Toilet tissue - an item that has been uncomfortably in scarce supply - showed back on this Kroger Store's shelves, at least for a while, this week. (Photo: Tyrone P. Easley)
Shelby County Health Department officials have determined that it’s safe to move to Phase III of the Back to Business Plan.
Shelby County Health Department Director Alisa Haushalter has said that after checking the data from the analysis of a spike referenced on Tuesday (an alarming 192 new COVID-19 cases) it has been deemed safe to proceed to Phase III on Monday.
As of Friday morning, there were 6,443 reported cases in Shelby County, including 138 deaths.
Conditions of moving to Phase III, the last phase, involve wearing masks in all public spaces and maintaining social distancing standards. It represents a full reopening of businesses and discussions about how and when schools can safely reopen.
Dr. Alisa Haushalter
Haushalter said although there were 100 new cases from Thursday, Health officials say the number is acceptable.
“This is a marathon,” she said. “We are out of the sprint stage. There may be a few spikes along the way, but we will not be alarmed.”
Health officials said the comfort level for new cases is 100-130 a day. Data from the new cases will continue to be monitored for new clusters and developing hot spots.
Doug McGowan, chief operating officer for the City of Memphis, said masking in public should be treated as mandatory.
McGowan also said Riverside drive would open for traffic Monday through Friday during business hours and closed on the weekend so people could enjoy the riverfront.
Thorough hand-washing and frequent use of hand sanitizer both at home and in the workplace should continue to be apart of everyone’s daily routine. In this last phase, fewer testing locations for the virus will be maintained at the same level as in prior phases.
Shelby County has a recovery rate of 76 percent. The demographic breakdown of cases are as follows: 59 percent African American; 25 percent Hispanic or Latino; 18 percent White, and the remainder Asian, mixed race, or classified as other.
Deaths from the virus in Shelby County are 66 percent African American, 31 percent White, and the remaining 3 percent other.
Officials said 430 cases were pediatric, and of those cases, over half where African-American, 35 percent were Hispanic or Latino, and 12 percent White.
The Shelby County Health Department and their partners will resume distributing masks that initially had raised safety concerns. A total of 511,000 masks were sent to Shelby County by the state; 350,000 have been distributed.
Tulsa Race Riot - 1921. (Photo: Library of Congress)
UPDATE: President Trump tweeted late Friday, “Many of my African American friends and supporters have reached out to suggest that we consider changing the date out of respect for this Holiday.”
He said he is moving the rally to June 20 “to honor their requests.”
OKLAHOMA CITY — Black community and political leaders are calling on President Donald Trump to at least change the date of an Oklahoma rally kick-starting his return to public campaigning, saying that holding the event on Juneteenth, the day that marks the end of slavery in America, is a “slap in the face.”
Trump campaign officials discussed in advance the possible reaction to the Juneteenth date, but there are no plans to change it despite fierce blowback.
California Sen. Kamala Harris and Tulsa civic officials were among the black leaders who said it was offensive for Trump to pick that day — June 19 — and that place — Tulsa, an Oklahoma city that in 1921 was the site of a fiery and orchestrated white-on-black attack.
“This isn’t just a wink to white supremacists — he’s throwing them a welcome home party,” Harris, a leading contender to be Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s running mate, tweeted of Trump’s rally plans.
“To choose the date, to come to Tulsa, is totally disrespectful and a slap in the face to even happen,” said Sherry Gamble Smith, president of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street Chamber of Commerce, an organization named after the prosperous black community that white Oklahomans burned down in the 1921 attack.
At a minimum, Gamble Smith said, the campaign should “change it to Saturday the 20th, if they’re going to have it.”
Trump announced the rally plan Wednesday afternoon. It comes as his harsh law-and-order stance appears to fall increasingly out of sync with a growing concern over police abuse of African Americans after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Trump campaign officials defended the rally.
“As the party of Lincoln, Republicans are proud of the history of Juneteenth,” said Katrina Pierson, senior adviser to the Trump campaign. “President Trump has built a record of success for Black Americans, including unprecedented low unemployment prior to the global pandemic, all-time high funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and criminal justice reform.”
The Trump campaign was aware in advance that the date for the president’s return to rallies was Juneteenth, according to two campaign officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly about internal discussions and spoke on condition of anonymity.
When the date was discussed, it was noted that Biden had held a fundraiser a year ago on Juneteenth. Although choosing June 19 was not meant to be incendiary, some blowback was expected, the officials said. But the campaign was caught off guard by the intensity, particularly when some linked the selection to the 1921 massacre.
Scheduling the highly anticipated comeback rally in Oklahoma, a state Trump won easily in 2016, raised eyebrows.
The campaign picked Tulsa’s BOK Center, with a listed seat capacity of 19,199. The arena’s Facebook page shows organizers calling off shows there by country singer Alan Jackson and other performers into mid-July, citing the coronavirus pandemic.
Arena marketing director Meghan Blood said Thursday that she didn’t know yet about any plans for social distancing or other coronavirus precautions for Trump’s rally, which would be one of the larger public gatherings in the U.S. at this stage of the outbreak.
Campaign officials said safety decisions would be made in coordination with local authorities. A disclaimer on the ticket registration website said attendees voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold the campaign liable for any illness.
The campaign officials said the Trump campaign picked Oklahoma because arrangements could be made quickly, for a variety of reasons: Oklahoma has a Republican, Trump-friendly governor; the state is not seeing huge numbers of coronavirus cases; and the arena was “turn-key” and could easily be opened for the rally. Moreover, the rally will be held up the turnpike from a district held by Rep. Kendra Horn, one of the Democrats the GOP feels is vulnerable this fall.
Campaign officials also wanted to hold the rally where they could all but guarantee a big crowd despite coronavirus concerns, according to the officials. Oklahoma is one of the most Republican states in the nation and Trump has not held a rally there as president, so it will likely deliver an enthusiastic audience eager to see him, the officials believed.
