Tag: Tami Sawyer

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Film Features Film/TV

Now Playing Aug. 23-29: Environmental Justice and Zoe Kravitz

Blink Twice

Summer blockbuster season is winding down, but that doesn’t mean you’re at a loss of things to watch this weekend. Let’s get to it.

Underwater Projects

Tonight, Friday August 23, a very special screening is happening at the National Civil Rights Museum. Underwater Projects is a film sponsored by the Hip Hop Caucus about the Norfolk, Virginia, area’s problems with climate change and the impacts on the historically disadvantaged Black population around the world’s largest naval base. The event will include a panel discussion and Q& A with Rep. Justin J. Pearson, newly elected Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk Tami Sawyer, Councilwoman Dr. Michalyn Easter-Thomas, Founder and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., and the Hip Hop Caucus’ COO Liz Havestad. You can register for the event at Eventbrite.

Sing Sing

Coleman Domingo stars as John “Divine G” Whitfield, an inmate at New York’s infamous Sing Sing prison, who starts a theater program for his fellow incarcerated people. The program has an unexpected effect on the prisoners, giving them a new outlook on life and inspiring them to mount their own original production, Breakin’ The Mummy’s Code. Writer/director Greg Kwedar’s film is based on a true story and stars several people who were actually members of Sing Sing’s theater troupe. 

Blink Twice

Zoe Kravitz makes her directorial debut with this psychological thriller. Naomi Ackie stars as Frida, a waitress in a high-end cocktail bar who hooks up with a billionaire tech mogul, played by Channing Tatum. But when he invites her and her bestie (Adria Arjona) to a week-long party at his private island, things start to get weird. Christian Slater, Haley Joel Osment, Alia Shakat, Geena Davis, and the great Kyle MacLauchlin round out the packed cast. 

The Crow

After 16 years of development hell, director Rupert Sanders’ adaptation of the seminal ‘90s gothic comic book finally hits the big screen. Bill Skarsgard stars as Eric, a rocker who dies defending his fiancee Shelly (FKA Twigs) from attackers sent by Vincent (Danny Huston). Then, he is resurrected by the god Kronos (Sami Bouajila), who sets him on a mission of revenge and justice. 

Made In England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger

If you watch The Red Shoes or A Matter of Life and Death (aka Stairway to Heaven) and think, “Wow, they don’t make ’em like that any more!”, well, you’re right! The partnership of British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger managed to create some of the most indelible images of the postwar period — the truth is nobody made ’em like that! Their relentless creativity was a big influence on Martin Scorsese, who narrates this documentary about the directing duo which will screen at Crosstown Theater on Thursday, August 29 at 7 pm.

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Politics Politics Beat Blog

Tami Sawyer Gets Backup

Tami Sawyer and friends. Photo by Jackson Baker.

As the August 1st phase of the 2024 election turned into its final week, Tami Sawyer, the Democratic nominee for General Sessions Court Clerk, did not enter it by herself.

At a press conference held on the grounds of Anointed Temple of Praise on Riverdale Road, Sawyer was joined by an impressive roster of leading Democratic Party figures — including state party chair Hendrell Remus from Nashville, Shelby County Democratic chair Lexie Carter, State Representative Justin J. Pearson, Germantown Democrats president Jeff Ethridge, and numerous others.

The clerk’s race, on the county general part of the ballot, is basically the only direct test of party candidates on August 1st, and members of the group Wednesday — along with Sawyer herself  — were at pains to make the point that it was not a matter of indifference who gets elected to what is not generally thought as a policy position. The Republican nominee for clerk is Lisa Arnold.

Sawyer noted that the presidential hopes of Kamala Harris, who would be the first woman of color to be elected president, carried important symbolic impact. So, she suggested, would the election of herself, as a well-known activist and as a black woman and a Democrat, to a local post of more than usual import and visibility.

Sawyer and her supporters had worried all morning about a forecast of possible rain, and they had erected a tent on the grounds just in case, As things turned out, it wasn’t needed. The first drop, and it was a light one at that, didn’t fall until the press conference was concluded.

