Milwaukee Influencer Dr. Kenneth Harris: ‘Born To Disrupt, Dispute, and Inspire’

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Not long ago, I was listening to the “Truth In The Afternoon with Dr. Ken Harris,” his talk show on 101.7 TheTruth Black Talk Radio. He asked this question of his listeners: “Is it all right for white people to use the N-word?” I knew I had to meet him. 

At 62, Dr. Harris is an influencer in Milwaukee, a man who brooks no contradictions. His values are firm, and he freely discusses his philosophy. Tall and upright through a cloud of confidence, he is blessed with the voice of a stage actor. With a street and academic background, his opinions have been molded out of vast experience. If your opinion varies, you’d better be ready to defend your position. He calls himself a contrarian because it’s his way of challenging entrenched beliefs. In a way, Harris is a Renaissance man: a retired police lieutenant, a college professor, a business strategist and a drive-time personality on Black Talk Radio.

Although Harris lives in central city Milwaukee, we met at a coffee shop in Whitefish Bay because, as he explained, “I am not recognized here. A bit of anonymity allows me to get work done.”

Where did you come from? Tell me about your parents, neighborhoods, schools, and how you ended up with such a diverse career. 

I was born and raised in Chicago on the south side in a two-parent family with two older sisters. We lived in a middle-class neighborhood of Black residents. When I was eight years old, my parents divorced, and dad became an alcoholic, and he died when I was 11. I was raised by a single mom on welfare, but she went back to work, had a 20-year career, and passed away from cancer at 59 in 1995. She imparted strong values, and all three of us children graduated from college. 

What values did your mom pass on to you?

She put me in Boy Scouts sponsored by the Chicago Police Department, and later I became an Eagle Scout. I learned discipline and respect for people, how to dress, and understand citizenship in the community, nation and the world. I was exposed to adults with careers, which helped me figure out what I was good at. I went to the all-Black Chicago Vocational High School, 5,000 students, 1400 in our graduating class.

After high school, I enrolled in the University of Illinois/Chicago. Majored in architecture but later changed my major to communications, radio and TV. In 1981, I transferred to Illinois State in Normal, and majored in mass communications-radio. I loved that field. When I was 22, I ended up with my own radio show in Normal. After college, I got a job as a producer at WGN Radio in Chicago and later some other stations. I was also doing freelance TV as a sound man for places like the BET network.

How did you ever go from those media jobs into becoming a Milwaukee police officer?

As a kid, I always wanted to be a police officer. I believe that if God puts something in your heart to do, you should give it a try. 

If I fail, it becomes a learning experience. I went up to Milwaukee and took the police test in 1992. Less than a year later, I was living in Milwaukee as a police officer, and raising a family. Meanwhile, I was still doing part time work in radio as a producer for WISN.

Throughout my career, I worked in different police districts from the white South Side to the Black North Side where people looked like me. It was a relief. People like to be around people who look like them, where we live, where we hang out, where we go to church. Eventually, I became the Public Information officer, then a police academy instructor, a Lieutenant, and I retired out of District 6. On the side, I was earning additional advanced degrees including a PHD in Leadership Studies. 

You were a Milwaukee police officer for almost 25 years, 1993 to 2017, much of that experience in the Black central city. What did you learn?

I was taken aback by some of the criminal behavior and violence, but those things happen in white communities, too. It troubles me that historically, the federal government created suburbs for namely white residents, keeping Blacks isolated in their poorer neighborhoods. If you have poor neighborhoods, that breeds crime, no matter the race.

You went into the academic world after your police service, right?

I had been teaching part time at Concordia University. After I retired from law enforcement in 2017, I became a full-time professor at Concordia University. A few years later, Good Karma Brands was starting a new Black talk radio station,101.7 The Truth. In fall of 2020, they hired me as the drive-time host. It’s been a phenomenal experience.

The Black Talk Radio station. I understand it’s mostly for Black listeners and Black issues. Can you describe your on-air style? 

