Author: Op Ed

How We Bounce Back: Wisconsin will see real impact on real lives with Medicaid expansion

How We Bounce Back: Wisconsin will see real impact on real lives with Medicaid expansion

Posted by | May 15, 2021 |

Wisconsin’s budget committee recently voted – yet again – to turn down the opportunity to expand the state’s Medicaid program, thereby eliminating the opportunity to provide health care and long-term care services for more Wisconsinites and declining more than $1.6 billion in federal funding. The $1.6 billion in new federal resources is the best way to bolster our health system and help Wisconsin bounce back by investing in the people of our state, their businesses, their families, their health care providers, and their health. People across Wisconsin need the health care, nursing home care, home care, and more that...

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State lawmakers continue to gaslight the Wisconsin public about Foxconn’s failed development

State lawmakers continue to gaslight the Wisconsin public about Foxconn’s failed development

Posted by | Feb 16, 2021 |

Recent news reports have exposed the ongoing contract renegotiations between the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and Foxconn, related to the controversial LCD factory which Foxconn promised to build in Mount Pleasant. featured several statements offered by Featured statements from state representatives Robin Vos and Van Wanggaard about the project that were identified as misleading and factually incorrect. In response to a question on whether new state legislation would be needed to renegotiate the contract that WEDC has determined to be broken, Senator Wanggaard claimed “Foxconn is in substantial compliance with their existing contract…” His statement was categorically false....

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Rejecting Integration: The federal government is abandoning its responsibilities to ensure fair housing

Rejecting Integration: The federal government is abandoning its responsibilities to ensure fair housing

Posted by | Jul 21, 2020 |

In recent days, President Trump has indicated that he will likely retract a federal requirement that cities and counties act to promote residential integration and equal housing opportunities. Such a move would be unacceptable under any circumstances, but it is particularly repugnant that in the midst of a national crisis, the President is using racist, inflammatory language to undermine civil rights and tacitly endorse segregation. In remarks on July 16, the President stated that pro-integrative policies mean that “your home will go down in value and crime rates will rapidly rise,” and that suburbs will “go to hell.” As...

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Targeted by Police: How law enforcement tries to criminalize Milwaukee’s Black Activists

Targeted by Police: How law enforcement tries to criminalize Milwaukee’s Black Activists

Posted by | Jul 6, 2020 |

In this moment of completely valid social unrest, we’ve seen some people respond skeptically to police violence: Didn’t she resist arrest? Weren’t they breaking the law by marching in the street? What did he do to deserve being shot? Perhaps because people want to believe that we live in a just world with fair-minded authorities, there is a tendency to automatically give police — and their version of events — the benefit of the doubt. But that benefit of the doubt is rarely extended to the people who police accuse of committing crimes. Many people assume that the police...

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Poisoned Philanthropy: The dangers of becoming the “white moderate” that MLK warned us about

Poisoned Philanthropy: The dangers of becoming the “white moderate” that MLK warned us about

Posted by | Jun 20, 2020 |

I have been thinking of George Floyd’s brutal murder by the police and of the protests happening in Minneapolis, nationwide, and globally. I am at a loss on what to do and how to support our Black friends and colleagues, and family members who have constantly suffered under the pervasive violence of white supremacy and racism. I don’t know what to say. I don’t have any encouraging words for you at this moment. I am just angry and sad. And to be honest, I am also frustrated by the nonprofit sector. I love our field and the people in...

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Zeynab Ali: If you weren’t black, maybe you’d still be alive

Zeynab Ali: If you weren’t black, maybe you’d still be alive

Posted by | Jun 17, 2020 |

“The systemic targeting of and use of unnecessary force against people of color is woven into the fabric of our law enforcement institutions and stems from the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow in this country.” – John Gordon, Minnesota ACLU Director Protests over the death of George Floyd go into their eighth day. Cities across America enforced curfews deployed both national guard and police in heavily armed gears to control protesters. Floyd, a Black man, was killed while in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25th. A video captured by onlookers showed a White cop kneeling on Floyd’s neck...

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