Month: September 2016

Memphis Awarded $5 Million Revitalization Grant

Post author By Joshua Cannon
Post date September 8, 2016

A national revitalization program has awarded Memphis a $5 million grant to assist with the city’s Fourth Bluff Project.

Reimagining the Civic Commons, led by four national foundations, will help Memphis’ leaders transform four blocks of downtown property that include the longstanding Cossit Library, Memphis Park, and Mississippi Park. Memphis’ founders deeded these properties, contained within a larger area named The Promenade, for public use. They exist now, however, mostly as ghost towns and sleeping spaces for the homeless.

[pullquote-1]”This part of downtown is the missing piece that would link nodes of activity to the north (Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid) and south (Tom Lee Park, Beale Street, Main Street),” Maria Fuhrmann, the project’s lead organizer in Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s office, told The Flyer in April. “The Cossitt Library and the two riverfront parks are sometimes forgotten despite the fact that they have great potential.”

The grant, matched by local private and public sources, allows Memphis to revitalize these locations with signage, events, public art, and enhanced connectivity for residents currently sequestered in their neighborhoods.

“The Mississippi River was Memphis’ first great place and our riverfront has always been a vital part of our economy and culture,” Fuhrmann said.

A partnership between The JPB Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, and The Rockefeller Foundation, The Commons Project also awarded Akron, Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, and Detroit, Michigan. The total national investment amounts to $40 million.

“We’re honored to have been selected and to join this cohort of great cities,” Mayor Strickland said. “Creating opportunity in a civic commons for people to share experiences with people different from themselves grows a sense of community, engagement, and understanding between all of us.”

Find more information here.

News News Blog

Zoo Parking Design Process to Include Public Input

Post author By Toby Sells
Post date September 8, 2016

CREDIT: City of Memphis

City of Memphis

An early draft of the proposed parking changes around Overton Park.

Design work has begun to reconfigure the Memphis Zoo’s parking lot to allow more spaces which will, ultimately, end parking on the Overton Park Greensward.

The Memphis City Council approved a plan in July that would give zoo visitors more places to park and end the zoo’s use of the Greensward for overflow parking.

The plan is a result of the mediation process between the Overton Park Conservancy (OPC) and the zoo, a process begun in January by Mayor Jim Strickland. Mediation failed but ideas from the process were part of the compromise deal assembled by council member Bill Morrison and passed by the council.

City engineers have designed concept layouts for the reconfiguration, according to the Overton Park Conservancy (OPC). Next, they’ll gather all the information needed to request proposals from private design firms to formalize the concepts.

Selecting and signing a design firm could take about six months, OPC said. The entire design process for the project could cost about $400,000 and $500,000.

That process will also include public outreach and meetings. OPC said in a blog post Wednesday that keeping ht public informed “will be a key part of this project.”

“The project will be overseen by a committee with representatives from the Memphis Zoo, the city of Memphis, and Overton Park Conservancy,” OPC said. “Together, we’re working on a communications plan that will keep all stakeholders informed throughout the process.

Our goal is to provide regular updates to the public, as well as ample notice of opportunities for the community to provide feedback.”

The zoo’s lot will never close when construction begins. Instead construction will come in phases and will take place largely in off-peak seasons when parking demand is low.

The overall reconfiguration plan will include a tree care plan developed with the help of the Memphis Tree Board.

Sports Tiger Blue

AAC Picks: Week 2

Post author By Frank Murtaugh
Post date September 8, 2016

LAST WEEK: 9-3

SATURDAY
UCF at Michigan
Cincinnati at Purdue
UConn at Navy
NC State at East Carolina
Northern Illinois at USF
Stony Brook at Temple
Lamar at Houston
SMU at Baylor
Southern at Tulane
Tulsa at Ohio State

Letter From The Editor Opinion

Asking For Change

Post author By Bruce VanWyngarden
Post date September 8, 2016

Boy, this panhandling problem in Memphis is getting out of hand. At the corner of Sam Cooper and East Parkway last weekend, there must have been at least 20 of them! They were waving buckets, cheering and laughing, approaching cars stopped at the light. They were even wearing uniforms! Talk about aggressive …

Sure, they were raising money for their youth football team and they were kind of cute, but, nonetheless, they were panhandling.

