Author: Toby Sells

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Climate Change Action Moves Ahead Across Tennessee

Credit: Daniel Prado on Unsplash

Climate problems are starting to find solutions, from solar panels at the Memphis Zoo to state officials readying for potential millions of federal dollars to reduce air pollution. 

Memphis:

Zoo officials announced last week it would soon install solar panels on building rooftops, thanks to a $676,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Memphis Mayor Paul Young said the panels will be the first-ever solar panels installed on any building owned by the city of Memphis. 

The grant will also expand community outreach at the zoo and clean energy education programs. A portion of the grant will fund a waste characterization study and regional solid waste master plan for Memphis and Shelby County. Those programs will be run by city and county officials. 

These programs further the Memphis Area Climate Action Plan. That plan aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels here by 71 percent by 2050. The latest figures from 2020 show the plan is mostly on track. It met GHG reduction targets in the transportation and waste sectors, but missed the mark on energy.

Tennessee:  

State officials are working to deliver part of Tennessee’s emissions-reduction plan to the feds by March. That’s the deadline for government agencies to get in line for $5 billion in federal grants to develop and implement “ambitious” plans for reducing GHGs, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The funds come from the Inflation Reduction Act.

Tennessee’s plan is called the Tennessee Volunteer Emission Reduction Strategy (TVERS). It is truly a “volunteer” program. 

”While other states have imposed mandates to reduce emissions, we hope to reach established goals through voluntary measures that may differ throughout the state,” reads the TVERS website.

TVERS will be the state’s first-ever climate plan. Memphis has one, as noted above. So does Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. 

Late last year, the state took public opinion on taking action on climate change. The vast majority (75 percent) said they were motivated to act out of concern for the environment and future generations. The biggest challenge for them to act, though, was the high cost of efficient or sustainable alternatives. 

Credit: state of Tennessee

To be eligible to get the federal funds, states had to identify low-income communities. State officials found that 54 percent of its census tracts were considered to be low-income/disadvantaged communities (LIDACs) by federal standards. Those applying for the funds must show their projects will bring significant benefits to these communities. 

Tennessee Valley

Last month, a new study from the University of Tennessee (UT) found that carbon emissions throughout the Tennessee Valley fell 30 percent since 2005, a decrease of abut 78 million tonnes. The report said half of the decrease was attributable to a 50 percent reduction in emissions from Tennessee Valley Authority’s electricity generation. Another large chunk of the decrease (39 percent) came from agriculture, thanks to the adoption of no-till farming.

The Tennessee Valley region, which covers parts of seven southeastern states, emits about 200 million tonnes of carbon each year, about 3 percent of the nation’s total. Of that, the state said in 2019 it emitted about 112 million tonnes. The Memphis-area emitted about 17 million tonnes. 

In Tennessee and the Tennessee Valley, transportation emitted the most GHGs. The UT report said electrifying light-duty vehicles was the single largest carbon reduction opportunity for the Valley. In Memphis, the top carbon emitter came from the energy sector. 

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Cohen Seeks Release of All JFK Assassination Documents

Credit: Rep. Steve Cohen via Twitter

Turns out, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) and former President Donald Trump agree on something: they both want all records related to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy released to the public. 

It’s surprising the two could agree on anything at all. Cohen has been one of Trump’s most vocal critics.

On Friday, Cohen sent a letter to President Joe Biden, asking him to release the few, remaining documents related to the Kennedy assassination. He said Americans are distrustful of the federal government. Some of that, he said, can be traced back to the perceived cover-up of JFK’s murder in Dallas. 

“The governmental secrecy and recent delay in the release of the documents only perpetuates this type of thinking,” Cohen wrote. “If the papers demonstrate different circumstances or additional actors were involved, so be it. If the documents support the Warren Commission’s findings or further support the work of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, so be it. 

If they implicate or embarrass the CIA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), or any other governmental agency, the public has a right to know.

Rep. Steve Cohen

“If they implicate or embarrass the CIA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), or any other governmental agency, the public has a right to know. After 60 years, it is time to quash the conspiracy theories and demonstrate the federal government’s accountability to the people.”

