Erica R. Williams
Immigration as an issue in Shelby County – Who’s listening?
More than a dozen local residents and community advocates gathered in the back of a quaint Summer Ave. restaurant last Friday evening. They’d come to hear from local leaders set to speak on issues surrounding immigration in Shelby County.
One of the attendees was Carmelita...
Bishop E. Lynn Brown: ‘Present Crisis’
“Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown, standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.”
Bishop E. Lynn Brown belted out words from the poem, “Present Crisis,” penned by American poet James Russell Lowe in the 1800s. He had a...
Rev. James L. Netters Sr.: ‘We can’t just do it by marching’
““They’ve killed my man.”
The Rev. Dr. James L. Netters Sr. recalled the words he murmured after finding out that his hero, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., had been shot.
“I knew he was dead immediately after they said he’d been hit.”
Netters, who is the longest...
PUTTING A FACE ON POVERTY: ‘Poverty is a constant pressure cooker’
The black chair Melissa Davis sat in looked like what it was: a basic salon chair placed oddly in the center of a small living room. Despite its simplicity, it stood out like a shiny piece of metal against the other discolored furniture that...
Poverty in Memphis: ‘It’s the story of a city that’s stuck’
The number of African-Americans in Shelby County living in poverty is 2.5 times greater than that of whites, and almost half of African-American children in the city are living in poverty, a number that’s four times greater than that of their white counterparts.
These sobering...
UNSOLVED: Seven months after 2-year-old Laylah Washington was killed, police still search for clues — and help from the public
Laylah Washington would be turning three years old this month but instead of planning a birthday party, her mother, Leslie Washington, will be visiting her daughter’s grave. The toddler was shot in the head during an apparent road rage incident last June. More than...
MLK50: ‘An Education Dream’
When Mendell Grinter moved to Memphis two and a half years ago one of his first visits was to the National Civil Rights Museum. As an advocate for education, specifically for students and families of color, he was inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King...
Black cardiologists driving Spirit of the Heart Tour
Dr. Jesse McGee recalled the time he lost a close friend to hypertension. The sudden death of his high school classmate sparked the cardiologist’s commitment to not only saving lives in the operating room, but specifically in minority communities.
“My friend ended up bleeding into...
Freedom Award unfold amid a ‘turbulent time’
by Erica R. Williams, Special to The New Tri-State Defender
With evidence aplenty of the historic value and worldwide drawing power of the National Civil Rights Museum, Executive Director Terri Lee Freeman is striving to ensure that the Memphis staple grows as a pillar of hope...
Goal: Defy the odds, walk across the stage
Each year, more African-American men are entering college, but reports show that only half of them are finishing. At the University of Memphis those numbers hit close to home with the graduation rate of African-American men standing at less than 11 percent.
The Hooks African...