Author: Reggie Jackson

Reggie Jackson: The lasting damage of America’s current Culture Wars

“Historians tell us where we’ve been, and give us insights into where we’re going. Historians remind us of the things that we’ve forgotten, and speak up about the things we’ve deliberately omitted. Historians reveal things that we never knew. Historians show us that we’ve been asking the wrong questions, and perhaps even giving the wrong answers. Most crucially, historians tell us who we are, because how we know ourselves in the present is intimately linked to the ways we remember ourselves in the past.” – Jason Steinhauer “Those who seek history with an upbeat ending, redemption, or reconciliation, may...

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Reggie Jackson: The racial imbalance of Milwaukee’s 2022 Residential Property Assessments

There has been little said by most elected officials about the readily apparent racial imbalance in the latest assessments of home values in Milwaukee. Overall, the city wide increase was 17.77%. By far the largest increases were in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, which all saw increases exceeding 20%. Residents in those areas who are very concerned about how this will impact their property taxes later this year are patiently waiting on an explanation as to why the value are so much more in Black and Hispanic parts of town. Alderman Bob Bauman said, “There will be a flood of...

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Reggie Jackson: Reflecting one year later on the significance of Juneteenth becoming a Federal holiday

“It should be a paid holiday and not just a check-the-box holiday added to your calendar. You really have to be meaningful and authentic in order to be impactful.” – Rosa Nunez, the director of diversity, equity and inclusion at the law firm Foley Hoag “I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common.” – Frederick Douglass (July 5, 1862) On June 16,...

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The constant trauma of mass shootings: When an unbroken chain of acceptable violence leaves us numb

I am rarely at a loss for words. However, I found myself struggling to process the horrific violence over the past few weeks. It is generally fairly easy for me to take a pause, think deeply about events and then put my thoughts down in an article. I wish this was still easy to do in this instance, but it is incredibly difficult to even think about how to process the world around us. Several people reached out to me after the racist attack and murders in Buffalo, offering their condolences to me and my community for the losses...

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Buffalo shooter not a lone wolf: How mainstream racial discourse nurtures White domestic terrorists

“We don’t want to be protected after the fact. We want to be protected and treated like we matter without it taking a white supremacist shooting up our community.Time and time again they’ve shown nobody cares about us here. It’s a pattern.” – Marlene Brown, 58-year-old Buffalo resident “People are going to try to excuse it as this person not being from Buffalo,  they’ll say things like ‘This is not who we are.’ I just want to be clear that this is exactly who Buffalo is. It doesn’t matter that we have a Black mayor. This is still a...

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Lessons from the Downtown shootings: Residents of Milwaukee cannot hide from our responsibilities

Near the end of the Milwaukee Bucks playoff game against the Boston Celtics three people were shot near the Deer District on Friday night on North Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and West Highland Avenue. Two of the victims were transported to the hospital by the Milwaukee fire department and another victim drove herself to the hospital. A second shooting occurred when a 20-year-old man was shot on Water and Highland. Less than one hour later, gunshots rang out on Water and Juneau. Police report that seventeen people were shot in this third incident. The police took a 19-year-old...

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