Tulsa, an oil center along the Arkansas River, has had its own marches, viral videos and troublesome police actions during this month’s unrest.
On Tuesday, Tulsa police released video and said they were investigating officers who handcuffed and arrested two black teenagers for jaywalking. Video of the June 4 incident showed officers pinned one of the two unidentified teens stomach-down on the ground.
“Get off me! I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” one teen shouts in the police video.
“You can breathe just fine,” the officer replies.
On Monday, a Tulsa police major played down police shootings of African Americans nationally by telling a radio show that statistically, “we’re shooting African Americans about 24% less than we probably ought to be, based on the crimes being committed.”
And on Wednesday, the same day Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum welcomed news of Trump’s rally pick as evidence of the city’s progress against COVID-19, Bynum apologized for remarks about a 2016 police killing of a black man. Bynum had said the killing was “more about the really insidious nature of drug utilization than it is about race.”
Nationally, as research brings to light more about the 1921 massacre, Tulsa increasingly is associated with the rampage in which white Tulsans razed a thriving black business community, killing as many as 300 people. Long dismissed by generations of white Tulsans as a race “riot,” the May 31-June 1 events were marked this year by community memorials.
Oklahoma’s black Democratic Party chairwoman also condemned Trump’s rally plan. “A day set aside to commemorate the freedom of enslaved people must not be marred by the words or actions of a racist president,” Alicia Andrews said.
Community groups had earlier canceled a main Tulsa Juneteenth celebration because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Some black Tulsans said they planned to turn out for public protests of Trump on that day. “There’s definitely going to be demonstrating,” Gamble Smith said.
___
Lemire reported from New York City. Associated Press writer Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
Black Lives Matter has gone mainstream — and black activists are carefully assessing how they should respond. (Photo: Karanja A. Ajanaku/The New Tri-State Defender)
by David Crary and Aaron Morrison —
For much of its seven-year existence, the Black Lives Matter movement has been seen by many Americans as a divisive, even radical force. Its very name enraged its foes, who countered with the slogans “Blue Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter.”
Times have changed — dramatically so — as evidenced during the wave of protests sparked by George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. Black Lives Matter has gone mainstream — and black activists are carefully assessing how they should respond.
A few examples of the changed landscape:
Sen. Mitt Romney, a Republican stalwart, joined a Black Lives Matter march. Some NASCAR drivers, whose fan base includes legions of conservative whites, embraced the phrase. So did NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred and executives of all 30 major league teams. The mayor of Washington ordered the words painted in large letters on a street near the White House. Now, Black Lives Matter Plaza turns up in driving directions from Google Maps.
Like many black activists, Sakira Cook is pleased by such developments but also cautious. She and others worry that businesses and politicians will hijack the slogan without any real commitment to doing the hard work needed to fight racism. “Black Lives Matter is not just a rallying cry,” said Cook, director of the Justice Reform Program at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
“It actually means you have to start to interrogate the systemic racism and inequalities that exist in our society and help to dismantle them. You must make sure you’re not co-opting this for your own purposes.”
The Black Lives Matter movement emerged amid anger over the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the Florida man who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012.
As a slogan, “Black lives matter” soon became as widely heard at protests as “No justice, no peace.”
Nationally, the phrase was praised for its clarity and attacked as strident and hostile toward police. But support grew as the list of slain black people got longer: Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Walter Scott, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile.
Patrisse Cullors (Photo: Twitter)
“When we started Black Lives Matter, it was really to have a larger conversation around this country about its relationship to black people,” said Patrisse Cullors, one of three black women who founded the Black Lives Matter Global Network, with chapters throughout the U.S. and in Britain and Canada. “What keeps happening, time and time again, is we’re witnessing black people die on camera, and there is little to no accountability.”
While large donations poured into the new, loose-knit group of black-led grassroots organizations, prominent figures within the movement were subjected to years of rebukes and threats from police, their unions and elected officials.
Cullors said she and others were dismissed as too militant to be taken seriously by many of the individuals and corporations in the mainstream that now embrace their message.
In 2018, news reports revealed that the FBI’s counterterrorism division had begun tracking anti-police threats from black activists in the wake of deadly ambushes on police officers in New York, Texas and Louisiana. Many Black Lives Matter activists feared it was a repeat of the Cointelpro era, when the FBI illegally conducted surveillance and sabotage against civil rights groups and other organizations suspected of having links to the Communist Party in the 1950s and ’60s.
Today, the Black Lives Matter movement boasts a following of millions across social media platforms. A coalition known as the Movement for Black Lives, formed in 2014, now includes more than 150 affiliate organizations that have organized around such causes as defunding police departments and reinvesting in struggling black communities.
Its agenda focuses heavily on overhauling police training, the use of force and the punishment of rogue officers. The movement is also pressing to erase economic inequality and disparities in education and health care.
“There are hundreds of thousands of black visionaries around the world that are doing the work that people keep saying, ‘Oh, that’s never going to happen. … Not in this lifetime,’” Cullors said. “And look what happened. Something gets unlocked, and because we’ve already laid the seeds, we’ve already had the conversations, the people doing the work get to bear the fruit.”
Although the current surge of support for the movement is vindicating, it’s not sufficient to realize the original vision, Cullors said.
Malik Shabazz (Photo: C-SPAN, screen capture)
Malik Shabazz, president of Black Lawyers for Justice, praised “Black lives matter” as “one of the most brilliant and creative phrases of our generation,” one that has won acceptance well beyond the movement.
“There’s a danger it will become co-opted and mainstreamed,” he said. “But right now, anyone in our struggle would be happy more people are using it.”
Shabazz said it is important for black people to remain at the forefront of the movement, even as more Americans of other races voice support.
