Category: The Last Word

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Opinion The Last Word

War, Money, and Universities

Pro-Palestinian encampment at Tulane University (Photo: William Morgan | Dreamstime.com)

Human politics — from global to local — remain mixed with hatred, dominance, and … well, dehumanization. We’ve organized ourselves across the planet around one primary principle: the existence of an enemy. The division between “us” and “them” can be based on anything: a difference in race, language, culture — or simply opinion, which is beginning to happen on campuses across the country, as peaceful, intensely determined protesters, demanding their institutions divest from the Israeli war machine, face violent resistance from police and/or counter-protesters.

Yes, the peaceful protesters are interrupting the status quo — setting up encampments, even occupying university buildings. For instance, at Columbia University, students renamed the occupied Hamilton Hall, declaring its new name to be Hind’s Hall, after Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli armed forces, along with the rest of her family (and several aid workers), as they were fleeing their home in Gaza. The point of the protests is, indeed, to change the world: to stop U.S., including university, support of the devastating “war” (i.e., carnage). They’re not trying to eliminate an enemy but, rather, illuminate the situation — putting themselves on the line to do so.

Some of the responses to the protests are definitely illuminating. A statement from UCLA’s Palestine Solidarity Encampment, for instance, noted: “The life-threatening assault we face tonight is nothing less than a horrifying, despicable act of terror. For over seven hours, Zionist aggressors hurled gas canisters, sprayed pepper spray, & threw fireworks and bricks into our encampment. They broke our barriers repeatedly, clearly in an attempt to kill us.”

Furthermore, the account went on: “Campus safety left within minutes, external security the university hired for ‘backup’ watched, filmed, and laughed on the side as the immediate danger inflicted upon us escalated. Law enforcement simply stood at the edge of the lawn and refused to budge as we screamed for their help. … The university would rather see us dead than divest.”

In other words, those damn students are the enemy. Even when the response to the protests isn’t outright violence, it’s often rhetorically violent, such as GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee calling the protesters terrorists and declaring, “Any student who has promoted terrorism or engaged in terrorist acts on behalf of Hamas should be immediately added to the terrorist watch list and placed on the [Transportation Security Administration] No-Fly List.”

This is utterly linear, minimalist thinking. Critics aren’t engaging in a debate on the nature (and necessity) of war, plunging, with the protesters, into a complex discussion of global politics, military industrialism, and the morality of killing. That’s too much trouble! They’re simply calling the outraged protesters “the enemy” — just a bunch of terrorists, same as Hamas. And yeah, no doubt part of that good old axis of evil. 

This is the thinking the protesters are trying to disrupt! Alas, it’s also solidly part of the infrastructure of the status quo. Militarism is baked into the American core. When we’re not waging our own wars, we’re enabling various allies to do so.

As Heidi Peltier, writing at Brown University’s Costs of War Project, points out, regarding this country’s annual budget of nearly $2 trillion: “Almost half of the U.S. federal discretionary budget is allocated to the Department of Defense and more than half of the discretionary budget goes to ‘defense’ overall, which includes not only the DoD but also nuclear weapons programs within the Department of Energy and additional defense spending in other departments. … As a result, other elements and capacities of the U.S. government and civilian economy have been weakened, and military industries have gained political power. Decades of high levels of military spending have changed U.S. government and society — strengthening its ability to fight wars, while weakening its capacities to perform other core functions. Investments in infrastructure, healthcare, education, and emergency preparedness, for instance, have all suffered as military spending and industry have crowded them out.”

The campus protests around the country, at which, so far, more than 2,000 students have been arrested, primarily address the twisted irony of money. Universities have multi-billion-dollar endowments — donation money — which they then invest in the stock market, in various companies, including … well, yeah, weapons manufacturers, like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and many more. Oh, the mysterious, ironic flow of money!

At New York University, a spokesman informed protesting students that the university is not divesting from such companies because it needs to maximize its investment returns in order to “help the university fulfil its research and educational mission.” You know, to bring truth and knowledge into the world — for the sake, among others, of the protesters themselves. 

American college students are facing this irony head on — at a personal cost. But the cost, as they say, is minimal, compared to the one being paid by Palestinians, and by victims of war all around the world. 

Robert Koehler (koehlercw@gmail.com), syndicated by PeaceVoice, is a Chicago award-winning journalist and editor. He is the author of Courage Grows Strong at the Wound, and his newly released album of recorded poetry and art work, Soul Fragments.

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Opinion The Last Word

The ‘Accepted Insanity’ of World War III

“National interests” are the prize at stake. (Photo: James Vallee | Dreamstime.com)

“Mr. Netanyahu faces a delicate calculation — how to respond to Iran in order not to look weak, while trying to avoid alienating the Biden administration and other allies already impatient with Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza.”

Yeah, this is virtually nothing: a random, utterly forgettable quote pulled from The New York Times — from the basic corporate coverage of our present-moment violence, as the world shimmies on brink of … uh, World War III. It’s the forgettable quotes, especially in regard to ongoing war, that may be the most dangerous because all they do is solidify a collective sense of normalcy. My term for it is “accepted insanity.” We have the technological and psychological capacity to kill not simply thousands or even millions of people but the whole human race, but let’s talk about it in terms of strategy, tactics, and public relations! Let’s talk about it as though we’re covering a bunch of 10-year-old boys throwing stones. Which one’s going to win?

