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Thursday, July 9 - 15, 2020 • www.TnTribune.com

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TnTribune.com Vol. 31 No. 28 • Thursday, July 9 - 15, 2020 thetennesseetribune tn _ tribune

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NASHVILLE, TN — The Center

for Health Policy at Meharry Medical

College has announced the receipt of

an $8 million grant from the Tennessee

Department of Human Services to

support efforts in programming and

services for Metro students and their

caregivers with special emphasis on

education, health and well-being, economic

support and social capital.

The funding will be used to support

the Center for Health Policy’s

“BRIDGE to Success” program, a

partnership with specific Metro Nashville

public schools in zip codes 37218,

37208 and 37189. “This grant is an example of the many

ways Meharry invests in community-led programs that

are effective and that promote health and wellness,” said

A. Dexter Samuels, Ph.D.

Executive Director of the

Center for Health Policy

Dr. A. Dexter Samuels, Executive Director

of the Center for Health Policy.

The grant comes from the Tennessee

Department of Human Services

Two-Generation approach to help

move families towards educational

success and economic security. To

date, TDHS has awarded 2Gen grants

to more than 30 organizations and

educational entities across the state

that address the needs of parents and

children at the same time.

“The BRIDGE to Success program

is meeting health and educational

needs that are essential to building

strong families in Davidson County,” said TDHS

Commissioner Danielle W. Barnes. “I am excited

about partnering with an institution like Meharry

Medical College that has such a rich history of serving

families and communities. These efforts are critical as

we continue to build a thriving Tennessee.”

The four-year grant will deepen the partnership and

commitment that Meharry has to the community it serves

and provide a pathway for Middle Tennessee families to

find sustainable success.

“For nearly 150 years, Meharry has been committed

to serving the underserved,” Samuels said, “and the college

continues to find innovative ways to reach those in

the most need, especially the uninsured or underinsured

and those with limited access to medical and dental care.”

Since 2009, the Center for Health Policy at Meharry

has provided leadership in health policy education, research

and reform on national, state and local levels that

are congruent with Meharry’s mission. BRIDGE to Success

is an extension of the Center’s work and another way

See MEHARRY GRANT, A10

Music world

By Kristin M. Hall / AP

NASHVILLE, TN — Country music

firebrand and fiddler Charlie Daniels, who

had a hit with “Devil Went Down to Georgia,”

has died at 83.

A statement from his publicist said the

Country Music Hall of Famer died Monday

at a hospital in Hermitage, Tennessee,

after doctors said he had a stroke. He had

previously suffered what was described

as a mild stroke in January 2010 and had

a heart pacemaker implanted in 2013 but

continued to perform.

Daniels, a singer, guitarist and fiddler,

started out as a session musician,

even playing on Bob Dylan’s “Nashville

Skyline” sessions. Beginning in the early

1970s, his five-piece band toured endlessly,

sometimes doing 250 shows a year.

“I can ask people where

they are from, and if they

say `Waukegan,′ I can say

I’ve played there. If

they say `Baton

Rouge,′ I can

say I’ve played

there. There’s

not a city

we haven’t

played in,”

D a n i e l s

said in

1998.

Daniels

performed

at White

House, at the

Super Bowl,

mourns Charlie

throughout Europe and often

for troops in the Middle East.

He played himself in the 1980

John Travolta movie Urban

Cowboy and was closely

identified with the

rise of country music

generated by that

film. Some of his

other hits were

“Drinkin’ My

Baby Goodbye,”

“Boogie

Woogie

Fiddle

Country

B l u e s ”

and “Uneasy

Rider.”

“I’ve kept people

employed for over 20 years and never

missed a payroll,” Daniels said in 1998.

That same year, he received the Pioneer

Award from the Academy of Country

Music.

He is survived by his wife, Hazel, and

his son, Charlie Daniels Jr.