“It’s up to us that we don’t get happy with a couple of weeks of protest and demonstrations,” he said. “This is a good start. We just have to dig in and stay for the long haul. “
Khalilah Brown-Dean (Twitter)
Khalilah Brown-Dean, a political science professor at Quinnipiac University who has written about inequality and criminal justice reform, said uttering the slogan is easy. What comes next matters more.
“It’s much more important for public officials and policymakers to inculcate that belief into the very fabric of how they lead and govern,” she said. “Painting a street, marching in a rally, or wearing kente cloth are only useful if these symbolic acts translate into substantive action.”
The counter-slogans that emerged in 2014-15 — “Blue Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter” — have surfaced only sporadically in the past two weeks. Plans for a Blue Lives Matter rally in Las Vegas were scrapped after the city’s police department refused to help promote it.
“All Lives Matter,” from the start, angered some black activists who said it minimized the entrenched racism faced by black people.
Last week, longtime Sacramento Kings TV broadcaster Grant Napear resigned after tweeting “ALL LIVES MATTER” when asked his opinion on the Black Lives Matter movement. On Saturday, the top editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer resigned amid a furor over the headline “Buildings Matter, Too.”
Two years ago, I retired after a 30-year career split evenly between the military, government service and private industry. Those who know me best will say that I had my fair share of faults, but intentional bigotry was not one of them.
Joe Paiva (Courtesy photo)
However, the reality is that for 30 years I acted in ways that helped to systematically deny opportunities to good, hard working people based on where they lived, what schools they attended, the quality of their grammar and several other factors, that, by extension, all equal what they looked like. I was, in fact, an accidental racist.
When I first got out of the military and went into private industry, I helped start and manage multiple companies. Between that and my time in government, I hired hundreds of people, and, despite all the controls that theoretically prevent it, I know from experience that I made the same mistakes in government that I did in private industry.
I never thought twice about placing my private companies’ offices in the same white suburbs where I lived. As a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES), I required many government and contractor positions that could have easily been remote to be on site. I was completely oblivious to the impact office locations and geography have on diversity.
In private sector, I routinely hired friends of friends and neighbors’ children. In government, we routinely hired people with great references or who worked with someone we knew at another department without ever recognizing that we were limiting the candidate pool in a way that severely limited the opportunities for brown or black people to work at the agencies and companies I led.
I allowed my government staff to close positions quickly in an effort to limit the number of applicants (sometimes because there was an in-house candidate we really wanted to hire or promote). I did it never realizing that by closing positions quickly I was effectively restricting the opportunity to apply to a group of “insiders” that were disproportionately not people of color.
I saw resumes with the name of a school some of my friends or staff attended and moved them to the top of the stack without ever realizing I had just overlooked potentially fantastic historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) graduates for no reason whatsoever.
At Commerce, we had unpaid graduate internships not just in DC, but all over the world. I would notice a recent graduates had done an unpaid (or essentially unpaid) internship with ITA, another agency or a respected think tank, and brought them to the top of the pile without considering that anybody whose parents aren’t millionaires could never afford to spend a summer working in DC (Paris or London) without pay.
Even in government, I asked candidates questions my staff and I created without any professional review for validity or bias. Worse yet, I frequently branched off into small talk about shared interests or experiences immune to the notion that unvalidated interview questions often wreak of unintentional bias and that placing candidates with shared interests at ease was unfair to others.
Looking back at it now, I realize how wrong all of these things were. I realize that I effectively denied people of color the ability to compete on a level playing field for jobs in my companies and the government organizations I led.
We will never solve the problem of unequal justice in America, if we do not first correct the economic disparities that inevitably lead to that inequity, and the conflict and violence it precipitates. As long as a subset of people are economically disenfranchised by a system that does not provide for the basic needs of all people, regardless of what they look like, who they love, how or if they choose to pray, or any other individual attribute that makes them the unique and wonderful person God created, we will never truly fix any of the problems we see exploding throughout our country, and we will never live up to our truest potential as a people.
The first critical step in creating a society with less economic disparity is to create a society with equal economic opportunity, and every decision you make as an executive has an impact on how equal those opportunities are within your organization. Looking at it now, I realize I failed miserably on this account, and nothing I do will ever make it right. However, what I can do now is publicly apologize in a way that shines a light on my misdeeds as an example for younger executives following in my path.
So, this is my message: Take a hard look at how you make selections, not just for initial hires, but for promotions, career development programs, special training, etc. Thoroughly review every step in your process asking yourself: How can I remove systemic and unconscious bias from this process?
Is the position being advertised broadly enough to ensure people “outside the bubble” have an opportunity to find out about it and apply? Is it being advertised in media outlets that focus on serving minorities?
Is human resources intentionally cutting off how long a job is “open” in order to limit the number of candidates who apply (for any reason)?
Does this job truly, absolutely need to be filled by someone on site, or can it really be done remotely?
Did your organization take the time and effort to perform a real job analysis and develop an up to date job description with valid requirements? Or, did you just default to some decades old, stock position description because it was easier than doing the paperwork to get a new one approved?
Does somebody really need a degree to be successful in this job? A computer engineering degree does not make someone a better JavaScript writer, and neither Steve Jobs or Bill Gates had degrees when they started Apple and Microsoft.
Are you screening out great (frequently, minority or rural) candidates using resumes, which we have known for decades are one of the most biased and least accurate ways in the world to assess job applicants?
Are your evaluators inadvertently looking at people’s home addresses, and subconsciously wondering how good or bad their commute would be?
Have the questions you are asking been reviewed by an industrial and organization psychologist to ensure they elicit responses that can actually be used to accurately assess whether or not someone is qualified?
Have your questions been professionally reviewed to ensure they don’t introduce unintended bias?
Is every candidate getting asked the exact same question, the exact same way, and getting the exact same amount of time to answer it?