That’s the key issue here: winning. When two cowboys face off in an armed confrontation, the one who draws and fires fastest, hitting the other guy in the stomach or wherever, wins. He gets to walk away with a self-satisfied smirk.

I’m not singling out the Times story quoted above as uniquely problematic in its coverage of the latest turn of events in the Middle East, but rather as representative of the accepted insanity of endless war — the reduction of war to an abstraction, virtually always involving clearly defined good guys and bad guys, and describing murder (including mass murder) as retaliation, self-defense, “show of force,” etc., etc. “National interests” are the prize at stake. Human lives are just bargaining chips, except, of course, when the bad guys kill them.

The Times story, for instance, steps beyond its abstraction of the Israel-Iran confrontation at one point. Israel bombed Iran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing several Iranian officers, the story informs us. Iran retaliated two weeks later, firing 300 drones and missiles at Israel, almost all of which were shot down, and very little damage was caused. The Times notes: “The only serious casualty was a 7-year-old girl, Amina al-Hasoni, who was badly wounded.”

War affects children! Yes, yes, yes it does. My heart goes out to Amina al-Hasoni. But my God — some 13,000 children have been killed in the Israeli assault on Gaza, and thousands more injured, not to mention orphaned. And some are simply missing, lying under the rubble. What are their names?

What if war were covered the way street crime is covered — not as an abstraction, but with awareness that it’s a profound social problem? What if war were covered with external awareness, i.e. with wisdom that transcends political platitudes — rather than in obeisance to those platitudes?

Here, for instance, is CNBC reporting on the Israel-Iran confrontation. Noting that Israel has pledged to “exact a price” from Iran in response to the missile attack, CNBC then quotes President Biden condemning the attack and adding that the United States “will remain vigilant to all threats and will not hesitate to take all necessary action to protect our people.”

Can you believe that his words didn’t make me feel safer? I’d been pondering not just the possibility but the likely reality of World War III, and to read these words — “take all necessary action to protect our people” — made the wolves start to howl in my own soul.

Platitudes plus nukes? Biden wasn’t talking about transcending war and shunning the country’s trillion-dollar military budget. Presumably, he was talking about using it, putting it to work to “protect” us — you know, to “defeat” our declared enemy (Iran, apparently), no matter the price exacted on Planet Earth, including on you and me. How about some media coverage that doesn’t blow this off with a shrug?

Coverage of war requires awareness of the lies that prop it up politically. For instance, as World Beyond War has put it: “According to myth, war is ‘natural.’ Yet a great deal of conditioning is needed to prepare most people to take part in war, and a great deal of mental suffering is common among those who have taken part.”

In other words, war is not a product of human evolution — humanity finally becoming mature enough to fight itself in an organized, collective fashion — but essentially the opposite of that: an unevolved aspect of who we are … an embedded failure to evolve, you might say.

So many veterans, as the World Beyond War quote implies, often bear the burden of this truth well beyond their time of service. They are forced to face, on their own, the psychological and spiritual implications of what they did — of following orders, of participating in the dehumanization and murder of alleged enemies. In the wake of wars, vet suicide rates can be horrific. While such psycho-spiritual trauma is officially defined as a mental illness — post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) — others with deeper understanding, including many vets, call it moral injury. Following orders forced them to act beyond their own humanity: When you dehumanize others, you dehumanize yourself.

This is the accepted insanity the corporate media cover with such win-lose abstraction, even when we’re on the brink of World War III. Multiply moral injury by several billion human beings and what you could wind up with is human extinction.

Robert Koehler (koehlercw@gmail.com), syndicated by PeaceVoice, is a Chicago award-winning journalist and editor. He is the author of Courage Grows Strong at the Wound, and his newly released album of recorded poetry and art work, Soul Fragments.

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Opinion The Last Word

Memphis is My Boyfriend: Summertime Is Calling

Just a few of this author’s favorite summertime activities (Photos: Courtesy Patricia Lockhart)

Hopefully you’ve been reading my articles for a while and you know that my kids are 15, 12, 12, and 10 years old. I desire for my teens to love this city as much as I do, so I intentionally plan out fun, safe, and engaging things for them to do. Now I know that school is still in session and summer is a full month away, but prior proper planning prevents a poor performance! The streets are calling our name! Here are a few of our summertime favorites that we can’t wait to get into.

Redbirds Game

I’ve met several Memphians who have never been to a Redbirds game. And I always ask them, “What are you waiting for?” They usually shrug and reply, “I’m not a baseball person.” Then I have to explain that the Redbirds games are so much more than that. Recently, my daughter’s school choir sang the national anthem at the start of the game. I watched the players warm up and had my proud-mommy moment. Then I had the best time ever! There is just something mesmerizing about chilling at a Redbirds game. Maybe it’s the hot sun, with an ice cold drink and a hot dog. Or maybe it’s the intermittent games and crowd engagement opportunities. Whatever the case, I will be there!

