Milwaukee is mourning the death of Keyon Jackson-Malone, a dedicated community activist, local radio host, friend and brother to many in the city. He’s been described as someone who was always working to improve his community.
Jackson-Malone died suddenly on Aug. 12. Since his passing, there’s been an outpouring of condolences on social media, and his loved ones have been gathering for memorials, for fellowship and to celebrate his life.
Dozens of folks gathered for a memorial in Atkinson Park Thursday evening.
Annika Leonard, a close friend of Jackson Malone, says he was selfless — he was the type of person who was always thinking about others.
"Even just an example of that is, like, we used to go fishing in Madison, and he would fish and bring fish back to Milwaukee to make sure that like, people had something to eat," she says. "Like even in his downtime, his leisure time, he was still thinking about the people in the community."
Kenneth Peavey knew Jackson-Malone from volunteering with him in the community. He says with Jackson-Malone's death, Milwaukee has lost one of its heartbeats. "This brother was always trying to look out for others, always. Be it from programs that he led or programs that others were in, he would help."
Peavey says Jackson-Malone was just a good guy.
One of Jackson-Malone's long-time friends, Terrence Patterson, says their friendship goes back more than 30 years. They used to work together and their sisters went to college together. Patterson agrees with Peavey that Jackson-Malone was a good dude.
"You know, he did a lot for our community, you know, for our park and stuff like that. So, he will be missed. Keyon was laid back, he was fun, you know what I'm saying. Always had a smile on his face. And he loved his hats; he was a hat man," Patterson says.
Christine Collins got to know Jackson-Malone from doing community service with him. She says that's how they became close. However, they hadn't seen each other in a while. She talks about discovering a voicemail from him five days after he passed, where he talked about getting together to catch up.
"He's apologizing that we hadn't gotten together for a while because of his — and he mentioned the things, his career, his personal life and that he was just extremely busy, but he says, 'Don't worry baby girl. We'll get together soon.' And while I'm listening to that he was already gone and there was no getting together," Collins says.
Collins says Jackson-Malone was all caring and all loving.
Dr. Lia Knox, a mental wellness expert in Milwaukee, says Jackson-Malone was her big brother. She says he would always encourage her to come on his radio show, The Man Show, to discuss mental wellness. Knox says he was a supporter of mental wellness the Black community, especially for Black men.
"I would describe Keyon as joyful, straight to the point. He was honest with people. Gregarious, that's my favorite word for him. And just a all around true friend," Knox says. "Somebody that you can hug, somebody you can slap hands with, somebody you can share a meal with, but then also somebody you can take into the boardroom."
One of Jackson-Malone's fellow community activists and friends, Vaun Mayes, says they had a relationship like mentors to one another.
"You talk about somebody who was supportive and, you know, for the support and building up of everybody. Keyon, man, even though you know he had his own thing here, Keyon sang the praises of everybody every chance that he got," Mayes says. "If he supported you, if he supported your work, if he thought you were doing anything if he could offer his platform to help elevate you and highlight you, Keyon was that person; very humble."
Mayes continues, "So just losing somebody who was that dedicated, who was that selfless ... you know, Keyon is one of the people like myself who did a lot of this work sometimes to the detriment of ourselves, a lot of times for free. You know, he was a fellow chair thrower. He liked saying me and him throw chairs. So man, like I said an amazing guy."
