Waukesha County Circuit Court judges will decide today the sentences of two former firefighters from west suburban North Lake for their involvement in a racially motivated incident where they verbally assaulted a Milwaukee man and his family.

The incident happened on April 19, 2005. Both men have pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct as a hate crime as part of a plea agreement.

Former Fire Chief Terrence J. Stapleton and firefighter Mark Weber, both white, threatened Mark Bratton, a black man, with racist remarks while he was fishing at a pond in the town of Merton.

Stapleton faces possible probation and Weber faces possible jail time for racial intolerance.

This is yet another incident of strained race relations in the Milwaukee area.

According to Vel Phillips, board member of the Milwaukee NAACP and vice chair of the Community Brainstorming Conference, racism is ever-present and always under the surface.

The Community Brainstorming Conference meets monthly to discuss issues and problems regarding the black community.

People should be held accountable for their actions, Phillips said. Mean words take a toll on both whites and blacks, she said.

"We all bleed," she said. "We are all God's children and once you believe that that's the simple solution."

The Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee is planning the Second Annual Common Ground Conference.

Nicole Carver, program director for the conference, said the goal is to get people to talk about racism.

The conference also held a summer movie series where people gathered to view different ethnic movies.

"We would watch the movies then have a discussion afterwards," Carver said.

In race relations, this kind of discussion is the first step.

"We as a community are affected, whites and blacks alike," Carver said. "People are not connecting and communicating like they need to be."