Are you or your staff unwittingly introducing bias by making small talk about what college a candidate attended, their time in the military, what sports they played, or what teams they like?
We can’t all play a direct role in fixing every problem our country faces, but many of us play a much bigger part than we think in either maintaining or changing the underlying economic disparity that leads to most of those problems.
Don’t be an accidental racist. Do your part now by fixing your organization’s hiring, program and promotion selection processes.
(Joe Paiva enlisted in the Navy after high school and served 10 years active duty and 25 years in the reserves before retiring as a lieutenant colonel. Paiva started and helped start more than half a dozen companies, including taking one public. Serving in senior leadership positions during both the Bush and Obama administrations, Paiva retired as CIO of the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration.)
NOTE: Reprinted with the permission of the Federal News Network. Visit federalnewsnetwork.com.
The art of protest unfurled during a Downtown protest that turned at G.E. Patterson and flowed north on South Main. (Photo: Karanja A. Ajanaku)
Habari gani (What is the news?) Memphis!
Mesha Camp, the newest edition to The New Tri-State Defender’s reporting corps, weighs in on local police-community relations, concluding in an analysis that Memphis needs a new relationship model to advance.
Conversations about police reform are warranted but should be done in coordination with police, Memphis Police Association President Michael Williams said in an exclusive interview with Erica R. Williams.
Some Shelby County Schools board members and an array of local residents are telling the SCS administration to put a “sense of urgency” into tracking the district’s spending with minority-owned companies.
Six months into 2020 and many people are already feeling like this is the worst year of this millennium, writes TSD iMom columnist Brittany Holst, who envisions the ongoing protests as the civil rights movement 2.0.
Dr. Rosalyn R. Nichols, pastor of Freedom’s Chapel Christian Church (DOC), writes that the times require that we “act with the certainty needed to get to our goal, courageously dealing with things just as they are, resolutely facing – and surmounting – all dangers seen and unseen.” She adds that when it’s time to reset, “…go outside. Plant a garden. Take a deep breath. Honor God’s creation!
Both sides want “something better” for Memphis. That is the common ground that launched a meeting Wednesday involving some of the leaders of local protests and at least three high-profile local leaders.
In her ongoing observance of African American Music Month, #ACCESS901 columnist Joy Doss turns to “House music all night long” and specifically to Shango Cooke, who keeps the party going.
All of that and this too:
Free masks are back at county public health clinics
As of today, June 11, 2020, the Shelby County Health Department will once again dispense fabric face masks to the public at 814 Jefferson and its other public health facilities located around Shelby County.
The masks, provided in partnership with Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s Unified Command Group, have been declared safe for human use by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Tennessee Department of Health.
The masks may be picked up, while supplies last, at all Shelby County Health Department locations listed below during the hours of 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., with the exception of the Collierville clinic, which is open Tuesday and Thursday only. No appointment is needed to pick up a mask.
Cawthon Public Health Clinic – 1000 Haynes, 38114
Collierville Public Health Clinic (Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.)
167 Washington St., 38017
Hickory Hill Public Health Clinic – 6590 Kirby Center Cove, 38118
Shelby Crossing Public Health Clinic – 6170 Macon Road, 38133
Southland Mall Public Health Clinic – 1287 Southland Mall, 38116
On June 1, the Health Department stopped the distribution of the black, knitted face masks provided by the State of Tennessee for distribution to the public.The masks, manufactured by Renfro Corp., were treated with a chemical called Silvadur, an anti-microbial agent applied to fabrics to reduce the growth of odor-causing bacteria.
According to the manufacturer, only trace amounts of the chemical are applied to the fabric and the chemical diminishes each time the mask is washed. SCHD had stopped distributing the masks pending more information.
Many fabrics are treated with Silvadur 930, including sheets, pillow cases, athletic wear and underwear.
According to the EPA, once Silvadur 930 is incorporated into the fabric, it is extremely unlikely it would be inhaled. EPA concludes that inhalation exposure is negligible and not a health concern.
The Health Department will also provide the masks to partnering agencies for them to distribute in the community.
For more information about COVID-19 call the Shelby County Health Department’s COVID-19 hotline at 833-943-1558 or visit the COVID-19 webpage: www.shelbytnhealth.com/coronavirus.
LOC takes 2020 commencement virtual
LeMoyne-Owen College’s 150th Spring Commencement ceremony will be a virtual affair via LeMoyne-Owen’s Facebook Live and YouTube Live on Saturday (June 13) at 10 a.m. CST.
Expect messages from local and national alumni, local celebrities and members of the LeMoyne-Owen College community. “The Bell Ringer,” Memphis DJ will host the virtual after party.
“While we look forward to an in-person ceremony in the future, we could not let the Class of 2020 go unrecognized for all they accomplished by staying the course to complete their degree during a pandemic,” says LOC Interim President Dr. Carol Johnson Dean. “This is the magic and the legacy of LeMoyne-Owen College.”
Former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial (l) and Congressmen Steve Cohen.
Hearing on police practices/law enforcement accountability puts Cohen, Morial on same page
WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) is a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
On Wednesday, Cohen found common ground with former New Orleans Mayor and National Urban League President Marc Morial regarding the recently introduced Justice in Policing Act, which incorporates three bills long pushed by Cohen: the National Statistics on Deadly Force Transparency Act (H.R. 119), the Police CAMERA Act (H.R. 120) and the Police Training and Independent Review Act (H.R. 125).
In questions to Morial, Cohen said:
“Part of this bill is a provision which Ms. (Vanita) Gupta (President and Chief Executive Officer, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights) had in her recommendations that an independent prosecutor would restore confidence in the public. Would it?”
Morial said the provision was “an essential element” in the proposed legislation. “This is a reform whose time has come,” he said.
See Congressman Cohen’s exchange with the witnesses here.
Are you down with this?
