Month: February 2017

Strickland’s Lists

Post author By
Post date February 23, 2017

Publicity regarding 81 persons deemed needful of a police escort while in City Hall has gone national, to the embarrassment of the city of Memphis and to its mayor, Jim Strickland, in particular.

The bottom line, affirmed Strickland to members of the Rotary Club on Tuesday, was that the list is now “under review.”

As the mayor explained it in the course of what he dubbed “State of the City Number Two,” the list was an awkward and, in some ways, unintentional amalgamation, resulting from Strickland’s unease regarding recent protesters who trespassed on his home property and a pre-existing security list compiled by the Memphis Police Department prior to his ascending to office. Strickland seemed to be acknowledging that it was a misstep, and the high likelihood is that, in its current form, it is not long for the world.

As for the rest of things, Strickland was remarkably upbeat on Tuesday, finding silver linings where there were clouds and some bona fide sunshine to boast of.

There was the “Work Local” program, which the city is pursuing in tandem with Hospitality Hub, an organization that works with the homeless. The program arranges for homeless people and panhandlers to be paid $9 an hour to work clearing blight, one of the triad of issues which Strickland vowed to do something about in his 2015 campaign. And he put the plans forth as a sample of his “Brilliant with the Basics” motto.

The mayor also spent a fair amount of time talking about another part of that triad — public safety. He noted that the city’s recruitment campaign had attracted some 2,000 applicants to join the Memphis Police Department, and that it appeared certain that the city would be increasing the number of police officers for the first time in six years.

The city has been able to attract some $7 billion in new businesses and development, Strickland said, and to dissuade other businesses, like ServiceMaster, from leaving. He also cited plans to augment an existing TDZ (tourist development zone) so as to spur new development on the riverfront, much of which would complement a current expansion of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which is in the process of creating 1,800 new jobs.

There was much else on the plus side claimed by the mayor, including substantial reductions in the city’s basic debt. And there was the matter of how the city plans to avert a Draconian deannexation plan aimed at it by unsympathetic elements in the General Assembly by fashioning its own “right-sizing” plan, introduced publicly just weeks ago and about to undergo scrutiny this next week in a series of town meetings throughout the city. The plan contemplates the detachment from Memphis, over a four-year period, of “seven or eight neighborhoods on the edges,” Strickland explained. The city would sacrifice some 10 percent of its land mass but only 1.5 percent of its population. In the short term, he acknowledged, the city would incur a loss of property and sales tax revenues of some $7 million, but the city stood to gain from having a more appropriate geographic area to service.

As in the case of the other issues he discussed, Strickland enters into the second year of his tenure with a seeming determination to confront the issues and not look for a rug to sweep them under. That’s the list that voters will judge him on.

We Recommend We Recommend

Beautiful at the Orpheum

Post author By Chris Davis
Post date February 23, 2017

Sure, you probably know Carole King’s double-sided hit single, “It’s Too Late,” backed with “I Feel the Earth Move.” If you were born in the 20th century, chances are you own a copy of her Tapestry LP. Or maybe your parents or grandparents owned a copy. So you might also know she wrote/co-wrote lots of songs that were hits for other artists. Songs like “Natural Woman,” a generation-defining cut from Aretha Franklin, and the James Taylor staple “You’ve Got a Friend.” King’s girl-group oeuvre alone ran the gamut from the Chiffons’ optimistic “One Fine Day” to the Crystals’ terrifying “He Hit Me.” And that’s just the beginning.

As a songwriter, King charted well over 100 hits between the 1950s and the turn of the millennium, making her one of the most successful American songwriters of the 20th century. The jukebox musical Beautiful maps King’s early career in the recording industry and her rocky but productive creative partnership with husband Gerry Goffin.

Julia Knitel

Julia Knitel, who plays King in the Broadway tour of Beautiful — docking at the Orpheum this week — has been a fan of the singer/songwriter since she was old enough to remember. “I always liked ‘Natural Woman,'” she says. “It’s such a special song. It’s just a beautiful piece of music.”

Beautiful focuses on an 18-year stretch of King’s career, from her late teens through her late 20s, especially the time she spent with husband/creative partner Goffin.

“What’s special about the show versus a traditional jukebox musical is we don’t create a story to shove songs into,” Knitel says. “We have an incredible story about a husband and wife — how their lives were changing and, in turn, changing the scope of American music.”

