News
Love of country and each other: Wearing a mask during a pandemic is an expression of Patriotism
As we move through a year that has already been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we think ahead to when we can resume normal activities, be part of community gatherings and celebrate holidays, like Independence Day. Independence Day invokes strong feelings about...
Truth Commissions: A nationwide healing process is needed to overturn systemic racism
By Benjamin Appel, Associate Professor of International Relations, Michigan State University; and Cyanne E. Loyle, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, Pennsylvania State University As the U.S. prepares to celebrate another year of its...
How Capitalism solved its instability problem by using racism as an essential tool for maintaining order
Since capitalism never could end cyclical downturns and their awful effects, its survival required making those effects somehow socially tolerable. Systemic racism survived in the post-Civil War United States partly because it helped to achieve that tolerability. U.S....
Confederate Flags and Nooses: Holding on to Symbols of American Racism
“Just because people don’t understand and don’t want to listen to the facts, they just see it as a fake and as a hoax.” “It’s a straight up noose. The FBI has stated it was a noose over and over again. NASCAR’s leadership has stated it was a noose. I can confirm that...
Life of a Slave Girl: The tarnished Southern pride of a history based on sexual violence
Trigger Warning: this essay contains the mention of Rape and Sexual Abuse As a Black woman born in Louisiana, I was elated by NASCAR’s and the U.S. Navy and Marine’s decision to ban the Confederate flag because those are three fewer places where a flag that represents...
Peonage Explained: The system of convict labor was Slavery by another name
By Kathy Roberts Forde, Chair, Associate Professor, Journalism Department, University of Massachusetts Amherst; and Bryan Bowman, Undergraduate journalism major, University of Massachusetts Amherst The U.S. criminal justice system is riven by racial disparity. The...
A Black Lives Matter Anthem: Hip-hop is the latest soundtrack in the history of racial equality protests
By Tyina Steptoe, Associate Professor of History, University of Arizona The sound of Public Enemy’s 1989 song “Fight the Power” blared as face-masked protesters in Washington DC broke into a spontaneous rendition of the electric slide dance near the White House. It...
Podcast: Voices in Union – Episode 063020
Voices in Union: with Reggie Jackson and Maria Hamilton – is a weekly podcast that focuses on the African American Diaspora in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It connects local concerns to national trends on social justice, and educates the general population on the...
Empty Seats: The reckless need for something as meaningless as sports during a pandemic
“Only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – Tom Brady, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Quarterback “I am so deeply sorry our tournament has caused harm. Everything the organizers and I did the past month, we did with a pure heart and sincere intentions. We believed the...
New study confirms that Black voters were heavily disenfranchised in April 7 election over COVID-19 fears
Significant numbers of Milwaukee voters were dissuaded from voting on April 7 by the sharp reduction in polling places and the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic — with the biggest effects seen among Black voters, according to a new study. Researchers from the Brennan...
A False Immunity: Rural communities are showing their vulnerability to COVID-19
By David J. Peters, Associate Professor of Rural Sociology, Iowa State University Rural areas seemed immune as the coronavirus spread through cities earlier this year. Few rural cases were reported, and attention focused on the surge of illnesses and deaths in the big...
Milwaukee residents fall under increasing police surveillance in effort to choke Black activism
“There’s definitely something going on,” said 39-year-old Milwaukee activist Frank Sensabaugh, better known locally by the long-held nickname “Frank Nitty.” Most of his days recently have been spent either organizing or participating in Milwaukee’s slice of the...