#NNPA BLACKPRESS… Politicians draped in kente cloth take a knee for George Floyd before unveiling their proposed police reform bill, the Justice in Policing Act. A la Colin Kaepernick, each took a knee in Emancipation Hall, named in honor of the contributions of enslaved laborers who helped construct the Capitol building. (Photo: Screenshot via ABC News)
The evening of the fifth night of protests in Memphis included this show of force in response to demonstrators in the Beale Street Entertainment District. (Photo: Gary S. Whitlow/GSW Enterprises)
by Mesha Crump —
Public safety as we recognize it stands to be forever changed as protests in close to 150 American cities ignited in response to the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
A believer in and native of Memphis, Mesha Crump has spent most of her career serving mission-driven organizations in Memphis and New York City. Now a freelance contributor for The New Tri-State Defender, Mesha owns a social impact communications firm. (Courtesy photo)
Communities, activists, city leaders, social justice organizations and police departments represent groups that are making their stance heard on how systemic and structural racism perpetuates recurring police violence against African Americans.
Many themes, although not new responses to fatal police encounters, gain momentum as we approach week two of protests: defund the police; 8Can’t Wait; fund Black opportunities. Without context, it is assumed that injustice fighters want to completely shut down police operations but that is not the case.
It’s two things: shaving the police budget and redistributing funds to open better and equitable pathways for African-American people; and investigate policies, patterns and practice.
While today’s demands are not new calls to action, Memphis city leaders seem to be cooperating with requests to examine the current culture, strategies and priorities of the Memphis Police Department (MPD).
In the past week, city leaders have demonstrated efforts in response to demands: Mayor Strickland signed a recent pledge presented by President Obama calling to:
Review police use of force policies.
Engage communities by including a diverse range of input, experiences, and stories in the review.
Report the findings of the review to the community and seek feedback.
Reform the community’s police use of force policies.
Of these calls, Mayor Strickland appears to be starting with engaging community input as this week begins a series of discussions to address and act on the over-policing of African Americans in Memphis.
Council members JB Smiley Jr., Michalyn Easter-Thomas and Martavious Jones jointly submitted a resolution that was advanced by the city council requesting that MPD and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department adopt the “8 Can’t Wait” use-of-force reduction policy. Introduced by Campaign Zero to bring immediate change to police departments, 8 Can’t Wait operates a database that tracks a department’s adoption of the eight policies.
Memphis has enacted three of the policies: require warning before shooting; exhaust all alternatives before shooting; establish use of force continuum. According to Campaign Zero’s data, enacting all eight policies could reduce police killings by 72 percent.
Going beyond political participation to begin a process to develop better policies, transparency and accountability for policing in Memphis, understanding how we remain here rallying the demand that “Black Lives Matter” is a more essential part of this movement.
In America, political administrations respond to cracks in the social foundation with more force – twice as much, actually. City budgets are an indication of priorities and year to year, Memphis continues to increase its spend on police services – the most funded division with $282 million proposed for fiscal year 2021.
As the call to defund the police grows louder, it is apparent that those calls want funds and resources invested in African-American communities to close gaps in economic security, education and ownership.
African-American people are the majority population in Memphis yet experience poverty at 28.9% earning a median household income of $31,729 while whites make up 12.3% of poverty with a median household income of $59,507. The rate of African-American homeownership is reported as the lowest among the 50 largest cities in the U.S.
The City of Memphis allocates $0 in funding to education.
What these statistics reveal, as they always have, is that inequity is systemic and keeps African-American people at an extreme disadvantage by not creating legitimate access to the economy.
When another African-American person dies due to police negligence, it is another stinging demonstration that African-American lives don’t deserve equality in civil liberties. To make moves to investigate police practices is a step in a direction but without acknowledging how racism is equally embedded in housing, jobs and wages will keep African-American people here, fighting for fairness and justice.
Pushing African-American people to the margins and divesting in their communities is the underpinning of this current global demonstration and constant struggle. Solving injustice that has plagued African-American people in America requires an interrogation of how racism permeates through every part of African-American life, including education, economic prosperity and ownership.
When organizers, supporters, activists, and civil rights organizations urge that Black Lives Matter, it includes every part of the African-American experience.
The time is now for city leadership and citizens at every level of engagement to acknowledge the need for a model to advance Memphis and maintain momentum that does not leave the majority of African-American residents outpaced, undervalued and without fair access or representation to generate sustainable opportunities for themselves, their families or communities.
(A believer in and native of Memphis, Mesha Crump has spent most of her career serving mission-driven organizations in Memphis and New York City. Now a freelance contributor for The New Tri-State Defender, Mesha owns a social impact communications firm.)
Memphis Police Association President Michael Williams said, "One of the things I stand on is my integrity. I’m going to fight at the council. I’m going to fight for the citizens of this community and, at the same time, I fight for the police officers."(Photo: Screen capture)
For veteran Memphis Police Department officer Michael Williams, president of the Memphis Police Association, the burgeoning calls for conversations on police reform are warranted.
He simply thinks the discussions need to be in coordination with the police and not against them.
The actions of police officers and how they interact with the public are at the forefront of the nation’s and world’s consciousness because of the video-recorded killing of another unarmed African-America man, 46-year-old George Floyd.
Floyd died as a result of a Minneapolis Police Department officer holding a knee to Floyd’s neck for eight-plus minutes while three other officers stood by.
Protests about the homicide – and a string of other incidents of unarmed African-American men and women being killed by police officers in various parts of the country – continue to fuel protests against police brutality and demands for change throughout the United States, including Memphis.
Williams, who said he knows what it means to be a black man in America, has denounced the acts of the officers in Minneapolis, but emphasized the stark differences in Memphis compared to other cities across the country.
Talking to The New Tri-State Defender, Williams spoke candidly about talks of defunding police departments and what can be done to enhance the relationship between citizens and law enforcement.