Trump agrees. 

“When I return to the White House, I will declassify and unseal all JFK assassination related documents,” he wrote on Truth Social in July last year. “It’s been 60 years, time for the American people to know the truth!” 

It’s been 60 years, time for the American people to know the truth!

Former President Donald Trump

But Trump is partly to blame for the delay in the documents’ release. In 2017, he released some of the papers, but not all of them. He said at the time that agencies told him that the papers “should continue to be redacted because of national security, law enforcement, and foreign affairs concerns.” He had “no choice,” he said, as he didn’t want to “harm the nation’s security.”

In 1992, Congress mandated the documents to be released in 2021. But Biden delayed that release in October. He said the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) needed more time to examine the documents as the pandemic had slowed its work.

The 1992 law gives presidents power to delay the release, Biden said, if “postponement remains necessary to protect against an identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or the conduct of foreign relations that is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure.”

The Mary Ferrell Foundation, a group devoted to “unredacting history,” sued NARA last year over the delay. That lawsuit questions, in part, whether Biden even had authority to postpone release of Congressional records. Parts of the suit got the green light from a federal judge in January.  

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Bill Would Mandate Gun Safety Courses at School For Every Tennessee Student

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Every Tennessee student would have to get gun safety training at school under new Republican legislation, but some Democrats think the law accepts gun violence at school as a “new normal.” 

The Tennessee Schools Against Violence in Education (SAVE) Act already mandates school safety planning strategies. It covers fire emergencies, severe weather events, prohibits weapons, and more. The law also mandates school districts to have procedures in place to respond to the report of a firearm on campus. 

A new bill would add gun safety curriculum to the SAVE Act and parents could not opt their child out of the training.

With the new law, three state agencies — the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, the Tennessee Department of Education, and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency — would determine the most appropriate age to begin gun training for kids in school. But classes could start as early as pre-K and continue all the way through high school. Local school districts would then decide how to implement gun safety instruction into their students’ schedules. 

The bill would teach students about the safe storage of guns, school safety relating to guns, how to avoid injury if the student finds a gun, to never touch a found gun, and to immediately notify an adult of the location of a found gun. This instruction should be be “viewpoint neutral on political topics, such as gun rights, gun violence, and the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.” The training should also not include the use or presence of live ammunition, live fire, or live guns.

School districts would decide who teaches the gun safety courses. Those courses “are certainly not about how to handle a firearm or proper techniques or anything like that,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Chris Todd (R-Madison County). “This is literally going to be more on the lines of ‘if you see a gun, [tell] an adult.’”    

Todd said he sees gun training at school as just an extension of safety training already happening at schools within the SAVE. Act. He said members of gun clubs across the state, including the Alpha Gun Team of Memphis, stand behind the bill, too. 

”We see this proposed legislation as a critical step in averting firearm related accidents while fostering greater awareness and responsibility among gun owners,” Todd said in a Tuesday hearing. 

Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville), a retired school teacher, said schools have long drilled students to react to acts of nature, like fires and tornadoes. Gun have been around for a ling time, too, she said. 

“But we haven’t had our classes shot up,” she said. “This isn’t something we should just accept as the new normal. We can stop this. And this [bill] isn’t going to do it.”

Johnson said mandating students to take the gun safety course could trigger some students who had a history of gun violence in their family and would leave them at school alone without a parent to ensure they are okay. 

Todd said students cannot now opt out of fire safety training, even if they’ve been in a fire or lost their home in a fire. Students still need to learn fire safety, he said.

“I just think it’s part of life that we need to learn those skills,” Todd said. 

Rep. Vincent Dixie (D-Nashville) argued for an opt-out from the program, saying some parents may not want their children “talking [about], touching, or introduced to guns at all,” especially for some who want to opt out for “religious reasons.” 

“We should be able to have someone to opt out of this if they don’t choose this as appropriate for their child,” Dixie said. “I thought we believed in parents’ choice.”  

Rep. Mark Cochran (R-Englewood) countered, saying that the “chances of a minor seeing a gun at some point is … that’s a reality of life, as [Todd] mentioned earlier.”