My favorite games are on Thursday nights. My hubby says it’s because I can get $2 beers, but I promise it’s because of their throwback jerseys. Sundays are cool too because kids 12 and under can receive a free ice cream sandwich. There are also nights where they have post-game fireworks and where kids can run the bases. Definitely check out their promotions page. Pro-tips: 1. Bring a hat. 2. Bring a credit card: The stadium is cashless. 3. Got a purse or bag? Make sure it’s clear.

Overton Park Shell

As soon as school state assessments were over, I placed our picnic blankets, lawn chairs, mosquito spray, and incense in the trunk. I also tossed in a few empty water bottles and our picnic basket that has plates, napkins, and silverware. Those items will remain in my trunk for the entire summer and fall. I do all of this in preparation of one thing: the Overton Park Shell Orion Free Concert Series! The shows start at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays starting this month. On weekdays, this gives us enough time to pick the kids up from their after-school activities, stop by the store for a few snackerdoodles, and score some perfect seats on the lawn. As the sun sets, I let the good music and cool vibes roll over me. I close my eyes and lay my head back. I don’t have a care in the world.

My kids have been to a variety of music genres that aren’t normally available to them through mainstream radio. Through this music, they learn acceptance and appreciation. This summer they plan to chill to the symphony, dance to Bodywerk, and regrow some roots to Talibah Safiya, just to name a few. Although if I’m honest, we’ll probably attend about 14 shows.

Gardening with Everbloom Farmacy

Gardening has been in my family for generations. My grandmother was a gardener. My great-grandmother was a sharecropper. Her mother worked the fields during slavery. We can trace our roots all the way back to Ghana where we nurtured the land to provide nourishment for ourselves. While we can go to big box stores for our gardening needs, we prefer to build relationships with people who positively impact our community. Everbloom Farmacy, a nonprofit organization, is the perfect place to go if you want to start growing your own food but don’t know how. Need seeds? Need seedlings or soil? Need knowledge so your garden can thrive? Reach out to Everbloom!

Kenneth Anderson founded Everbloom Farmacy on his 21-acre homestead. It promotes food production and food literacy to support urban homesteads and community and church gardens. While we don’t have the acreage for a homestead, Anderson has educated us on how we can make the most of the space that we have. We went to Everbloom and picked up sprouts of bell peppers, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, cabbage, and several gallons of soil.

This summer, Everbloom will offer culinary and medicinal herbs and a host of classes about growing your own food and canning for food preservation. Currently, they have almost 10,000 vegetable seedlings (grown by volunteers) for promoting at-home gardening as a community practice. Everbloom’s Community Nursery will also donate over 10,000 vegetable plants for fall gardens starting in September 2024.

Patricia Lockhart is a native Memphian who loves to read, write, cook, and eat. Her days are filled with laughter with her four kids and charming husband. By day, she’s a school librarian and writer, but by night … she’s asleep. @realworkwife @memphisismyboyfriend

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Opinion The Last Word

Survival Without Bombs or Borders

Photo: Ig0rzh | Dreamstime.com

An enormous flash, a mushroom cloud, multi-thousands of human beings dead. We win!

Nuclear weapons won’t go away, the cynics — the souls in despair — tell us. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle. You can’t, as Gen. James E. Cartwright, former head of U.S. Strategic Command, once put it, “un-invent nuclear weapons.” So apparently we’re stuck with them until the “big oops” happens and humanity becomes extinct. Until then: modernize, modernize, modernize. Threaten, threaten, threaten.

David Barash and Ward Wilson make the case that this is completely false. We’re not “stuck” with nuclear weapons any more than we’re stuck with obsolete and ineffective technology of any sort, bluntly pointing out: “Crappy ideas don’t have to be forgotten in order to be abandoned. Useless, dangerous, or outmoded technology needn’t be forced out of existence. Once a thing is no longer useful, it unceremoniously and deservedly gets ignored.”

This is a valid and significant challenge to the cynicism of so many people, which is an easy trap to get caught in. Nuclear weapons will eventually go the way of the penny-farthing (huge front-wheeled) bicycle, according to the authors. Humanity is capable of simply moving beyond this valueless technology — and eventually it will. The genie has no power to stop this. Praise the Lord.

Transcending cynicism is the first step in envisioning change — but envisioning change isn’t the same thing as creating it. The next step in the process is hardly a matter of “better technology” — i.e., a better (less radioactive?) means of killing the enemy. The next step involves a change in humanity’s collective consciousness. As far as I can tell, we’re caught — horrifically caged — in the psychology of a border-drawn, divided planet. Social scientist Charles Tilly once put it with stunning simplicity: “War made the state and the state made war.”

The human race cuddles with the concept of “state sovereignty.” It’s the basic right of the 193 national entities that have claimed their specific slices of Planet Earth — and I certainly understand the “sovereignty” part. Who doesn’t want to make his or her own life decisions? But the “state” part? It’s full of paradox and contradiction, not to mention a dark permission to behave at one’s worst. The militarism that worships the nuclear genie couldn’t exist without state sovereignty.

