Reading Time: 3 minutes

Isaac Solis knows all too well how taking a pill bought off the street can lead to tragedy. 

His son Isaac Solis Jr., known as “Bubba,” died in 2019 after taking what he thought was the prescription drug Percocet. 

Instead, it was a counterfeit pill laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that can kill in trace amounts.

Since then, he’s been on a mission to help prevent others from losing loved ones through his “One Pill Kills” awareness campaign. 

His message is being amplified in time for Fentanyl Awareness Day, observed nationally on April 29, through three billboards that feature his son. The billboards direct residents to the 1pillkills.org website and social media pages and include the message: Together We Will Save Lives.  

“It’s about spreading awareness obviously that even one pill can kill you, one line can kill you,” Solis said. “If one family sees it and reaches out to their loved one and one life is saved, that’s our goal.” 

Two of the billboards can be seen off of Interstate 94 in Milwaukee near West Becher and South Fourth streets, and the other is a north/south display on South 27th Street and West Morgan Avenue. The billboard near West Becher will be up for eight weeks and the one on West Morgan for four. 

Solis’s campaign has utilized several billboards over the years to increase community awareness on fentanyl. 

The message on the first billboard, he said, was very aggressive.

“Our grief was a bit more raw at that time,” Solis said. 

Another billboard featured photos of individuals who lost their lives to fentanyl. 

“Eight families put their angels up there,” he said. 

Drop in overdose deaths

Fentanyl has fueled the opioid epidemic nationally and a rise in overdose deaths. 

The drug had devastating impacts on Milwaukee County, which experienced multiple years of record high drug overdose deaths in the 2010s and 2020s. Those totals peaked at 674 in 2022 and 667 in 2023, according to data from the Milwaukee County Overdose Dashboard. Most of the deaths were caused by fentanyl alone or in combination with other substances.

Since then, the number of fatal overdoses has fallen. Last year 387 died, with 236 of those cases involving fentanyl. 

County Executive David Crowley credits increased funding for opioid prevention and collaboration for the decrease. 

“Thanks to the investment of opioid settlement dollars, increased access to free harm reduction supplies, and efforts to eliminate the stigma surrounding substance use disorder, fewer people are dying of overdose, which means more opportunities for treatment, recovery and a path forward,” Crowley said in a statement.

Fentanyl still a major problem

While Solis said the drop in fatal overdoses is great, it’s also concerning. 

“The troublesome part is we don’t know what amount of people are addicted to fentanyl and using it daily,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to do.The closer we get to zero deaths, the better.” 

He said fentanyl products continue to evolve and get more potent, and it can be in powder or liquid form, and even in vapes. 

“It can be hidden in something but you can have no idea what,” Solis said. “There’s always a threat of it being in any type of drug.”

Working together

Like Crowley, Solis credits collaboration for the progress made in addressing the opioid epidemic. He partners regularly with Team HAVOC, a grassroots South Side group. 

Rafael Mercado, founder of Team HAVOC, said Solis’ story and “One Pill Kills” message are having an impact. 

“He does a lot to bring awareness by way of billboards, social media and pop-ups,” Mercado said. “He has lost a son to this, so he knows firsthand the pain and suffering a family goes through and the ripple effect of addiction on a family.”  

Solis also partners with Samad’s House, a Milwaukee-based sober living home and behavioral health clinic dedicated to supporting women. He said he’s working with Tahira Malik, founder and chief operating officer of Samad’s House, to help organize a Walk for Lives event on July 11. Walk for Lives is a nationwide movement to raise awareness about those who died from fentanyl. 

Solis said he wishes he could do even more but knows that ending the fentanyl crisis won’t happen quickly. 

“The problem didn’t happen overnight,” he said. “It’s not gonna be any one group, not any one solution. Together we will save lives.”

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

‘One pill can kill’: A Milwaukee father turns grief into a warning about fentanyl is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 5 minutes

His impact is seen everywhere on South Cesar E. Chavez Drive. From the street signs and murals bearing his name to a life-sized statue in the parking lot of Nuevo Mercado El Rey — Cesar Chavez was revered by many on Milwaukee’s South Side.

That’s what made news of sexual abuse allegations so shocking. Many today see union activist and civil rights leader Chavez, who died in 1993, in a new light after a bombshell New York Times article published Wednesday — as a sexual predator. 

The story detailed allegations of sexual abuse and grooming of women and girls as young as 12. 

Reaction across Milwaukee has been swift. 

The city’s Cesar Chavez Day celebrations were canceled. 

And the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts shut down a student contest and event honoring him. 

Ald. JoCasta Zamarripa and others have begun discussions about potentially renaming Cesar E. Chavez Drive, a stretch of South 16th Street from West Greenfield to West Pierce.