Book Features Books

Lydia Peelle’s The Midnight Cool

Post author By Richard Alley
Post date February 23, 2017

Lydia Peelle, by her own admission, is a time traveller when she’s writing. In her new novel, The Midnight Cool (Harper), she takes us along with her to the American South of 1917 and the beginnings of World War I.

At the center of Peelle’s book are mules, the most maligned and stubborn of beasts. The author has a soft spot for them and writes with compassion about the animal anomalies. “A lot of the elements of the book have long-captured my imagination: The relationship of men and horses and mules is one, horse traders and that subculture and characters is another,” she said by phone from her home in Nashville.

The story follows two less-than-ethical horse traders, Billy Monday and Charles McLaughlin, skilled at masking the flaws of lesser animals and at smooth-talking customers, respectively. The tables are turned when they themselves are duped and Charles purchases a spirited (read: dangerous) horse from a wealthy man in fictional Richfield, Tennessee. Perhaps Charles is mesmerized by the stateliness of the sedated mare, or perhaps it’s the horse owner’s daughter, the beautiful Catherine Hatcher, clouding his judgment. Either way, the two hustlers find themselves in possession of a man-killing horse and, Charles, anyway, of a lovelorn heart.

Against the backdrop of the beginnings of a Great War in Europe, we learn the connection of the two men — a middle-aged Irish immigrant (Billy) and the teenage son of a prostitute. Charles has dollar signs in his eyes and a youthful obsession over the wealthy. Thus is he drawn into the coterie of Catherine’s father, Leland Hatcher, just as he’s pulled further in by his daughter’s charms. War and love begin to take a toll on the men’s relationship even as they take on the task of supplying war mules to the U.S. government. The action comes to a head as Charles is forced to make a decision between his life and country, his love and duty, and a secret and truth.

Peelle is a masterful storyteller who has honed her craft with short stories and the collection Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing (Harper Perennial, 2009). The Midnight Cool is her first novel and is rich with voice and in detail, the sense of place as familiar as her own backyard. “The writing and research evolved side by side,” she said. “The research was like a treasure hunt. One door led to another and another, until about halfway through the drafts I realized I had opened one literally onto my back doorstep.”

She grew up on her grandfather’s farm in upstate New York and has had a lifelong love affair with horses. “My father was the first person in his family to leave the farm, so it’s in my blood,” she said. “When I was growing up, we would go back to the farm, but all of the animals were gone so there were empty barns and empty pastures that really captured my imagination.” While in college, she worked giving horseback riding lessons and leading trail rides, and she ran horses at a horse auction, the first place she came in contact with the horse-trading subculture.

Only recently, though, did she become acquainted with mules, true characters within her book as they plow a straight and true furrow through the storyline. “You cannot tell America’s story without talking about mules,” she has said about the horse-donkey hybrids. “Mule power essentially built the physical infrastructure of our cities and our country: the roads, the power lines, the telephone lines, the transcontinental railroad, etc.”

Peelle has a long road to travel in the countryside of literature, and, though some will be short jaunts, I look forward to these longer walks through the lives of her characters and the times that have passed.

Tags Lydia Peelle, Midnight Cool

Food & Wine Food & Drink

The Prisoner Breaks Free: Four California Blends

Post author By Richard Murff
Post date February 23, 2017

Man, sometimes things just break right for a guy. It was one of those beautiful winter days masquerading as spring when I dropped in on Brian Herrera over at Kirby Wines and Liquors. I’d meant to pester him about something else entirely when I stumbled into a small tasting of the flagship label and three new wines from The Prisoner Wine Co. of Northern California. Then I promptly forgot what it was I’d meant to ask him.

Back in 2003, David Phinney put his vast knowledge of the Italian-American winemaking tradition and his contacts in the community to use to produce the first vintage of his now famous blended red — The Prisoner. It’s primarily a zinfandel, but they don’t like to call it that. It’s a red table wine that sticks to its powerful profile — the make-up changes every vintage in light of harvest conditions. The endgame here wasn’t to produce a devoted varietal wine, but to recreate the flavors of what the original Italian settlers of Napa Valley called “mixed blacks.” Or what we would call a “blended red.”