To me the question in crucial need of being asked right now is this: What is our alternative to nationalism, which currently claims free rein (and reign) on the planet? And nationalism strides with a lethal swagger — especially nuclear-armed nationalism. For instance, as the AP recently reported, “President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons if its sovereignty or independence is threatened, issuing another blunt warning to the West just days before an election in which he’s all but certain to secure another six-year term.”

Or here’s the Times of Israel: “Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said Sunday that one of Israel’s options in the war against Hamas could be to drop a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip …”

Plunk! Finish the job!

And then, of course, there’s the global good guy — USA! USA! — leading the charge to bring peace to the world wherever and however it can: for instance, by claiming “sovereignty” (you might say) over the national interests of South Korea and declaring, as Simone Chun puts it at Truthout, a “new Cold War with China” and implementing a “massive expansion of the provocative U.S.-led military exercises in the Korean Peninsula.”

Wow, a new Cold War! More than 300,000 South Korean troops and 10,000 American troops, in a series of war games known as “Freedom Shield 2024,” have conducted numerous field maneuvers, including bombing runs, at the North Korean border.

Chun writes: “The combined United States Forces Korea (USFK) and South Korean forces far overshadow those of North Korea, whose entire military budget is $1.47 billion compared to that of South Korea at $43.1 billion, not to mention that of the U.S. at $816.7 billion …

“The U.S. is using North Korea as a pretext for its new Cold War against China,” she goes on, “and, with its control of 40 percent of the world’s nuclear stockpile, is even willing to risk nuclear war to further its geopolitical aims.”

And she quotes Noam Chomsky who, addressing the country’s blatant indifference to this risk, points out that “the United States always plays with fire.”

How do we get it to stop? We live in a self-declared democracy but we, the people, are not the ones with real authority here. Those who run the show seem essentially blind to the consequences of militarism, war and, for God’s sake, nukes. Having power means having the ability to threaten — and, if necessary, cause — harm … beyond their divinely sanctioned borders, of course (not counting the likely consequences that know no borders).

If Tilly is right — if “war made the state and the state made war” — then the state, as currently perceived, at least by those besotted with military power, is the problem. Knowing this is the beginning … but of what? Survival means finding an answer.

Robert Koehler (koehlercw@gmail.com), syndicated by PeaceVoice, is a Chicago award-winning journalist and editor. He is the author of Courage Grows Strong at the Wound, and his newly released album of recorded poetry and art work, Soul Fragments.

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Opinion The Last Word

Crimes Against Humanity in Gaza

The war in Gaza has exacerbated food insecurity and malnutrition. (Photo: Mohamed Zarandah | Dreamstime.com)

Among the many brutalities in war prohibited under international humanitarian law are starvation of civilian populations and deliberate attacks on aid workers. Here are some new findings worth considering as we ponder the continued decline of human security in the Gaza fighting.

By now we are all familiar with the appalling food situation in all parts of Gaza. Now, a multiparty global initiative known for short as the IPC — which stands for Integrated Food Security Phase Classification — has documented and closely analyzed the matter.

Half the Gaza population, 1.1 million people, now face “catastrophic food insecurity.” Unless a ceasefire can be agreed upon, by July just about the entire population will be in that condition. Moreover, “Famine is imminent in the northern governorates and projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May 2024.”

The report further notes: “The famine threshold for household acute food insecurity has already been far exceeded and, given the latest data showing a steeply increasing trend in cases of acute malnutrition, it is highly likely that the famine threshold for acute malnutrition has also been exceeded.”

Decreasing delivery of food and other basic necessities is a major cause of the famine.

“From a pre-escalation average of 500 trucks a day of which 150 carrying food, in the period between 7 October 2023 to 24 February 2024, only 90 trucks per day, of which only 60 carrying food, entered the Gaza Strip. Consequently, virtually all households are skipping meals every day and adults are reducing their meals so that children can eat. In the northern governorates, in nearly two thirds of the households, people went entire days and nights without eating at least 10 times in the last 30 days. In the southern governorates, this applies to one third of the households.”

We need to remember just how destitute the Gaza Strip was before the war. The IPC report reminds us: “In 2022, the Gaza Strip faced an unemployment rate of nearly 45 percent and, by September 2023, the poverty rate was at 60 percent, among a population that included nearly 70 percent of refugees. Due to severely constrained livelihood opportunities, in 2022, over half of the population was relying on humanitarian assistance as their main income source and about one-third on casual labour, with 70 percent of the population food insecure.”

As I noted in a podcast on opinion polling of Palestinians, many believe the war has finally focused international attention on Gaza’s desperate conditions.

Adding to the food insecurity in Gaza are the perilous conditions for humanitarian relief workers. That was brought home with the death of seven members of the World Central Kitchen in an Israeli raid that the Israeli Defense Forces have called a “tragic mistake,” but which WCK’s Chef José Andrés has called Israel’s “war against humanity itself.”

Prior to that attack, 196 aid workers had been killed in the war between last October and late March. That’s an astounding figure when, according to a group that tracks humanitarian assistance projects, no aid workers had been killed in all the Occupied Territories in the three previous years. Nor has any conflict zone ever experienced so many deaths of aid workers.