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News News Blog News Feature

Users Report Ticket Invalidation Prior to Kyle Rittenhouse’s Appearance at U of M

Kyle Rittenhouse via X

Those who reserved tickets to Kyle Rittenhouse’s “Rittenhouse Recap” tonight at the University of Memphis are reportedly having to re-reserve their free tickets.

Several people took to social media to show that they received emails from Turning Point USA that their tickets had been invalidated. In an email shared to X by Tami Sawyer, event organizers said, “Due to the University’s stringent ticketing requirements, your ticket to tonight’s event featuring Kyle Rittenhouse is unfortunately no longer valid.”

While those who reserved tickets were notified that a new link would be made available at 9 a.m., many expressed they believed this was a tactic to disparage the “empty auditorium” protest, as many reserved tickets with no intention of actually going.

The new ticketing process is through the university’s official ticketing site which requires users to create an account or log in. The site shows that the event is being held by the student group Turning Point USA at the University of Memphis and that Rittenhouse will be “sharing his side of the story.”

“Rittenhouse is an advocate for our Second Amendment in the constitution,” the page reads. “He was proven innocent in trial. He was attacked, he defended himself and he was acquitted. Now he plans to share his story for all to hear his point of view aside from how the media framed him.”

Sawyer took to other social media outlets to share her frustration with the university as she said it seems as if “they’ve dug in their heels.”

“Is the University protecting Rittenhouse from the planned empty theatre?” Sawyer asked on Instagram. “Remember how folks urged everyone to ‘stop complaining, just buy a ticket and don’t go.’ The students did that. Now this.”

The university has repeatedly stated that they are not sponsoring the event, as it’s being held by a registered student group (Memphis TPUSA). They also said that under the First Amendment and Tennessee’s Campus Free Speech Act, they cannot “legally prohibit such events from being hosted by a registered student organization.”`

In an email obtained by the Flyer addressed to students, university officials said they heard the concerns from the campus community regarding the event and they understand them; however, they must uphold the principles of free speech as a public institution. 

They also said that the “expression of differing ideas and opinions plays an important role in maintaining a diverse campus environment that is open and inclusive.”

“It is essential that these discussions take place while maintaining a safe environment on our campus,” the university said in the letter. “Speech that includes threats, harassment or attempts to incite violence is not protected under the First Amendment and is strongly prohibited by the University.”

The event is still scheduled for tonight, Wednesday, March 20th at 7 p.m. at the UC Theatre.

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Politics Politics Feature

Snapshots of the Moment

Photo: Representative John Gillespie | Facebook John Gillespie

John Gillespie, the Republican incumbent in state House District 97, has kept a relatively moderate profile in the two terms he’s served since winning his seat over Democrat Gabby Salinas in 2020, focusing on non-ideological matters like drag-racing bans and deviating from GOP orthodoxy on gun legislation.

But all that may be changing. Gillespie is now following the lead of the House Republican leadership and another Shelby County GOPer, state Senator Brent Taylor, in sponsoring hard-line crime legislation destined to strip away local law-enforcement prerogatives.

A controversy arose last week after a cell phone video was circulated of a conversation in Nashville in which Gillespie appeared to be assuring the visiting parents of the late Tyre Nichols that he would hold up on seeking an immediate vote on his bill to nullify city council restrictions on the kind of preemptive traffic stops that would end in the savage beating death of young Nichols by MPD officers who are now facing trial for murder.

Instead, Gillespie put the bill on the floor for a relatively quick party-line passage.

The incident may loom large in this year’s legislative elections, in which Gillespie will be opposed by businessman Jesse Huseth, a Democrat who has already released a statement deploring Gillespie’s conduct of the matter.

• Tami Sawyer, recent winner of the Democratic nomination for General Sessions Court clerk, is keeping her activist’s hand in, blogging her discontent with both a pending appearance at the University of Memphis by Kyle Rittenhouse, the youth acquitted of killing two people at a Kenosha, Wisconsin, protest event, and Rep. Gillespie’s short-circuiting whatever commitment he may have given on rolling his bill.

