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
Trump delivered the corruption Americans voted for with January 6 pardons and bizarre executive orders
The tone for the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 47th president of the United States at noon on January 20 was set on January 17, when Trump, who once trashed cryptocurrency as “based on thin air,” launched his own cryptocurrency. By January 19 it had made more...
Rewarding the rich: How Trump’s reelection reverses President Biden’s work to rebuild the middle class
In 1883, the Republican Party moved into full-throated support for the industrialists who were concentrating the nation’s wealth into their own hands while factory workers stayed above the poverty line only by working 12 hours a day, seven days a week. It was Yale...
A house on fire: When voters refuse to equate their actions to the suffering their choices created
The 2024 U.S. presidential election solidified a disturbing trend in American politics, a willingness among voters to choose leaders whose policies and track records directly harm their well-being. The phenomenon is not new, but its persistence and increasingly dire...
Pro Wrestling diplomacy: How Trump uses “neo-kayfabe” to blur reality with outrageous claims
It is starting to seem like the best way to interpret social media posts from President-elect Donald Trump is through the lens of professional wrestling. Never a true athletic competition, although it certainly required athletic training until the 1980s, professional...
MAGA’s Civil War: Trump’s coalition sees fractures as White Nationalists clash with “DOGE” Tech Elites
Civil war has broken out within the MAGA Republicans. On the one side are the traditional MAGAs, who tend to be White, anti-immigrant, and less educated than the rest of the United States. They believe that the modern government’s protection of equal rights for women...
New Year 2025: From hope to fear as America grapples with its democratic future amid political violence
Today marks the beginning of a new year. It was traditionally a moment reserved for hope, renewal, and forward-looking resolutions. But for many Americans, the arrival of 2025 feels less like a celebration and more like the crossing of an ominous threshold. Gone is...
Bearing witness to indifference: A photojournalist’s thoughts on navigating trauma, truth, and hope
I remember the first time I held a camera. It was my father’s old Leica, a relic from his time in Germany where he was stationed before serving in Vietnam. I used to play with it, pretending to focus and take photos long before it was ever loaded with film....
The dark truth of “American Exceptionalism” is a nation that tolerates the slaughter of its children
The phrase “American exceptionalism” is often invoked to highlight the country’s unparalleled achievements, innovation, and values. But in the context of school shootings, this term takes on a darker meaning. The United States stands alone among...
GOP power vacuum: Congress avoids U.S. government shutdown before holidays in snub to Musk and Trump
The House of Representatives passed a measure to fund the government for three months in the late hours of December 20. The measure will fund the government at current levels halfway through March. It also appropriates $100 billion in disaster aid for regions hit by...
