Tag: Black Lives Matter

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News News Blog

Memphis Branding Agency Behind “Blue Lives Matter” Billboard Message

Two “Blue Lives Matter” billboards went up in Memphis in September — one at I-240 and I-40 and another at Getwell and I-240 — and now the boards are popping up in cities across the country.

“The last numbers that I’ve heard is that there were 300 boards up around the country in at least 20 states and 30 metro markets,” said Trace Hallowell, the creative director for Tactical Magic, the Memphis-based branding agency behind the message.

It all started last spring when an anonymous person contacted Tactical Magic asking if they could create a pro-police message. Hallowell said they worked on the campaign pro bono and came up with two billboard messages — “Memphis Honors the Blues” and “Memphis Heroes Wear Blue.” The anonymous person managed to get Louisiana-based Lamar Advertising to put the message on two billboards in Memphis.

“Over the summer, I became quite provoked by a string of incidents where law enforcement people were singled out for assassination apparently just because of their uniforms. I’m distressed over law enforcement abuses, too. But as a human rights issue, it bothered me terribly,” Hallowell said. “And there are certain sectors of society that were celebrating that. I thought, we need to have a message out there to just affirm the humanity of the men and women who wear uniforms. So I called [the anonymous person] up and said, how about we extend the campaign with this topical message of ‘Blue Lives Matter’?”

The person agreed, and the message went up on billboards here last month. And then, Lamar Advertising began putting the message up in other markets, including Toledo, Ohio; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Hartford, Connecticut.

The billboards feature a hashtag — #thankublu — at the bottom of the board, and it’s generated both positive and negative responses on Twitter. Some supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement have spoken out against Blue Lives Matter or All Lives Matter messaging, claiming those phrases diminish the original intention of the “Black Lives Matter” message, which came about after a string of incidents involving white officers killing unarmed black men in Ferguson, Missouri; New York City; Cleveland, Ohio; and other cities.

One recent tweet from Stephen Matlock (@stephenmatlock) reads: “As long as police officers can get away with murdering children like #TamirRice, I’m not inclined to say #thankublu.” Another from Clayton Seager (@ClaytonSeager) reads: “#thankublu is so disrespectful towards #BlackLivesMatter I’m disappointed in this country.”

But some of the tweets are positive, and Hallowell says he’s gotten more encouraging feedback than negative feedback.

“This isn’t a competing entity [with Black Lives Matter]. It’s just a message meant to contribute to the cultural conversation in a moment in time when it seemed to be called for. Some people have posted some pretty hateful things, but most of it has been touching and positive,” Hallowell said. “At least 99 percent of our response so far has been really positive, so focusing on the negative might be misleading. Some people have said, ‘This meant a lot to me. I went through a bad shift today. I had to arrive on a scene with a dead infant, and I was feeling terrible, and on the way back, I saw this for the first time.'” 

Memphis has seen its own share of police killings lately. On August 1st, Memphis Police Officer Sean Bolton was shot eight times while conducting a traffic stop near Cottonwood and Perkins in Parkway Village. 

Tremaine Wilbourn, 29, has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of Bolton, who was 33. Wilbourn was a passenger in a car that was stopped on the side of the road when Bolton pulled over to check on the car. Police believe Bolton may have interrupted a drug transaction. A struggle ensued between Bolton and Wilborn, and Bolton was shot multiple times. Police searched the vehicle Wilbourn was riding in later and found almost two grams of pot. 

On October 4th, Memphis Police Officer Terence Oldridge was shot and killed in his driveway in Cordova. His neighbor Lorenzo Clark was arrested for being a felon in possession of a handgun in connection with the shooting. But Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong has said they don’t yet have enough evidence to charge Clark with murder since they haven’t determined who shot first. Oldridge’s weapon had apparently also been fired.