This is not, however, the point where I describe Phinney taking a Zen-like walk around his old-growth vineyards. First of all, Kirby Wines is over on Quince, and second, while I’ve never met the man, Phinney’s not a grower. The Prisoner Wine Co. works with vineyards across Northern California to source their grapes. This gives the company the freedom to make a vintage as its winemakers see fit. Whatever it is they envision, it seems to work.

The Prisoner breaks free.

Regular readers know that I’m not afraid of some vin ordinaire, but that’s not what these wines are. The Prisoner retails at $46.99, so it isn’t a Tuesday night vino, but you don’t have to wait for an anniversary either. John Caradonna of West Tennessee Crown (who was doing the pouring) told me that it was a big flavor, but “structured.” Given my dislike of wine-speak, it pains me to say that he’s pretty much hit the nail on the head.

The other booming expression is The Prisoner’s cabernet sauvignon — Cuttings ($49.99). It was the biggest of the lot — I mean it really comes at you. That having been said, it stops well short of the point where so many of these big numbers begin to taste like an alcoholic Smucker’s grape jelly.

A little down the price scale at $29.99 is the Saldo. For those of you who haven’t been through 12 years of Catholic schooling, that’s a Latin term meaning “from here and there,” which is a fair description of how the grapes are sourced: mostly zinfandel blended with syrah and petite shirah.

If this all sounds random, it’s anything but. The PWC deliberately gravitated to using the oldest vines, mostly in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, because of the distinct soil. This California dirt isn’t like the deep Delta loam we’ve got around here; it’s rocky, dry ground. These are grapes that really have to work for growth, creating a concentration of flavors and colors. Honestly, the Italian immigrants were close to the mark calling these wines “mixed blacks.” In the end, though, the Saldo certainly doesn’t taste cheaper; it’s a big fruity wine with some pepper in it.

While the Saldo was probably my favorite, the big surprise for me was a wine called Thorn — a merlot. I’ve never been an unqualified fan of that varietal, for the simple reason that I haven’t found many that were particularly interesting. This one is, with an intense flavor I don’t normally associate with merlot. The trick is achieved, partly, through using those older vines.

“It’s the cabernet lover’s merlot,” said Caradonna.

Which probably explains why I liked it so much.

Tags Cuttings, Saldo, The Prisoner wine tasting, The Prisoner wines

Politics Politics Feature

Commission Gets It Together

Post author By Jackson Baker
Post date February 23, 2017

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

God knows what will happen when the Shelby County Commission tangles with the deannexation issue — as it will, now that the legislature has its eye on the matter. The city of Memphis, self-protectively, has devised its own plan.

County government will, at some point, need to take a position — though in a sense it is passive, a bystander, once more having to absorb leftovers from the city, when and if they come, as they did, for one example, when former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton ceded the city’s share in management of the Health Department to Shelby County during his last year in office.

Jackson Baker

Terry Roland

Commissioner Heidi Shafer urged her colleagues Monday, at the close of the commission’s meeting, to attend any or all of four information sessions to be held by the city between Thursday, February 23rd, and Wednesday, March 1st, in various neighborhoods that would be affected by the city’s plan.

Shafer, who had been a member of the city/county task force appointed a year ago to study the deannexation matter, reminded her fellow commissioners that they would be “guests and observers only, of what has been disclosed by the city of Memphis.” She pointedly cautioned them: “Just remember, whatever is deannexed by the city … guess who gets to take care of it and pay for it, but us.”

Whatever discords and discombobulations that issue may yield for the future, however, the rest of the commission’s meeting, Monday, turned into a surprising exercise in harmony — though a few harsh words kept it from being a total love-fest.

Commissioner Terry Roland, an outspoken foe of a proposed county “social media policy,” took proponents of the measure to task and bitterly denounced it as interference in the exercise of the First Amendment, insisting (in some of his milder rhetoric) that “you cannot tell somebody how to think.”

The proposed policy was devised by the administration at the prior request of the commission and was clearly aimed at curbing such embarrassments as occurred when Corrections Center deputy director David Barber, in last fall’s election aftermath, denounced then President Obama on his Facebook page as being less American than the Ku Klux Klan. Barber was encouraged to retire.

