The weekend brought days 18-20 of protests and demands in Greater Memphis. On Saturday, those taking to the streets included a group rallied by a trio of local pastors.

The Memphis Justice & Equality Prayer Walk was organized by Bishop Linwood Dillard, pastor of Citadel COGIC; the Rev. Darell L. Harrington, pastor of New Sardis Baptist Church; and the Rev. Melvin D. Watkins Jr., pastor of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church-Westwood.

Starting at the National Civil Rights Museum, the march ended with a Unity Rally in front of City Hall.

The call to participate included this: “Everyone is asked to wear mask and PPE.”

Here are more of the images:

GALLERY — (Photos by Tyrone P. Easley)

Man charged with driving into crowd of protesters

A man was charged with driving his vehicle into a group of protesters who were blocking a road at Midtown intersection, police said.

William Day, 57, was arrested on misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment and reckless driving, according to Memphis police spokeswoman Lt. Karen Randolph.

No one sustained serious injuries in Saturday’s incident at a Midtown Memphis intersection. After several vehicles yielded to protesters, Day’s vehicle continued to move forward into the group, police said.

Police said the investigation is continuing.

Another black man in America killed by police. His name: Rayshard Brooks

‘Stop fighting!’ Atlanta sobriety test quickly turned deadly

ATLANTA (AP) — One minute, Rayshard Brooks was chatting cooperatively with Atlanta police, saying he’d had a couple of drinks to celebrate his daughter’s birthday and agreeing to a breath test. The next, they were wrestling on the ground and grappling over a Taser before Brooks took the weapon and ran.

Seconds later, three gunshots sounded and Brooks fell mortally wounded.

Atlanta police video released Sunday showing a seemingly routine sobriety check outside a Wendy’s restaurant that quickly spun out of control, ending in gunfire. The killing of the 27-year-old black man in an encounter with two white officers late Friday rekindled fiery protests in Atlanta and prompted the police chief’s resignation. READ MORE

Living with COVID-19, Part IX

In the tenth installment of The New Tri-State Defender’s ongoing account of three Memphians coping with the coronavirus amid government-directed efforts to slow the virus’ spread, small-business owner James Cook re-opens at Memphis International Airport.

All Over Town small-biz snapshot: The BBplug.com

As protests for racial justice continue across the country and around the world, so has the push to support black-owned businesses. All Over Town columnist Brianna A. Smith spotlights Ashanti Surratt, TheBBplug’s owner and CEO.

For your consideration:

Virtual Summer Learning Academy: Online applications are open through June 19 for SCS’s Virtual Summer Learning Academy. There are 5,000 FREE spaces available for students in grades K-5 to participate in the online enrichment program, which takes place July 6-31. 

Laptops and hotspots will be available for families who do not have a home device while supplies last. All students who complete the academy will receive a free backpack and school supplies for the upcoming 2020-21 school year.

Spaces are limited, so apply soon. Go to scsk12.org/summerlearningfor more info.

More from SCS: School Re-Entry Parent Survey

As long as the CDC’s social distancing recommendations are in place, it will be necessary to operate differently when SCS campuses reopen. All SCS families are asked to take the School Re-Entry Survey to share opinions on important factors related to the reopening of schools, such as preferences for in-person and virtual learning, health and safety decisions, transportation, student programs, childcare and more.

It’s confidential and only takes about 10 minutes. Parents can take the survey online at scsk12.org/re-entrysurvey.

TSD Music Video Vibe: “Wake Up Everybody” — Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes

https://youtu.be/7pspeIJS7XQ

As protests for racial justice continue across the country and around the world, so has the push to support black-owned businesses.

The conversation is widely shared through the hashtag #BlackOwnedBusiness and recently has gotten a lot of traction as protesters use social media to spread supportive messages and highlight black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs, in their areas.

TheBBplug.com is an online marketplace exclusively for black entrepreneurs and business owners nationwide. It was launched June 5.

“We are aiming to create an interactive, black-owned online shopping mall,” said Ashanti Surratt, TheBBplug’s owner and CEO.

After spending some time on the site, I’d compare it to a black-owned Amazon, Fiverr, with a mix of Angies List.

It’s a black-business marketplace where African-American entrepreneurs and vendors are able to sell products and services directly from TheBBPlug website.

At the click of a button, buyers are able to access thousands of black-owned businesses and services throughout the country.

TheBBplug is free to shop and free for business owners. However, they do ask for a 7 percent commission from each transaction.

The website offers perks similar to the bigger e-commerce companies, such as vendor reviews, seller verification, customized products, auctions and many more features that please both sellers and buyers.

I purchased rosemary sage and a few candles from a vendor called Amazing Creations Products.

I like that the vendors have full control of their stores and, as a customer, I was able to view ratings, which made me feel more confident about my purchases.

“Our mission is to have a healthy circulation of positivity and financial support within the black community by encouraging, networking and purchasing from one another,” said Surratt.

“We ultimately want to be responsible for opening up some brick and mortar locations, because many black entrepreneurs are unable to get adequate funding to own buildings for their businesses and often work out of their homes or sell products online only.