The unprecedented number of aid worker deaths in Gaza has raised accusations that relief organizations are being deliberately targeted. As one writer puts it:

“Israeli forces have targeted healthcare facilities, aid convoys, and ambulances with apparent impunity. Aid groups say they have shared the GPS coordinates of their facilities and convoys with Israeli authorities to avoid unintentional bombing — a strategy known as deconfliction — but aid facilities continue to be hit. ‘There is complete disregard for the norms of modern warfare,’ said Bob Kitchen, vice president for emergencies and humanitarian action at the International Rescue Committee.”

Now, according to a report in The New Humanitarian, Israel has set up a separate, privately contracted aid system that it can protect and control, avoiding reliance on the UN’s relief organization as well as on NGOs.

Mel Gurtov, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is professor emeritus of political science at Portland State University and blogs at In the Human Interest.

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Opinion The Last Word

Who Is Coretta Scott King?

Plenty of history books magnify the mission of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was an American champion for the marginalized. While I celebrate his birth each January — and join in remembrance on the anniversary of his April assassination — allow me to shout from the rooftop that the historical impact of his wife, Coretta Scott King, goes largely uncelebrated. As a writer devoted to researching the Civil Rights Movement, I consider America’s lackluster regard for Coretta to be a crying shame.

Coretta’s legacy of social action and promotion of peace deserves to be widely extolled in books and the naming of schools and streets. Without her fortitude, it is likely Dr. King would not have reached his full stature as a civil rights leader. It is also likely that without Coretta’s tireless campaign to establish the King holiday, national and international deference to Martin’s name would be less prominent and shining. If this sounds like an exaggerated assertion, think again.

In 1956 when Dr. King denounced segregation and was a voice for nonviolent protests during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, white segregationists bombed the parsonage where the Kings lived with their firstborn child, Yolanda. While Martin was leading an evening strategy meeting, Coretta and their 10-week-old baby were home when the explosion blasted the front porch to pieces and blew a hole in the living room wall.

No one was injured, but the explosion was a sure reason for Coretta to quit the protest and leave Montgomery for safety. Coretta’s parents, Obadiah and Bernice Scott, lived in Heiberger, Alabama, 80 miles west of Montgomery. Mr. Scott drove to the parsonage expecting to carry his daughter away from danger. Coretta told him, “I am going to stay here with Martin.”

Montgomery was not Coretta’s first encounter with racial terror. When she was a teenager, segregationists set the Scotts’ house on fire. Mr. Scott raised pine timber on the family’s 300 acres. It was the mob’s intention to break his entrepreneurial spirit, but smoldering embers did not make him flinch. He built a new home. Years later, he purchased a lumber mill and segregationists also burned it to ashes.

With faith in a power greater than himself, Coretta’s father stood steadfast in Heiberger to, finally, open a thriving grocery store that served all citizens in Perry County. Just like the song, Obadiah Scott wouldn’t let “nobody” turn him around. He was Coretta’s model of courage. And during the Montgomery bombing, Coretta followed his example. Like her father, she stood unflinching in the face of fire. Coretta then went on to march beside Martin during the Civil Rights Movement from its early days in 1956, until her husband’s assassination on April 4, 1968.

Imagine the outcome if Coretta had abandoned Martin and the movement in Montgomery. If she had fainted in the face of fire, would anyone blame Martin for leaving Montgomery to save his marriage? Absolutely not. But the inward call to pursue freedom in Jim Crow America also weighed heavily in Coretta’s soul. Therefore, Martin never had to choose his family over the movement. And privately, when Martin wanted Coretta to adjourn movement work and be content with motherhood, she reminded him, “I have a call on my life, too.”

During their 13 years marching in the name of civil rights, Martin suffered violence, death threats, and constant trumped-up jail charges. It was Coretta’s disdain for tears, her unwavering words of encouragement, and midnight prayers that helped her husband stay the course. Martin called her “Corrie,” his “brave soldier.”

Few Americans understand the impact of Coretta’s warrior spirit because history books do not adequately explore her life as an activist, leader, and prophetic voice of liberation. Magazines from the ’60s overlooked the bravery in Martin’s warrior woman. Photojournalists rendered her portrait in elegant, unchallenging tones. And from patriarchal pulpits after Dr. King’s murder in Memphis, Black preachers encouraged Coretta to stay pretty and silent, while they jockeyed for positions that once belonged to Martin.

Black male leaders of the movement did not grasp that Coretta was the seed of Obadiah Scott. Burnished by fire, she was incapable of reducing her light. Coretta Scott King followed her own mind. And after Martin’s death, for the next 15 years, she used her voice to promote principles of nonviolence as she rallied the nation to establish a federal holiday to honor Dr. King, a drum major for peace.

As for Martin, Coretta, and the mystery of love, some people believe that marriage is a divine union where two hearts become “one flesh.” If that is true, let me propose a new tradition. Whenever you remember and celebrate the name of Dr. King for his efforts in human rights, be sure to praise and amplify that fated love, who wielded courage to walk as one with him. Her name was Coretta Scott King. She was born April 27, 1927. Martin called her, “Corrie.” She was a woman, wife, and warrior on the battlefield for freedom.

