We told anyone who would listen that to help drive down violent crime in our city, we needed to recruit 2,300 officers to the Memphis Police Department by the end of this year. A new study shows MPD needs more than 2,800 police officers to patrol the streets of Memphis. 

Rather than argue about reopening schools, we should be defining levels of risk and setting metrics for stages of reopening. When will it be safe for pre-K and early elementary to resume in-person learning? When will it be safe for middle and high schools to begin hybrid learning?

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.

I respect the views of the kneelers. They have the right to kneel in protest before Old Glory. Millions of American military personnel have bled and died so that they would have those rights. If the kneelers would find another way to protest, I might join them.

Leaving undocumented people out of the census mirrors a more subtle indifference to the Latinx community here in Memphis. Recent reporting shows Hispanics are contracting 28% of all COVID-19 cases in Shelby County, while comprising only 10% of residents. 

Of all the shameful decisions made by all our feckless leaders during this pandemic, you will have a hard time finding any more disgraceful than the decision by Gov. Bill Lee to allow high schools to resume playing football.

Masks don’t conceal identities – they reveal them, identifying the wearers during this pandemic as caring, compassionate, intelligent folk.

The melee at Golf and Games is the kind of thing that can happen when kids don't have enough structure and supervision. Now that Shelby County Schools has decided to start out all-virtual, what does that mean for the broader community?

One of John Stuart Mill's arguments in “On Liberty” is often reduced to this sentence: Your freedom ends where my nose begins. Never has that way of putting it seemed more literal, noses being the coronavirus’s main point of entry into our bodies.

Memphis 901 FC played a game in front of fans at AutoZone Park Saturday night. In the process, the franchise showed others — including the University of Memphis — how it can be done.

Before this is all over there will be plenty of other songs like Yo Gotti’s "Recession Proof" that comment specifically on the pandemic. Even the tracks that don’t feature bridges about Zoom meetings will still reflect the mood and feelings of this moment.

We curse them, criticize them and (sometimes even) flip them the bird. On National Drive-Thru Day, let's hear it for the front-line workers who see us at our worst.

Normally, in-person visits allow for firsthand observation of possible signs of abuse and neglect at nursing homes or assisted living facilities. This new normal of reduced social contact impairs the ability to ensure residents are living in a safe environment.

Even if we can’t be there, we should join the rest of the world and watch. Even if you don’t like golf or don’t understand it, watch these guys play it like nobody else can.

We’ve had more time to prepare for remote learning than we had in the spring. But there are complications that our spring pause did not present: new teachers for most, new schools for many, and a first school experience for some. 

C.T. Vivian said that while his generation didn’t get everything accomplished, they did their work so well that our generation could not believe what life was like before they went to work.

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.

As a brown American living in a Black and white city, I have often felt like I am standing on the median. I have watched my Facebook friends slowly show their stance on the Black Lives Matter movement: Some have remained quiet ... some are willing to speak up and support the movement.

We are now attempting to place responsibility for children on over-worked, over-stressed teachers. Rather than supporting families as we should be doing, we are throwing the children at teachers in overcrowded classrooms.

Not long ago, the COVID-19 reports were encouraging. Now, I look at the numbers with a feeling of dread.

Local elections are always a mess. Here are ways they’re especially messy this year.

One suggestion: The NBA could help to repair the breach between communities of color and their police departments by hosting a national forum that features NBA players and diverse leaders of national law enforcement.

'My heart is heavy at the passing of this great foot soldier of the movement and congressman for the people,' says the president of the National Civil Rights Museum. 'In his honor, we’ll vote like our lives depend on it, because they do. '

As leaders around the country make decisions based on wishful thinking, Rhodes College postponed on-campus eduction for the fall semester because it determined it could not safely bring students, faculty and employees back to campus. "It’s about setting your values and having the courage of your convictions," said president Marjorie Hass. If only more leaders would do the same. 

Local elections ought to be straightforward affairs for voters. Here are six ways our leaders always deny us this right – three today and three tomorrow.