What the Chavez Drive business community is saying

Olivia Villarreal, the wife and business partner of El Rey co-founder Ernesto Villarreal, said she was devastated to see the news reports about Chavez. 

“Makes me just cry hearing these developments,” she said. 

Villarreal said her father came to the U.S. as a bracero, working the cotton fields in Texas and Alabama. Her husband’s dad came to California from Mexico to pick fruit. Both came to the country in the 1950s. 

“They saw what the labor movement did and lived it,” she said. 

The movement, which Chavez became the face of, impacted millions, she said. 

She said the statue of Chavez that stands on the western edge of their parking lot in a small plaza, does not belong to El Rey, although the store has been maintaining it. It was commissioned by Journey House and paid for by donations. 

Villarreal said her understanding is that members of the Cesar E. Chavez Business Improvement District will meet and decide the future of the statue and discuss the renaming of the street.

She said she’s open to the BID’s suggestion of taking down the statue and also changing the name of the street. 

The Chavez Drive BID issued a statement calling for accountability and thoughtful action.

“Cesar E. Chavez has long been recognized as a symbol of labor rights, dignity and collective organizing for farmworkers and Latino communities,” it read. “At the same time, we recognize that history is not one-dimensional. It requires us to confront the full scope of a person’s legacy, including the parts that are in contradiction to what we have known.” 

The BID board of directors is actively examining next steps, according to the statement.

‘Get rid of everything’

Elena Rosales, who works at Agencia de Viajes Mexico, 1016 S. Cesar E. Chavez Drive, said she was shocked when she heard the news about Chavez. 

“Get rid of everything, take the statue down, change the street,” she said. 

As a woman, she said, she’s on the side of the victims. Still, she acknowledged, with Chavez long dead, we’ll never hear his side. 

“He’s not here to defend himself,” Rosales said. 

Maria Romo, a manager at Reliable Staffing Solutions, 1215 S. Cesar E. Chavez Drive, said that although she thinks the voices of the victims should be heard, she doesn’t think changing the name of the street will help much. 

“They’ve already been harmed. What will changing the name of the street do to change that?” she said. 

‘Why now?’

Alma Flores, owner of Nuevo Imagen, a beauty shop at 1219 S. Cesar E. Chavez Drive, said she doesn’t think that the street should be renamed or that Chavez’s legacy should be forgotten. 

“He did so much for the agricultural workers,” she said. “What will they do, remove his name from everywhere? Because it’s all over.” 

Flores said she questions some of the allegations against him and wonders why they took so long to become public. 

“I don’t understand. Why now when everyone celebrates him,” she said. 

Fernando Barajas, manager of Taqueria Los Comales, 1306 S. Cesar E. Chavez Drive, said he has mixed feelings about the sexual abuse allegations against Chavez. 

“He’s been dead for so long,” said Barajas, who’s worked at the restaurant for nearly 23 years. “We all have different points of view.” 

Barajas, a former farmworker in California in the ’80s and ’90s, said that Chavez did a lot of good for people. Still, he said, he understands the severity of what he’s being accused of and understands if people want to take action as a result. 

“If the people want the name of the street to change, that’s fine,” Barajas said. 

What residents are saying

Juan Salazar, a former farmworker, also has mixed feelings about Chavez.

“That’s the first thing people go to nowadays, the worst parts, not the good parts,” said Salazar while walking along Cesar E. Chavez Drive on Thursday morning. 

He admits the news about Chavez left him at a loss for words but wants more investigation into the allegations before changes are made.

Nyia Luna is a local artist who painted a mural of Dolores Huerta on Cesar E. Chavez Drive with her mentor Girl Mobb. 

Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association with Chavez and went public Wednesday as one of his victims. 

Luna said she painted a mural of Huerta because she knew of Huerta’s huge role in the farm workers movement. 

“Not many of my counterparts in high school did,” she said. 

She called the news about Chavez a tragedy, and said she’s glad that Huerta and the others were able to share their stories. 

“Brings light to what goes on behind closed doors to a lot of women,” Luna said. 

Many other residents who were asked about Chavez on Thursday said they had seen the headlines on social media about him but were not fully aware of the allegations or didn’t want to share their stories publicly.  

What Milwaukee leaders are saying

County Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez, who represents the South Side, wrote on Facebook that he had no problem saying goodbye to Chavez’s legacy and condemning him for his actions. 

“Too often, men of status abuse their power and use it for heinous acts towards women, and especially toward defenseless children,” he wrote. 

He wants Cesar E. Chavez Drive to be renamed in honor of Huerta. 

Zamarripa, who represents a section of the South Side, said she’s devastated about the news on Chavez.

“We know community leaders who marched with him, and the devastation is so real,” she said. 

She issued a statement in solidarity with his alleged victims on Wednesday. 

“These women carried enormous pain for decades because they feared that speaking the truth would cost the movement everything they had sacrificed to build. That is an impossible burden, and they should never have had to carry it,” she wrote. 