Then there’s the guy who stands on the Madison Avenue overpass where it meets the ramp from I-240. He’s there all the time, silently holding a sign that says he’s homeless and hungry. He’s also a panhandler; he just lacks a worthy cause — except maybe his empty belly.

And what about the guy who shows up at the Midtown Walgreen’s now and then? He sits on the sidewalk outside the entrance, asking for money to get into a shelter for the night. He appears to have a mental issue of some sort, but he speaks softly and politely. A very zen panhandler (zenhandler?). I don’t mind him being there, but sometimes people complain to the management and he’ll get run off.

Memphis is loaded with folks asking for money: the guy at the gas station with his car hood open who needs $27 for “a radiator hose”; the woman in the Kroger parking lot who wants change for “baby formula”; the Memphis Fire Fighters who raise funds by holding up empty boots at intersections. Whether it’s for a worthy cause or a scam or just a poor soul needing help to get through the night, it’s all technically panhandling.

So how do you regulate it? How do you allow a youth football team or the Memphis Fire Fighters to raise money via actively soliciting the public trapped in their cars at an intersection and deny the guy passively standing on Madison Avenue?

The Memphis City Council is now grappling with this issue — as many other cities around the country have done. The council specifically wants to eliminate “aggressive” panhandling. And I get it: Nobody should have to feel threatened or intimidated by someone asking for your hard-earned money. But as other cities have learned, panhandling ordinances can be surprisingly complicated to enact, and they often draw lawsuits: Since panhandling typically involves a spoken request and is therefore a type of free speech, it is protected by the U.S. Constitution.

But there are a lot of gray areas. The Supreme Court has, for instance, ruled that the city of New York could ban Krishna disciples from soliciting people at JFK Airport but could not ban them in some other public spaces.

Cities have attempted to regulate panhandling through “time, place, and manner” ordinances. In other words, regulating when, where, and how panhandling can take place. The council might, for instance, decide that bona fide charities and recognized civic groups will be allowed to raise funds via public solicitation, while banning an “aggressive” guy who’s up in tourists’ faces on Beale Street.

But who decides what’s aggressive? A person from rural Tennessee, unused to the ways of the city, may think any solicitation by a stranger on the street is aggressive and make a complaint, tying up a police officer whose time might be better spent elsewhere. And who decides what constitutes a legitimate charity or civic group? Is some government functionary now going to be charged with this duty? Will permits be required for groups to take over a street or intersection? It’s something to consider, if the council goes that direction.

The bottom line: Be careful when asking for change. Sometimes you come up empty.

Tags free speech and panhandling, Memphis City Council offers new panhandling ordinance, panhandlers of Memphis, panhandling in Memphis

Cover Feature News

Poison Pills

Post author By Jane Schneider
Post date September 8, 2016

Craig Minton will tell you straight up — he’s an adrenaline junkie. He craves the surge he feels driving fast cars or riding menacing bulls. But he’ll also tell you he could have never predicted his need for speed would spiral into a 15-year addiction to pain pills.

As a young man, the 42-year-old swing-shift worker and father of four loved to rodeo. The thrill of entering the dusty arena as his name was called, the icy clang of the steel gate swinging wide as his ride exploded into the ring, the heft of a 1,600-pound bull twisting violently as he held fast, desperately trying to last the eight seconds required to count as a qualified ride.

It was such a rush.