• A hat tip to my daughter Julia Baker of The Daily Memphian for noting that the aforementioned Brent Taylor, notorious for his constant verbal and legislative targeting of local DA Steve Mulroy, is on the same page as Mulroy regarding the need for a new crime lab in Memphis.

• Veteran watchers of presidential State of the Union addresses over the years are used to seeing 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen ready on or near the aisle for banter or conversation as the president — of whatever year or whatever party, for that matter — is either headed to the podium or finishing up afterward and headed out.

Those aisle seats have to be staked out well in advance, and Cohen, using staffers early on to help hold down a place, is something of a master of the art.

Sometimes he shares local artifacts with the passing chief executive. In 2008, he was seen on national television handing George W. Bush a University of Memphis booster’s cap to be autographed. Watching at home, then Tiger basketball coach John Calipari saw it all and later got in touch with Cohen, putting in a bid for the cap and pledging to get it into the U of M Sports Hall of Fame. Cohen turned it over, but the cap never made it to its intended destination. Not long afterward, Coach Cal — cap presumably in tow — decamped to the University of Kentucky.

Always Cohen manages to have something to say. Last Thursday night, he caught Biden going in and took the time to encourage the president to pitch his remarks to the Democratic side of the assembled audience of lawmakers and to give the Republicans hell. Presumably Biden already had that strategy in mind. In any case, that’s what happened.

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Politics Politics Beat Blog

Sawyer Leads in Clerk Voting

Tami Sawyer (Photo: Courtesy Tami Sawyer)

To no one’s surprise, the favored presidential candidates of both political parties dominated in local Super Tuesday voting, while Shelby County is destined to have a new General Sessions Court clerk.

County Democrats nominated longtime activist Tami Sawyer for clerk. Sawyer finished with a 2,000-vote edge over incumbent Joe Brown (12,182 to 10,157) and easily out-pointed Shelandra Ford (3,454) and Rheunte E. Benson (2,683)

The Republican nominee for clerk is Lisa Arnold, who was unopposed with 19,397 votes.

Sawyer, who will be heavily favored, and Arnold will vie in the county general election on August 1st, the date also of primaries for state and federal positions.

It was no contest for Donald Trump in local GOP presidential-preference voting. The former president out-polled his only active opponent, Nikki Haley (12,204 to 4,961), in Congressional District 8, and 9,020 to 3,095 in District 9.

President Joe Biden won 27,286 votes to 1,491 for uncommitted in the two districts.

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Politics Politics Feature

Election Time Again?

Tami Sawyer (Photo: Courtesy Tami Sawyer)

Yep, another election is coming up, and this one, a primary election scheduled for Tuesday, March 5th, involves just two offices — one of them being the presidency of the United States, the other being the clerkship of Shelby County’s General Sessions Court. (Note, early voting has already begun and ends on February 27th.)

Where the presidential primaries are concerned, there is not much suspense. Those voters selecting a Republican ballot will have eight choices, and that old saw about the value of a name being high up on the ballot list can safely be discarded.

Of the eight available GOP alternatives, one Donald J. Trump is last on the list. Those preceding the former president, in alphabetical order, are Ryan Binkley, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Asa Hutchinson, Vivek Ramaswamy, and David Stuckenberg.

Of these, only Haley, a former UN ambassador and the ex-governor of South Carolina, is still an active candidate opposing Trump, and she may be the only person in America or anywhere else who believes she has a ghost of a chance.

(It’s not against the law to believe in ghosts, but it’s certainly against the oddsboard.)

On the Democratic primary ballot, there is only one name — that of the incumbent president, Joe Biden.

Of course, voters who don’t cotton to the idea of a Biden-Trump repeat in the November 5th general election are free to fantasize and write in whomever they please on whichever ballot they choose.

