Karanja A. Ajanaku

Sandwiched between a morning call to disband the police SCORPION unit and protesters who shut down the “old bridge” on I-55 in the evening, the release of video footage showing the inhumane police beating of Tyre D. Nichols was as hard to stomach as...

With Friday's scheduled release of video footage of the beating of Tyre D. Nichols, Memphis-Shelby County Schools is altering the schedule of planned activities and some area businesses have announced earlier closings. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Tyre Nichols, and those...

Shortly after 6 p.m. rolls around on Friday, video footage likely will be released showing the fatal beating of Tyre D. Nichols by five former Memphis Police Department officers now facing multiple charges, including second-degree murder. Shelby County District Atty. Gen. Steve Mulroy said city...

Two Novembers ago, a specialized Memphis Police Department unit was put on the streets to identify surges in motor vehicle thefts and violent crime. The Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods -- dubbed the SCORPION unit -- now is under a "complete...

NASHVILLE – The 113th Tennessee General Assembly was gaveled into session on Tuesday as members of the House and Senate were sworn in with family and supporters on hand and advocates of various causes making their presence known. Republican Cameron Sexton, who represents District 25,...

The 2022 celebration of Kwanzaa in Memphis began Monday morning amid blowing snow and the temperature a couple of degrees above freezing. Determined to kick off the annual observance, a band of faithful pushed forward and assembled downtown at the Auction Block at Main...

Pivoting off recently announced new leadership at the Greater Memphis Chamber, conversations were called for with Black Business Association’s Ernest D. Strickland, Mid-South Minority Business Council Continuum’s Jozelle Booker and Stephanie Alexander with the Memphis Area Minority Contractors Association.  The three entities – BBA, MMBC...

Bishop J. Drew Sheard, the presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ, has been described as “a difference-maker” in his base city of Detroit and beyond. In Memphis for the international denomination’s 114th Holy Convocation, the presiding bishop fielded a question about that...

Relying upon the calculator in my cellular telephone, my math registers me as having served as the executive editor of the Tri-State Defender/The New Tri-State Defender for 21 percent of the time that the publication has been serving Greater Memphis, the African-American community in...

In what he acknowledged as “a great environment of Black excellence,” Penny Hardaway delivered a keynote message threaded with his God-embracing belief that getting involved in young people’s lives at the deepest level possible is a reward in and of itself. It was, he said,...