With a dedicated career helping children and families adversely impacted by immigration, homelessness, abuse, and oppressive systems in South America, Europe, and his native Milwaukee, Luke serves as Director of Program Design and Community Engagement at the Institute for Child and Family Well-being at Children’s Wisconsin.
As an award-winning Senior Columnist for the Milwaukee Independent, Reggie Jackson covers a range of African American issues. He is also a Consultant with Nurturing Diversity Partners, and volunteers as Head Griot for America’s Black Holocaust Museum (ABHM) in Bronzeville.
REGGIE JACKSON: 7x Award Winner in Best Column categories from the Milwaukee Press Club
As a teacher for over twenty years, Dominic Inouye helped students to develop their reading, writing, critical thinking, and, most of all, their voices. He worked as The Pfister Hotel Narrator, a one-year appointment, and currently manages the ZIP MKE project that photo documents the city to promote cultural understanding.
Dominic Inouye: 2x Award Winner in Best Column category from the Milwaukee Press Club
Dr. Kenneth Cole is a Licensed Psychologist who has spent the past two decades helping members of the community in developing the ability to bring about positive change for their lives, and empowering those individuals to advocate for themselves.
Kenneth Cole: 2x Award Winner in Reporting categories from the Milwaukee Press Club
Pardeep Kaleka is the Executive Director of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee, published author of The Gifts of Our Wounds, award-winning columnist with Milwaukee Independent, and a clinician specializing in utilizing a trauma-informed approach to treat survivors and perpetrators of assault, abuse, and acts of violence.
PARDEEP KALEKA: Winner in Best Blog category of the 88th Annual Milwaukee Press Club Awards
John Pavlovitz: Winner of Best Blog at the 89th Annual Milwaukee Press Club Awards
Recent Columns
Cowardice can be contagious: Governor J.B. Pritzker gives barn-burning speech to energize Democrats
There has been a change afoot in the Democratic Party for a while now as its leaders shift from trying to find common ground with Republicans to standing firmly against MAGAs and articulating their own vision for the United States. That shift burst dramatically into...
No welfare for farmers: If we reap what we sow then rural voters should not expect taxpayer bailouts
Farmers across America have become a political paradox. They have rallied for free markets, decryed “handouts,” and scorning safety nets as socialist overreach, until those very mechanisms were needed to serve them. Today, they are demanding yet another...
Propaganda’s reach: How Kremlin disinformation tactics echo in Trump’s America and erode truth
As Russia wages its brutal and unprovoked war on Ukraine, a troubling alignment has emerged not only among those inside Russia’s media sphere, but also among some Ukrainian Americans and conservative U.S. TV viewers who repeat narratives that mirror Kremlin...
Exploring when a political leader morally and legally qualifies to be called a domestic terrorist
This AI-generated image is a photorealistic editorial illustration and not an actual photograph. It was created to support a journalistic commentary as a political cartoon. The term “domestic terrorist” carries legal, political, and cultural weight in the United...
Why the unchecked power and tactics of ICE under Trump have earned comparisons to secret police
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is not a secret police force, not yet. But recent actions taken by ICE under Donald Trump’s regime raise urgent and unavoidable parallels. In just the span of two weeks, ICE unlawfully deported a Maryland father with...
“Bridge of Spies” showed a nation ruled by law while Abrego Garcia’s case reveals a nation ruled by Trump
“You’re Agent Hoffman, of German extraction? My name is Donovan, Irish, both sides, mother and father. I’m Irish. You’re German. But what makes us both Americans? Just one thing. One. One. One. The rulebook. We call it the Constitution, and we...
Forgotten roots: How Milwaukeeans betray their immigrant heritage by aiding anti-immigrant rhetoric
The “Immigrant Mother” statue in Milwaukee’s Cathedral Square Park is a tribute to the immigrant experience and the sacrifices of motherhood. Created by renowned Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović, the bronze statue was dedicated to the journey of...
Lost Cause myth: How modern whitewashing of Robert E. Lee influences racial politics in Milwaukee
Symbols of the mythic reverence for Robert E. Lee could easily be found in public spaces across the country until 2020, when the Black Lives Movement gained nationwide attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with statues of marble and bronze, plaques provided a...
Lee’s surrender: Defeat without consequences allowed Confederate ideology to embed itself into U.S. law
On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant of the United States Army at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Lee’s surrender did not end the war, there were still two major armies in the field, but...
