29-01-2025
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Drake Bentley is covering his hometown
Drake Bentley, the Journal Sentinel's night general assignment reporter, is not your traditional journalist.
He didn't study journalism for his undergraduate degree and took a very indirect route to the Journal Sentinel. Almost eight years ago, as he sat in his cubicle at a bank, he applied for a master's program in the hopes it would give him the chance to make a living doing what he loved — writing.
Joining the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2021, Drake has been covering his hometown with a curiosity and uniqueness that only a native can bring. Working the night shift keeps him involved in breaking news, and he's been involved in some of the city's highest profile crime stories the last four years.
But also, as a general assignment and trending reporter, Drake's contributed to stories all across JSOnline — politics, business, features, education, sports and investigations.
So, let's get to know Journal Sentinel reporter Drake Bentley:
My father could always be seen with two items in my childhood home on Milwaukee's northwest side — a tall glass of ice water and a copy of that day's Journal Sentinel.
While I go more for the caffeinated variety of drink, the tradition of valuing journalism has remained with me.
For my mother, it was all about the advertisements that came tucked inside the paper. On Thanksgiving, my siblings and I would scour the Journal Sentinel and point to toys and gadgets that we wanted Santa to bring us for Christmas.
When you would wake up at the crack of dawn in our home, you'd be met with headlights shining through the kitchen window from the driveway — the newspaper delivery guy.
The old Journal Sentinel newsroom was across the street from the Bradley Center. While leaving Bucks games, I'd always wonder what was going on in that building and how they magically produced a newspaper every single day.
I particularly loved reading stories from the Black columnists as they tackled the ever-present aspect of life in Milwaukee — race. As a biracial kid, my father is Black and my mother is white, moving through different spaces with people from different backgrounds has been my life.
Now as a journalist, I believe I have a duty to reflect my upbringing, which in large part revolved around the only place that I really wanted to give me a shot — the Journal Sentinel.
My life trajectory changed once I set foot on a college campus, which for me was almost a holy event as I'm truly a nerd at heart.
As a first-generation college student, I attended the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. This was the first time in my life that professors were teaching me about fascinating historical figures like Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, Kwame Ture, and W.E.B. Du Bois.
I would hang out in the college department offices and got a job in the dean's office. One day, a department head asked me if I'd be interested in spending the summer in Washington, D.C., while earning course credits, and interning on Capitol Hill. Easy decision — yes.
As an intern, I did intern stuff. I made copies, wrote briefs, led tours of the Capitol. I would marvel at the Rotunda, tell stories of old timey politicians who were shot or attacked in the building, and stopped to show tour groups the statue of Wisconsin's Bob La Follette.
I spent so much time on the Hill, I was hooked, busy attending every committee hearing and speech I could get to, from Leon Panetta and Eric Holder to John McCain.
Former longtime Wisconsin congressman Jim Sensenbrenner and I chatted about Chapter 220, the now-defunct voluntary integration program in Wisconsin, and how he was in the state Senate when the legislation, aimed at promoting cultural and racial integration, passed in 1975 and made it possible for me attend Wauwatosa Public Schools as a Milwaukee resident.
The Hill was eye-opening, funny, and bizarre. Everyone should get a chance to see their government from the inside.
After graduating from Whitewater in 2014 with a business degree, I took jobs at financial institutions for a few years. It became clear to me that I didn't want to continue down that path and began looking at chances to return to school. I discovered a journalism program at the University of Nebraska. I decided writing from the outside of government is where I'm best and feel the happiest. I would get my chance to work for a newspaper in 2019.
The high school sports division at the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison was my first job in the news media. I collected scores, typed up agate, occasionally took a statement from a coach or athletic director and sometimes got to write a feature about a standout athlete or community hero. It was not often exciting, but I met dear friends working the night shift.
It also didn't pay the bills.
I was hired by the U.S. Census Bureau and helped complete the 2020 census as an administrative manager. The whole process to complete the count is a bit shocking, and then the pandemic happened and it really sent everything into chaos. I, meanwhile, decided to move back to Milwaukee, took any job willing to pay me, and drove for Uber, while searching for a Milwaukee media outlet to hire me.
I applied to the Journal Sentinel for a job opening and four years later, at 32 years old, Wisconsin is still providing interesting stories to write for you.
The best part about being a journalist is the people you get to talk to just about every day.
I had the honor to interview Donna Burkett, who along with Manonia Evans in 1971, applied for a marriage license with the Milwaukee County Clerk's Office. The Black lesbian couple were part of an early nationwide effort in the 1970s by LGBTQ couples seeking marriage equality.
"If you believe in it, you stand for it, you stand for something" Burkett told me in an interview.
I also like to think my hiring resulted in the biggest sports day in the city in 50 years as Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Milwaukee Bucks to an NBA championship. I lobbied then-editor George Stanley to put "Bucks in Six" on the front page of the paper if the Bucks won the title. The iconic phrase made it to the front of the sports section instead.
The opportunity to speak to fellow native Milwaukeeans who have made an impact on the community is one of the more rewarding parts of the job. I reported the boxing comeback of an accomplished native who was ready to get back in the ring. and I've had a Black radio legend, that an entire generation of Milwaukeeans grew up listening to, reflect on his career with me.
Working a beat that includes tragedies and injustices can also lead to documenting the changes that can result from that coverage. When a 49-year-old South Milwaukee woman died at a bus stop less than a mile from where I grew up on a cold wintery night, it became clear through our reporting that an ambulance drove within feet of her distressed body prior to driving away. Within weeks, officials announced a change in policy requiring ambulance workers to leave their vehicles once at a call.
I can easily be trapped into watching an exhaustive reality competition television show like 'Survivor.'
In recent years, I more seriously began paying attention to the sport of boxing. There's so much history there, and it captivates me. I still hope for the return of the American heavyweight hero, like Muhammad Ali, but Terrance 'Bud' Crawford and Gervonta 'Tank' Davis are must watch television.
I'm a longtime player of the Madden NFL video game. I've won multiple Lombardi trophies and rebuilt multiple franchises (check the numbers, folks).
I enjoy Denzel Washington and Nicolas Cage films. I've listened to a lot of Kanye West and Kid Cudi tracks. Ultimately, nine holes of golf at a county course with carts, surrounded by friends, is my jam.
Drake Bentley can be reached at DBentley1@
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Drake Bentley is covering his hometown
