‘Commemorations with little or no consideration for King as preacher, make me wonder how many King admirers are unaware of the transcendent religious experience that was his defining moment.’

“I believe that if Dr. King had not come to Memphis, my father and his co-workers would have been forced to continue to work under the same terrible conditions that led to the senseless deaths of sanitation workers Robert Walker and Echol Cole.”

Phyllis Phillips was a great boss and co-worker, but her real superpower was her network of connections across the city, which she would tap fearlessly to get as many clients as possible the help they needed.

‘All told, Shelby County has lost over 1,500 lives,’ Mayor Lee Harris writes. ‘That’s more than the number of soldiers from Shelby County lost during the Vietnam War, Korean War and World War II, combined.’

Maintaining curbside pickup and dine-in service simultaneously is not as easy as it seems, and we will all need to do both. We need you to give us space to operate without getting hot under the collar.

“Crime reduction is clearly a complex conversation.”

Gov. Bill Lee and his allies in the state legislature are pushing “permitless carry” legislation, which would allow Tennesseans to carry loaded firearms without permits in public spaces.

‘I suspect most people who read this will think that anti-Semitism is nothing we need to worry about in Memphis, but they are wrong. Wherever white supremacy exists it is led by those who hate Jews.’

Tennessee was not “insulated” from cold weather. Temperatures in Memphis were similar to parts of Arkansas and Texas. What was significantly different was the safe, reliable power delivery to Memphians that avoided rolling blackouts that crippled other areas of the country.

“It’s time to claw back the power our public health institutions have accumulated this year. That’s the goal of Tennessee House Bill 7,” says guest columnist Daniel Chatham, a Shelby County physician.

How did a small group of citizens persevere for so long to block an interstate route through the park? They cultivated relationships with the place, through walks in the forest and picnics by the lake. Close connections led to enduring affection.

Why did we, in Memphis, not have power service interruption? The simple answer is that Tennessee did not receive the brunt of the severe weather like other states did.

The gallery resonated deeply with what we’re experiencing right now, outside the walls, in real time.

During this Lent, the Prophet Isaiah’s strident call — given in God’s name — asks us to do our fasting by “releasing those bound unjustly.” May that perspective lead us in our national debate on raising, for the first time in 12 years, our federal minimum wage.

This week, the city’s Division of Parks and Neighborhoods will unveil the first Parks Master Plan in more than 22 years. The 10-year plan is ‘based on countless hours of community engagement and research.’

The state granted the oil pipeline a permit. The Army Corps of Engineers approved a fast-track permit for the project. And here’s the detail that astounds: Neither the state nor the feds consider groundwater or the aquifer.

While cities across the U.S. are moving toward roads for all users and equitable, place-based strategies promoting safety and access, Memphis is often stalled and focused on crime and punishment or bending to the will of the auto-centrics.

Once we have gotten to know the people who have called Memphis home through the good and the bad, we can start to understand this place we inhabit together.

“Memphis needs the trusty Mid-South Coliseum right now, and it’s within our means to call its name from the end of our civic bench once again.”

‘The point is not to determine the merits of public education versus private education. Why can’t we champion both?’

Carrying Christian symbols in the midst of violent attacks and mob rule insults our Christian faith. Crosses and signs saying “Jesus Saves” are blatantly out of place as our nation faces insurgency and rebellion.

You’re entrusting a tax preparer with sensitive information, so it’s important to do your due diligence in choosing one.

Scott Morris: “The year of COVID-19 taught me that there might not be time for all the fanciful dreams we put on hold.”

Perhaps one lesson from 2020 is that helping other people requires thoughtful consideration for what someone else actually needs and wants. It’s a deeper kind of call and response, and it might require breaking established habits.

We can pledge not to go “back to normal.” Normal, in the best of times, found us donating to GoFundMe campaigns to cover emergency medical bills of folks in our music community. Normal was $100 a gig for musicians. Normal is the system that’s broken.