The New Tri-State Defender: Police reform is a prevailing topic right now, in light of the death of George Floyd. We’ve seen protests throughout the country and here in Memphis. Do you think there is a need for police reform in this city?
Michael Williams: There can always be a need to make things better. The police serve the community and we work for the community. So, I think that if the community feels there is a need for reform and policy change, I am not opposed to reform. However, I think that they need to work in conjunction with the police so that it won’t jeopardize the lives of the officers or the citizens.
TSD: In addition to reform, there have been talks of defunding the police. Monday, Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer proposed budget cuts to the Sheriff’s Department in an effort to reallocate those funds to community initiatives. While that proposal was defeated, there have been other elected officials and community leaders who have also called for defunding the Memphis Police Department. What’s your take on defunding?
Williams: Once I did more research, what I found out is that what they are saying is that the Police Department in Memphis and Shelby County have the biggest budgets and they can sustain some cuts and then funnel that money into community activities for the youth.
I get it. But the problem that I have with that is that the police are going to have the biggest budget because the police are the biggest division in the city of Memphis. The other thing is that you’re talking about paying for quality law enforcement services.
The individuals put their lives on the line as police officers, and they should be paid commensurate.
The other issue that I have is that with what they’re trying to do — they’re looking in the wrong places when it comes to putting money back into the community.
TSD: Where are you suggesting that they look when talking about reallocation of funds?
MPA President Michael Williams. (Photo: (Screen capture)
Williams: We have to prioritize where our money is going. When you look at Memphis in comparison to other cities, we are giving sometimes ten times as much in pilots to these companies to do business here. That could be money from people’s tax dollars that can be funneled to the community.
So, we have to prioritize where this money is going because the citizens deserve quality core services — be in community centers, computer labs, or programs — because those are the types of things that assisted me in being able to uplift my life when I was younger.
I come from meager beginning and there were a lot of community programs and projects that actually helped me get out of North Memphis, where I grew up at in the 60’s and 70’s. So, I understand what some are talking about, but I think they’re looking in the wrong places.
There is room for them to look a little bit deeper — and now that they are on the City Council and County Commission — they can look for initiatives to be able to fund some of the things they are talking about.
TSD: While some people are talking about decreasing the police budget, others around the country have mentioned dismantling police departments altogether. What would you say to those who want to explore that option in Memphis?
Williams: Absolutely not. Because Memphis is listed as the second most violent city in the nation and we already have a problem with crime.
And, even when talking about defunding the police – now you’re talking about cutting the number of police officers when we are already down from 2,500 to 1,900. So, this already puts police into a role where they are reactive as opposed to proactive.
And that will mean cutting services at 201 Poplar. And they’re already hollering about living conditions and all of that at the jails.
Then there is the coronavirus that’s going on, so they are incurring additional costs for healthcare for inmates. So, do I think you should take millions from the Sheriff’s Department?
No, I do not. And that’s not because I’m a police officer. It’s because I’m an informed citizen.
TSD: Are you concerned about the rhetoric of defunding and dismantling the police department? You mentioned that the citizens should work in collaboration with police. Do you think conversations of dismantling may interfere with collaborative police reform efforts?
Williams: We’re playing checkers, most people are playing chess. There is a consorted effort by some to carry out some agenda items other than what the black community is looking at.
When you look at some of these marches, I see members of Antifa and communist flags. Somebody is funding these paid activists to go from city to city to push someone’s agenda. Some people are opportunists and using this… Mr. Floyd’s death as an opportunity to capitalize and push their agendas.
TSD: Some people have accused police associations with defending alleged bad behavior of officers. We’ve seen that in Minneapolis when the president of that association condemned other officers and even the city’s mayor for not standing with Derek Chauvin, the man accused of killing Mr. Floyd.
How do you balance advocating for police officers’ rights – one of the purposes of the association – and condemning bad behavior?
Williams: I don’t defend wrong. In Memphis when I got into the police association, I tried to rebrand it.
One of the things I stand on is my integrity. I’m going to fight at the council. I’m going to fight for the citizens of this community and, at the same time, I fight for the police officers.
I fight for their benefits. I fight for their rights. Sometimes people tend to think that police officers don’t deserve due process. The police officers are human and deserve an attorney. And that’s something that we provide them if it’s something related to their conduct on duty.
We provide them with the ability to be able to advocate for equal pay for benefits for health insurance.
We not only help the Police Department, but through the Memphis Police Association Charitable Foundation we’ve put almost 2 million dollars back into the city of Memphis.
TSD: In what ways?
Williams: We have police officers who are working in the community with football, baseball and basketball teams. And they’ve been doing it for some time but weren’t getting the funding, so we developed the foundation.
The foundation is to help and assist with different initiatives in the community and schools.
We have a lot of officers who are like me and who are from Memphis. We are more vested in the community here.
TSD: How would you describe the police and community relationship here in Memphis and Shelby County?
Williams: I can’t speak for Minneapolis or Texas or anywhere else. The deal with Breonna Taylor didn’t happen here in Memphis. George Floyd didn’t happen here in Memphis. The deal with the young man in Georgia didn’t happen here in Memphis.
And so, I always ask people when was the last time someone was needlessly killed by police here in Memphis? And some will want to say Brandon Webber but then I go, “No, hold up.”
He was actually an individual who had carjacked somebody and shot the man five times, and supposedly tried to run over and shoot at the U.S. Marshalls… then after I explain all of that, I still have to tell them that Memphis Police officers were not involved.
So, when was the last time MPD did something to that magnitude that you wanted to stand up and jump up and down about? And they really can’t tell me anything.
TSD: As a police officer and a black man, is it difficult balancing the woes associated with racial inequality while also fighting for police rights?
Memphis Police Association President Michael Williams. (Photo: Screen capture)
Williams: As a man of color, I have been discriminated against and felt the pressures of the world. Being a police officer is my occupation, but when I get home and take off my clothes and look in the mirror, I see a black man. When I look at my kids, I see black children.