Rep. John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge) told committee members that many teachers are “former veterans who are trained hunters who go through hunter safety training” and could easily teach the courses. He said allowing students to opt out of other safety training courses “is ridiculous” and that a parent’s objection to gun training “is entirely misplaced.”

“It would be the equivalent, for example, of us saying to an Amish parent, because they prefer to ride in a horse and buggy, that their children shouldn’t be trained on how to cross the street with automobile traffic,” Ragan said. “Safety is safety. Opting out of it is ridiculous.”

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Odd Bills: Lawmakers Take Aim at Cold Beer, Service Animals, and the United Nations

(Credit: Blake Guidry on Unsplash)

Do you want keep buying cold beer from the store? 

Do you want to bring your untrained support animal into restaurants?

Do you want a week in July to be a time of prayer and fasting in in Tennessee and seeks God’s hand of mercy healing on Tennessee? 

Well, the Tennessee General Assembly has some good news and some bad news for you.

Hundreds of bills are filed each legislative session. Not all of them rise to the height of debate. Nor do all of them pertain to all Tennesseans. Remember when the ladder became the state tool? Oh, and hot slaw is on the way to becoming a state food. 

Here are some bills now under consideration in Nashville are bold, specific, and sometimes just plain odd. 

HB 1909 

Speaking of specific, this bill allows adults to carry pepper spray, tasers, and “similar devices” (whatever those are) on college campuses. Oh, and those colleges can’t make rules against this, either. 

“…it is not a criminal offense for an adult person to carry or possess pepper spray, a taser, or another similar device for purposes of self-defense when on property owned, operated, or in use by any college or university board of trustees, regents, or directors for the administration of any public or private educational institution…”

HB2031

This one does have bearing in Memphis. 

Protestors here like to close the Hernando DeSoto Bridge. If this bill is passed, the penalty goes up to a Class D felony. And anyone “who suffers loss or injury” from the road obstruction can sue those who do it. 

HB 1635 

This one’s already passed the full House (not the show). 

It “prohibits emotional support animals that are not trained, or being trained, to perform tasks or work for a person with a disability from indoor areas of food service establishments.”

 HJR 0803

Just….here: ”Designates the period of July 1, 2024, through July 31, 2024, as a time of prayer and fasting in Tennessee and seeks God’s hand of mercy healing on Tennessee.”

You thought I was kidding. 

HJR 0849

Also here: “Urges the United States to withdraw from the United Nations.”

SB  2153

This one is so specific, it sounds personal. 

The bill, ”authorizes a member of a homeowners’ association for a neighborhood in Williamson County with at least 300 single family residential homes and two or more gates restricting ingress and egress to the neighborhood to request a report from the board of directors for the homeowners’ association regarding criminal activity in the gated subdivision.”

HJR 0689

So, just…like…keep on doing what we’re doing, I guess. 

The bill “urges Congress to keep the power to declare war and for the National Guard to be protected from executive power.”

SB 2636

Maybe you thought I was kidding about the beer thing, too? Nope. 

This bill “prohibits a beer permittee from selling at retail refrigerated or cold beer.” 

It is now referred to a committee in the Senate. However, the bill lost several sponsors in the House last week, not a great signal for its passage. Phew. 

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Lawmakers Hope Medicaid Dollars Can Ease Gun Violence With “Proactive Approach”

State Capitol (Photo: Tennessee State Government)

New federal Medicaid dollars may help Tennessee ease gun violence with a “proactive approach” sponsored by two state Democrats who say inaction by Republicans has been “shameful” and that the party is “scared of the [National Rifle Association].”

State Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis) and Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) filed legislation that could flow Medicaid dollars here for community violence intervention programs proposed by Preisdent Joe Biden in 2021. 

So far, seven states have received the funds, which require a match by states. The money is used to bolster existing programs that hope to stop gun violence well before someone picks up a firearm.    