Then, during a rodeo ride in the late 1990s, Minton was thrown from a bull and knocked unconscious for more than an hour. Rushed to an area hospital, the CT-scan revealed a herniated disk. Following a brief hospital stay, Minton was sent home with hydrocodone, a prescription pain medication. Hydrocodone, like oxycodone, is one of several opioids doctors routinely prescribe for treating pain. (See sidebar) All are strong, Schedule 1 narcotics. While they do the job, there is also high potential for abuse. And what physicians often fail to tell their patients is how very addictive these pain meds can be.

Within months, Minton was hooked. In his addiction, he joined millions of Americans traveling down a harrowing rabbit hole, chasing the scream.

The Growth of an Urgent Public Health Problem

The surging opioid epidemic has made many national headlines this year, jumping to the fore as one of the country’s most urgent public health issues. Last year, overdoses from prescription drugs, opioid pain medications, and heroin surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of injury-related death in America, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration adds that nearly 2 million people suffer from opioid-use disorder related to prescription pain medications, which has contributed to both increased heroin use and the spread of HIV and hepatitis C.

In response to this alarming trend, President Obama signed into law the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act on July 22nd, authorizing more than $181 million annually in new funding to fight the opioid epidemic and expand much-needed access to care. The law awaits Congressional appropriation.

Meanwhile, Tennessee has been making headlines of its own. The state ranked number two nationally in 2012 for opioid prescriptions and consumption. In 2014, opioid overdose claimed 1,263 lives — more people than died in auto accidents and gunfire. By 2015, Tennessee ranked among the top 10 states nationally for death by drug overdose.

The state’s epidemic started several years ago in rural northeast Tennessee and gradually spread westward to Shelby County, impacting people from all walks of life along the way. As doctors wrote more and more prescriptions for pain meds, unintentional overdoses followed. Between 2001 and 2011, overdoses jumped by 250 percent, notes Steven Baumrucker, system medical director, hospice and palliative medicine, Wellmont Health System, who regularly presents to physicians about safe prescription practices.

That widespread abuse of painkillers, coupled with an alarming rise in heroin use, led to the convening of forums in Nashville and Knoxville last April, where state health officials, law enforcement, and medical professionals gathered to address what the Tennessee Department of Health labels as our “number one public health issue.”

In Memphis, healthcare providers at ERs such as St. Francis and Regional One Health have seen a significant uptick in the number of people coming in needing pain medication or worse, being treated for overdose. The abuse extracts a toll — on users and the healthcare system.

“It’s definitely on the rise,” notes Chantay Smartt, medical director for emergency medicine at Regional One. “I’ve seen more overdoses in the last eight to 10 months than I have in my whole career. It’s hard to provide care for families because they don’t understand what’s going on with their loved ones. They want us to admit them, but that’s not the standard of care we provide. We treat symptoms, we don’t do detox.”

How Did We Get Here?

Back in the mid-1990s, opioid narcotics barely registered a blip on the radar screen of pharmaceutical sales. But two issues drove demand. The first came from the medical community, notes Baumrucker. “We [doctors] were told [by the Joint Commission, the nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting body in health care] that we were undertreating pain and that we could get into legal trouble” if left unaddressed. So in 2001, healthcare providers were directed to begin asking patients about their pain. In addition to checking other vitals like blood pressure and pulse rate, pain was made the “fifth vital sign” used to assess patients.

The second was largely due to the marketing pitch for OxyContin in which Purdue Pharma misled physicians and patients by claiming the potential for addiction was slight. That claim was all that was needed to amp up sales. By the early 2000s, the tidal wave of opioids had begun to surge.

Treating Ongoing Pain

Minton says the hydrocodone eased his pain at first, and he took his meds as prescribed. But over time, instead of needing less medication to feel better, he found himself needing more. Two pills a day increased to four, then eight, until he was popping 90 to 100 pills a month “just to feel normal.”

“After your brain clears out and you’re no longer being told to take it, the painkiller can make you feel crippled,” Minton says. “It’s like you can’t get out of bed in the morning without taking pills.”