And it hurt me to the core of my soul when I saw Mr. Floyd, a black man killed on national TV. Anybody who thinks that’s okay, there is something wrong with them. But, but even though there may be things I don’t always agree with, I don’t think all police are bad. Yes, there are bad police officers just as there are bad reporters, doctors, lawyers, teachers, preachers and politicians. There are bad people in every profession, but I don’t see that particular problem with police officers here in the Memphis.
TSD: Emotions are high and protests calling for police reform have continued for weeks now. As a police officer, what do you hope comes from these conversations and protests?
Williams: Before this, the pendulum was over on the right and then everyone said the police have too much power and the unions have too much power.
Now the pendulum is all the way to the left. Neither one of those is going to work. But hopefully once all of the emotions die down and everybody starts thinking again, hopefully there will be a happy medium that everyone can come to.
TSD: With that being said, are you optimistic about the potential of a better relationship between citizens and law enforcement in Memphis, and even across the country?
Williams: I think it’s an opportunity for that. And it’s always going to be alright. You have to go through the storms sometime to get through the promise land. This is the storm. I’ve been through the civil rights marches in the 60’s. I’ve been in combat in the military. But I’m still standing.
A virtual buying experience with restaurants, men’s apparel shops, women’s boutique, hair and beauty proprietors, and other enterprises, will be possible.
Black Restaurant Week 2020 the second week in March was on track to generate tens of thousands of dollars for African-American eateries.
But a global helping of COVID-19 thwarted the fifth annual event. In a matter of days, life and dining changed.
“…we are not powerless to rebuild wealth in our community and leave it to our children.” — Cynthia Daniels (Courtesy photo)
Cynthia Daniels & Co. is a premiere event planner behind some of the city’s most highly anticipated annual events: Black Bridal Expo, Black Restaurant Week, Soul Food Truck Festival and Black Christmas Expo.
To those, add the biggest, most ambitious effort on Friday, June 19, this year: The Juneteenth Shop Black Virtual Experience.
“The truth is that COVID-19 forced me to broaden my borders,” said Daniels. “The financial fallout has been devastating for black businesses, for all businesses. But we are not powerless to rebuild wealth in our community and leave it to our children.”
Daniels said turning the dollar over and over in the African-American community will keep “our businesses” prospering and growing. She promotes a conscientious intent on the part of “black consumers” to spend money with African Americans and choose to “buy black.”
Daniels was weeks away from June 19, lamenting that she could not travel to visit her mother in Atlanta for Mother’s Day. The pandemic had limited movement, not only locally, but across the country. She got an idea.
“I thought, ‘Why don’t I just go online and buy Mother some gifts I know she would like,’” Daniels said. “And that’s just what I did and posted her local purchases online. The photos went viral, and people in Memphis were thanking me for spotlighting businesses they didn’t even know were here.”
Daniels got to thinking. What if there was an event or occasion for “black businesses” to sale their wares online to anyone? What if there was a day that invited shoppers to purposely buy from black vendors and business owners? And that was the beginning of The Juneteenth Shop Black Virtual Experience.
“My heart goes out to restaurant owners and other business people who have been unable to open back up,” said Daniels. “But 100 businesses, which have kept their doors open, can benefit if we all shop black on Juneteenth, not just for the day, but beyond this inaugural event.”
Shoppers will be able to go to the website: cdcoevents.com and access a portal on the Zoom platform, which will open that Friday at noon.
A virtual buying experience with restaurants, men’s apparel shops, women’s boutique, hair and beauty proprietors, and other enterprises, will be possible.
Daniels set her sights on recruiting 50 businesses. One hundred vendors are actually participating. Fifty of them are local, including restaurants that faced disappointment when COVID-19 halted this year’s Black Restaurant Week.
“This Juneteenth shopping day is very important to us,” said Tamra Patterson, “Chef Tam” of The Underground Café. “When the coronavirus hit, we had to lay off 38 employees. That broke my heart. We went into take-out mode, and we’ve just opened the dining room Tuesday of this week. I am looking forward to Juneteenth shopping.”
Seeing the event grow beyond the borders of Memphis and attracting the interest of businesses in other major cities was empowering for Daniels.
“I set out to recruit 50 local businesses, and that went viral, too,” said Daniels. “Other business people want to get in front of as many buyers as possible. So, I started getting inquiries from 20 other cities, including Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles.
Businesses in Vancouver, Canada, and St. Croix, Virgin Islands are also participating.”
Owner/Founder Charisse Barnes-Ferraro of The Cayged Collection in Atlanta. (Courtesy photo)
Charisse Barnes-Ferraro is excited her “Afrocentric” accessory shop in Atlanta is on board for Juneteenth.
“I was a teacher for 16 years,” said Barnes-Ferraro. “But I started my shop, The Cayged Collection, after a lot of research and prayer. I was a part of the Black Christmas Expo with Cynthia in 2019. I know this is going to be phenomenal.”
Daniels hopes this shopping day will empower “the whole community”.
“While we certainly invite other consumers to be a part of this day, I believe we have enough buying power in our own community to see our own businesses grow and be sustained by us,” Daniels said. “We must support our own, even after the 19th.”
The list of local businesses includes Bubble Bistro, Phillip Ashley Chocolates, September Nail Salon, Henry Masks and Chef Tam’s Soul Food Superstore.
More information on Juneteenth Shop Black Virtual Experience is available at: www.cdcoevents.com.
In a city where the African-American poverty rate is 27.6 percent, spending with African-American businesses, particularly during a recession, is crucial for reducing high rates of economic despair.
Businesses owned by minorities and women have contracting and purchasing opportunities with corporate and governmental agencies throughout the Mid-South, including Shelby County Schools (SCS).
Recently, the school district has come under scrutiny about a lack of data distinguishing African-American business spend from other minority business spend.
