[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 86 (Thursday, May 7, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2321-S2322]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING EUGENE KANE

  Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the life and work 
of Mr. Eugene Albert Kane, a renowned, passionate, and fearless 
journalist who for more than 30 years spoke truth to power and forced 
his readers to confront the uncomfortable realities of racism and 
injustice in Milwaukee, in Wisconsin, and in America.
  Eugene was born to Eugene Albert Kane, Sr., and Hattie (Freeman) 
Kane. He grew up in North Philadelphia and graduated from Temple 
University where he majored in journalism and minored in Black studies. 
In 1984, Eugene moved to Milwaukee to take a job with the Milwaukee 
Journal, the precursor to today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. There, he 
wrote what would become a very well-known column, ``Raising Kane.'' The 
title's insinuation of stirring the pot and causing what civil rights 
icon Congressman John Lewis has termed ``good trouble,'' was indeed, 
intentional.
  His early personal experiences with discrimination shaped his passion 
for equality and his need to speak publicly about racism. His 
grandfather, seriously ill with pneumonia, died after being turned away 
from hospital emergency rooms because of the color of his skin. As a 
teenager attending a mostly White school, Eugene remembered a fellow 
student he considered a friend, who taunted and berated him with vile 
racist insults. Racism followed him into his professional life as well. 
He recounted times when it was next to impossible to obtain interviews 
from people in mostly White settings and was even falsely accused of 
being part of a pickpocket scheme while covering the Green Bay Packers 
in 1997 during Super Bowl XXXI in New Orleans. These experiences and 
others inspired him to give voice to the systematic racism saw and the 
lack of economic opportunities facing African Americans in Milwaukee 
and the country. Rather than shying away from the unvarnished truth of 
racism and social injustice in America, he walked right towards it, pen 
and notebook in hand.
  As a Black journalist who elevated the voice of Black Milwaukee in a 
column read predominantly by a White audience, Eugene's work garnered 
irritation as well as praise. Even a fellow Wisconsin journalist 
wondered out loud why the Journal Sentinel would ``give this guy a soap 
box?'' He took hateful responses to his column in stride, viewing them 
as proof his words were landing exactly where they needed to. In fact, 
he took pride in motivating people to care enough about an issue to 
disagree with him.
  A greater number of readers and colleagues, however, were motivated 
to praise his work. In 2014, he was inducted into both the Wisconsin 
Media Hall of Fame and the Milwaukee Press Club Hall of Fame. In 1992, 
he was awarded the Knight Fellowship at Stanford University. He also 
received national recognition, winning first place for Best General 
Column from the Society of Professional Journalists in 2000 and two 
first-place National Headliner Awards for Best Local Interest Column in 
2001 and 2003.
  His accomplishments and contributions went beyond the written word. 
He hosted ``Black Nouveau'' on Milwaukee Public Television from 2002-
2006, taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Marquette 
University, and served as president of the Wisconsin Black Media 
Association in 2002.
  I am forever grateful that Eugene shared his important perspective 
throughout his long, storied career. Each step of the way he 
demonstrated the courage to tell the truth and shine a light on the 
injustices that were more comfortably left unspoken. This is a true 
testament to the value he served Wisconsin as a journalist.
  Eugene was a vital and honest voice for the Milwaukee community. Call 
him an agitator if you must. I don't believe he would have it any other 
way. He said and wrote and needed to be heard and read. Eugene Kane 
will be missed by so many, but what he said and the words of wisdom he 
wrote will

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not be forgotten to us. They should be, and will be carried on

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