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
Racecraft: America’s demographic shift and why the census artificially divides people by skin color
On August 12, the Census Bureau released information about the 2020 census, designed to enable states to start the process of drawing new lines for their congressional districts, a process known as redistricting. Because of that very limited intent for this particular...
Selfishness as a deadly virus: There is no vaccine that can make Americans care about other human beings
I can’t believe we’re still here. I can’t believe that we’re entering the second full year of this unfathomable madness. We are, and we don’t need to be. Here in America, we have enough vaccines for every adult here. The embarrassment of riches most nations on this...
Infrastructure, COVID, and Blame: Where the delusions of Republicans have upended in the face of reality
The U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan $1 trillion “hard” infrastructure package on August 10. Democrats will now turn to the $3.5 trillion bill, a sweeping measure that would modernize the nation’s approach to infrastructure by including human infrastructure as well...
The Voting Rights Act: Why Federal legislation was needed in 1965 to enforce the 15th Amendment
Fifty-six years ago, on August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. The need for the law was explained in its full title: “An Act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution, and for other purposes.” In the wake of the Civil...
Be a good Influencer: We can all set a positive example as a transformative force for others to follow
People often refer to me as an influencer and ask me how I became one. They invite to influencer gatherings and put me on influencer conference panels and ask me to contribute to influencer podcasts. I’ve never been quite comfortable with that term, as it’s always...
Racial Battle Fatigue: The exhaustion of reproving what has already been proven
When I was in tenth grade I took a math class on geometry. I did not enjoy the class, the teacher or the concepts. It seemed very disconnected to the real world to me at the time. Since then I have found very few things in that class useful to me in the real world....
Police officers deliver emotional testimony about the day Trump sent domestic terrorists to attempt a coup
In early July, the Bullock Texas State History Museum cancelled a book event three and a half hours before it was supposed to start. After Representatives Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Liz Cheney (R-WY) opened the hearing, Sergeant Aquilino Gonell and and Officer Harry...
Why rewriting history matters: We cannot make good decisions for the future with inaccurate knowledge
In early July, the Bullock Texas State History Museum cancelled a book event three and a half hours before it was supposed to start. Written by journalists Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson, and Jason Stanford, the book was titled Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of...
We the People? Why Republicans believe that “the government has no role in protecting the population”
On July 20, the Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends personality Steve Doocy told viewers to get the coronavirus vaccine because it would “save your life” and noted that 99% of the people now dying from COVID-19 are unvaccinated. Brian Kilmeade answered that not...
