Author: Reggie Jackson

“Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” – Edmund Burke There has been a great deal of consternation and debate in recent weeks about the Trump Administration deliberately separating thousands of immigrant children from their families. Child advocacy and immigrant rights groups, as well as members of Congress, have expressed their outrage at these inhumane policies being carried out under the direction of customs and immigration enforcement agents. These acts are being directed by President Trump and, per usual, no one is offering any historical context. This is nothing new for America. The only difference is...

I served six years in the United States Navy, most of that time aboard the Iowa-class battleship USS Missouri. I served along side many brave men who sacrificed their lives to keep our nation safe and make the world a better place. We fought for our country under our flag. We took an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution. So I am dismayed that the freedom of speech promised in the foundational document of our Republic is now null and void. Any opinions that are not aligned with mainstream views about protesting injustice against blacks are silenced and carry...

There appears to be a nearly daily occurrence, somewhere in the country, where white people are calling the cops on people of color who are doing absolutely nothing – other than going about their daily lives. What is driving this hysteria among white people, that they feel the need to call 911 when people of color are simply occupying a space that white people feel they should not be in? And how is it that the police keep responding to these non-threatening behaviors as if innocent people are a threat? In September of 2016, I wrote about the Bad...

The recent incident at a Philadelphia Starbucks has brought the issue of unconscious bias onto the centerstage of America’s ongoing racial discourse. The CEO of Starbucks, Kevin Johnson, issued an apology to the two black men who were arrested after simply waiting on a friend at Starbucks and refusing to order food or drinks. During his apology Johnson mentioned “training around unconscious bias.” I’m sure he means well, but Starbucks workers have unnecessarily called the police on blacks before. On April 30, 2014, Starbucks employees in Milwaukee at Red Arrow Park called the police not once but twice because...

“If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters… Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either...

In recent months, I have had the privilege of traveling to places in Southeast Wisconsin that I never visited before. Some of these communities are just a short drive from my home in Milwaukee, but they seem to be a great distance away in some respects. I was invited to these communities to speak to adults and children about race. I never imagined that those communities would be interested in hosting a presentation related to race relations. I have been pleasantly surprised at how open those suburban towns and cities have been to such a difficult topic. We live...