“For example, violence interruption programs deploy trusted messengers to work directly with individuals most likely to commit gun violence, intervene in conflicts, and connect people to social and economic services to reduce the likelihood of gun violence as an answer,” reads a statement from the White House. “Hospital-based violence interventions engage people who have been shot while they are still in the hospital, connecting them to services to decrease the likelihood that they commit gun violence or are victimized in the future. Programs like these have reduced homicides by as much as 60 percent in areas where they are implemented.”

The bill from Lamar and Jones would authorize Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to request the federal funding and the state matching funds. Then, TennCare officials would be responsible for identifying existing programs or creating new ones to use the funds. 

“This legislation represents an opportunity for us to try a more holistic approach to reducing gun violence — an approach that recognizes the effect issues, such as poverty, education and mental health, have on crime,” Jones said. “It is a vital step in expanding the funding and resources necessary to protect our communities.”

Both Lamar and Jones ripped Republicans for inaction on gun violence in Tennessee, pointing to few laws of substance passed on the issue in the wake of the Covenant School shooting last year. 

Since Republicans ended the legislative session last April, there have been 1,096 shootings — more than three per day — in Tennessee said Lamar, quoting facts from Tennessee Under the Gun, a data project from the Tennessee Senate Democrats. Since then, there have been 11 mass shootings where four or more people were shot, not including the shooter. Since the last sessions ended, 417 adults and 47 children were killed by gun violence in Tennessee. 

So far this year, there have been 114 shootings in Tennessee and one mass shooting, that of Courdarion Craft who killed one person and injured two others in a weekend crime spree here this past weekend.  

However, Lamar said data hasn’t changed the minds of Republicans who, ultimately, have the power to change gun violence in Tennessee. 

“There is nothing anybody can say to me that [can prove] Republicans have done what they’re supposed to do for the good of people,” Lamar said. “They are too scared of the NRA and gun lobbyists than they are of babies dying.”

“There is not another piece of data we can produce for them to change their minds. They actually know what the problem is. They’re making a conscious and deliberate decision not to do anything.”

Meanwhile, state Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) has introduced several bills to tamp gun violence in Tennessee. One bill would ban the manufacture of semi-automatic rifles in Tennessee. He also would ban the manufacture, transfer, or sale of magazine clips that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. He also wants to require anyone who has lost a gun to report the loss to state officials within 24 hours.

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TN House Leader Seeks Death Penalty for Child Rapists

State Capitol (Photo: Tennessee State Government)

“If you rape a child in the state of Tennessee, you will die. Period.” 

This is the hope of state House Majority Leader Rep. William Lamberth (R-Cottontown). If his legislation passes, adults over the age of 18 could face the death penalty if they rape a child under the age of 12, he told the House Criminal Justice Committee last week. He described his legislation before the Tennessee General Assembly as “the gravest type of bill we would possibly consider.” 

“If [the legislation] saves even one child from going through that, because the fear of [the death penalty] gets into the head of some monster out there — that’s even thinking about this — then it’s worth saving that child,” Lamberth said. “I will tell you life in prison for these evil people is simply too good. They should not be able to live out their days with the rest of us, including their victim — paying for their food, and housing, and care, and medical as they age and everything else. If you rape a child, you should die.”

The bill moved quickly through the House committee system. It is now placed behind the budget for consideration by the full House. The Senate bill was only introduced in mid-January and awaits a review by the Senate Judiciary Committee, its first hearing by lawmakers in that house. Its sponsor there is Sen. Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), Senate Majority Leader.  

So far, the only votes cast against the bill are from Democratic House members Rep. Ronnie Glynn (D-Clarksville), Rep. G.A. Hardaway (D-Memphis), Rep. Joe Towns Jr. (D-Memphis), and Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville). 

Johnson said the penalty of child rape in Tennessee is life in prison, a sentence that must be served fully. She argued this already holds the guilty accountable. She worried a death penalty sentence would have a “chilling effect” on victims reporting the crime. 

“If a child was raped by an uncle, say,” Johnson said. “The uncle’s going to say, ‘Don’t tell because I’ll be killed, I’ll get the death penalty.’ Then, the mother of the child, who is the sister of the [alleged perpetrator], maybe won’t want to testify against her brother, if it means the death penalty. 

