Author: Reggie Jackson

“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” – 15th amendment to the U.S. Constitution ratified February 3, 1870 We have heard the common refrain that people died for our right to vote in the black community for decades. We are told constantly to value the sacrifices of those who risked life and limb to gain voting rights for our people. The right to vote was supposed to be the salve for our...

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” – The Dalai Lama “Our human compassion binds us the one to the other – not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.” – Nelson Mandela Over the past week I have had to deal with the emotions of having a good friend hospitalized with COVID-19 and now a member of my wife’s family fighting for their life. The emotional roller coaster has been harsh. For those Milwaukee County residents that have...

“The virus is faster than our bureaucracy.” – The head of the Italian Protezione Civile (the Italian equivalent of FEMA) Italy has suffered more COVID-19 deaths than any nation in the world. On March 19 they surpassed China’s death toll when 3,405 total deaths had been recorded. In the two weeks since then, the death toll has grown to over 13,000. We can learn a lot about what the outbreak will look like in the United States by taking a closer look at China and Italy. A recent article in Harvard Business Review by Gary P. Pisano, Raffaella Sadun...

“Cultural racism can also lead to individual-level unconscious bias that can lead to discrimination against outgroup members. In clinical encounters, these processes lead to minorities receiving inferior medical care compared with care received by whites. Research indicates that across virtually every type of diagnostic and treatment intervention blacks and other minorities receive fewer procedures and poorer-quality medical care than do whites.” – David R. Williams Florence and Laura Norman Professor of Public Health; Professor of African and African American Studies and Sociology, Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health Dr. David Williams in one of the foremost experts...

We are facing a crisis that is unmatched in our lifetimes. The City of Milwaukee suffered its first Coronavirus related death on March 20. As of March 22, there has been 33,276 confirmed cases of Americans with the COVID-19 infection. Just six days ago the number was 4,661. So far 409 Americans have died due to the virus, compared to only 85 who had died six says ago. On the worldwide stage, 1,593 people died yesterday of Coronavirus and 1,651 died the day prior, for a total of 14,461 deaths according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. America...