Alice Faye Duncan is a Memphis educator and the author of Coretta’s Journey; Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop; and Yellow Dog Blues, a NYT/NPL Best Illustrated Book selection in 2022. Visit her at alicefayeduncan.com.

*This piece was originally printed in the Dallas Morning News.

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Opinion The Last Word

Memphis Is My Boyfriend: Being an Adult Child

Game night at Muggin (Photos: Patricia Lockhart)

It’s time for another intentional tween/teen-friendly Memphis weekend! Keep in mind, my kids are 15, 12, 12, and 10 years old. This weekend will really be focused on fun things to do with the kids as well as enjoying some adult libations. Because who wants to be an adult all the time? Enjoy Memphis!

Muggin Coffeehouse

Okay, it’s Thursday, and this has been the Wednesday-est Thursday ever! FYI: Wednesdays and I haven’t gotten along for a few years now. Humpday just drags so slowly and the most ridiculous things always happen on a Wednesday. And that’s how this Thursday was acting. But whenever I feel irritated by having to be an adult, I make sure I take some time to nurture my inner child. So when I heard that the new Uptown Muggin location had game night on Thursday, I was super excited. Hubby conducted the Pick Up Kids from School Tour, which consisted of one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school. I finished up a few emails at work and popped over to Muggin! Hubby and I ordered lattes and the kids ordered every pastry possible and frappes. We played chess (I won), Connect Four (I lost), and Jenga, which was also used to create a domino effect. It was such a good time. All of my kids had smiles on their faces. Hubby and I were able to steal a few proud-parent glances at each other from across the cafe. Everyone was happy. All we were missing was more teenagers and teen parents to talk to!

Grind City Brewing Company

Saturday is fun day! Hubby and I woke up feeling 10 years younger. Because this doesn’t happen often, we wanted to take advantage of this new found youth and do the things we used to do in college. Drink beer and play outdoor sports. While the kids can’t enjoy a cold brewski, they can enjoy some sunshine, Arbo’s cheese dip and chips, and soda. So we packed up the Frisbee and yard darts and headed to Grind City Brewery.

The weather was beautiful and the view was absolutely stunning. After grabbing a few cold beers, we hit the open fields. The kids and I enjoyed leisurely throwing the Frisbee and playing yard darts. But then a gentleman approached us and taught us how to play real Frisbee. Well, the horse poop hit the fan (figuratively). Feeling 10 years younger, and invincible due to the beer, I wasn’t about to be outdone by some ragged teenagers. We played hard. I caught a few Frisbees. My son ripped his pants. Grass-stains became the norm. Someone whined because they were losing, and my beer buzz wore off. As we rehydrated and finished off the last of the Arbo’s cheese dip, we high-fived each other for time well spent.

Burgers for kids
Beers at Crosstown Brewery for adults

Farm Burger and Crosstown Brewery

It’s Sunday and all I want to do is chill and read my book. My body aches and my knees are creaking. I’m seriously feeling every millisecond of my age! But as I bask in the soft sunlight peeking in through my bedroom windows, a child knocks on my door. “Mom, have you checked the family Google calendar? I added Farm Burger to it last night. You should have gotten the email, too!” As I lazily close my e-book about Murder Bots, I check my Gmail account. And sure enough, there’s a calendar notification. I ponder. Weigh the pros and cons. Look at the start time of the event. (It’s mid-afternoon.) And I select “Yes.” I hear the kids give shouts of praise through the door and I can only imagine the fist bumps and high-fives they are giving each other.

Later in the afternoon, with my book tucked in my purse, I park at the Crosstown Concourse. The kids announce that they want burgers. So I announced to no one in particular, that I want beer. They will head to Farm Burger, and I will go to Crosstown Brewery. We talk about stranger danger and the importance of sticking together and finding the nearest adult in authority if trouble arises. I also tell them exactly where I will be and remind them to actually answer the phone if I call or text. Soon, we separate. I receive a text from them full of smiles and a table full of food. Great! I continue sipping my stout beer and reading Murder and Mamon. I received another text stating that they’re going to check out the art gallery. Perfect! I continue with my leisure activity. Then I receive a phone call. “Mom, I don’t remember how to use this circular music player?” Huh? Oh, they mean a record player. Yeah, I have work to do!

Patricia Lockhart is a native Memphian who loves to read, write, cook, and eat. Her days are filled with laughter with her four kids and charming husband. By day, she’s a school librarian and writer, but by night … she’s asleep. @realworkwife @memphisismyboyfriend

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Opinion The Last Word

Immigrant Stories: Rajan Thakur

Rajan Thakur (Photo: Bryce W. Ashby)

Editor’s note: This is part two in a five-part series focusing on immigrant contributions to our nation and city

In 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville published Democracy in America. The French aristocrat visited America, including Memphis, and found the people a bit provincial, too religious, yet he characterized the young nation as nearly unlimited in terms of economic, political, and social development.

Rajan Thakur from Nepal might not be this century’s de Tocqueville, but as an immigrant to the USA, more specifically Memphis, Thakur’s background has forced a focus on optimism; he doesn’t dwell too much on the prevailing pessimism.