Now, for the General Sessions clerk’s race: The two party candidates selected on March 5th will vie for the position in a general election on Thursday, August 8th. The same date holds for various elections in the county’s suburban municipalities and for primaries for state and federal positions on the November ballot.

Lisa Arnold, a former employee with the clerk’s office, is the only Republican on the March 5th GOP ballot, while Democratic voters have four candidates to choose from.

The Democrats are: Rheunte Benson, who is currently serving as criminal administrator with the clerk’s office and is making her second race for the clerk’s position, having run for it four years ago; Shelandra Ford, who served as Shelby County register of deeds from 2018-22 and was defeated in a reelection bid for that office four years ago by current register Willie Brooks; Joe Brown, the incumbent Criminal Court clerk, who previously served several terms as a member of the city council and who won out in a crowded primary for the clerk’s office four years ago.

And there is Tami Sawyer, the former activiste par excellence, county commissioner, and 2019 candidate for mayor. This is not the same Tami Sawyer who could “not wait” to seek the city’s highest office in what seems, in retrospect, to have been a premature move.

This is a new Sawyer, inclusive rather than confrontational, a solid organizer, and backed by an impressive chorus of Establishment Democrats while maintaining her woke base.

Her main obstacle to election might be the ritual name-ID advantages of opponents Ford (not a member of the well-known political clan but possessor of the same surname) and Brown (whose election in the first place was probably due to voters’ familiarity with his TV-judge namesake).

Sawyer is, in any case, widely regarded as the favorite, and she is expected, if elected, to use the new perch not as a sinecure but as the springboard for further political action.

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Politics Politics Feature

In the Picture

Michelle McKissack (Photo: Michelle McKissack | Facebook)

As was teased in this space last week, second-quarter financial disclosures of the Memphis mayoral candidates were expected to come due. And they did, roughly a day after last week’s issue went to print.

The contents of the disclosures have since been bruited about here and there and have been subjected to analysis. In many — perhaps most — ways, the numbers conform to advance expectations. The leaders now, in the vital metric of cash on hand, are the same two who led the field in first-quarter disclosures in January: Downtown Memphis Commission CEO Paul Young, with $432,434.97 cash on hand, and Sheriff Floyd Bonner, with $404,139.12.

Local NAACP president Van Turner was still very much in the game, with $154,633.46, as was the largely self-funding developer J.W. Gibson, with $254,015.55.

The real surprise was former Memphis-Shelby County Schools board chair Michelle McKissack, who raised $101,712.95 — in less than two months of a declared candidacy, she notes — and has $79,164.95 on hand.

Clearly, McKissack has some catching up to do but justly takes pride in her results, given her relatively late start. She and the other candidates have some time, given that candidate petitions cannot even be drawn until May 22nd. Election day is October 5th, some five months away.

In a video tweet last week, McKissack alleged about some of the media coverage that “there are those in the city who don’t want to acknowledge that it’s actually possible for a woman to be mayor of Memphis.” She focused on an unnamed article “that really touted, just, you know, highlighting the men in this race.”

Both the point of view and even some of the language in McKissack’s tweet were reminiscent of attitudes expressed by former female candidates for mayor — notably Carol Chumney, now a Circuit Court Judge, who ran for Memphis mayor twice, finishing a competitive second place to incumbent Willie Herenton in a three-way race in 2007.

Herenton, out of office now for 14 years, is a candidate again for his former office, where he served for 17 years. He and others — including City Councilman Frank Colvett, state House minority leader Karen Camper, former County Commissioner James Harvey, and former TV judge Joe Brown — will doubtless make some waves, one way or another.

Tami Sawyer (Photo: Tami Sawyer | Facebook)

• Another former mayoral candidate, Tami Sawyer, who had a singularly devoted following for her reform platform in 2019, is back on the scene after a work sojourn for Amazon in both D.C. and California. She tweeted, “Yes, I’m back in Memphis for good … I am not running for office in 2023. But y’all gonna still see me deep in this work.”