I tend to be a contrarian. I want callers to explore an argument from both sides. That’s the best thing I can bring people. Not balanced but focused. Some people even accuse me of being conservative at times. I answer, “Why is it that if I believe in functional families, being a strong father, being a Christian, going to church and to good schools, why does that make me conservative?” My Black community has many of these values. Too many times in politics these days, we label Americans based on race, or racism. So many of our cultural problems are really about economics, the separation of classes by income. 

Yes, just look around this metro area—from Whitefish Bay and Shorewood and the Downtown—to the Latino South Side, and then the poorer central city on the North Side. There is a certain kind of culture that goes with each economic class.

We struggle more than whites with the economic part because of past governmental policies both federal and local. Because of prior and current racist policies, I think we are the only community where upper middle class Black people still live in the poorer Black neighborhoods. Current policies make it still difficult to afford what a person or family wants to have – a safe place to live, a good education and a good job.

Let’s talk about Racism. Racism is the system that allows the racial group that’s already in power to retain power. Take Milwaukee. For the past several generations, the powerful whites have kept most Black citizens roped off into an area now called the central city. Why? Fear of the unknown. Fear of people whose skin is a different color, whose culture leans toward the emotional. To overcome their guilt, whites provide these isolated Blacks welfare, healthcare, childcare, and charity. That way, they remain taken care of, and whites don’t have to feel guilty.

I think there is a lot of truth in that. Some of us may have a kind of mindset that we are dependent on whites to give us things. But I think we need to stop looking at whites as a savior. They are not going to save us. We need to take care of ourselves first. So let’s give people the tools needed to step up and not bother with racists. If you want to be a racist, go ahead, but it takes too much energy to change another man’s heart. People talk about white organizations being allies who help us, or rather tell us how we should change. I ask, “Did we ever ask you for your help? Ask us what we need before you decide for us. Don’t just give us a voice at the table. Plan the meeting with us before you get to the table.”

If one group of people based on racism or on economic class tells another group what is good for them, isn’t that racism in an ironic way? It’s like the king and the serfs. In other words, “I want what’s good for you, but only I know what’s good for you.”

Can I change this approach? No. It takes too much energy. If development money goes primarily to building up the Downtown, that defeats the surrounding neighborhoods. Blacks and Latinos need to develop the neighborhoods into vital communities, and there are some thoughtful Black developers working on projects now in Milwaukee. Good cities are built from the neighborhood to Downtown. We seem to be building the Downtown and disregarding the neighborhoods.

Continuing on with racial controversy. A recent topic you brought up on your show was The N-word—is it right for whites say the N-word? I spend time with inner city Black people, residents and street leaders. In times of emotion, they liberally throw around the N-word, even call each other the N-word and generally with endearment. I’m white. I cannot use that word in conversation.

Some people have an external locus of control and others an internal locus of control. External means everything is everybody else’s fault, not looking internally to make changes, rather blaming others. Internal locus of control means you take it upon yourself to make change, not make excuses. Each time I complain, I give someone else the power. Non-Blacks use the N-word to call us a derogatory term or to set us back. You can be a fool or open your mouth and remove all doubt. I am not going to become emotional about a racist being an idiot and calling me a name. I will remember who said it and act accordingly.

In a way, you are turning your personal power over to the name caller or in this case, the racist. 

Right. We give racism or the N-word so much power that it moves us emotionally. It causes us to get into fights. The N-word is disgraceful. If you use it against me, the only person who can make a reaction is me. I will not let a person get power over me by simply using a word. Think about this. The word, Trump, is incendiary to many people. Trump is not even President, but that word, his name Trump, carries hatred and emotion. Everything is a cycle. Presidents come and go. Leaders die. Supreme Courts come and go. We have fought to overcome slavery, Jim Crow, and police brutality. We can fight and overcome the N-word. You can forgive who uses it against you, but do not forget.

Just like the N-Word, Trump is a foul word to millions of people, and those two words incite hatred. What I do not understand is why anyone would want to be filled with hatred, get up each morning with hate in your heart. We each have a choice NOT to hate. 

Hate takes up a significant amount of energy, and it’s all negative, and it can control your life in a negative way. 

You’ve talked about context, in other words, if a word or statement is incendiary, in what context was it uttered? We are living in a “woke” world of political correctness where words seem to offend some persons, and those persons are allowed to complain.