His physician, Daniel Sumrok, an assistant professor at the University of Tennesse Health Science Center (UTHSC) and director of UTHSC’s Center for Addiction Science, says Minton’s experience is common. As a specialist in addiction medicine, Sumrok sees many patients at his family practice for whom pain treatment has morphed into a physical dependence. Most people who take opioids for more than three to four weeks develop a tolerance to the medication. The quick cycling nature of these drugs creates cravings, and, with long-term use, the pain patients experience can actually worsen due to chemical changes in the brain.

“As soon as the drug high falls off, the brain starts needing more, and it creates a craving,” Sumrok says. “Many people are unaware of the possibility of addiction. They think if a physician writes it up, it has to be okay.”

Barry Cooper agrees. “Out of every 20 people we treat, at least 15 are for prescription drugs,” says Cooper, executive director of the Jackson Area Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency (JACOA). “You’d be shocked at how many times patients say they got into it innocently from an injury on a job or a surgery.”

Patient testimonies he shares reflect prescription med use that has stretched for five or 10 years, with many patients becoming caught in a vicious cycle of dependence they are unable to break on their own.

Furthermore, more than half of those who abuse painkillers wind up getting them from a friend or relative, according to a 2014 report from the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Many people pass along meds simply unaware of the danger.

Tennessee also has the second-highest rate of prescriptions per person nationally. To address the problem of doctor shopping, the Tennessee Department of Health began tracking prescriptions several years ago through the controlled substance monitoring database. The database tracks patients who have received pain med prescriptions for 15 days or more. Physicians, pharmacies, and other healthcare providers have access to the database, and heavier use has helped to reduce the number of patients who try to get more medication than prescribed.

But pills are out there and they aren’t hard to come by. Minton says when his supply ran low, he’d simply buy from guys he knew. Over time, he noticed the pills produced significant side effects, including irritability and mood swings. “I was very volatile,” Minton admits.

One afternoon while cooking dinner, he suddenly blacked out. When he awoke, he found himself in the ER, two of his teenage boys by his side. “That’s what got me clean,” he says. “I didn’t realize I’d let it get that out of control.”

The Path to Heroin

Minton is one of the lucky ones. When prescription pill habits become too expensive, many users turn to a cheaper alternative: heroin.

Lieutenant Reginald Hubbard, executive officer with the Shelby County Sheriff’s narcotic’s division, says his department has made opioid and heroin abuse a top priority for 2016. Heroin seizures have risen substantially over the past several years. “We’re finding heroin all over Shelby County,” Hubbard says.

Though he says the division is making some headway, the problem is serious. Last year, 80 people died of heroin overdoses in Shelby County, compared to 42 in 2013. Already this year, more than 24 people have died. Much of the heroin flowing into the Mid-South comes from Mexico or China via the internet. Hubbard says dealers are also cutting the drug with fentanyl, a stronger, more lethal narcotic that can cause overdose. The majority of users are young adults ages 19 to 35.

“More than 80 percent of first-time heroin users started with prescription pills that became too costly,” says Stephen Loyd, medical director for Tennessee’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

Jennifer Williams experienced this firsthand with her 21-year-old son, Jason (not his real name). Jason played baseball in high school and got good grades until he and his friends began smoking pot and experimenting with pills they got from family medicine cabinets. “The little bit he started with soon became not enough,” she says. After graduation, the expense of pills led him to heroin.

One day, Jason was caught stealing money from the store where he worked. When his boss discovered why, he immediately called Jennifer. When she arrived, her son confessed, “‘I’ve been doing heroin,’ I literally could have dropped to my knees,” she says. She checked her son into a detox facility that night.

“As a parent, when you’re going through this, other parents pull away,” she says. “You feel ashamed and embarrassed. No one wants to think their kid will fall into this. But since it happened to my family, I’ve had so many other people whisper to me that their nephew or son has had a similar experience.”