Zamarripa said the legacy of the farmworker movement belongs to the people, while saying she will be part of a broader conversation about renaming the street that bears his name. 

“I am committed to being part of that discussion in the coming weeks,” she said. “To any survivor who is carrying something heavy today: You are believed, and you are not alone.” 

Zamarripa said she and other stakeholders, including representatives of the Cesar E. Chavez BID, will meet soon to discuss next steps. 

“We want to get input from a wide cross-section of people,” she said. “But I am heartbroken.”

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Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

A legacy reconsidered: Cesar Chavez allegations ripple across Milwaukee’s South Side is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Time is quickly approaching for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to potentially launch a significant operation in Wisconsin, warns Darryl Morin, national president of Forward Latino. 

“Unless there is a significant change in priorities, there will be a large enforcement action in Wisconsin,” Morin said in an email to supporters Saturday night. 

Forward Latino is a national nonprofit advocacy organization based in Milwaukee that addresses community empowerment, democracy, civil rights and other issues such as hate crimes, gun violence and immigration. 

The organization is a host of the annual Emergency Gun Violence Summit in Milwaukee. 

Morin said there is general consensus at various levels of government that leads him to believe a wide-scale ICE operation is coming to the state. He’s urging residents and others to prepare for that possibility. 

“It is important that we do not cause panic, but encourage thoughtful planning and preparation,” he said. 

Morin shared a number of resources in his email, including family-planning “to-do lists”; constitutional rights cards; and information for employers if ICE comes to their workplace. The information is available in English and Spanish on the Forward Latino website. 

Protests in Minnesota

Morin’s warning comes as wide-scale protests continue in Minnesota over immigration enforcement operations there and the shooting death of Renee Good in Minneapolis by an ICE agent on Jan. 7. 

A surge of more than 2,000 federal officers in the Twin Cities has pitted city and state officials against the federal government, sparked daily clashes between activists and immigration officers and left Renee Good, a mother of three, dead.

President Donald Trump initially threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota in response to the protests, which would allow the deployment of active-duty military troops there. He backed off on that threat Friday.

Critics have accused Trump of abusing his power.

Residents prepare for ICE operations in Milwaukee

Drea Rodriguez, global program officer at WomenServe, which works for gender equity, said she’s received more requests than ever from residents to coordinate “know your rights” training in Milwaukee. 

“Trump has already proven he cares more about profit over people. We are an immigrant city,” Rodriguez said. “Soon we will be in his crosshairs again. No one is safe. Stay ready.” 

Rodriguez said that while the protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota and elsewhere are important, people should also limit business with companies that support Trump. 

South Side resident Juanita Lara said her intuition is to carry her birth certificate as a precaution in case she’s stopped by an ICE agent. 

Erika Wilson-Hale, who also lives on the South Side, said she believes parents should be careful about sending their undocumented children to school and that residents should take caution. 

“If ICE does come you better be prepared, you better be ready,” she said. “Be wary because your rights will be violated. We are in scary times.” 

Elected officials discuss possibility of ICE operations

State Rep. Ryan Clancy, D-Milwaukee, wrote in a Facebook post Saturday, Jan. 17, that “it’s not a matter of if (ICE) comes, it’s when.”  

Clancy said Milwaukee doesn’t have a substantial plan to keep the community safe from ICE, but he and others do. 

“The plan is that the community keeps us safe, through Voces de la Frontera’s ICE hotline and Comité Sin Fronteras ‘community verifier‘ program, through legal observers, through legislation and through mass mobilization,” he said. 

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said in a prior email to NNS that, although the county cannot legally impede or interfere with the actions of federal immigration agents, “we will do everything in our power to keep our communities safe, informed and prepared.”

Mayor Cavalier Johnson said during a news conference after the Good shooting that federal immigration enforcement poses a risk to public safety. 

“Occupying cities and targeting immigrant communities simply does not make our communities safer,” Johnson said.

Milwaukee Ald. Alex Brower is hosting a town hall on Feb. 2 to discuss ICE activities and operations in Milwaukee. That meeting will be held at The Vivarium, 1818 N. Farwell Ave., at 6:15 p.m. 

Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, who is running for governor, said in a Jan. 12 statement that there had been credible reports of increased ICE activity in Wisconsin. She called on state and local officials to take immediate action to protect public safety and civil rights “by adopting strong protections and transparency standards governing federal immigration enforcement operating in Wisconsin.”

Resources for residents

Voces de la Frontera ICE Hotline: 1-800-427-0213

Forward Latino Toolkits in English and Spanish.

Previous Milwaukee NNS reporting on resources and answers to common questions concerning immigration enforcement and constitutional rights.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Immigrant advocates urge preparation for possible ICE surge in Wisconsin is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.