Editor, Author at Milwaukee Independent

Free Lyft Rides in Milwaukee for “March for Our Lives” Participants

Posted by Editor | Mar 24, 2018 |

“We thank the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for inspiring us all to act.” – Lyft On March 24, those around the country will join March for Our Lives demonstrations to demand that their lives and safety become a priority. This movement has been led by student organizers from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which less than a month and a half ago was the site of one of the nation’s deadliest school massacres. Earlier this month, Lyft Co-Founders John Zimmer and Logan Green shared their support for the civic engagement these students have inspired by offering...

Creative talents of military veterans highlighted at Veterans Light Up the Arts

Posted by Editor | Mar 22, 2018 |

More than a dozen military veteran performers and artists showcased their artwork and talent at the Second Annual Veterans Light Up the Arts at 88Nine Radio Milwaukee on March 9. Non-perishable food donations were also collected at the program to benefit the Milwaukee Homeless Veterans Initiative. The first event was held last year and featured 25 performers with 30 visual artists. More than 170 people attended the inaugural event, and hundreds of dollars were raised for five veteran-serving organizations. “We were thrilled to join with other community organizations and provide veteran artists with a platform to showcase their talent,”...

Chasing the unfulfilled promises of fair housing over the decades

Posted by Editor | Mar 20, 2018 |

One of the nation’s leading fair housing attorneys, and former Senior Trial Attorney at the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in the Housing & Civil Enforcement Section, Diane L. Houk was the keynote speaker at the “The Promise of the Fair Housing Act 50 Years Later: A Look at the Past, Present and Future” event on March 14. Hosted by the Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association and the Wisconsin Association of African-American Lawyers, the speakers and panel commemorated the 50th anniversary of the fair housing marches, and the passage of the Fair Housing Act....

Stage play about “The Japanese Schindler” Chiune Sugihara to share his heroic Holocaust story

Posted by Editor | Mar 19, 2018 |

Steven Spielberg’s 1993 movie about a German businessman, who saved more than 1,200 lives during the Holocaust by hiring Jews to work in his factories, made Oskar Schindler a household name across America. But Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat who disobeyed his government’s orders and issued visas that allowed 6,000 Jews to escape from Nazi-occupied territories via Japan remains virtually unknown. A partnership of Holocaust educators in Milwaukee wants to change that. A free staged reading of Chiune Sugihara: Unsung Hero of the Holocaust will be performed at the Nancy Kendall Theater in the Joan Steele Stein Center on the...

Judge David E. Jones: The Constitution has a special love for those who become American by consent

Posted by Editor | Mar 16, 2018 |

“America was not conceived great. She was stained from the beginning with sin. That sin was slavery. In 1790, when Jefferson was writing that first naturalization law, 20% of the American population law was enslaved. It allowed for only white people to be naturalized citizens.” – Judge David E. Jones The Milwaukee office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin hosted a special naturalization ceremony at the downtown campus of the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) on March 8. A total of 129 applicants were welcomed as...

Community leaders collaborate to address HIV/Syphilis cluster in Milwaukee

Posted by Editor | Mar 14, 2018 |

A comprehensive news conference was held at City Hall on March 13, to educate the public on the community-based response to a HIV and syphilis cluster that has impacted at least 125 individuals. The number of newly diagnosed HIV/STI cases have increased both nationally and locally. Communities like Milwaukee, with high numbers of vulnerable populations, are experiencing high incidences of diagnosis. The at-risk populations include Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSMs), ethnic minorities, injection drug users, and women involved in the sex trade or victims of human trafficking. Over the past two decades, federal funding for STD prevention...