We should be as bold and bullish about our contemporary black music as we are about all of our claims to fame, from FedEx and Holiday Inn to historic music attractions to dry rub ribs.

A funky triangle bounded by Park, Lamar and Airways would be the first shopping center where things would start to change, where black and white Memphis would mix and mingle, where Memphis would start to look like Memphis.

A house fire led a Ridgeway student to consider dropping out to aid her family. A Peer Power mentor says, "She was just one step from leaving it all behind."

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.

KIPP gave up on their students, families, faculty and staff after only a few years of operation. This was a financial decision that is inequitable to the historic Alcy Ball community in South Memphis.

Police in places where law enforcement has higher status have taken a knee in solidarity with citizens demonstrating in the streets. These departments have also used much less force against civilians.

Our rising coronavirus rates pre-date the protests – they correspond to our general loosening of restrictions and specifically to Memorial Day – and there’s no specific tracing evidence at the moment that ties cases to them. 

A year ago this week, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the green light to the new owners of Kimbrough Fine Wine & Spirits. But their victory may be Pyrrhic.

Local nonprofit leaders who signed a call to action wanted to go beyond solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. 'Like the protesters in the streets, we knew this moment called for us to not only speak out on the policing of Blacks but to the condition of our Black communities as well.'

There has been a lot of speculation on projected savings if MLGW changes energy suppliers by individuals with personal interests. But there are facts that cannot be challenged.

But don't worry. Our grandchildren could not possibly do anything but improve on that.

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.

Without truck drivers, hospitals would begin running out of basic supplies such as syringes and catheters; service stations would begin to run out of fuel; and food shortages would develop.

Tennessee Department of Education has also warned districts to plan for driver shortages. On social media, some drivers have suggested that returning to their bus jobs may not be worth the hassle.

In creative spaces it seems better to employ white people capable of appropriating black vernacular, style and originality in ads. But of course, the dearth of black people “has nothing to do with race.” 

My anchors and roots require me to educate black and brown children, to teach them their history and prepare them to change the future.

As we move along on reopening the “Weconomy,” employers and employees need to understand that both have crucial roles to play in making reopening safe.

Wonder why you don’t see Memphis in the national news? Because when a city doesn’t bleed that city doesn’t lead.

There is such a thing as white privilege, no matter the circumstances in which we were raised. My father was raised in dire poverty. And yet he was the first to admit that color never kept him back. He never feared for his life just for being white. He was never denied a bank loan. He was admitted to the University of Texas at a time when blacks were not allowed to enroll.

We’ve recently seen proposals of bans, temporary moratoriums or limits on the use of tear gas in Seattle, Portland, New Orleans and Washington, D.C., among others. It’s time for Memphis to join that list.

What makes these protests different for me is that I’ve seen how they can influence conversation and bring about change – in both Minneapolis and Memphis. 

Let us not use the death of George Floyd as an opportunity to scapegoat and launch an unfair assault on an entire profession. I’ve spoken to police officers. They too are disturbed and hurt by that tragic event.

I ran from the cops, people. I was driving drunk. The driveway I was parked in belonged to a prominent Memphian, then and now. Then and now, there’s every reason to believe if I’d been black in that driveway, I might never have left that driveway.

Darnella Frazier, the 17-year-old who filmed the murder of George Floyd and who could be heard on the video calling out numerous times for the police to stop, has been called a bystander. She wasn’t in a position to save Floyd’s life, and yet her action was a spark that is changing the world.

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.”