At one point, Roland created something of a mini-sensation of his own when, by way of demonstrating the kinds of things that occur in private discourse of public officials, he talked out of school on colleague Mark Billingsley, whom he quoted as opposing the bid of a candidate for Republican Party chairman on grounds that the aspirant, Cary Vaughn, was “too Baptist.”

Billingsley angrily denied saying any such thing.

As it turned out, Roland was not an outright outlier on the issue, attracting enough other nay votes to make the final outcome 6-4, with one abstention. The proposal needed an absolute majority of the commission — 7 votes — and failed.

The commission’s most compelling — and, in some ways, surprising — demonstration of unity occurred on two matters. One was a 9-2 vote endorsing legislation in the General Assembly to legalize medical marijuana. Only Billingsley and Shafer dissented.

The other matter was SB161/HB126, a bill, essentially authored by state Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown), that applies only to Shelby county and would allow state education funds to be used for private institutions. In the estimation of critics, the measure would deprive public schools in Shelby County of $18 to $20 million annually.

Commissioner David Reaves, a former school board member, led the charge on that one, terming it “an assault” on public education and declaring that, if it passed, “we should be prepared to challenge it.” There was a chorus of agreement from other commissioners, and even Shafer, a supporter of what she calls “school choice,” condemned it for targeting Shelby County alone. The final vote was 10-0, with Shafer abstaining.

Tags David Reaves, Heidi Shafer, medical marijuana in Tennessee, school voucher, Shelby County Commission, Shelby County social media policy, Terry Roland

News The Fly-By

Blacklisted

Post author By Micaela Watts
Post date February 23, 2017

Call it the Academy Awards for Memphis protesters.

The city of Memphis released a list of 84 individuals — largely comprised of community organizers and former City Hall employees — that require police escorts when entering City Hall.

The list contained some familiar standbys in Memphis activist circles, but there were a few surprises, including Mary Stewart, mother of the late Darrius Stewart, who was killed by Memphis police in 2015. And, of course, there were a few snubs that did not go unnoticed.

Social media responded accordingly, with a mixture of outrage, genuine concern, and, of course, satirical observations.

On a public Facebook post, Stan Polson wrote that he was all for “laughing at the absurdity” but cautioned others to think about the explicit purpose such a list may serve.

“An official record that a victim of police violence or harassment is some kind of terrorist can be awfully convenient,” said Polson, who emphasized the seriousness about being classified as a threat to the lives and welfare of city hall employees.

Others found humor in the list. An application to the “A-list” surfaced on Facebook to be filled out and given to City Hall security. “I am losing street cred with my fellow activists for being left off the list,” reads the application.

Elaine Blanchard, a local reverend who officiated one of Memphis’ first legal same-sex weddings following the Supreme Court order, was slightly surprised she had also made the exclusive list of questionable individuals.

“Mayor Strickland has put my name on a list of persons who are not permitted into Memphis’ City Hall without an escort. Wow! This grammie is a gangsta!”

All jokes aside, veteran organizer Jayanni Webster drove her point home in a post that relayed the vulnerability felt by people of color when encountering law enforcement.

“When you are listed on even such a frivolous document, the implication is that you are being monitored. You are considered a threat first,” Webster wrote. “I am not fear-proof. As a black woman, I do not take pleasure in being targeted by the police.”

The “blacklist” of City Hall was made public by the City of Memphis after an open-record request by The Commercial Appeal‘s Ryan Poe. Memphis mayor Jim Strickland attributed the list to a decades-old Memphis Police Department policy and said he would review the policies that deem it a necessity.

“I have never seen the security list at City Hall, and it is my understanding that this type of list was created years ago by MPD,” said Strickland, adding that no individual has yet been denied entrance to City Hall.

Strickland’s office later updated his statement to clarify that the mayor signed an authorization of agency to his house following a staged “die-in” that occurred on his lawn. The authorization was meant to deter any future trespassers on his property.

The statement also said that the list of trespassers was added to the City Hall police-escort list by the MPD. What’s not immediately clear is how community organizers, who did not participate in the die-in, found themselves on a list along with potentially disgruntled former city employees.

Letter From The Editor Opinion

Extreme Vetting at City Hall

Post author By Bruce VanWyngarden
Post date February 23, 2017

Years ago, in more innocent times, the Flyer‘s front door wasn’t locked during business hours. It led to some interesting encounters, mostly for those of us in the editorial department.