“If the victims fear, it will create a chilling effect on reporting.”

 Johnson also argued the move could further “re-victimize the victim.” 

“Not only is [the child in the scenario] a victim, she will be victimized every day by the state that’s going to require her to carry that pregnancy [to term]. Then, they’re going to require her to show up for appeal after appeal.”

“It’s a heinous crime and I hate to think about it, but life in prison also takes care of the situation.”

Lamberth read an email from a young, female victim, asking committee members to support the legislation. It spoke the high hurdles for criminal charges and soft sentences for defendants accused of child rape. It described their sexual desires like “they were at an all-you-could-eat buffet with the appetite of a bear coming out of hibernation and only having access to a single plate.”

“The ones that actually get convicted should face real consequences,” the letter read. “Perhaps if that happened, there would be less people in our community forever changed.”

If the legislation passes, Lamberth vowed to fight for its implementation in court. A 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling said the death penalty is not proportional punishment for the crime of child rape. Lamberth countered this, however, noting that the court’s ruling came because “not enough states had this type of penalty on the books.”     

“We’re seen other decisions by the Supreme Court overturned,” Lamberth said. “I believe this particular makeup of the court, it leans more towards state’s rights.”

Death penalty executions remain on hold in Tennessee, after a scathing report in December 2022 found numerous problems with the state’s execution protocols. 

Two death penalty bills failed in the legislature last year. One would have added firing squads to the state’s options for executions. Another would have brought more transparency to the execution process. 

One death penalty bill passed last year. It gave the Attorney General control over post-conviction proceedings in capital cases, rather than the local District Attorneys. That bill was ruled unconstitutional in July by Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan. 

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Money Matters: Elena Delavega Says System Fails to Raise All Boats

Credit: vepar5 | Adobe Stock and University of Memphis

Our cover story this week looks at issues stoking the embers of class struggles in Tennessee. 

School vouchers, flagging revenues, and even that brief “tax holiday” on groceries have some wondering for whom does the state’s Republican-dominated government work? 

State revenues will flatten this year, according to experts, after years of increases. This is thanks, in large part, to big tax breaks the legislature approved for business owners last year.

This “business-friendly” policy framework, which cuts taxes for the business class in hopes of prosperity for everyone, found harsh critics in economists with the national Economic Policy Institute. 

Elena Delavega is a professor at the University of Memphis, a Memphis poverty expert, and co-author of the annual Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet, along with Gregory M. Blumenthal. She said the low-tax system does not work for everyone and stymies investments in cities. Here’s what she told us in a recent interview. — Toby Sells 

(This interview has been edited for clarity.) 

Memphis Flyer: Does this “business-friendly” economic system work for everyone?

Elena Delavega: It may help two or three people at the very top, but it ends up hurting everybody else by denying the investment in the community that would make it a livable community, that would attract people who can have a choice [of a place to live].

So, it’s sort of like this downward spiral. We don’t invest and then become even less attractive. Then, we cut taxes. Then, there is less money for investment. We cut more taxes and so on.

So, that’s a no.

No, it doesn’t because in the end, these companies come, take advantage of the tax breaks for a little while, and then leave. We’ve observed this again, and again, and again. 

In the end, if companies cannot attract people to work for them — if we cannot attract highly educated people and we’re not funding schools to the degree we need to educate people that can be hired by those companies — the low wages and cutting taxes [system] is actually a myth. 

You can cut as much as you can, but unless you find ways to make more money, it really is a fallacy.  So, what ends up happening is companies cannot attract people to move here. They also cannot hire people, and they leave. Or, people are not interested because there are no amenities and the only way to do that is to actually have higher taxes.

How does this all affect our poverty situation?

It’s the policies at the top that end up creating inequality and poverty, but they hurt everyone. 

You shoot yourself in the foot because abandoned areas become not interesting to businesses. So we’re here begging, “Oh my god, let’s help businesses.” But businesses are choosing to go out to cities that provide good amenities, good schools, good roads, but also good theaters, good parks, good museums because these are the things that people find interesting and where those with money want to live. 