Memphis has also had a recent case of a white officer killing an unarmed black teen. On July 17th, Darrius Stewart was shot and killed by Memphis Police Officer Conor Schilling after the car Stewart was a passenger in was pulled over for having a headlight out. Stewart was placed in the back of a squad car after the traffic stop while Schilling checked for warrants. The police account of what happened says that, when Schilling opened the squad car to handcuff Stewart, the man kicked the door and tried to attack the officer. Shortly after the warrant check, police reported that Stewart had been shot and an ambulance was called for. Stewart later died at the Regional Medical Center. 

District Attorney Amy Weirich has received the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s report on the incident, but she has yet to make a decision as to whether or not Schilling will be charged with homicide.

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Art Exhibit M

A Die-In at the Brooks Museum

CREDIT: Andrea Morales

Andrea Morales

Memphis Arts Brigade protestors at the Brooks Museum

This past Wednesday, a collective known as The Memphis Arts Brigade staged a die-in at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art during a mayoral candidate meet and greet, hosted by the museum and ArtsMemphis. An hour into the candidate event, a member of the Brigade who was costumed as a police officer grabbed the mic and shouted, “Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!” Twenty-four protestors then fell to the ground, covering their bodies with signs bearing the names of each of the 24 people killed by Memphis police in the past five years. 

The protest comes on the heel of local actions surrounding the death of Darrius Stewart, an unarmed 19-year-old Memphis man who was shot and killed by police officer Connor Schilling in July. 

Paul Garner, one of the protest’s organizers, said, “We were at the mixer to use performance and art as a way to direct the conversation to include police accountability and police violence.” Garner also said that reactions to the protest were mixed: “The performance was met with applause, but that faded quickly and people went back to schmoozing. There were people stepping over people to get cheese and crackers. There were some who appreciated the message and others who didn’t understand.” 

A die-in calls for protesters to lie prostrate on the ground as if dead. The form of protest gained popularity during the Iraq war and has recently become one of the most visible symbols of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Brooks Director Emily Neff commented, “Art museums like the Brooks are a great and safe place for conversations to be happening about contemporary social, cultural, and political issues.”

The Memphis Arts Brigade said that, though they don’t usually announce their actions beforehand, they have more protests planned for the near future. 

Memphis Arts Brigade

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said (June 25, 2015) …

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Susan Wilson’s Last Word column, “Fashion Backward” …

This was fabulous! As a mother of three (yes, three!) teenagers who wouldn’t know a fashion statement if it hit her, I can completely relate.

Jen W.

Oh puhlease. I shopped at Banana Republic plenty when I was a size 12 and pushing 14. Some of the employees were bigger than me. They don’t shun bigger gals.

Nobody

Nobody: It’s called humor — H-U-M-O-R — something you seem to be lacking.

Pamela Cates

I find it best to wear anything that does not attract harpoons.

Crackoamerican

About Toby Sells’ cover story, “Embracing the Big Muddy” …

Wow, what a great issue, especially the wonderful story and pictures about Toby Sells’ paddle down the Mighty Mississippi. Seriously, it motivated me. I’m going to go buy a kayak this weekend and get out there and explore our “Himalayas.” Or at least our sandbars.

Darren

The moniker “Big Muddy” belongs to the Missouri River (the 150-odd mile Big Muddy River of Illinois notwithstanding).

C.L. Hartsfield

About Les Smith’s column, “Passing for Black” …

I think Rachel Dolezal is an opportunist. If two percent of the population in her city is black, are her job opportunities better in the two-percent pool or the 98-percent pool, especially considering hiring quotas?

She is also wacky, given the staged acts of discrimination she alleged. But she also said she was (part) Native American — which her parents deny. She said she felt isolated and unwelcome in “white” Mississippi, which is probably 50 percent black. But she obviously felt comfortable in Spokane’s 98 percent white population, since she’s lived there for 10 years.

Jenna C’est Quoi

She appears to be a nutjob. Aside from the comic relief value and perhaps more reflection on birth privilege, this story should have faded long ago.