People would come in to the front desk with a “story that needs to be investigated” and ask to see the editor. The receptionist would call me and say “There’s a gentleman here to see you about a story.” If I wasn’t particularly busy, I’d go up to the front desk and take the visitor into our conference room.

Ninety-nine percent of the time they were harmless. Many folks wanted us to investigate their awful employer, who’d just fired them “for no reason.” Others were just fascinating nuts, like the guy who said he was growing pot just across the river and that “black helicopters” were hovering over his land and that “government agents” were following him around Midtown. Once, the visitor was a Frenchman who was sailing around the world. I actually got a story out of that visit.

With most of these folks, I’d listen for a while and then say, “We’ll look into it.” Then I’d shake their hand and firmly escort them out of the building. But eventually it got to be a problem. A couple of folks showed up who were a little scary, so we installed a lock with a buzzer and intercom. Call it our version of “vetting.” We even have a couple of folks who are not allowed in. I guess that’s our “list.”

Which, unsurprisingly, I suppose, brings me to the city of Memphis’ list of folks whom the MPD have decided need an escort when they come to City Hall. The problem is that there seems to have been no cohesive protocol for putting people on the list.

I get why you’d put disgruntled former employees on it. And I get why Mayor Strickland would want to sign an authorization of agency against the people who staged a “die-in” on his lawn. If I looked out my window and saw 20 people demonstrating in my yard and looking in my windows, I’d call 911 and grab a shotgun. And if they ever showed up again, I’d want them arrested, pronto.

But those folks, and others, were added to a larger list that includes a lot of people who are absolutely no threat, including former Tiger basketball player Detric Golden, who works with disadvantaged youth, and the Rev. Elaine Blanchard, who was once the subject of a Flyer cover story for her inspirational work with women in prison.

Others appear to have been added to the list for no reason other than they are community activists who may or may not have participated in protests. Many on the list have committed no crimes.

This vetting stuff can be tricky. Just ask President Trump, whose recently overturned immigration ban sought to exclude all citizens from seven countries, even though 99 percent of the people coming from those nations are fleeing persecution and violence or have legitimate business here. That isn’t “extreme vetting.” It’s xenophobia. It’s casting a wide net when only a lasso is needed.

Memphis needs to take a cue and fine-tune its list. We need to encourage community activism and free speech, not demonize it.

Tags Detric Golden, Elaine Blanchard, Mayor Jim Strickland, Memphis black list, Memphis City Hall, Memphis City Hall 'escort list'

News The Fly-By

Fly on the Wall 1461

Post author By Chris Davis
Post date February 23, 2017

Verbatim

“I was with some intelligence people this week. You wouldn’t believe what’s going on in this country; it would scare you to death … We are the center of their attention because we’re the center of the Bible Belt. And they’re purposely moving terrorists in here, and they’re bringing their families in, and they’re setting it up for a jihad, I can tell you right now.” — Senator/fabulist Mae Beavers spreading all kinds of actual figurative horse manure to Macon Co. residents about jihadists infiltrating churches to “find out what’s going on.”

“Merp”

Merriam-Webster’s “Words at Play” blog quoted Fly on the Wall in a post about an emerging new word. “Merp” — the word in question — is used, according to Merriam-Webster, to express awkwardness when you don’t know how to respond to something, “especially something disappointing.” To illustrate how the word is creeping into established publications, the dictionary blog excerpted a blurb from Dec. 5, 2013 — “In case you missed the breathless wall-to-wall Black Friday coverage, the number of holiday shoppers was up (yay!), but overall sales were disappointing (merp).” Merp is our business.

Driving Dead

Memphis is famously a city of innovation. From full-service grocery stores to overnight delivery to rock-and-roll. Now, as reported by ABC affiliate Local 24, we’ve got a drive-through funeral parlor. As is always the case with progress, not everybody thinks this is a good idea. “Why would you even do that,” one critic from Orange Mound was quoted as asking.

Neverending Elvis

Every Elvis fan’s dream of sleeping like a king can now come true! The Beverly Hills home purchased by Elvis and Priscilla Presley shortly after their 1967 marriage is up for sale. Asking price for the royal, 5,367 square-foot love nest: $30 million.

