Markasa Tucker-Harris speaks during a press conference held by the Liberate MKE campaign. The campaign ended recently after six years. (Photo provided by Markasa Tucker-Harris)
By PrincessSafiya Byers
This story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, where you can find other stories reporting on fifteen city neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Visit milwaukeenns.org.
After six years of gathering, organizing and advocating to address systemic issues in Milwaukee, the African American Roundtable is ending its Liberate MKE campaign.
The African American Roundtable is a nonprofit that works within Milwaukee’s Black community to build power and influence policy through grassroots organizing, leadership development and campaigns.
The group launched Liberate MKE in 2019 to address systemic issues in Milwaukee like the disproportionate allocation of resources to policing over public health and housing.
Now, the campaign is finished and the work is being handed over to the community, said Markasa Tucker-Harris, executive director of the African American Roundtable.
Rooted in community engagement
According to Tucker-Harris, the Liberate MKE campaign was started to redirect resources from systems into community-driven safety, housing, education and jobs for youths.
“We were politicized after seeing a chart of the 2020 City of Milwaukee budget,” Tucker-Harris said. “We thought: How can any place thrive when the budget is so skewed?”
The campaign’s energy built up quickly, framing liberation not only as dismantling harm but as building something new.
Rooted in community engagement, the campaign grew to include resident leaders, seniors and youths, who all learned to organize and advocate.
On Nov. 13, the African American Roundtable ended a campaign that addressed systemic issues in Milwaukee like the disproportionate allocation of resources to policing over public health and housing. (Photo by PrincessSafiya Byers)
Impact
On Nov.13, residents, leaders and supporters of the African American Roundtable gathered to sunset the campaign together.
At their final celebration of the Liberate MKE campaign, participants discussed the impact they had over six years.
Ranetta Palmer, a member of the Liberate MKE leadership team, mentioned how the group invested in community-led efforts, created tools to help residents and had other major impacts through its efforts.
In 2023, the African American Roundtable led by example by piloting a participatory budget program that awarded $10,000 each to local organizations supporting youth and elders, she said. It also created tools like Milwaukee Northwest Side asset map to promote economic development, created to promote economic growth and resource visibility in underserved areas.
Palmer said the Liberate MKE campaign also hosted forums and other events to build relationships and amplify community voices, and through advocacy successfully divested $4 million from the police budget.
Another Liberate MKE leader, Zoe Chambers, mentioned her work helping sustain the Earn & Learn program, which provides employment opportunities to youths. Through her role as a leader with Liberate MKE she was able to help advocate for more positions and more pay for the program.
“I applied to the city’s Earn & Learn program because this will be a great opportunity to educate myself about the city government level and also be able to advocate,” she said. “I was able to see all the city departments working together to make Milwaukee function better.”
Rick Banks, co-founder of MKE Black, was not in attendance but was included in a video about the campaign. He said in the video that one of the most important things Liberate MKE was able to do was change the conversation around policing.
What’s next?
According to Devin Anderson, campaign and membership director for the African American Roundtable, the group wants to recenter and focus on a new campaign to create change. He mentioned two pieces of state legislation, Wisconsin Act 12 and Act 23, that forced the Roundtable to reckon with its strategy.
“To put it simply, they made the political terrain too hard,” he said.
Though the African American Roundtable will no longer be leading the work that had been part of the Liberate MKE campaign, the group said it left community members with a guide to continue it.
For more information
At the celebration, the African American Roundtable launched the Food Access Campaign.
“We want to push the mayor, the county and the Common Council to designate funds for food access on the Northwest Side,” said Lolita Williams, who will be a part of the campaign.