Getting Treatment

Those families wind up seeking treatment at centers such as Serenity Recovery Center and JACOA. Tennessee’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services funds approximately 97 substance abuse treatment facilities statewide. But according to Mary-Linden Salter, executive director for the Tennessee Association of Alcohol, Drug, and Other Addiction Services, an advocacy group for these service providers, roughly 1,200 people are wait-listed for each residential detox program. “And most insurance companies will not pay for a medical detox, since coming off opiates, while extremely uncomfortable, won’t kill you,” says Salter.

The state’s mental health system is already overburdened and struggling to adequately care for the many Tennesseeans who need help. Salter says centers will frequently have empty beds because they have run out of funds. Cooper concurs: “For every 10 addicts who need treatment, only one receives it.”

Loyd, who has been clean 10 years from his own addiction to Vicodin, acknowledges that the state needs to increase services, particularly medication-assisted therapy for those who are addicted. “Medications like Suboxone help to keep patients in therapy. It allows you to manage the withdrawal symptoms.

“It’s not a one-size-fits-all problem,” he says. “We must take an open-minded, evidence-based approach to treatment. The goal is to prevent death and suffering from abuse.”

Sumrock agrees. He takes an integrated, holistic approach in his practice, using talk as well as medication-assisted therapy as a means of moving patients toward sobriety. “I’m helping people regain some normalcy and control of their addiction and making life more manageable,” he says. Patients frequently tell him how relieved they are to have their life back, a life not dictated by finding money to chase the next high.

With the opening of the Center for Addiction Science in Midtown, which treats people with substance abuse, gambling, and porn issues, UTHSC is hoping to more fully address addiction within the community. The college is also putting together a curriculum for medical students that will provide training in addiction medicine, course-work Sumrok is currently developing.

Treatment can work. Minton has been clean and sober for five years. Gone is the irritability and fog that clouded his thinking. Instead, his job is going well, he no longer smokes, he works out regularly, and enjoys spending time with his family.

“It’s so much more peaceful around my house,” he says. “I finally feel normal.”

Count it as one small victory in a large and ongoing battle.

Discard Meds Safely

The Shelby County Sheriff’s office oversees two drug-collection bins for the public to dispose of unwanted medications. The boxes are under 24-hour surveillance. Six new bins will be added in Shelby County at area Walgreens this fall.

Locations:

Sheriff’s Office, Arlington Substation – 11670 Memphis-Arlington Rd., 38002

Shelby County Sheriff’s Department, 993 Dovecrest Rd., 38134

Hours: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

What can be discarded: Unwanted, outdated, and unused prescription drugs, vitamins, over-the-counter liquids (in leak-proof containers), medicated ointments, lotions, or drops, and pet medications. NO: Syringes, IV bags, illegal drugs & narcotics (though police will accept if placed in the container).

At home: Remove medication from original packaging and mix with kitty litter or coffee grounds. Place mixture in a bag and dispose of in the trash.

For more: tn.gov/behavioral-health/section/substance-abuse-services.

Frequently Prescribed Controlled Substances

Three of the top 5 most prescribed medications from Tennessee’s controlled substance monitoring database are opioids.

1. Hydrocodone products – opioid

2. Alprazolam – generic name for Xanax; a benzodiazepine

3. Oxycodone products – opioid

4. Zolpidem – generic name for Ambien

5. Tramadol – opioid: Brand names Ultram, ConZip, Ryzolt

Source: Tennessee Department of Health

12th National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day

Saturday, October 22 • 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

A safe, convenient way for Shelby County residents to get rid of unused or expired medications. The Shelby County Sheriff’s department will manage three locations during this annual take-back. You can drop off unwanted drugs here:

– County Building, 1080 Madison, 38103

– Kroger, 7942 Winchester, 38125

– Kroger, 11635 Highway 70, 38002

Do You Need Help? Call the TN Redline: (800) 889-9789

Callers receive up-to-date information and referrals for alcohol, drug, gambling, and other addiction issues. Three referral sources are given when possible. Coordinated by the Tennessee Association of Alcohol, Drug, and other Addiction Services. • taadas.org