Somehow, we raised a generation of people who cannot handle being offended. I’ve been teaching in higher education since 1985. I’ve watched it change from where students went to college to hear views the opposite of his or her own. You argued and differed, but then you ate dinner together. Now colleges have become a haven of safety. Safe zones. It’s a safe place for people who want to speak their opinions, but not for people who do not want to hear them. If you block speakers or professors that you don’t agree with, whether far left or far right, how will you learn the breadth and vastness of knowledge? It’s like the minority view has become the new majority view.

And you are only offended if you allow yourself to be offended by a toxic word.

It’s complicated. If I take the high road and overlook a toxic word, no one corrects the person using toxic words. If I correct a person, I may be turning over my power to the person. In thinking it through, I need to correct the person because they may say it to a someone who doesn’t have the ability to defend themselves.

Who is your audience at 101.7 Black Talk radio?

For my show, I have mostly Black listeners and callers of different ages, but I do get white callers. You know that Black people listen to radio more than any other group in America?  Ninety-two percent of Blacks listen to radio. The power of The Truth proves this fact.

At 101.7 The Truth, we find that people listen 24 hours a day, listen to the rebroadcasts and the podcasts. For my show, I do get callers who argue and interrupt like me, but we give them a voice. 

You teach at Concordia University Wisconsin. What courses do you teach?

I am the Department Chair for Justice & Public Policy. That is my regular job.

You earned your PHD in Leadership Studies. How do you study leadership and what has that done for you?

I found that leaders are different in different cultures. A white political or business leader may have a different agenda for Black constituents versus a Black leader. If a leader applies his or her culture to someone else’s culture, the effect often doesn’t work. For instance, 101.7 The Truth is owned by a white-owned company, Good Karma Brands, WTMJ and ESPN radio, but Good Karma Brands gave our general manager and director of content the latitude on how to build the station and determine how we interact with a Black audience.

For my PHD, I studied various leaders, their styles and trends. A noted leader might have great leadership skills but uses those skills for evil purposes. Hitler, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, for examples. I don’t look for what leaders did, but why they did it. My PHD dissertation was on W.E.B. Dubois, the Black intellectual, talented tenth writer, and Socialist leader. Studying leadership has allowed me to understand the Black community better. 

And you are still studying leadership and its variants, right?

Yes. My current study is called “Too Black, Too Blue.” As a Black law enforcement officer, how do you go through life as a Black citizen? The cops might think you are too Black, and Black residents think you are too blue. When I was a cop, I remember working in plain clothes and was stopped by a uniformed officer demanding to know why I was on the south side. And I was in a department-issued unmarked car. Throughout police brutality, COVID-19 and the death of George Floyd, we’ve not heard the voice of the Black police officer.

On your Linkedin page, you describe yourself as “Born To Disrupt, Dispute, and Inspire” Care to elaborate?

I ask questions that I hope make people react. On my radio show, I try to disrupt many callers’ constant way of thinking, whether you are liberal or conservative. I think what’s gotten us into trouble is not listening. I want you to take a broader look. Everybody has implicit bias, and once you recognize it, you can mitigate it. If all you do is complain because you grew up in difficult circumstances, broken home, lack of money, poor education, bad neighborhood, I will point out the people that came from the same upbringing and did have a successful life, and I can show others how to do it.

I have done many stories on successful Black businessmen, politicians, educators, and entertainers that came from inner city broken homes and even poverty, but who have made it out to lead meaningful lives. They are testaments to determination. 

But it’s more than that. It is recognizing that it doesn’t matter if you went to an Ivy League college. It comes down to how much are you willing to fight to be successful. Not give up, but instead crawl over, crawl around, crawl through obstacles. Until you do that, you will never know. Albert Einstein said, “Success melts like snow, but creativity never dies.” Don’t let the creativity and the vitality, the beauty of the African diaspora in Milwaukee die. As for me, my plan is to create until I collapse. And creativity comes down through the ability to “Disrupt, Dispute, and Inspire.”

You can listen to the Dr. Harris talk show from 4-6 p.m. daily on 101.7FM The Truth: goodkarmabrands.com/101-7-the-truth.