With a dedicated career helping children and families adversely impacted by immigration, homelessness, abuse, and oppressive systems in South America, Europe, and his native Milwaukee, Luke serves as Director of Program Design and Community Engagement at the Institute for Child and Family Well-being at Children’s Wisconsin.
As an award-winning Senior Columnist for the Milwaukee Independent, Reggie Jackson covers a range of African American issues. He is also a Consultant with Nurturing Diversity Partners, and volunteers as Head Griot for America’s Black Holocaust Museum (ABHM) in Bronzeville.
REGGIE JACKSON: 7x Award Winner in Best Column categories from the Milwaukee Press Club
As a teacher for over twenty years, Dominic Inouye helped students to develop their reading, writing, critical thinking, and, most of all, their voices. He worked as The Pfister Hotel Narrator, a one-year appointment, and currently manages the ZIP MKE project that photo documents the city to promote cultural understanding.
Dominic Inouye: 2x Award Winner in Best Column category from the Milwaukee Press Club
Dr. Kenneth Cole is a Licensed Psychologist who has spent the past two decades helping members of the community in developing the ability to bring about positive change for their lives, and empowering those individuals to advocate for themselves.
Kenneth Cole: 2x Award Winner in Reporting categories from the Milwaukee Press Club
Pardeep Kaleka is the Executive Director of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee, published author of The Gifts of Our Wounds, award-winning columnist with Milwaukee Independent, and a clinician specializing in utilizing a trauma-informed approach to treat survivors and perpetrators of assault, abuse, and acts of violence.
PARDEEP KALEKA: Winner in Best Blog category of the 88th Annual Milwaukee Press Club Awards
John Pavlovitz: Winner of Best Blog at the 89th Annual Milwaukee Press Club Awards
Recent Columns
A government of the people: Why America’s path to independence was neither obvious nor easy
On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress passed a “Resolution for Independence” declaring “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all...
Donald J. Trump v. United States: SCOTUS ruling overthrows central premise of American democracy
“This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America. Each of us is equal before the law. No one — no one — is above the law, not even the president of the United States.” – President Joe Biden The United States Supreme Court on July 1,...
Betraying Ukraine: Trump reveals prior knowledge of Putin’s Mariupol Plan while bragging of hostage deal
Trump has been focused on 32-year-old “Wall Street Journal” reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested by Russian officers in March 2023 and is currently on trial for the trumped-up charge of espionage. The State Department considers him “wrongfully...
Debating a liar: Why pundits fixate on President Biden’s performance over Trump’s political gaslighting
June 27 was the first debate between President Joe Biden and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and by far the most striking thing about the debate was the overwhelming focus among pundits immediately afterward on President Biden’s appearance...
Congressional Battlefield: Why Republican lawmakers assist Putin’s infiltration of American politics
On the social media site X, formerly Twitter, Miles Taylor wrote: “After 2016, I helped lead the US gov[ernmen]t response to Russia’s election interference. In 2024, foreign interference will be *worse.* Tech[nology is] more powerful. Adversaries more brazen. American...
A Square Deal: How Theodore Roosevelt came to believe a strong government must regulate business
On February 25, 1901, financier J. P. Morgan’s men filed the paperwork to incorporate a new iron and steel trust, and over the weekend, businessmen waited to see what was coming. Five days later, on March 2, the announcement came: J. P. Morgan was overseeing the...
Barriers to a U.S. birthright: How the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act helped and held back Native Americans
June 2 was the one-hundredth anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act, which declared that “all non-citizen Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States be, and they are hereby, declared to be citizens of the United States.” The status was...
Declaration of Conscience: Standing against the GOP’s Four Horsemen of Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear
As MAGA Republicans attack the rule of law and promise to prosecute their political enemies if they get back into power, it is easy to forget that once upon a time, certain Republican politicians championed reason and compromise and took a stand against the MAGA...
MAGA’s Unified Reich: Trump echoes fascist rhetoric in NRA speech with aims of a three-term presidency
There is a curious dynamic at work in politics these days. Trump does not appear to be trying to court voters to his standard. If he were, he would be reaching out to Nikki Haley voters and trying to moderate his stances. Instead, he is rejecting her voters and...