Cover Feature News

The Resistance: Memphis Activism Sprouts Everywhere

Post author By Flyer Staff
Post date February 23, 2017

CREDIT: Joey Miller

We’ve planned this cover for a couple of weeks, calling on sources, digging through social media, and going to rallies and marches to find the faces of Memphis resistance. Turns out, all we really had to do was check with City Hall. The city of Memphis has a list.

The Commercial Appeal‘s Ryan Poe uncovered the Memphis Police Department’s “escort list” through an open records request and revealed it in a story Friday. The list features the names of dozens of Memphis activists, organizers, disgruntled former employees, and others. Those on the list “have to be escorted inside City Hall at all times,” according to a note on the list signed by MPD Lieutenant Albert Bonner.

Mayor Jim Strickland said he hadn’t seen the list before Poe’s story surfaced and said he will review it with MPD director Michael Rallings to discuss its future.

“It is the professional assessment of the Memphis Police Department’s Homeland Security Bureau that individuals on the list pose a potential security risk,” Strickland said in a statement, Saturday. “It’s important to note that these individuals have not been banned from City Hall. They simply require an escort.”

Citing ignorance of the City Hall security list is one thing, but we do have insight into how Strickland handles protests. When Greensward supporters took to the grassy field in Overton Park last April (armed with protest signs, streamers, guitars, and kids in costumes), Strickland ordered 88 security staffers (including MPD, Memphis Fire Services, Memphis Animal Services, and more) to the site. The show of force included clandestine surveillance units, mounted police, a fleet of police cruisers, and a cop chopper circling overhead. All of this cost taxpayers around $37,000.

A few months later, about 1,000 protestors shut down the Hernando de Soto Bridge in an action aimed at drawing attention to the deaths of several black men at the hands of police across the country. MPD officers, and Rallings, himself, ensured that protestors marched peacefully and safely through downtown streets and onto the bridge. Once there, they were met with a sea of blue lights, a squad of cops clad in black riot gear, and a police helicopter.

Both protests ended peacefully, and the overwhelming police presence may have had something to do with it. The City Hall list, though, feels like overreach — targeted and possibly aimed at intimidation.

The original introduction to this piece described a city that lauds the efforts of its resistors. We paint their faces 15 feet high on the sides of buildings and call them “Upstanders.” We turned the site of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final moments into the iconic National Civil Rights Museum, which helps visitors and locals alike learn about what King and other civil rights leaders fought and died for. Through that lens, we’ve watched with some pride as grassroots efforts in Memphis have sprouted and grown since the inauguration of President Donald Trump. If any city is going to respect those who rise up and resist, it should be Memphis.

Maybe future generations will paint visages of the new resistance on another Upstanders Mural, like the one in South Main. Though the spectrum of resistance and activist groups in Memphis is wide and diverse, we’ve selected a few to highlight. Memphis, meet (some of) the resistance. — Toby Sells

Black Lives Matter, Memphis Chapter

Perhaps the most recognizable of the social justice-oriented groups, Black Lives Matter faces ample scrutiny from law-enforcement supporters and, well, white people, though there has never been an “Only” in front of the group’s name.

BLM as a national organization formed after the death of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Florida teenager stalked and killed by George Zimmerman, a self-proclaimed neighborhood watch vigilante. BLM has grown in size and reach, often in conjunction with protests against police killings of unarmed African Americans.

Shahidah Jones, a Memphis chapter representative, says that people’s involvement in the Memphis chapter tends to rise and recede. “It’s not a growing trend, necessarily, but people will be motivated by a particular incident and come out,” Jones says, adding that “it really depends on public traction, but also accessibility.”

Joey Miller

with Black Lives Matter

In this case, accessibility refers to how much time someone is able to commit to BLM, which is why the chapter is comprised of regular members who stay steadily involved, like Jones, and volunteers who can help organize around a specific event.

“The basic core of what we’re doing is we are fighting for the liberation and equality of all black people,” said Jones.

Like most social justice groups organizing under a national presence, the local group adheres to national guiding principles. For BLM locally, the economic equality they are pursuing has many components. This year, the chapter decided that pursuing transformative justice in Memphis means working on bail reform and decriminalizing marijuana — two components of the criminal justice system that disproportionately work against people of color.

