Author: Reggie Jackson

“I don’t think I’ll ever reach the mental capacity to ever watch the video. I saw my son come into the world and seeing him leave the world is not something… that I’d want to see ever.” – Aubery’s mother Wanda Cooper When George Zimmerman killed 17 year-old Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida the black community there was outraged. The killing did not make the national news right away. It was not until the story spread on social media that blacks around the country heard about the story. Eventually the story became a huge driver...

“A village without the elderly is like a well without water.” – African Proverb “I wish I would have listened, when I was a kid, to my elders or people who had my best interests at heart, and then I wish I would have been more conscious at that age also.” – Metta World Peace (formerly Ron Artest) As we see the devastation being wrought across the world due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the greatest tragedy is the loss of our elders. Nursing homes and other centers of life for our elders have become breeding grounds for the...

The recent response to the alarming number of deaths in the black community in pockets around the country has been tepid, in my opinion. Many have written and responded that we need to do better, but what has really changed? Even as we are seeing in Milwaukee County an leveling out of COVID-19 deaths in recent weeks, blacks still account for an exorbitant number of cases and deaths as compared to their share of the population. As we look at where the largest clusters and concentrations of cases and deaths are, an alarming trend has shown its face. In...

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” – Edmund Burke In the age of the novel coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, we can look to the past to learn some really valuable lessons. The Spanish flu, which began in Kansas, killed nearly 700,000 Americans. On of the hardest hit cities was San Francisco. The first case of the influenza in the city was on September 23, 1918, when Edward Wagner was admitted to a hospital and eventually placed on quarantine...

“I think this is the most ridiculous thing that has ever happened. The nigras are just as free as we are, they have the same opportunity to work and build their part of the town up the same as we have. I just don’t understand it and don’t approve of it. I’m gonna stand up for my rights.” “Well I think if they remain peaceful it would be a lot better than perhaps the violence.” “I don’t think it’s the time right now, I think they have equal rights though.” “I don’t like it, I think it’s tryin to...

“27 inmates at House of Correction have tested positive for coronavirus” – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 17, 2020 “38 percent of Arkansas COVID-19 cases concentrated in state prison” – The Hill, April 21, 2020 “63 House of Correction inmates tested positive for COVID-19, along with 3 employees” – Fox6News, April 20, 2020 “73% Of Inmates At An Ohio Prison Test Positive For Coronavirus” – NPR, April 20, 2020 These disturbing headlines keep coming. As the coronavirus continues to kill tens of thousands of Americans, we get daily updates from city, county, state and federal leaders about the outbreak. One...