You’re then able to attract businesses not by getting yourself naked and taking off your clothes in the middle of the road, but by actually having an attractive city. Then, the money is going to come. You’re not having to cut your tax base. The money is now sufficient.

You also need to have a middle class to support your businesses. You can put tons of money on the three people at the top, but the reality is … can they drink — what? — 365 cups of coffee in a year? 

But if you have 200,000 adults that are able to buy a cup of coffee once a day or going to a restaurant once a week or twice a week … now you have the people who can actually support [businesses]. If you don’t have people able to support your businesses, your economy is going to go on a downward spiral. 

When you put the money in the hands of the very few at the top, what you have is a feudal system. It has a bunch of servants at the bottom who cannot afford to have anything and three very wealthy people at the top, who cannot support all the other businesses.

If you put the money in the hands of those at the bottom … if you raised the minimum wage … that would be a fantastic way [to boost the economy] because now people at the bottom are able to all go buy shoes and all go buy coffee and all go to restaurants. So, the money starts circulating and what you have is an upward spiral that really lifts all boats.

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Money Matters: Sen. London Lamar Says Tax Reform Benefits the Wealthy

Credit: vepar5 | Adobe Stock and State of Tennessee
Credit: vepar5 | Adobe Stock and State of Tennessee

Our cover story this week looks at issues stoking the embers of class struggles in Tennessee. 

School vouchers, flagging revenues, and even that brief “tax holiday” on groceries have some wondering for whom does the state’s Republican-dominated government work? 

State revenues will flatten this year, according to experts, after years of increases. This is thanks, in large part, to big tax breaks the legislature approved for business owners last year.

This “business-friendly” policy framework, which cuts taxes for the business class in hopes of prosperity for everyone, found harsh critics in economists with the national Economic Policy Institute. 

Another harsh critic of Tennessee’s version is Memphis state Sen. London Lamar. Here’s what she told us in a recent interview. — Toby Sells 

(This interview has been edited for clarity.) 

Memphis Flyer: Does Tennessee economic policy work for most folks in Tennessee? 

Sen. London Lamar: Our tax policy is incentivizing businesses for keeping people poor. 

I say that because when you think about since 2011 and when the Republicans got in office, the main tax reform and benefits have truly benefited the wealthy and big corporations. 

When you look back since 2011 … think about it. You had a repeal of the millionaire estate tax. You have a repeal of the luxury gift tax. A repeal of income taxes on stocks and bonds. A reduction of the jet fuel tax. Corporate exemptions to the sales tax and exemptions for corporate income tax. 

So, all of these major policy reforms around taxation have all been policies to benefit corporations and rich people. So the question is,  where are the priorities for those citizens who are working the hardest to contribute to our economy?  

If we are really about seeing … everybody being able to elevate their economic status, then you would demand that there be a set minimum wage, understanding the cost of housing inflation, taking into account people who have children and families they got to feed, the cost of housing, rent, being able to be approved for housing loans based on income. You got to think about that and setting a basic living standard where people can know they can go to work and be able to feed themselves. 

Secondly, I just feel like if Tennessee wanted to see equity in the system, they would demand a minimum wage because everybody improves in my opinion, not only Black and brown communities, but everybody. 

But because there’s so few regulations on what business have to pay, and the hiring practices — this is a right-to-fire state or a right-to-work state, basically — I think that our policies don’t reflect the values of trying to create an equitable workplace. The data show you that when these policies are not in place, Black people and brown people are suffering the most.

As someone who’s living in Memphis, Tennessee — that’s predominantly African American — you can look at our school system where half our kids are living below the poverty line, and the state of housing, and just the livelihood and the economic status of Black people in our city that is actually affected by it. It’s sad and it should be a crime.

I don’t think Tennessee is oblivious to its impact on which communities [it affects the most]. Again, I think they’re incentivizing businesses to keep people poor, knowing that Black and brown people are going to be at the brunt of that. 