The national mood, now, is sour. People in America are uncertain of the future; the economy seems great for some, not so great for most; politically we’re living in very strange times; and the pandemic demonstrated our interconnectedness and vulnerabilities. Approximately 1.2 million Americans have died from Covid-19 over the past four years.

Yet Thakur’s reflections on his personal American journey place him squarely in the optimistic camp. He holds an M.S. degree in industrial engineering from Virginia Tech University and works as a project engineer at FedEx headquarters here in Memphis. He’s been living in the USA for nine years. “The U.S. right now, concerning AI technology, money, and technology in general, is at a different level from the rest of the word,” says the young engineer. “The American dream is the real thing. I’ve seen it. Here, people are respected and heard; there’s a strong civic sense that you don’t find in other places.”

Thakur grew up in a small village in the Tarai region near the border with India. “There’s an open border between my country and India to the south.” He describes Nepal as a nation whose economy is essentially tied to India’s. “There are few jobs in Nepal and the nation is close to ‘failed state’ status.”

His parents, with little formal schooling, invested in their son’s education, and Thakur attended a prestigious boarding school about 30 miles from his home. “I went there not because we were rich, but because my parents knew they had to invest in their future by investing in my education.” Thakur was sent away as a 4-year-old, returned home infrequently, excelled at all sports (especially cricket and soccer), and was a dedicated student. He spent 12 years at boarding school, followed by two years at a college preparatory school in India — where he studied from early morning to late at night, and gained admission to one of the best universities in India, the highly competitive National Institute of Technology, Warangal. There, he studied mechanical engineering.

Upon graduation from university, Thakur worked for a year in India and a year in Nepal, then began the process of applying for advanced education in the USA. “At university in India, I met a lot of people who took the GRE and GMAT and they helped me study; they taught me about the entire process of going abroad.” Thakur saw that there was a path to the USA “but getting to the USA is not completely based on merit or talent: 80 percent of it is luck.”

Thakur had multiple acceptances from U.S. universities and ended up at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. He was there on an F1 student visa. He immediately noticed some differences between the USA and home. “It’s quiet here! It’s clean, too, and you don’t see people everywhere you look.” Thakur’s student visa status allowed him to work for minimum wage at the university dining service for 20 hours per week. “At the end of my shift, we were forced to throw away food that hadn’t been eaten — this would never happen in Nepal. Throwing away food is tantamount to sin.” Meanwhile, he and some fellow students in Virginia on F1 visas were struggling to scrape by and feed themselves.

Upon graduation from Virginia Tech, Thakur began a job search in the USA; by the terms of his F1 student visa he had a 90-day window to find a position with a company that would sponsor a more permanent (H1-B) visa arrangement. With persistence and some luck, he was offered a position at FedEx — a global corporation that sponsors/supports talented people from all over the world.

At FedEx, Thakur met his fiancée, and they plan to marry in the next few months. Last week, they returned from a three-week visit to Nepal to meet his relatives. His south Alabama-born future wife was “a bit overwhelmed” by Nepal, the tight-knit social structure, and the fact that four or five hundred people showed up for the engagement party!

According to World Bank data, about 23 percent of Nepal’s GDP comes from remittance payments (people outside the country sending money in). Thakur regularly remits funds back to his family in Nepal. “My dad invested in my education starting when I was a 4-year-old. I’m his insurance policy.”

For our country, welcoming people like Thakur — whose tenacity and optimism are infectious — is our kind of insurance policy, ensuring that we continue to see the good America offers.

Bryce W. Ashby is an attorney at Donati Law, PLLC. Michael J. LaRosa is an associate professor of history at Rhodes College.

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Opinion The Last Word

The Votes That Count

We the People can bring about change. (Photo: Maria Dryfhout | Dreamstime.com)

In the U.S. there are elections because of our Constitution. There is political bantering over everything, including whether the U.S. is much of a democracy or not. But, make no mistake, starting from the Declaration of Independence, when Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed,” the vote has always been important, and who, what, when, where, why, and how people vote has always been controversial.

There is no shortage of questions about electoral politics. Speaking with a friend recently I heard about a plot to steal the election by allowing immigrants to vote. It struck me that such claims are both unremarkable (complaints about immigrants and illegal immigrants voting being commonplace, with Trump and others making them since 2016) and ignorant of history. Alien suffrage — the voting of noncitizens — was the norm for most of the country for a long time, even predating the establishment of the U.S. It was common practice from 1704 to 1926 (when it was banned state-by-state) and was not explicitly prohibited by U.S. law until the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. It was not addressed in the U.S. Constitution. State laws for non-federal elections still vary, and there are states where aliens can vote for local and state offices and referenda.

Recent cases about whether states can remove Trump from the ballot are another example. Just as electoral politics changed in the 1920s, after World War I, politics changed following the Civil War. The current arguments being made to keep Trump off the ballot use rules put in place to prevent leaders of the Confederacy from attempting to return to elected office or hold power in the public trust. They could not be trusted to honor sworn oaths.

It is not some liberal conspiracy: six Colorado voters — four Republicans and two unaffiliated — brought the lawsuit. The lead plaintiff was 91-year-old Republican Norma Anderson, who says, “Our democracy is too precious to let a Donald Trump be president and destroy it.” It is easy to forget that the case Trump v. Anderson was a test of legal principles. Does the Constitution (the 14th Amendment, Section 3 in this case) mean what it appears to say, or can legal experts manipulate the language and obfuscate it out of practical application?