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News News Feature

Abortion Rights Supporters March in Downtown Memphis

Abortion rights supporters march on Beale Street on May 14, 2022. (photo by Chris McCoy)

Hundreds gathered in the hot sun to rally in support of abortion rights on Saturday in Downtown Memphis. The crowd was protesting the anticipated U.S. Supreme Court decision that would reverse the 50-year precedent of Roe v. Wade, the decision which affirmed women’s Constitutional right to abortion via their right to privacy.

A Planned Parenthood of Memphis and North Mississippi official declined to estimate how many attended the Bans Off Tennessee protest, beyond noting more than 1,200 had signed up for the event through the organization’s online organizing portal. The rally crowd spilled out of Ida B. Wells Plaza, dwarfing the dozen or so Proud Boys counter-protesters, who flashed white supremacist hand signs at the line of feminist protestors facing them across Beale Street.

A Proud Boy flashes a white power hand sign at abortion rights protestors. (photo by Chris McCoy)

Among the speakers at the hour-long rally were Tennessee House Representative London Lamar, scientist and Shelby County Democratic Party chairwoman Gabby Salinas, Planned Parenthood organizers Antoine Dandridge and Aerris Newton, Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer, and candidate for Tennessee State Senate Ruby Powell Dennis.

Planned Parenthood organizer Aerris Newton speaks next to the statue of Ida B. Wells. (photo by Chris McCoy)

After the rally, most of the attendees braved the heat to march down Beale Street, where tourists and revelers watched and took pictures of the throng. At one point, a street singer incorporated the marchers’ chant “My body, my choice” into a blues song.

Abortion rights protestors march down Beale Street. (photo by Chris McCoy)
A spectator applauds the marchers on Beale Street. (photo by Chris McCoy)

The marchers turned onto Main Street, where their chants of “No justice, no peace” echoed through the urban canyons. While taking pictures of the crowd, this reporter almost ran over Congressman Steve Cohen of Memphis, who was cheering on the marchers from the south sidewalk.

Abortion rights protestors march past the Orpheum in Downtown Memphis. (photo by Chris McCoy)

By this time, the tiny counter-protest had melted away. Beyond the occasional thumbs-down along the route, there were few signs of dissent from the marchers message in support of women’s rights to make their own reproductive health decisions.

Abortion rights protestors arrive at the National Civil Rights Museum. (photo by Chris McCoy)

The energized crowd arrived for a second rally at the National Civil Rights Museum, where organizer Newton led chants. Cohen thanked the marchers for braving the heat and told the crowd he was with them “one million percent.” Volunteers handed out water bottles as the protesters mixed about, sharing their stories of experiences with abortion and their personal awakening to the cause. No violence or arrests were observed.

Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) rallies the crowd at the National Civil Rights Museum. (photo by Chris McCoy)
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Politics Politics Feature

The County Commission’s New Map

Source: Shelby County Government

Although various rules of parliamentary order caused Monday’s special called meeting of the Shelby County Commission to open by fits and starts, the needed result, a final vote on commission redistricting, was achieved with relative dispatch. But that was after — in order — a commission meeting, an adjournment, a meeting of the general government committee, another adjournment, and a final commission meeting.

Still and all, it got done, and on the November 9th deadline set by the Election Commission. Accommodations were made via amendment to oblige commissioners from Germantown and Collierville. Some precincts were shifted around in the area of East Memphis and western Germantown so as to keep incumbents Brandon Morrison, a Republican, and Michael Whaley, a Democrat, from having to run in the same district.

Morrison has a district to herself, though it is fundamentally changed from the old District 13 she has represented — a conglomerate of largely East Memphis precincts. She objected last week that too many precincts from her original district were being shifted to District 4, essentially the Germantown district.

In the amended version, those precincts are still moved east. But at least her own home precinct, the one she lives in, has moved along with them. District 4, containing a reliably Republican voting base, is now her district to run in, for better or for worse.

