Author: Reggie Jackson

Sometimes in life you hear a story that seems hard to believe. A number of years ago a woman named Rikki walked up to me after a presentation I had done and asked if she could share her husband Derek’s story. I said of course you can. She told me that her husband had been in prison since the 1990s. He was charged and convicted in relation to a grocery store robbery. Witnesses described the three assailants as dark skinned Black men. They made the workers in the store open the safe, they took the money and left. No...

The Next Act Theatre production of playwright James Ijames’ play “Kill Move Paradise” as an emotional rollercoaster. The four characters Isa (Marques Causey), Grif (braheem Farmer), Daz (Dimonte Henning), and Tiny (Joseph Brown Jr.), find themselves one by one, descending into a mysterious place after being torn away from their seemingly normal lives. Slowly but surely, they discover that they are simply the latest four names added to a never-ending list of Blacks killed by police and vigilantes. Inspired by the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by Cleveland police in 2012, the play shows the anguish of the afterlife...

“If you were to pay me is there anyway the media can find out where it came from and how much?” – Brett Favre text message to Nancy New on August 3, 2017 “No, we never have had that information publicized. I understand you being uneasy about that though…” – Nancy New text message reply “Oh thanks.” – Brett Favre reply In recent weeks very little media attention has been paid to the welfare fraud scandal in my home state of Mississippi involving Green Bay Packer legend, QB Brett Favre. The multi-million dollar scam would seem to have all...

I once had a dream that I was attacked while giving a presentation about the history of racism while I was in a rural community in northern Wisconsin. I think it came from a fear family members had about my safety doing the work I do. It is one of those dreams that I only remembered pieces of but not many details. Those thoughts of being in danger have become more active lately after the murderous rampage in Buffalo back in May when 10 innocent people shopping or working lost their lives simply because they were Black. Thoughts of...

“The United States is a representative democracy…voting in an election and contacting our elected officials are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy.” – The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) I’ve grown tired of hearing people talking about how “our democracy” is in jeopardy. Americans love to brag about their form of government and claim “our democracy” is the best in the world. How “best” is defined is subjective. Certainly if we were to compare participation as citizens in the most important elections in the country, we would trail most other self-described democratic nations in...

“It has blatantly ignored all law and precedent and usurped from the congress and the people the power to amend the Constitution and from the congress authority to make laws of the land. Its action confirms the worst fears of the motives of the men who sit on its bench and raises a grave question as to the future course of this nation.” – Georgia Governor Herman Talmadge after 1954 Brown V. Board Supreme Court decision overturning segregated schools (1954) “It seems like the supreme court is at war with the American people. It’s certainly serving the desires and...