
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
Overturning neoliberalism: Harris-Walz team cements the emergence of a new Democratic Party
Vice President Kamala Harris’s choice of Minnesota governor Tim Walz to be her running mate seems to cement the emergence of a new Democratic Party. When he took office in January 2021, President Joe Biden was clear that he intended to launch a new era in America,...
Revolutionary moments: How American autocracy and democracy both happen slowly and then all at once
It seems a new America began recently, and I have struggled ever since to figure out what the apparent sudden revolution in our politics means. I keep coming back to the Ernest Hemingway quote about how bankruptcy happens. He said it happens in two stages, first...
Corporate Autocracy: Trump’s latest corruption scandal shows a changed nature of organized crime
Aaron C. Davis and Carol D. Leonnig of the “Washington Post” reported there is reason to believe that when Trump’s 2016 campaign was running low on funds, Trump accepted a $10 million injection of cash from Egypt’s authoritarian leader Abdel Fatah al-Sisi....
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield shares message of hope on 12th anniversary of Sikh temple shooting
On the 12th anniversary of a tragic shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield visited the Oak Creek gurdwara to honor the victims and engage with the local Sikh community. Ambassador...
Normalizing Hate: How Republicans have increasingly advocated violence as a way to gain power
At a Trump rally on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, a shooter on the roof of a building about 400 feet from the stage apparently shot eight bullets at the former president and into the crowd. Trump appeared to flinch and reach for his right ear as Secret Service...
Project 2025: Russell Vought’s plan to force the United States into a theocracy if Trump seizes power
“The Washington Post” published an article by Beth Reinhard examining the philosophy and the power of Russell Vought, the hard-right Christian nationalist who is drafting plans for a second Trump term. Vought was the director of the Office of Management...
Reintroducing Trump: When the national convention confirmed the Republican Party is now the MAGA Party
The Republican National Convention is a moment to reintroduce Trump and MAGA Republicans to voters who have not seen them up close since at least 2021. So far, the convention has proved that the Republican Party is now the MAGA Party. It has not been a smooth...
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,...