Currently, SCS data reflects total spend with women of any race and total spend with any minority entrepreneur.
Individuals and groups in the community and several SCS board members have expressed concern about the data since the majority of SCS students are African Americans and the Memphis population is more than 63 percent African American.
In a city where the African-American poverty rate is 27.6 percent, spending with African-American businesses, particularly during a recession, is crucial for reducing high rates of economic despair.
Miska Clay-Bibbs represents District 7.
On Tuesday, during the SCS Procurement Committee virtual meeting, board members Shante Avant, Miska Clay-Bibbs and Joyce Dorse Coleman stressed the importance of tracking and monitoring minority-owned spending and identifying African-American-owned spend data.
“We need a sense of urgency around this,” said Clay-Bibbs.
“We need the local component, breaking down the numbers.”
Leon Pattman
The SCS Department of Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBE), which falls under Leon Pattman, Chief of Internal Audit, has been tracking data manually. Business owners “self-identify” their minority category.
Pattman says SCS is in the process of purchasing new software to track and monitor contractor and sub-contractor spending.
He added that the district is working diligently to increase the number of participants in the SCS MWBE Certified Vendors Listing, which now sits at 140.
“We’re keenly aware of the need to improve this number substantially.”
The new monitoring system will be rolled out to the community in the next few months and will include a community engagement plan focused on African-American and Hispanic vendors.
To spread the word about becoming a Certified Minority Vendor and listed with SCS, Pattman says the MWBE Program team is forming stronger ties with relevant partners.
Those partners include:
City of Memphis Office of Diversity and Compliance
Shelby County MWBE Programs
Mid-South Minority Business Continuum
Memphis International Airport Business Diversity Development Program
SCS Procurement Committee members also emphasized the need for minority spend data by department, as well as level of spend.
Pattman, who acknowledged that there have been no “aspirational goals” for the SCS MWBE Program in two years, assured board members that such goals will be defined during the next Procurement Committee meeting (TBD).
“We’re also creating a database for Certified Minority Vendors vs. Minority Contractors.”
“With a majority black student population, it’s best to have aggregated data when many people can fall into this (minority) status,” says SCS Board Commissioner Coleman.
Joyce Dorse-Coleman represents District 9.
“But how many are black businesses and how many are Hispanic businesses?”
The new tracking software, funded in the fiscal year 2021 budget, will automate vendor tracking, spend re- porting and facilitate goal setting.
During the meeting, Pattman’s slide presentation revealed that, between July 1, 2019 and April 30, 2020, SCS spent a total of $25,386,959.01 or 14.6 percent of the MWBE budget with certified MWBEs.
Of that total amount, $7,292,720.48 or 4.04 percent was spent with certified women entrepreneurs.
At the close of the meeting, Pattman committed to addressing concerns regarding SCS MWBE spend data.
“We’ll take a ‘deeper dive’ into the numbers.”
(To learn more about the Shelby County Schools Minority, Women-Owned Small Business Program, or how to become a Certified Minority Vendor, visit: http://www.scsk12.org//mwbe/.)
Pastor and local activist DeVante Hill amplifies his message during a protest in front of FedExForum. (Photo: Gary S. Whitlow/GSW Enterprises)
Both sides want “something better” for Memphis.
That is the common ground that launched a meeting Wednesday involving some of the leaders of local protests and some local leaders.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, along with Police Director Michael Rallings, were among the attendees.
“We’ve seen other cities go up in flames,” said Pastor DeVante Hill, an activist and founder of One Church Memphis. We don’t want that for our city. We want better. We can do better.”
Protests took root around the country and throughout the world when a video of a Minnesota officer bearing down with his knee on the neck of George Floyd for more than eight minutes, killing him, was released to the public.
Frank Gotti drives his point home. (Photo: Gary S. Whitlow/GSW Enterprises)
Hill and another local activist, Frank Gotti, met with city and county leaders June 3 to talk about issues that could potentially spark the kind of violence cities across the country have witnessed.
Wednesday was the second meeting.
It was not a negotiation, said Hill, but an opportunity for government leaders to really understand what is sparking the protests.
“We did not come in making any demands on those in leadership,” said Hill. “But we were strongly urging them to take some action and to be a part of the change. We all want to see our city move forward with more racially equitable practices.”
Strickland has said he feels certain that Memphis does not have to go the way of other cities that have experienced violent lawlessness and arson.
“Director Rallings and I are open to listening to all suggestions of how to improve our Memphis Police Department…”
Hill talked about how some activists were interested in improving the relationship between law enforcement and the African-American community in Memphis and Shelby County.
“There are some things we feel would improve the relationship right off,” said Hill. “We want CLERB to have more power and more influence, for one thing.”
CLERB is the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board. Activists feel the citizen’s board should have a more influential role in matters pertaining to officers who are accused of using excessive force.
Allyson Smith, one of the co-organizers of last Friday’s demonstration in Midtown on Union Avenue, said at a Tuesday (June 9) press conference that African Americans are “over-policed and over-criminalized” compared to whites who come in contact with law enforcement.
Smith decried that two white men who intentionally drove their vehicles into the crowd of protesters were allowed to go free after the incidents.
She asked, “What constitutes a crime – skin color or the intent?”
In addition to more equitable treatment of African Americans by law enforcement, Hill called for “a more just and a more fair” element of anti-bias training for new recruits.
“We also want officers to establish a policy of intervening,” said Hill. “When something is happening on the scene that is not right, such as the action that officer took against George Floyd, other officers should intervene. It should be their duty to intervene.”
Although various organizations have been a part of the protesting in Memphis, neither Hill nor Gotti are a part of any particular activist group.
“I am just an independent activist,” Hill said. “I think other organizations want me to sit back and be quiet. But I can’t do that. I have to stay focused on what the Lord told me to do.”
