WISDOM In The News

MADISON - Three outstanding Madison community members — La Toya Greer of the Free Campaign, James Hawk of Tellurian and Peggy West Schroder of EXPO-WISDOM — will be honored at the MOSES Virtual Transformation Celebration on Saturday, Nov. 20. MOSES is a non-partisan interfaith organization that works to promote social justice with a focus on ending mass incarceration.

MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee City Attorney Tearman Spencer's hiring of a lawyer who worked for anti-Islamic groups — and his top deputy's subsequent direction that staff keep "an open mind" to their new colleague — is drawing condemnation from 20 advocacy and religious organizations.

KENOSHA -  As the Kyle Rittenhouse jury deliberated and tension began to run high on the courthouse steps Tuesday afternoon, a group of 30 Kenosha residents gathered in peaceful prayer a few blocks away at Library Park.

Rabbi Dena Feingold, of Beth Hillel Temple and co-president of Congregations United to Serve Humanity, which organized the event, and others who spoke acknowledged that there is work to be done to tackle issues raised during the events of the last year, but prayed this work will be done peacefully.

OSHKOSH - After five years of discussion and debate over how to correct the historical record at the Chief Oshkosh Monument in Menominee Park, the Common Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve extensive new signage at the site.

“I know this has been a long and sometimes difficult process,”  said Council Member Lynnsey Erickson. “But I think that it’s important that we are finally coming to terms with our history as a city and the land that we occupy.”

MILWAUKEE - It was 1980, and the social ministry committee at Cross Lutheran Church was looking for ways to better serve the community.

“We discovered there were three prerelease centers within a mile or two of our congregation, and that was an area of need,” recalled Pastor Joe Ellwanger, referring to the church located at 1821 N. 16th St. “Men and women were coming back from prison and could use some help.” Read more of the article here.

MILWAUKEE - Until a worker representing the U.S. Census Bureau showed up at his door last April, Sylvester Jackson felt like a ghost in his own community.

Jackson, 54, lives on the north side of Milwaukee. The last time census workers had come around, a decade earlier, he was 200 miles from home, serving a prison sentence in Black River Falls. That’s where the census counted him as a resident the next 10 years.  Read more of the article here.

MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin imprisons Black residents at a higher rate than any other state in the country, a new report found, highlighting long-standing and deep disparities in the state’s criminal justice system.  Read more of the article here.

RACINE - A group of southeast Wisconsin community and civil rights organizations have called on Racine Lutheran High School to take action, following reports of students being harassed based on their race, incidents of hateful language and vandalism, and what they say is the school administration’s failure to fix an ongoing racially hostile environment. Read more of the article here.

RACINE - A group of minority Racine Lutheran High School students alleges they have been the target of hateful rhetoric and dehumanizing incidents on school grounds. Read more of the article here.

RACINE - Students, parents and community organizations are calling for more change at Racine Lutheran High School following more revelations of racist and discriminatory acts at the school. CBS 58 was the first to report an incident where students wore T-shirts with the words "Trump's Wall" on them, which offended some students of color. Read more of the article here.

RACINE - Black and Latino students say they've been harassed, dehumanized, and met with hate at Racine Lutheran High School. And now they're saying enough is enough. Read more of the article here.

RACINE - A group of southeast Wisconsin community and civil rights organizations have called on Racine Lutheran High School to take action after reports of students being harassed based on their race, incidents of hateful language and vandalism, and what they say is the school administration's failure to fix an ongoing racially hostile environment.  Read more of the article here.

MILWAUKEE - When Jay Anderson was killed by a Wauwatosa police officer in 2016, it hit home for Lisa Jones, the Executive Director and Lead Organizer of Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH). Read more here.

MILWAUKEE - A person who is "locked up on the outside" can be jailed or imprisoned at any time, without recourse to a judge or jury. Unlike everyone else, they are not innocent until proven guilty, and are sometimes even punished after they have been found not guilty in a court of law. Read more here.

MADISON - On the steps of the state Capitol Monday evening, about 60 people of differing faiths came together for an hour of prayers, sermons and a call to stand against proposed legislation that that participants charge would silence teaching about the history of racism, and related subjects, in Wisconsin schools. Read more here.

WAUKESHA - Members of the Stewards of Prophetic Hopeful and Intentional Actions (SOPHIA) are demanding the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department suspends Deputy Joseph Mensah from the department while the charges against him are proceeding. Read more here.

WAUKESHA - Waukesha Religious Leaders and other community members will gather to pray for racial equity and to stand in support of a truth filled understanding of the reality of racism in the country, SOPHIA announced Thursday. Read more here.

GREEN BAY - Despite having the eighth-highest incarcerated population throughout Wisconsin Department of Correction facilities, Green Bay Correctional Institution (GBCI) had the second-highest number of complaints filed by incarcerated individuals from July 2019 to June 2020. Read more here.

MILWAUKEE - When Lester Williams arrived at his stop on his way to work, he didn’t expect to be looking up at his own face on the side of the bus. 

A new bus route called JobLines was launching in the Milwaukee metro area, and Williams was hired to do some modeling to help promote the initiative. Soon enough, and to his surprise, his face was everywhere. Read more here.