "Knowing that he is there is all that really matters to me. Knowing that I can have access to him if I am going through something and I feel like he is the only person I can talk to."
Meredith, his father, said he sought help at Narcotics Anonymous. He still goes weekly, but now as one who encourages others and has been clean for 26 years.
“All that love I didn’t show, I know that today," Meredith said in an interview. "If I wouldn’t have gotten my life together, I wouldn’t be able to be here for him."
And now his son is there for others. Roper is preparing for the time when he might be considered to lead in a new direction at Greentree. Vicki Davidson, the learning center's longtime program director, believes he would be a natural fit to take over.
"He would be the only person I could see that would understand the vision and understand the needs of the residents the same way as I do,” she said.
"He would be a different kind of a leader," she added. "I want him to use his own take on things and his own perspective. I wouldn't expect him to do what I do in the same way just to have the same passion for the same things that we both agree on."
For Roper, it would be an honor.
“There's so much more I see that could be done here and I know I can do here," he said. "God has me here for a reason.”
About this project
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photographer Angela Peterson spent 15 months at Greentree-Teutonia Apartments, a public housing complex on Milwaukee’s north side. Through the O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism at Marquette University, Peterson took thousands of photographs, kept a journal, and wrote stories capturing the heartache and triumph from a community that is often overlooked and misunderstood. She was assisted by Marquette students Isabel Bonebrake and Megan Woolard. Marquette University and administrators of the program played no role in the reporting, editing or presentation of this project.
Project credits
- Reporter, photographer: Angela Peterson
- Contributing reporters: Alison Dirr, Piet Levy
- Editor: Jill Williams
- Contributing editors: Greg Borowski, Ashley Luthern
- Photo editing: Sherman Williams, Berford Gammon
- Copy editing: Chris Foran, Pete Sullivan
- Marquette O'Brien assistants: Isabela Bonebrake, Megan Woolard
- Design: Kyle Slagle, Krista Wilcox
- Social media: Ridah Syed