When you think of businesses in Memphis, they’re like warehouse jobs … and temp services that people have to rely on. That’s where where a large population of Black people are working at. But they’re paying them [minimum wage]. $15 an hour is still really not affordable, to be honest, if they’re getting that.

Because they’re temp workers, are they getting healthcare services? No. Getting healthcare off the marketplace is still really expensive.  So, these people are going without healthcare services, making probably nothing, and they have to work 16 to 17 hour shifts just to make sure they can meet ends meet. 

Then what does that lead to? Them not being able to watch their kids. And those other kids that’s getting in trouble out here in Memphis streets.

So, how we are building our economic base in Tennessee and the South is perpetrating a continuous system of poverty for Black and brown people? There’s not another study that needs to be shown that this is going to be the result. It’s just a matter of our politicians deciding to continue to reinforce this system or change their policies.  

Rank-and-file taxpayers got a temporary reprieve from grocery taxes last year. But they went right back on the books while those businesses taxes were made permanent. What do you think about that?

Again, it’s about policy priorities. You know that grocery tax will help middle, working, and poor-class families tremendously.  That loss of money could be made up if we kept many of these tax decisions in place that we had previously,  right? 

So, you can’t say that you don’t have no money. We could have had the money, but you decided to break off corporations and rich people over being able to sit here and put in a tax policy that supports the lower, working class.

This study says economic policies like there are “rooted in racism.” What do you think about that?

I do think it’s rooted in racism. As long as Black and brown people aren’t economically viable, then they don’t have really any impact politically. You can look at that in the campaign funding of Black candidates in Tennessee. We’re funded far less than Republican white folks, even white Democrats. As long as our community stays poor, then we can’t compete against rich people who have the ability, access, and resources to play in a political game in a real way. 

I think this system of racism is reinforced through classism. As long as you keep people of color poor, other white folks get to stay on top. This, more than likely, correlates to who owns the most businesses that are doing well. Who owns the corporations? What’s the income makeup of policymakers and people that they’re voting to benefit? So, you can look at all those things, not just the economics side. It’s racism that is rooted in the whole system.  

Anything I left out or that you’d like to add?

I want to challenge business owners and stakeholders and people of influence in the system to ask themselves, “Do you want to keep the status quo? Or, do you want to start putting us on the path for better?”

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“Hot Slaw” Could Become an Official State Food

Credit: Hot Slaw Festival via Facebook

If a Tennessee GOP “slawmaker” (heh) gets his way, “hot slaw” will become an official state food of Tennessee.

The legislation supporting the idea advanced in a House committee of the Tennessee General Assembly Tuesday. A companion bill would make Cleveland, Tennessee, the hot slaw capital of the state. 

Never heard of hot slaw? Many members of the House Public Service Subcommittee hadn’t either. 

“It’s more of a mustard, vinegar, hot pepper type of slaw,” explained Rep. Kevin Raper (R-Cleveland), sponsor of the bills. “A lot of people thought that it was just cold slaw heated up. It’s nothing like that.”

Raper explained that the bill would make hot slaw “an official state food, not the state food,” stressing the words “an” and “the.” However, the bill’s caption, the brief but official language explaining the bill, says that the legislation ”designates hot slaw as the official state food.” Raper explained that other state foods could be barbecue from Memphis, hot chicken from Nashville, and Mt. Dew from Johnson City. 

Hot slaw got its start in an old Cleveland drive-in movie theater called the Starview, which opened in 1955. Owners there tinkered with a recipe until they got it right, a recipe that is still secret today, Raper said. 

The slaw is so popular around Cleveland that grocery stores stock it and restaurants serve it. Each spring The Hot Slaw Festival celebrates the dish in Cleveland, in which judges pick the favorite version submitted by local cooks. 

Credit: Hot Slaw Festival via Facebook

“Hot saw is similar to coleslaw,” Raper said. ”It’s not a heated food. It is served cold. It’s a lot like cole slaw but it consists more of mustard, vinegar, peppers to create a unique flavor. Hot slaw in Cleveland has evolved from a side dish to use [as a condiment] on hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, barbecue, and even in lieu of chow-chow at times, and pinto beans as a result.”