Jones advises anyone wanting to get involved with BLM Memphis to send an email and let organizers know how they would be able to contribute in terms of time and skill set. — Micaela Watts

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)

As more and more community activism takes aim at dismantling long-standing institutional structures — and centuries-old repercussions — on people of color, there’s a call for white individuals to join in efforts to fight racism.

For many whites, answering that call is not always a clear-cut process, particularly when it comes to grassroots movements. How to combat racism without being, well, kinda racist isn’t always clear to the race that has been at the top in this country since its founding.

SURJ exists to engage white people who want to dismantle racism. Like Black Lives Matter, SURJ is a national organization, and the Memphis chapter formed in the latter half of 2016.

Micaela Watts

of SURJ

Allison Glass, one of the representatives of the group, said the catalyst to the Memphis chapter’s formation came in July, shortly after more than 1,000 people shut down traffic on the I-40 bridge.

“It was such a powerful moment in Memphis that I think people felt really inspired,” says Glass. “If these folks are going to commit such a courageous act, then we as white people need to organize other white people to join this effort.”

In September, SURJ members dispersed through the crowds of the Cooper-Young Festival in their first action and signed up people interested in learning how to combat racism. They also sold Black Lives Matter yard signs, with the proceeds going to the national BLM organization.

“One of the core principles of SURJ is about accountability, specifically to people-of-color-led organizations. So, SURJ signed on as an organizational partner to BLM,” says Glass.

Like many community organizing groups, the interest in SURJ has risen following the election of President Trump. The organization will host its next direct training action on March 4th at Evergreen Presbyterian Church in Midtown. — MW

Comunidades Unidas en Una Voz

Though the Memphis chapter of Comunidades Unidas en Una Voz (United Communities in One Voice) formed in 2010, it made local headlines after organizing the 3,000 strong Memphis We Belong Here march on February 1st, in downtown Memphis.

“We never imagined the magnitude that this march would have and all the support we have received from people,” says CUUV organizer, Christina Condori.”The actions are a response to the erroneous measures being implemented that hurt our families,” she adds.

The erroneous measures Condori refers to may have come into the spotlight after President Trump’s travel ban, but CUUV has been rallying against the lesser-known immigration practices that have been dividing families in the Mid-South for years.

Christina Condori, an organizer with CUUV

They’ve called upon Shelby County officials to not work with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in executing raids in Spanish-speaking communities, where individuals often do not know their rights as undocumented residents in Memphis.

“When there was a raid and people did not know their rights, we started attending TIRRC (Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition) workshops and would then transfer the learned information regarding our rights,” Condori says. CUUV has started hosting “Know Your Rights” workshops in churches, schools, and businesses within vulnerable communities.

CUUV has aligned with multiple organizations on the local and national level, including Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ-focused groups, and Fight for $15, the national living wage reform group. The diversity among their affiliated causes is linked to a core tenet, “No to xenophobia.”

CUUV plans to continue organizing against policies that harm minority communities and will strive to make Memphis a place that welcomes immigrants and refugees. “We know we are not alone,” says Condori. “We have many allies who are willing to support us.” — MW

Protect Our Aquifer

Ward Archer is no stranger to matters of the environment and public interest. Several years back, he helped raise $4 million to buy endangered property along the Wolf River from would-be loggers on behalf of the Wolf River Conservancy.

In the process, Archer ended up well grounded (in every sense of that term) with the fact that the headwaters of the Wolf — the Baker’s Pond area in northern Mississippi — served as a recharge area for the Memphis Sand aquifer, the source of Memphis’ unusually pristine drinking water. Fascinated, Archer learned everything he could about the subject of ground water in general and the Sand aquifer in particular.

Archer, who is also a board member of Contemporary Media, Inc., the Flyer‘s parent company, remains sensitive to any news regarding the aquifer and responded to the alarm raised last year by Scott Banbury of the Sierra Club about what had been a virtually unpublicized plan by the Tennessee Valley Authority to do some massive drilling into the aquifer to acquire coolant water for TVA’s forthcoming natural-gas power plant.

Banbury and experts like Brian Waldron, of the University of Memphis, made a compelling case that the drilling — five wells, three of them already approved and some of them arguably ill-placed — could result in possible contamination of the aquifer’s water supply.