Or go to the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services • tn.gov/behavioral-health

Tags get help for opioid addiction in Shelby County, Opioid addiction in Shelby County Tennessee, Opioid problem in Memphis, Opioids are a gateway drug to heroin, prescription drug addiction

News The Fly-By

Fly on the Wall 1437

Post author By
Post date September 8, 2016

Bacon Bits

Last week, crummy criminal Martene Stewart called 9-1-1 to report that her purse was snatched by employees at SuperLo Foods as she attempted to run out of the store with a purse full of stolen bacon. Stewart was subsequently arrested for theft of property under $500.

Almost Famous

Curry Todd may have lost his seat in Tennessee’s General Assembly, but the long-legged former legislator is taking a final victory lap in the media. In her end-of-summer roundup for MTV, political writer Jaime Fuller wrote about how Todd was caught on video stealing opponent Mark Lovell’s yard signs. Todd’s sign story was also described as a “monthly favorite” in a compilation of weird news stories assembled by Bloomington, Illinois, newspaper, Pantagraph.

Verbatim

“I did it, yeah, if they put it back up, I’ll do it again. That’s blasphemous … I’d much rather have God happy with me for something I did, even if it puts me in jail,” confessed “Naked Jesus” sign thief Pat Andrews, as quoted by Local Memphis-24. Yeah, sure, Andrews’ God-math failed to adjust for the 8th Commandment and all, but at least he didn’t bear false witness. He didn’t approve of Heartsong Church’s “Naked Jesus” signs, so he just pulled a Curry Todd and took them. The text-only signs advertised sermons about a strictly Biblical Christ.

News The Fly-By

Weed, Corn, and Guns

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date September 8, 2016

CREDIT: Toby Sells

Packing Heat

Shelby County has the highest rate of handgun permits in the state, according to a new report by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

Toby Sells

Tennessee Touri$m

Tennessee tourism shattered records in 2015 with visitors spending more than $18 billion, up 3.7 percent over 2014.

State officials announced the findings last week, noting that tourism jobs rose 2.9 percent last year to 157,400.

Memphis in May officials announced last week that the month-long festival had an $88 million economic impact. More than 265,000 attended the festival, which supported 1,138 jobs and brought in $2.8 million in local taxes.

Mending Marijuana

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee urged its members to support local efforts to decriminalize marijuana, calling it a matter of “racial justice.”

Council member Berlin Boyd proposed lowering charges for possessing less than a half-ounce of marijuana. That proposal was slated to receive its first full vote by the council on Tuesday.

“Make no mistake — this is an issue of racial justice,” said Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee. “As of 2010, in Shelby County, a black person was 4.2 times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession as a white person, though the two groups use marijuana at comparable rates.”

‘Not True’

Both plaintiffs in the now-dismissed lawsuit against the Memphis City Council regarding the Greensward said Wednesday that they did not tell council member Berlin Boyd that the Overton Park Conservancy (OPC) played any role in their filing of the suit as he claimed last week.

Residents Dr. Susan Lacy and Stephen Humbert filed a suit against the city earlier this year. Boyd said in a resolution before the council that “one of the plaintiffs” in the suit “has admitted to council members” that OPC provided the language and information for their lawsuit. Humbert said it was “a completely false statement.”

Greenprint Approved

The Mid-South Regional Greenprint, the plan to link surrounding communities with trails, bike lanes, and green spaces, now has unanimous support from every community it will touch.

Last week, city leaders in Marion, Arkansas, approved the plan, giving it the green light for implementation. Greenprint leaders called adoption of the plan “an unprecedented demonstration of regional unity.”

Corny Conley

As if becoming the best-paid player in the NBA wasn’t enough, Memphis Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley has been cut in the corn.

Conley’s visage is this year’s featured artwork cut into the 10-acre Mid-South Maze, which opens on September 15th and runs through October 31st.

