Sanford: Biden’s bet on Harris is backed by the numbers
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is counting on his choice of running mate Kamala Harris to bring in new and reenergized voters in key battleground states.
Otis Sanford
Columnist
Otis Sanford is a political columnist, author and professor emeritus in Journalism and Strategic Media at the University of Memphis.
There are 264 articles by Otis Sanford :
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August 2020
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Opinion
Otis SanfordSanford: Primary election politics are not about honesty
A majority of Americans trust Dr. Anthony Fauci to tell the truth about the pandemic. But Tennessee U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Manny Sethi, hoping to impress President Trump, says Fauci needs to go.
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July 2020
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Otis SanfordSanford: It’s time to retire the national anthem from sporting events
Many fans are not even at their seats when the anthem starts. They are purposefully milling around in the concourse waiting for tipoff. I don’t believe those fans are less patriotic than those standing at attention in the arena with their hands over their hearts. But spectators take the anthem for granted. And it’s time to end the ritual.
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Otis SanfordSanford: At a meeting in Memphis, John Lewis made his mission clear
When he gave his moving address at the Memphis library to supporters – as well as some covert observers – the 27-year-old John Lewis was already a veteran in the fight for voting rights, equal accommodations and equal justice.
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Otis SanfordOpinion: What’s in a name? In the case of ‘Redskins,’ an offense to others
Redskins owner Dan Snyder for years ignored pleas to drop the moniker, telling USA Today in 2014 that he would never change it. Apparently Snyder has since watched Sean Connery’s last James Bond movie, “Never Say Never Again.”
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Otis SanfordA $40M gift to LeMoyne-Owen was ‘the right thing at the right time’
College President Carol Johnson-Dean took the call announcing the largest endowment the 158-year-old school had ever received: “I literally began to cry.”
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June 2020
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Otis SanfordSanford: Mask or no mask? Politics – and gender – inform the decision
A study released this month found that men are less likely to wear masks in public than women. 'Men more than women agree that wearing a face covering is shameful, not cool, a sign of weakness, and a stigma,' one of the study’s authors said.
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Guest ColumnistsYou have choices when it comes to racism: object, address or deny
There is no denying that we are at a tipping point in this country’s long-overdue reckoning with race and police brutality. And our response to this moment has created three distinct groups – the objectors, the addressers and the deniers.
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Otis SanfordWhere is our Lyndon Johnson moment?
Johnson’s message was powerful as he urged Congress to pass voting rights legislation. Drawing from the gospel song that became a hymn of the civil rights movement, he said, “it is all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.”
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Otis SanfordProtesters remembered their Tennessee history when they met the statue of a racist
Edward Carmack’s statue in the Tennessee Capitol was among several monuments linked to racism and the Confederacy that bit the dust or were defaced during protests over the senseless killing of African Americans by police and vigilantes.
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May 2020
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Otis SanfordA death in Minneapolis is a metaphor for the black experience in America
If this does not create sustained national outrage from the halls of government to the smallest police force in America, if this does not convince you that the Black Lives Matter movement had it right all along, nothing will.
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Otis Sanford‘Ida B. Wells Park’ strikes just the right note
Renaming Health Sciences Park after Ida B. Wells would honor one of the city’s most underappreciated historic figures.
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OpinionMore than a Memphis treasure, Fred Davis was a ‘good human being’
Fred Davis, a charter member of the Memphis City Council, may have left elected office more than 40 years ago, he never stepped aside.
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Otis SanfordFirst responders need to protect themselves, too
In the age of COVID-19, suspicions that police are not trustworthy must take a back seat to the certainty that this pandemic will spread without adequate safeguards.
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Otis SanfordLocal news has competition again — and that’s good
I cherish the competitive newspaper environments that marked the early years of my career — in Jackson between The Clarion-Ledger and Daily News and in Memphis between The Commercial Appeal and Press-Scimitar.
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April 2020
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opinion
Otis SanfordSanford: Three reassuring words in the COVID crisis
Watching Alisa Haushalter, director of the Shelby County Health Department, explain our new reality in a calm, measured and fact-based tone, I came away with more optimism than pessimism about our prospects for overcoming this ruthless pandemic.
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Opinion
Otis SanfordWe’re missing national unity in this crisis
The dissension has filtered down to statehouses and into the streets, with thoughtless protesters thumbing their noses at social distancing and demanding that states end stay-at-home orders.
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Otis SanfordRace remains a factor, even in a pandemic
The disproportionate impact of the pandemic on African Americans shines a spotlight on racial disparities that translate into different health outcomes for whites and blacks.
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Opinion
Otis SanfordSanford: West Memphis mayor deserves a long-distance pat on the back
The governor of Arkansas opposes allowing cities to issue their own stay-at-home orders, but that's not stopping Mayor Marco McClendon from moving forward with his curfew for West Memphis.
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opinion
Otis SanfordSanford: The Trump-Corker plan to put profit over people went bust – fortunately
I knew that former Sen. Bob Corker briefly served as a Tennessee commissioner of finance. What I didn’t know is that Corker cares more about finances than human lives. I knew he had guts. I also thought he had a heart.
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March 2020
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Otis Sanford Sanford: I missed my Sunday school class. I have no regrets
Many Memphis churches, particularly those with mostly African American congregations, have not suspended in-person worship, underscoring the importance the church has in African American life. But the ritual of gathering to worship, even in a spotlessly clean building, is now much too risky.
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Otis Sanford Sanford: Take the CDC’s advice: ‘Don’t be nervous to work with the media!’
A Tennessee legislator's tweet that "the national media is promoting fear and sheer panic" earns well-deserved criticism.
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Otis SanfordSanford: No more Mr. Nice Guy
Gov. Bill Lee sticks to his guns, unmoved by pleas from law enforcement officials, mayors, gun merchants and firearms trainers.
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Opinion Sanford: Black voters bring Uncle Joe back
Voters are yearning to be free – of the nutty, crude and corrupt. They want moderation in our national politics, and a center-left leader at the helm of the executive branch whom everyone knows and a majority of Americans trust.
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February 2020
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Otis SanfordSanford: Voting is serious. Just ask 105-year-old Charlotte Robertson
Election commission records show Robertson has participated in every presidential election going back to the 1970s – and no doubt long before that. And she rarely misses a Memphis municipal, county or state election, including primaries.
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