Roy Evans, an attorney in private practice and an advocate on issues related to the rights and responsibilities of the African-American community, calls for an end to systemic racism and benign neglect in an open letter to Mayor Tom Barrett. Evans has been a resident of Sherman Park for more than 35 years.
Opinion: Community Voices
Posted inOpinion: Community Voices
Coming full circle to ancient African peacemaking
Charles Robinson Sr., a lawyer, mediator and resident of the Borchert Field neighborhood, says we can reduce violence by employing conflict resolution practices of the indigenous people of the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa. He is working to establish the Kalahari Peace Institute, which will train mediators, facilitators and conflict coaches in violence prevention and peace literacy.
Posted inOpinion: Community Voices, Sherman Park
The “unrest” in this city began decades ago
Venice Williams is the director of Alice’s Garden and The Body & Soul Healing Arts Center. A lay minister, teacher, healer, and facilitator who works to improve the lives of young people, formerly incarcerated people and others in the central city, Williams says the recent violence in Sherman Park is not about the incident that sparked it.
Posted inOpinion: Community Voices
Critical Learning: The Arts and Hope
Margaret Rozga, poet, civil rights activist and professor emerita of English at UW-Waukesha, finds hope in the work of teen artists who created “We Speak: An Exhibition on Women’s Rights,” at the Arts @ Large Gallery, which runs until Sept. 30.
Posted inOpinion: Community Voices
Milwaukee’s Freedom Trail
Margaret Rozga, poet, civil rights activist and professor emerita of English at UW-Waukesha, suggests that Milwaukee already has a public art Freedom Trail — it just needs to be acknowledged.
Posted inOpinion: Community Voices
‘Crimeless revocation’ a failed policy
Mark Rice, who received the 2016 Distinguished Leadership Award from MICAH (Milwaukee Inner-city Congregations Allied for Hope) for his work to end mass incarceration in Wisconsin, argues that justice system reforms would reduce the scourge of imprisonment devastating Milwaukee neighborhoods.
Posted inOpinion: Community Voices
Connecting millennials to transit
Raina J. Johnson is a Milwaukee writer and daily transit rider. She offers ideas on how to attract and retain millennials on the move and to cure what she calls the “in constant motion, but going nowhere” syndrome of Milwaukee’s transportation infrastructure.
Posted inOpinion: Community Voices
The bridge that made Milwaukee famous
Margaret Rozga, poet, civil rights activist and professor emerita of English at UW-Waukesha, invites Milwaukeeans to participate in planning the 50th anniversary of the open housing marches led by Father James Groppi and the Milwaukee NAACP Youth Council in the 1960s.
Posted inOpinion: Community Voices
It’s just not here
Byron Johnson, a 26-year-old Milwaukee native reflects on why he is still looking for a job three years after graduating college. Johnson is a minister and lead facilitator for the Frank Zeidler Center For Public Discussion.
Posted inOpinion: Community Voices
Keeping our eyes on the prize
Margaret Rozga, poet, civil rights activist and professor emerita of English at UW-Waukesha, decries politicians who divert attention from the real issues.