Kristen Leer, Author at Milwaukee Independent

Patriot or Domestic Terrorist: Why Americans are unable to use some words to describe fellow citizens

Posted by Kristen Leer | Sep 11, 2020 |

Domestic terrorism is defined as violent acts that are committed by individuals or groups with the goal to further ideologies that stem from domestic influences, such as those with a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature. Since the Kenosha shooting, the nation has been struggling to contextualize and label a 17-year-old White teen who killed two individuals, Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum, and injured one other, Gaige Grosskreutz. The shooter has been labeled a White Supremacist, a hero, a racist, a patriot, a Trump loyalist, a radical militia member, a Blue Lives Matter supporter, and such. As the...

Kristen Leer: COVID-19 and My Generation

Posted by Kristen Leer | Sep 3, 2020 |

When the COVID-19 pandemic began to emerge within the United States, my peers and I were beginning our Spring semester at UW-Milwaukee (UWM). Even though the buzz about COVID-19 was starting to appear more frequently on social media and newsfeeds, as students were ultimately preoccupied with our university lives. It was not until the week before Spring Break that more direct commentaries and criticisms were being made about the reactions from my peers. While some students still wanted to go on their spring break vacations, despite the risk of exposure, others were calling to get ticket refunds. Many were...

Imagine Being a Child: How trauma impacts the youngest members of Kenosha’s Black Community

Posted by Kristen Leer | Aug 25, 2020 |

Jacob Blake was shot seven times by a Kenosha police officer on August 23. The story of Jacob Blake is still developing. Leaving those details aside, I want to talk about the other individuals who were inches away from this shocking event, Blake’s children. Blake’s children are what makes this case even more shocking, and what is being emphasized in news articles titled, “Wisconsin police shoot Black man as children watch from a car” and social media reposts showing humanizing pictures of Blake with his four young boys. News of a person being shot is already hard to hear....