Ag Trail

The Agricenter Trail will soon be paved, giving cyclists and pedestrians a better path between the Shelby Farms Greenline to the Agricenter Farmers Market.

The trail runs along the south side of Walnut Grove and from Farm Road to the farmers market. It exists now, but it’s an unpaved dirt path.

Paving comes thanks to Shelby County Commissioner Heidi Shafer, who donated her full $100,000 allotment of the Shelby County Commission Enhancement Grant.

News The Fly-By

Q&A with Gloria Steinem

Post author By Bianca Phillips
Post date September 8, 2016

Gloria Steinem was a young journalist working for New York Magazine in 1968, a few years before the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1975 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. She’d been sent to cover a meeting in a New York church, where women were sharing their personal experiences with abortion.

“For the first time in my life, I saw women standing up and telling the truth about something that was not supposed to be spoken of in public. The stories were moving, and I realized that one in three American women — then and now — needs an abortion at some time in her life. So why was it illegal and unsafe?” Steinem said. “I had an abortion when I was newly graduated from college and never told anyone. [This meeting] was a great moment of revelation.”

Steinem soon became a trailblazer for women’s equality and reproductive rights, eventually founding the feminist-themed Ms. magazine. Steinem has traveled the globe organizing and lecturing on women’s equality, and she recently published a book — My Life on the Road — on those travels and the impact they’ve had on her life.

She’ll be traveling to Memphis this month to speak at Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region’s (PPGMR) annual James Award ceremony at the Hilton Memphis on September 15th. That event will also serve as the local health services provider’s 75th anniversary event.

Steinem took a few minutes to speak about the future of reproductive rights in the U.S., sexism in American politics, and her thoughts on gender identity in the feminist movement. — Bianca Phillips

Gloria Steinem

Flyer: Abortion rights are being challenged in states across the country. Do you worry that Roe v. Wade could be overturned?

Gloria Steinem: We’ve been worrying about that ever since the decision. It would only take a couple of right-wing presidents appointing anti-choice Supreme Court justices to make that happen. There’s a lot of resistance, even though the majority of Americans clearly believe that reproductive freedom is a fundamental human right.

Tennessee’s Planned Parenthood organizations jointly launched the Tennessee Stories Project this year to give women a safe space to share their abortion stories online. That sounds like a virtual version of that meeting you attended in 1968.

There’s nothing like the truth to help us realize that we are not alone, and it is crucial for women to be able to decide when and whether to have children. Whether or not we can make that decision is the biggest factor in whether we are educated or not, healthy or not, able to work outside the home or not, and determines how long we live. It’s a human right.

Sexism seems to have dominated this presidential election. Are we moving backward?

[The equality movement] has been winning quite a lot, so there are waves of backlash. It’s probably peaking in part because, in short order, this country will no longer be a majority European-American or white country. For people who were born into a system that told them that men were superior, white people were superior, and Christians were superior, it’s very upsetting to understand that they are no longer in the majority, and they’re fighting back.

Do you think America is ready for its first female president?

It’s going to be very difficult, but it’s been very difficult for President Obama, too. The right wing has been so hostile to him. If the right wing had cancer and he had the cure, they wouldn’t accept it. They’re just dead set against him. Similarly, the idea that a female human being should be the head of arguably the most powerful nation on Earth is offensive to people who believe in the hierarchy. I did not think in 2008 that this country could elect a woman. I do think we can and must now, but it’s going to be hell.

What young women inspire you?

There are so many more feminists today than there were in my generation or the one that came afterwards. Think about the three young women who started Black Lives Matter [Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi] or Lena Dunham or America Ferrera. Sometimes I think I just had to wait for some of my friends to be born.

Where do trans women and non-binary women fit into the struggle for women’s rights?

It seems to me to be all the same struggle. We invented the idea of gender. It doesn’t exist. The old languages — Cherokee, Bengali, the oldest African languages — do not have he or she. They don’t even have gendered pronouns. We’re all trying to achieve a world where you are a unique individual and a human being.