District 5, Whaley’s designation in the old configuration, has become a brand-new district consisting essentially of Cordova (the creation of a Cordova district being one of the stated aims of Commissioner Van Turner and other members of the Commission majority).

The district Whaley inhabits, meanwhile, renumbered as District 13, is still situated at the junction, more or less, of East Memphis, Midtown, and Binghampton, and its population is presumed to be majority-Democratic, as his old district was.

If the interested parties did not get all of what they wanted, they may have gotten the best of what was possible.

Among the several parliamentary maneuvers pursued during this important but relatively brief commission meeting was a last-ditch effort by Morrison to get a previously discarded map (known for its original sponsor, District 2 Republican David Bradford of Collierville, as “the Bradford map”) up for a vote.

In the amended map, Bradford had gotten the return of the Collierville High School precinct from its earlier proposed relocation in District 12. But he and Morrison evidently felt obliged, for the record, to get a more idealized version of their hopes up for a vote.

They did, but “Map 4,” as it was entitled, unsupported by any precinct data, went down to defeat predictably, with only 5 votes, only those of the commission’s Republicans, supporting it. (In the debate over Map 4, Democrat Tami Sawyer charged that the map had been shaped by Brian Stephens of Caissa Public Strategy, a conservative-oriented consulting firm.)

The final vote for the amended redistricting map, a version of the CC4A3 map voted on last week, was 8-5, with Democrat Edmund Ford Jr. joining four Republicans as naysayers. The approved map will probably yield nine Democrats and four Republicans in the next elected commission.

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News News Blog

Black County Commissioners Oppose Lee’s Order on Masks in Schools

Members of the Shelby County Commission Black Caucus spoke out Tuesday against Gov. Bill Lee’s executive order allowing parents to opt their children out of school mask mandates.

Commissioner Tami Sawyer said the group stands with the parents in Shelby County who are concerned with the “distasteful” executive order.

“Parents are reeling from this decision,” Sawyer said. Based on pictures she’s received of school hallways, she said it’s unlikely that students are social distancing between classes. With students able to opt out of wearing masks, Sawyer said there will be an even greater spread of the virus. 

“It gave me the heebie jeebies to think about how that’s going to work without masks,” Sawyer said. “It’s not just the kids and that’s the point that needs to be driven home. When you think about the economic crisis that Shelby County is in, a lot of children are being raised in multigenerational homes. So they are taking this virus to their ailing grandparents, to their mother who is then taking it to work, to their younger siblings taking the virus to middle school or kindergarten.” 

Sawyer also noted that the executive order is another example of the state undermining local government. The local government cannot make decisions for itself without fear of litigation or punitive measures by the state, Sawyer said. 

“That is not the way state and local governments are supposed to work together,” Sawyer said. “Whenever Shelby County makes a decision that’s best for them, we have to be afraid or concerned that the state is going to come back and reverse it or punish us because of our decision, especially when it comes to our children and education.”

Commissioner Mickell Lowery, who has two school-aged children, said protecting children should not be political. 

“It’s hard to tell children to stay separated and social distance when they’re just being kids,” Lowery said. “It affects all of us.”

Lowery added that the group supports any method, “by any means,” to keep children safe. 

Commissioner Reginald Milton said the executive order is using students as “political pawns.” 

“I will not play politics or games with their lives,” Milton said. “I ask all of you to stand with us and say ‘this is wrong and the governor is wrong.’”

With three children in school, Commissioner Van Turner said as a parent, “it’s nerve wracking.” 

“I think parents have rights, but they don’t have rights to endanger the lives of other children in other households,” Turner said. “If that’s the case, why don’t we allow children to smoke at school. Here we are dealing with real life situations where people are passing and the governor is doing something opposite of what’s going to protect our young people.

Turner said the group supports all efforts to pursue legal action against the executive order. 

Shelby County Schools superintendent Joris Ray said Monday that he, along with the SCS board members and its general counsel, are reviewing the legalities of the executive order. In the meantime, he reiterated that masks are still required for all school employees, students, and visitors.