Archer formed an ad hoc non-profit citizen’s group, Protect Our Aquifer, which has held numerous public meetings to raise awareness of the issue and has participated in various actions to halt the TVA drilling. The group has joined the Sierra Club in an ongoing legal appeal, now in Chancery Court, to reverse the preliminary approval of the TVA drilling by the Shelby County Groundwater Control Board.

Protect Our Aquifier has a governing board of 10 and, perhaps more important, has an informal membership core of 1,800, communicating full-time via Facebook and fully able, as circumstances have demonstrated more than once, to mount an organized public presence. — Jackson Baker

The Leftist Comedy Show

It was the one-year anniversary of the Leftist Comedy Show, and show host Stan Polson thought he had one more joke — but, just to be sure, he checked an index card tucked in his breast pocket. “I’m really good at this,” he mumbled. “Oh yeah, yeah,” he said, reading deadpan from the card: “Men and women are really different. [laughter] Like, if you look on the internet, you can really see a lot of that. [laughter] Women are like, ‘Quit harassing me!’ And men are like, ‘Nobody’s harassing you, whore! Shut up! Kill yourself!’ [pause] That seems different.”

Resistance can be funny. At least, that’s the take of those involved with the Leftist Comedy Show. It was born in the backyard of the Lamplighter Lounge and was supposed to be a one-off event, created by a group of friends with similar political interests. Turned out, the idea had legs, and the crowds are getting bigger.

The first events were planned with the goal of creating “safe space” comedy for audiences who might not feel comfortable at regular shows and open mics.

“A lot of people think we get offended by offensive material,” he says. “But that’s not really the case so much as we believe people when they tell us why they don’t come to comedy shows. At a leftist show, you’re not going to hear any rape jokes. You’re not going to hear any racial slurs. We heard women didn’t feel safe at open mics, comedy in Memphis was too segregated, and a lot of our transgender friends wouldn’t go because they’d hear jokes that made them uncomfortable.” The result is a comedy showcase with a lot of familiar faces on stage, but a unique audience.

The next Leftist Show is slated for April 15th at Midtown Crossing. It will be hosted by the Living Room Leftists, a local pro-union folk band. — Chris Davis

Mid-South Peace and Justice Center

“It’s all about poverty at the end of the day,” says Brad Watkins, executive director of the Mid-South Peace & Justice Center (MPJC). “Our organization was founded on the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. because our founders believed, as Memphians, we have a special responsibility, as this was the city in which King was murdered. [They wanted to build] on the work of Dorothy Day, of Chavez, of King. This organization stands to push that vision forward.”

MPJC launched in 1982 and originally had a wide-ranging, four-pronged mission: opposing apartheid; targeting industrial polluters; calling for nuclear disarmament; and opposing U.S. military involvement in Central America. Some 20 years later, the focus was narrowed to local issues when Jacob Flowers, whose parents were active at the center in the 1980s, became executive director. The center has now become a mother ship, of sorts, for other fledgling organizations, including the Memphis Bus Riders Union, Memphis United, and H.O.P.E. (Homeless Organizing for Power & Equality).

Watkins became executive director in 2014. “If you look at homelessness,” he says, “if you look at public transit, if you look at our work with low-income tenants or immigrants or criminal-justice reform — all of that has its roots in poverty. And not just poverty like it’s just something that happens, like the weather.

“Low income people pay all the late fees; they pay all the reactivation fees,” Watkins continues. “The system bleeds people dry and keeps them trapped in poverty. If you wanted to sum up all of the issues we work on, it comes from a place of liberation from oppression, and poverty is the means to oppression.”

Watkins says the center’s role in the current spate of activism is a supportive one. He says activism works best when a movement is led by the people most affected by an issue.

“Here’s what I want to say,” says Watkins. “It’s never too late for someone to get involved. None of us were here at the beginning of the movement, and none of us are too late to be a part of it.” — Susan Ellis

Activist Grassroots Groups in Memphis (partial list):
M.A.R.C.H. (Memphis Advocates for Radical Childcare)
Fight for $15
Healthy and Free Tennessee
Memphis Bus Riders Union
Memphis Feminist Collective
Comunidades Unidas en Una Voz
Home Health Care Workers
Memphis Voices for Palestine
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)
Official Memphis Chapter of Black Lives Matter
Sister Reach
Save the Greensward
OurRevolution 901
Preserve Our Aquifer
Mid-South Peace & Justice Center