I started thinking about the books that have influenced my life most. Each of these books, at one point in my life, altered my thinking or changed my behavior in a meaningful way.

We are all part of this rich, multi-ethnic family which calls itself American. We are all part of an interwoven tapestry, thread together with freedom, faith, sacrifice, survival and endurance.

"Although Trump’s critics are often loathe to “give the devil his due,” this foreign relations accomplishment by the Trump Administration should be allowed to shine," says Robert Lee Long.

Isn’t it a shame that to battle the novel coronavirus, a major campaign has not yet been launched unilaterally and on a global scale?

Loosening the residency requirement would make it easier for Memphis to create racial diversity in the ranks of MPD with smart, targeted recruiting. But in a perplexing vote, the Memphis City Council decided to remove the residency referendum from the Nov. 3 ballot.

Many organizations are working on worthwhile causes. Many of these organizations are nonprofits, often with limited funding and staff, who are looking for volunteers to serve as advocates.

When our world turned upside down on Jan. 25, 2002, Pastor Steve Montgomery and the Idlewild Presbyterian congregation not only fed our souls, but also our bodies.

Over the course of a year I saw first hand the renovation and reselling of homes in my neighborhood, and I saw the people who came with it. After all, I was one of them. Who is this “New Memphis” for?

The data on inducing COVID-19 immune responses are promising, but it is not clear yet whether this will result in limited protection, modest protection or complete protection from either infection or disease. As we know from influenza vaccines, even partial protection may have benefit.

The party with which I have self-identified for much of my adult life, the Republican Party, has failed to live up to its “big tent” credo of inclusiveness and belonging.

Bipartisan support for this bill – including by Democratic U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, Republican U.S. Rep. David Kustoff, and Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander – speaks volumes about the value of parks in our lives. 

As the U.S. reckons with centuries of oppression and racism against Black people, a concurrent reckoning must happen within the Latinx community, which has its own history of systemic anti-Blackness.

It may surprise Christians who advise athletes and audiences to pray instead of protest, but Christians have never separated protest and prayer.

In light of COVID-19, counselors at Universal Parenting Places now provide individual counseling to parents via HIPAA-compliant telehealth video chats as well as by phone.

In 1972 in Fayette County, John Lewis and Julian Bond passionately urged African Americans to vote. Attendees that night also saw that both Lewis, the son of sharecroppers, and Bond were just ordinary people intermingling, like “home folks,” with rural activists.

Amid the struggles we are going through, the gist of William Sloane Coffin’s saying is on point. Except for the most disciplined of us all, who is not exhausted by the strain and uncertainty?

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?

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. 

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

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.

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.

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.

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.