State King Tribute Keynote Speaker Marcelia Nicholson: For the Right Reasons
Marcelia Nicholson ran for the Milwaukee County Board after the state tried to wrest control over the Milwaukee public schools from locally elected officials.
by Jonathan Gramling
When Marcelia Nicholson, the first Black and Latina to serve as the Milwaukee County board chair, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a beacon of hope for a little girl surrounded by desperation in the 53206, one of the poorest, mass incarcerated zip codes in the nation.
“Martin Luther King Jr. is that first great leader that we learn about,” Nicholson said. “When I look back on my school career, first grade and kindergarten, you learn about Dr. Martin Luther King then. One of the first things that I remember learning about him was he had a dream. And why that was important to me was because the area I grew up in, it was a challenging area. And it was isolated from places that allowed children to tap into their imaginations. I couldn’t have access to many things. Hearing someone who looks like me say that he has a dream for something better, that piqued my curiosity. It allowed me to use my imagination to think about what will life be like. What else can I see out there.”
And as she grew older, Nicholson took note of King’s leadership skills as well.
“When I grew up, I more fully understood his role in the Civil Rights Movement, his role as a leader,” Nicholson said. “What he wanted for the country was more than a dream. He wanted people to be accepted for who they are. And what I learned from growing up in my zip code is that where I was born was likely to determine my health outcomes. It was likely to determine my education outcome.
Learning about the Civil Rights Movement, made me want to step up and make change in our community. It helps me to feel encouraged and inspired. His communication skills were incredible. He was such a dynamic speaker. I think back to so many quotes that said ‘Justice too long delayed is justice denied.’ It’s those quotes that resonate in your heart and your soul. He was a remarkable leader. He was a trailblazer. He allowed people in circumstances like myself to advance to county executive. I am the first woman of color to lead the county board. David Crowley is the first Black county executive. We stepped in and weren’t deterred by the color of our skin, not deterred by our age because we are young leaders. I’m just grateful for his work in this country. I can’t thank him enough for what he did for the course of our country.”
Nicholson herself didn’t dream of being a leader as she was growing up. She was more concerned about giving back and serving the community. And so she became a public school teacher. And that, in turn, led her into public life.
“My teachers were always very good to me,” Nicholson emphasized. “When I went to college, I was the first in my family to go to college. And I decided to become a school teacher. I started teaching fourth grade. I started realizing that my students were dealing with even worse disparities that I have gone through growing up in that zip code. So I started getting active in my local teachers’ union. I started attending school board meetings. Ultimately, I went to the State Capitol to talk about policy related to education. Through all of that organizing work, through all of that lobbying elected officials on good policy, I started volunteering on people’s campaigns, candidates whom I thought would fight for strong public schools.”
Eventually Nicholson’s campaign and advocacy work garnered her the attention of others and she eventually was asked to run for the Milwaukee County board.
“At that time, the state was introducing a statewide takeover of our local public school system,” Nicholson said. “And the county executive at the time wanted the appointing authority. And we were fighting back against that because we wanted to keep our democratically-elected school board. And while I had said no before about running for office, it felt like the perfect time to have a teacher’s voice at the table on the county board. And when that seat became available, I went ahead and decided to run with the support of fellow teachers and students and their parents and my family. That was nine years ago. And the rest is history.”
Nicholson took office in 2016 and was elected vice-chair of the county board in 2018 and when the chair declined to run for chair in 2020, Nicholson put her hat in the ring and was elected to serve as Milwaukee County’s first Black and Latina board chair.
“There was some in-fighting and I had a vision for what was best for Milwaukee County,” Nicholson said. “I knew that if we could elect someone who could bring folks together and develop a shared visions, I believed we could accomplish great things. My colleagues had faith in me to do that. And since then, I’ve worked really hard to continue with that shared vision. I’ve just been blessed to have colleagues who believe in me and allow me the space to lead in this role. I’ve been able to do some great work with the county executive and the mayor of Milwaukee, the three principle leaders including the president of the Milwaukee Common Council, we’ve been able to do some great work. I’m grateful to my colleagues for voting me in as chairperson for another term.”
Milwaukee County is dealing with the same issues as most other urban areas are in the U.S. One of the biggest is affordable housing.
“There is a housing crisis across the state,” Nicholson said. “Milwaukee isn’t a stranger to that. I would say that Milwaukee has some of the highest segregation in this country. So Black home ownership rates are some of the lowest in the nation. Affordable housing is something that we’re desperately trying to impact, whether it is lobbying at the federal level for more dollars or funding or lobbying at the state level for better conditions to build affordable housing. I’ve learned that if someone has the basic foundation, the bare minimum of having a safe place to live, it impacts so many other parts of their lives, whether it is work, school or health.”
Education and the funding of public schools is also big.
“Education has been one of the biggest topics of discussion,” Nicholson said. “It has covered the range from what we are teaching in our schools to how schools are funded. And Milwaukee is no stranger to underfunded public schools. . Our children are dealing with all sorts of disparities and then they have to attend schools that aren’t funded enough to help level the playing field. And so our education outcomes are lower compared to other children across the state. We have a lot of great elected officials and there are cross-section collaborations that we are hopeful will continue to impact some of these issues for the positive.”
On some levels, Milwaukee County has a strained relationship with other parts of the state that hinders it from making progress on many of the issues that it faces. One factor of that is political.
“Wisconsin is purple, but we are red versus blue, Republican versus Democrat in the elections,” Nicholson said. “We are a largely rural state with a diverse city.”
And as the home to most of the state’s people of color, there is a racial tension that underlies many state policies that impact Milwaukee County.
“Milwaukee, unfortunately, has had this relationship at the state where we have a tendency to be targeted,” Nicholson said. “We’re the economic engine of the state. There’s no shortage of work. There’s no shortage of good outcomes that we provide to the state. But it seems that the one thing we have that is only for us is the people who have animus for our city. It’s unfortunate that it has to be that way. We just have to continue to work harder to change those dynamics.”
That tension really came to the fore when the state legislature was trying to take away local control of the Milwaukee Public Schools and other governmental functions.
“It’s the stripping of local controls,” Nicholson said. “It’s telling us, ‘You are not qualified to make decisions. We’re going to make them for you.’ But our life experiences, what we need as someone who lives in Milwaukee, is very different than what some others in the state need. The move to not allow us to make decisions for our community is, quite frankly, demeaning and condescending. It is something that the state needs to let us represent our community to the best of our abilities and not handcuff us or tie our hands on how we are able to fund our schools, how we are able to develop our community, how we are able to invest in our people.”
Nicholson is a very dynamic leader for whom other opportunities will come. But Nicholson is focused on the present and loving what she does.
“I love what I do,” Nicholson emphasized. “I absolutely love what I do. I love representing Milwaukee County. Milwaukee County is so uniquely positioned to help people’s lives through social services, through impacting housing, through impacting mental health. I just love it. If there is something else out there for me, it’s one of those things that if it comes up, that’s fine. But right now, I’m focused doing the work at the county and I can’t think of doing anything else right now.”
Marcelia Nicholson would make Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. proud.