“Having more black-owned brick and mortars in towns and cities will create a sense of belonging for African Americans in the areas they reside.”

by Howard Robertson — 

When it came to watching “Mad Men,” the TV drama about the ruthless, win-at-any-cost ad agency world in the 60’s, I was one and done. That’s right, I watched one episode and it was enough for me.

My friends love it and some are shocked because they know I dearly love the marketing and advertising industry in which I have been blessed to spend most of my 45-plus-year career. So, they thought since I could readily relate, it would be one of my favs and “must see TV” for me.  I can relate and for that reason I can’t stand the show.

When I watched the show’s lead character (Don I think), I didn’t see cool, creative and confident. I saw exclusion, racism and privilege. Black people were disregarded, discriminated against and disrespected as people and as consumers. Sadly, vestiges of that same character exist in too many agencies now, 60 years later.

There is more diversity in advertising and marketing agencies today. There are many more women in positions of responsibility and power now. The unequivocally smartest people in most agencies back in the day were women relegated to careers as assistants or maybe topping out as media buyers. Now, there are more people of Asian descent, more Latinos and Hispanics and more LGBTQs. But not more African Americans and even fewer Black men.

There are privileged positions and places in agencies, including creative departments and c-suites that are white, exclusive and reminiscent of the “good ol’ days” of “Mad Men.”  In the creative spaces it seems better to employ White people capable of appropriating Black vernacular, style and originality in ads.

But of course, the dearth of Black people “has nothing to do with race.” By all means, they’d love to hire more African Americans…If they could find some of if they were qualified or if there’s a good fit.

That reminds me of after the Voting Rights Act and Blacks showed up at a great many southern polling places. White election officials would say, “sure, y’all can vote IF you can pay the $50 poll tax or IF you can pass this little test of IF you can tell us exactly how many jelly beans in that jar over yonder.”

The media eco-system — while nourishing and nurturing those who happen to look like agency decision makers — is toxic and asphyxiating to Black-owned media. Like those southern voters, Black radio stations for example, show up at agencies ready to do business, only to encounter a barrage of barriers with agencies doing what NFL teams pay big offensive tackles to do…block.

Black-owned media is blocked if they are not rated (because they can’t afford to subscribe). They’re blocked because, typically, media buyers don’t buy as many urban-format stations as non-urban formats. They’re vigorously blocked when their cost per points (cpp) or cost per thousands (cpm) are higher than agency target costs that apparently are etched in stone pillars, sent by God and must never be broken. This systemic exclusion is punishing and pervasive, but protocol.

It’s asphyxiating Black-owned media because advertising dollars constitute their oxygen and when major brands and advertisers spending billions of ad dollars every year with everyone else but not one buck with Blacks…we can’t breathe. Sound familiar?

Some may not know that Mad Men is short for Madison (Ave.) men. Today, many Mad Men are talking the talk against racism and discrimination but precious few are walking the walk. One who is walking the walk is neither a Mad Man nor in New York.  He is the chief marketing officer of the biggest advertiser on earth…P&G’s Marc Pritchard. So far, he is the drum major for advertising justice but his band and brand, though substantial, are alone. More band and brands are invited and needed.

In the meantime, I’m starting with the mad man in the mirror. I’m asking him to be patient. After all, it’s only been 400 years.

by Kariem-Abdul Salaam —

Per your invitation to join in on the evolving conversation about African Americans and police, I am reminded of my junior and high school days growing up in the Walker Homes community near Mitchell Rd. High School.

At that time, Walker Homes resided outside of the city limits and was considered living in the county (or the country). We were patrolled by the Shelby County Sheriff’s department and most of the officers we knew by name, i.e., William Hughes, Willie Durham, and others.

A thing to note is these officers also lived in the community they served. Their children walked to school along with us. Some of them had spouses who taught at the schools we attended. As a result, for the most part, their relationship with the community was pretty good.

As I grew older, I begin to see that relationship somewhat deteriorate. I started hearing tales from some fellow high school students of being chased by officers after a football game or being caught and had to take some whacks across the knees with the blackjack.

One morning I woke to hear the news that a fellow student had been shot and killed by the police two blocks down the street from my house climbing out of a window at the neighborhood store on the corner.  We were not close friends, but I remember feeling so bad for his mother and his brothers and sisters.

I remember asking the question, “Did they have to kill him?” Was the food he was stealing worth more than his life?

As a young child, that experience changed my perception of police as friends to someone to be feared and avoided.

I think for many of us in the African-American community this type of perception brought on by traumatizing events has caused the evolution of stereotypes about police officers that appear to be real whether they’re “real” or not. The result is a sort of fear, a lack of trust and respect on both sides.

There is a phenomenon called “stereotype threat” that normally applies in an educational setting but if the theory holds true, I believe it can apply to other social and cultural contexts. Stereotype threat refers to the risk of confirming negative stereotypes about an individual’s racial, ethnic, gender or cultural group. If I fear you have a perceived stereotype about me, there is a tendency for me to live out that stereotype.

I believe much of the tension and bad actions on the part of the police as well as African Americans today are a result of these stereotypes that have evolved to the point that they are being carried out on a large scale across the country and throughout the world. Changing the language is what has helped to deal with it in academic settings. Maybe the same approach will help in the broader community.

Imam W. Deen Mohammed coined the phrase that, “Words Make People.”

Change the words and you can change the thinking.