The challenge is real. On the one hand we have legal requirements that must balance competing values and principles. On the other we have clear interests and desires, and people regularly disagree about what they want. Ideally, we would be able to trust in due process, but the Supreme Court is now stacked. A quick review of cases like Dred Scott v. Sandford, Bowers v. Hardwick, Plessy v. Ferguson, Buck v. Bell, and Korematsu v. United States showcases the appalling willingness of the Supreme Court to allow the prejudicial restriction of rights and freedoms, depending upon the makeup of the court at those times.

Why should anyone expect fair judicial review from justices who’ve lied about things like reproductive rights?

The presidential election is a practice unlike any other. Candidates ultimately compete for electors in an electoral college — which means the candidate who wins the popular national vote may not win the election (e.g., Hillary Clinton beating Trump in 2016 by some 2.8 million votes but losing the Electoral College vote, plus four others who lost the popular vote but won an election thanks to the Electoral College: John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, and George W. Bush). In most of the rest of our democracy, we have a principle of equality; Reynolds v. Sims held that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment includes “one-person, one-vote.” But the president is not chosen by the popular vote; George W. Bush and Donald Trump both lost the popular vote but managed to become president.

More and more I wonder whose votes count? If you rate voter importance by the attention candidates give them, for example, you discover a hyper-focus on swing states. It is easy to track campaign stops and advertising spending, and it makes sense that candidates spend their time trying to earn the votes of voters that will make the most difference. It is predictable: the closer the polling, the more attention the geography will receive. But safe states receive no campaign attention at all (in 2020 there were 33 safe states).

It is winner-take-all, and it is good to be a winner. I just fear that this all further drives the polarization that is tearing our social fabric apart.

There are many voicing legitimate grievances and fears over a candidate who has declared an interest in being a dictator. It is worth remembering that when We the People disagree, we can petition the government and force change. If we decide that we want all our votes counted, we can demand suffrage. If we decide we want all our votes counted equally, we can demand an end to the Electoral College. If we want to keep insurrectionists off the ballot, we can demand Congress enforce the Fourteenth Amendment.

People power will always win. But it has to be exercised, not simply left on the table for others to grab.

Wim Laven, Ph.D., syndicated by PeaceVoice, teaches courses in political science and conflict resolution.

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Opinion The Last Word

Can Elections Heal Rather Than Divide?

Looking past right-left divisions (Photo: Djama86 | Dreamstime.com)

“Elections, when done right, are tens of millions of tiny healing moments.”

I read that line on my LinkedIn feed and immediately stopped scrolling. I’ve been dreading 2024 for several years, in fear of the increasing division in our country.

But what if we flip that narrative? What if we look upon 2024 as an opportunity to change our national dynamics, deliberately using the coming months to create American connection?

It’s possible. Research shows that we are so divided into our tribes that we don’t really know each other. One study found Republicans believed 30 percent of Democrats are atheist or agnostic. The reality? Only 8 percent of Democrats identified that way. Democrats believed that 38 percent of Republicans earn more than $250,000. The facts? Only 2 percent did.

There’s a lot more common ground than we think. We need to get to know each other again. Understanding our neurobiology helps. We are hardwired to sense a threat if we feel isolated, looked down on, or treated unfairly. We shut down or lash out — not great for our communities.

Fortunately, we also are hardwired to thrive when we feel connected, respected, and treated fairly. We feel safe and open to collaboration and creative thinking.

How can we deliberately use this election year to reduce our sense of threat and increase our feeling of connection and community?

As individuals, we can get curious about this amazing country of ours. How do other Americans arrive at their points of view on issues and candidates? Ask, “What experiences have led you to that belief?” and see how well you can listen to learn. You’ll probably find the other person is more complicated than you expected, and they will do the same with you. You just might have more in common than you thought.

There are also things we can do at the community level to foster a sense of belonging and fairness.

• Organize small events or initiatives that bring different sorts of people together in your community. Perhaps a food drive to help those in need or a park clean-up day as spring comes. Add some socializing time to an event that is already planned — like bringing drinks and snacks to a PTA meeting. Nurturing community works with our neurobiology, making us feel safer and more connected.

• Hold community leaders to high standards. Urge your local candidates to pledge publicly to “keep it clean,” treating each other and voters with respect and not using hateful or divisive speech. Expecting better election talk from leaders is key to creating the communities we want for our families.

• Support our wonderfully robust American civic culture. Can you talk with others about the importance of voting, particularly to young people? Can you join a nonpartisan registration drive, such as those run by the League of Women Voters? Can you offer rides to the polls? Can you be a poll worker? All of these serve the connection and fairness needs we have, enabling our communities to thrive.

Our elections are ours to control. We can make them healing rather than hurtful. We have the tools and we have time. What can we do, starting now?

Melinda Burrell, PhD, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is a former humanitarian aid worker and now trains on the neuroscience of communication and conflict. She is vice-chair of the National Association for Community Mediation, which offers resources for community approaches to difficult issues.