Carbon-based

Les Smith makes more sense on this subject than all of the national “talking heads” put together. Memphis is so fortunate he shares his voice with us in the Flyer.

Mark Jones

About Wendi C. Thomas’ column, “Black Lives Matter” …

There are variations on the “do these three things to escape poverty” theme that have been around for years, but they all include a version of this:

1. Finish high school (at a minimum).

2. Wait until age 20 to have children.

3. Marry before you have any children.

I certainly agree that all those government-supplied things make folks a lot more comfortable. The issue is: Have we gone too far, and instead of helping people out of poverty, have we just made them comfortable enough that they choose to stay in it? I am not at all sure I believe every poor person wants to escape. Or maybe they would like to escape, but escaping takes more effort than they are willing to give.

Arlington Pop

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter From the Editor, “Strike Up the Brand” …

Re Chris Christie: Body shaming? Really? Good thing no one around here is fat.

Frank in Midtown

So tell me which socio-political group has PC policies related to “body shaming.” I’m perfectly okay with it, but it’s always good to know who considers you to be a boor and whether it matters. If I must look at a candidate whose politics I dislike, I prefer that he at least goes easy on my eyes. It’s not like any of them has an intellectually taxing or time-intensive job that precludes spending some time working out.

A handsome nitwit could replace almost any of them. And for a few, that would be redundant.

Brunetto Latini

Categories
News News Feature

Black Lives Matter

If racial stereotypes and misconceptions about urban violence had a baby, it would look like the billboard that black businessman Fred Davis erected over his insurance office last month. It reads: “Black lives matter. So let’s quit killing each other.”

Davis insists he’s not mocking the Black Lives Matter movement, which was born in 2013 after neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teen.

With each extrajudicial killing of an unarmed black man, woman, or child by white officers, the slogan gained traction, growing into an indictment of structural inequality that accounts for poorer outcomes for African Americans in every measurable way.

“Black folk should be reminding white folks all the time that black lives matter and [to] stop the legal lynching,” said Davis, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis. But, he added, “all over the country, we are marching and saying that black lives matter, and black people didn’t get the message. Why aren’t Chinese killing Chinese in large numbers or Italians killing Italians in large numbers?”

Because Davis is 81, he can be forgiven for equating nationalities — such as Chinese and Italian — with races. But he does not get a pass for perpetuating the lie that blacks are inherently criminal, and, therefore, fundamentally inferior, so much so that they need to be reminded that homicide is bad.

Although the myth of “black on black crime” has been thoroughly debunked, it’s worth noting yet again that homicide is a function of proximity.

In segregated areas (read: every big city in America), it follows that the victim and assailant will be of the same race. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, most homicides are intraracial: Ninety-four percent of black homicide victims were killed by black people, and 86 percent of white homicide victims were killed by white people.

Davis presupposes that black Memphians are unmoved by murder. This surely comes as news to the dozens of anti-crime, anti-gang, anti-violence organizations in Memphis, including FFUN (Freedom From Unnecessary Negatives), founded by Stevie Moore, a black man whose black son was killed by a black man.

Critiques of urban violence almost always ignore the problem of easy access to guns, which are used in 92 percent of gang-related homicides and 68 percent of all homicides. Countries that have stricter gun laws have fewer homicides, but there’s no political will in the United States to adopt even modest gun control measures.

Sadly, Davis conflates police brutality — implicitly sanctioned by the state, funded by taxpayers and rarely punished — with violence committed by individuals. This isn’t the first time Davis has been guilty of respectability politics, which glosses over systemic failures to instead chastise people.

Two years ago, he put up a billboard that read: “Show your mind, not your behind.” The sign juxtaposed a photo of a black man wearing a cap and gown with a photo of a black man wearing pants that dipped below his waist. 

I wrote then: “Black men could cinch their pants around their necks and the systemic bias against African Americans would still remain.”

