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
Ignoring neighbors in need: When Bible believers claim Christian values but lack any capacity for love
They would not help people. Not one of them. They all voted no on giving aid to Americans during the single greatest health crisis of our lifetimes: one that has taken the lives of over a half a million Americans and left millions more at the precipice of poverty and...
In step with Rambalac: How I walked 1,000 miles across Japan during a pandemic without leaving Milwaukee
In February I wrote about my treadmill exercise routine while watching VideoWalks from Japan. I had not thought about doing a follow-up story. Then on the calendar I saw that it was coming up on 10 years since the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. That tragedy was what...
A Blueprint for Peace: Putting Milwaukee’s record year for homicides in perspective
The year 2020, a year where we faced a deadly pandemic, saw the city reach a grim record surpassing 1991 as the deadliest year in the city’s history with a record 193 homicides. It was devastating to lose so many Milwaukeeans to murder. Six children under the age of...
No political policy but revenge: How the Big Lie and its acolytes threaten the survival of our democracy
Conservative pundit William Kristol wrote in “The Bulwark” on March 1 what a number of us have been saying for a while now, and it dovetails cleanly with the current Republican attempt to suppress voting. Kristol warns that our democracy is in crisis. For...
How not to be an ally: A list of rules for Anti-Racist advocacy
In the last year America has had an awakening about the extent of racism in this country’s past and present. Dozens of books, podcasts and articles have been written about being an ally in the fight against racism. They tell you how to be a good ally but they miss out...
To grieve the enormity of a half million lost American lives includes being better neighbors to the living
500,000 people in a year, gone. 6.25 full Lambeau Fields. 192 September 11 attacks. 8.6 Vietnam Wars. 500,000 lives in 12 months. 500,000 mothers, best friends, favorite uncles, beloved teachers, helpful neighbors, papas, grandmas, first loves, only children, soul...
A Poverty of Color: Debunking the myth about disparities being more related to “Class” than “Race”
“The FHA viewed metropolitan growth with “black and white” vision in which race trumped all other factors in predicting the trajectory of a city and its neighborhoods.” – John Kimble The fundamental tool used by Americans to build generational wealth...
How Republican rhetoric has fed the deep roots of right-wing terrorism in America
Since right-wing insurrectionists stormed the Capitol on January 6 with the vague but violent idea of taking over the government, observers are paying renewed attention to the threat of right-wing violence in our midst. For all our focus on fighting socialism and...
Pardeep Kaleka: Letting go of a familiar friend by giving up our Fear for Lent
“And we will open our hands to the feast without shame. And we will turn toward each other without fear. And we will give up our appetite for despair. And we will taste and know of delight.” – Jan Richardson, “And the Table will be Wide”...
