Year In Review 2021: When racists complain about being labeled as racists

2021 began a second year with the deadly coronavirus pandemic, and the near collapse of American Democracy. Even with a vaccination for COVID-19, much of the turbulence from 2020 continued because of weaponized politics. That social trauma aggravated the public health crisis, and the economy’s struggle to recover.

While the year did not present the same risks of physical injury for journalism as the previous, the editorial staff of Milwaukee Independent experienced many difficult challenges in the process of reporting the news and preserving those conditions with images. The Year In Review (YIR) series has evolved from a simple annual feature that highlighted top stories of the past 12 months. It has become a more summarized presentation of important themes packaged together for readers. This collection of editorial content presents the work of Milwaukee Independent over 2021, in a way that helps educate and inform the public who may have missed the stories originally, or want to see how the dots were connected on related subjects over the past year.

Systemic Racism 301: Denying that Systematic Racism is real does not change the truth of its existence

Systemic Racism 401: The Myth of American Meritocracy

Reparations 101: Repairing the damage from generations of concentrated disadvantage

A political effort to honor racists provides confirmation that Wisconsin really is Wississippi

If the truth offends: When racists complain that they are tired of being labeled as racists

For the love of the gun: An irrational American ideology that sees White men as cowboys

Racecraft: America’s demographic shift and why the census artificially divides people by skin color

Today’s Jim Crow America: When a political party abandons democracy to “save” the nation

Understand White Rage: Why Republicans are desperately trying to keep voters angry

A Poverty of Color: Debunking the myth about disparities being more related to “Class” than “Race”

Categorizing Identity: The intersection of Race and Education in America

Cultural Hysteria: The battles over what we teach in history class is not about Critical Race Theory

This 2021 compilation continues to reflect the transformational mission of Milwaukee Independent, in a format that explores deeply personal issues and documents those inspirational stories that serve as an example for the community.