“I was given an award by the Church of God in Christ for that,” Davis said proudly. He reminded me that his philanthropic endeavors include a scholarship fund at Manassas High, a program that helps ex-offenders get jobs, and his role as a founding board member of Christ Community Health Center, which provides health care to low-income Memphians.

But what he doesn’t explore are the reasons why Manassas’ virtually all-black student body needs financial help to go to college. He doesn’t denounce the prison industrial complex that disproportionately sucks black men into its clutches. He has no public criticism of the legislature’s refusal to expand health-care access for low-income Tennesseans.

The cure for urban violence is complicated. It demands good jobs that pay enough to make illegal means of making money unattractive and not worth the risk.

It requires public investment in neighborhoods of color so that children can find a safe haven in libraries and community centers.

It calls for an end to mass incarceration, which strips communities of fathers and stability and has not been proven to make neighborhoods safer.

The solution doesn’t lend itself to slogans, and it certainly won’t fit on a billboard.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Panel Fuels Discussion on Economics, Race

CREDIT: Alexandra Pusateri

Not many panels at the University of Memphis have a security guard at the door, but apparently someone at the university thought a panel discussion on the Black Lives Matter and Show Me $15 movements warranted the extra measure.

The panel last week was the second stop on what is being called the “Freedom Tour,” a collaboration between the two movements to reach out to students on college campuses. The security officer’s services weren’t needed, as the panel remained peaceful.

“Economic oppression is very much a part of the physical violence, the structural violence, that happens to and against black people, both interracially and through state violence,” said Zandria Robinson, a sociology professor at the University of Memphis and facilitator of the event.

Alexandra Pusateri

Black Lives Matter/Show Me $15 panel

The Black Lives Matter movement rose from the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, last year. The unarmed Brown was fatally shot by police, spurring a national debate about excessive police force and racial profiling, as well as an examination of the relationship between law enforcement and people of color. Protests were sparked across the country, demanding police accountability as well as demilitarization of local police.

The Show Me $15 movement emerged from fast-food industry workers in late 2012 but has grown into a nationwide movement to raise the minimum wage, encompassing other industries, including home health care and airport workers. Strikes, rallies, and sit-ins have occurred across the country — nearly 200 cities participated in protests in December.

Jeanina Jenkins, a representative of the Black Lives Matter movement from Ferguson, said the issues of the two movements intertwine. Before she got involved with organizing, she was a fast-food worker.

“It just confused me, how the system works — bring more police into the neighborhoods instead of bringing more jobs in,” Jenkins said. “You’re basically trying to come into the neighborhood like it’s a problem. The reason there’s violence is because we need jobs. We need living-wage jobs that pay $15 [an hour], and we need unions so they can protect us.”

In 1978, the federal minimum wage was set at $2.65 an hour. That minimum wage would be equivalent to $10.02 an hour today, but the current federal minimum wage is still $7.25 an hour — last raised in 2009. Some states have instituted a higher minimum wage, but for states like Tennessee, workers depend on the federal minimum.

“This is why crime is occurring in our city, in our country,” said Sha’Ona Coleman, a panelist and organizer with Shut It Down Memphis. “So many black and brown individuals are getting caught up in the cycle. That’s why we’re demanding $15 an hour, so that this won’t happen. We can cut all of this out in the next two generations if we were to get $15 an hour. We work just as hard as anyone else.”

Panelist Christopher Smith, organizer and Church’s Chicken employee, got involved with Show Me $15 and, once his employer found out, his hours were cut, restricting his income even further.

“I grew up in South Memphis. I sold drugs,” Smith said. “I’ve been through it all. I’m trying to make a change. I’m working every day and working hard, and I feel I deserve more. I’ve been working at Church’s Chicken for three years, and I’ve only gotten a 10-cent raise.”

Organizers asked the audience to join them on April 15th for a rally in Ferguson, which they hope will be the largest so far.