While Raper’s other bill would officially make Cleveland the hot slaw capital of Tennessee, he said the city has already unofficially deemed itself the hot slaw capital of the U.S. 

According to the Secretary of State’s office, Tennessee has two state foods. The tomato is the state fruit. Milk is the state beverage. Legislation last year made pumpkin pie the state’s official pie.    

Categories
Letter From An Editor Opinion

On Making Money Matters

London Lamar (Photo (left): Clyde Sims, Jr.); Elena Delavega (Photo (right): University of Memphis)

Editor’s note: Flyer writers will occasionally share this space.

Some news stories don’t finish where they started. This week’s “Money Matters” cover story is one of those.

Back in October, the national Economic Policy Institute (EPI) published a report critical of the South’s “business-friendly” economic policies. They favor the wealthy, are “rooted in racism,” and their promised prosperity doesn’t really trickle down the way we’ve always been told, the study says.

EPI is a nonprofit think tank “that researches the impact of economic trends and policies on working people.” The Flyer is a paper for people. Tennessee data in the report were interesting. So, I wrote a post back then outlining some of the findings. At Large columnist Bruce VanWyngarden suggested at the time that the story could make a good cover story with some local quotes and context. Does this model work for working-class Tennesseans and, especially, Memphians? That’s where this week’s cover story started.

Just as I began to report on the story, the Tennessee General Assembly began to crank up. Most of the folks who head to Nashville to make our laws every year are evangelists of the “business-friendly” economic theory. They love it, promote it, and (usually without any kind of evidence) believe that it really does work for all of their constituents, whether they own the car dealership or just work there. So, a story based on data that showed the Southern economic model didn’t work seemed well-timed.

But as I began to dig, I found new money issues in Tennessee were pressing old class frictions to the top of discussions at the beginning of the session. GOP tax cuts for the business class were flattening state revenues, making the budget even more dependent on the state’s regressive tax structure. Some argued Gov. Bill Lee’s controversial school voucher plan would take money from lower- and middle-class taxpayers and give it to the wealthy so they could pay for private schools they can probably already afford. This all comes as Lee’s administration has fumbled two federal programs to help the state’s working poor, a sign to most that those folks were not a priority for Lee.

With all this, I diverged from the main idea of the story and these class issues became the primary focus of the main “Money Matters” piece. And I feel like I flubbed the very good original idea.

Information on the new story angle edged out some enlightening commentary from two Memphis thought leaders. Elena Delavega is a professor at the University of Memphis, a Memphis poverty expert, and co-author of the annual Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet. State Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis) is a constant voice for poor and working-class people in the legislature. Look for full interviews with both of those this week on The News Blog at memphisflyer.com under a “Money Matters” headline.

For a sample, here’s what Delavega said when I asked if pro-business policy models work for everyone: “It may help two or three people at the very top, but it ends up hurting everybody else by denying the investment in the community that would make it a livable community, that would attract people who can have a choice [of a place to live].

“So, it’s sort of like this downward spiral,” Delavega said. “We don’t invest and then become even less attractive. Then, we cut taxes. Then, there is less money for investment. We cut more taxes and so on.”

Lamar said Tennessee policies have favored the wealthy since Republicans took power in 2011. She rattled off a list of cuts including the millionaire estate tax, the luxury gift tax, the reduction in the jet fuel tax, and more. But she said there have not been big moves to aid “those citizens who are working the hardest to contribute to our economy,” especially Black and brown people. This is on purpose and permeates the system, she said.

“You can look at that in the campaign funding of Black candidates in Tennessee,” Lamar said. “We’re funded far less than Republican white folks, even white Democrats. As long as our community stays poor, then we can’t compete against rich people who have the ability, access, and resources to play in a political game in a real way.

“I think this system of racism is reinforced through classism. As long as you keep people of color poor, other white folks get to stay on top,” Lamar continued. “This, more than likely, correlates to who owns the most businesses that are doing well, who owns the corporations. What’s the income makeup of policymakers and people that they’re voting to benefit? So, you can look at all those things, not just the economics side. Racism is rooted in the whole system.”