“There are few artists that touched so

many different generations in our business

than Charlie Daniels did,” said Sarah Trahern,

CEO of the Country Music Association,

in a statement. “Today, our community

has lost an innovator and advocate of

Country Music. Both Charlie and Hazel

had become dear friends of mine over the

last several years, and I was privileged to

be able to celebrate Charlie’s induction

into the Opry as well as tell him that he

was going to be inducted into the Country

See CHARLIE DANIELS, A10

MLK50: a news source

for low-wage workers

Ebony’s parent

company ousts CEO

By Journal-isms

By Peter White

MEMPHIS, TN — Wendi

Thomas runs an online news operation

in Memphis called MLK50.

She specializes in investigations

that do not endear her to the power

elite there. Memphis Mayor Jim

Stickland put her on his personal

blacklist. She is suing him.

The Tribune talked with Thomas

about producing news for the

underclass. “We’re not a black

Stimulus checks: McConnell supports targeted payments next time

By Denitsa Tsekova

Yahoo

WASHINGTON, DC — Senate Majority

Leader Mitch McConnell expressed

support for more stimulus payments in the

next round of government coronavirus relief,

specifically if the checks target lowincome

Americans.

When asked at a public appearance in

Kentucky on Monday, McConnell said the

direct payment “could well” be part of the

next round of stimulus.

publication, but we frame the news

from the perspective of the most

vulnerable.” she said.

Thomas came up with the idea

when she worked at the Commercial

Appeal, a Memphis daily.

Thomas handled the paper’s cov-

See MLK50, A10

Wendi Thomas founded a news operation

in 2017 with $3,000 and a big dream:

to cover poverty, power, and policy in

Memphis. Three years later, she’s still

there and expanding her staff.

“I think the people who have been hit

the hardest are people who make about

$40,000 a year or less, many of them work

in the hospitality industry,” McConnell

said. “The hospitality industry, as all of

you know, just got rim-racked — hotels,

restaurants — and so that could well be a

part of it.”

Under the CARES Act enacted in

March, the government sent $270 billion

in stimulus checks as of May 31 to over

160 million Americans.

Single adults with income up to $75,000

AUSTIN, TX — The board

of directors of the company

that owns Ebony magazine

— troubled since the venerable

publication was bought

by a Black-owned Austin,

Texas-based company from

the founding Johnson Publishing

Co. in 2016, has ousted its

CEO, the company announced

on Sunday.

“The board decided to end

[the] leadership” of Willard

Jackson Jr., Jacob Walthour

Jr., newly elected board chairman

and a black-owned asset

manager, told Journal-isms by

telephone.

The four-member board of

Ebony Media Holdings had

contracted with an independent

were eligible for the full check, while reduced

checks were available for single

adults who earned between $75,001 and

$99,000. Married couples with income up

to $150,000 got at least $2,400 while those

earning between $150,001 and $198,000

also received reduced checks. Parents of

children under 17 received an additional

$500 per child.

McConnell’s comments come as some

Republicans discuss the scope and size of

another wave of direct payments.

Last week, President Donald Trump

Willard Jackson, Jr.

counsel to review transactions

“and felt there was enough

there to effect change immediately,”

Walthour said. He cited

Jackson’s failure to follow procedures,

such as securing board

approval for certain transac-

See EBONY, A10

indicated he supported another round of

direct payments to Americans when asked

See STIMULUS CHECKS, A10

TRIBUNE INDEX

Classifieds....................................................B10

Entertainment.............................................B2

Health & Wellness......................................B8

Opinion/Editorial.......................................A4

Religion/Faith..............................................B6

Sports..............................................................B4

Yamaha Right Waters and Anderson

Marine donated a Yamaha 90-horsepower

V MAX SHO® outboard motor to “Keep

the Tennessee River Beautiful” to use on

their work boat for river cleanups this past

Tuesday at the Anderson Marine Family

Boating Center, 841 Robinson Road; Old

Hickory, TN.

Yamaha Right Waters Government

Relations Senior Specialist, John O’Keefe;

Yamaha Marine sales representative, Michael

Pierannunzi; the Anderson Family

of Anderson Marine, and “Keep the Tennessee

River Beautiful” Executive Director,

Kathleen Gibi Representatives from

Yamaha Right Waters and Anderson Marine

presented a Yamaha outboard motor

valued at more than $10,000 to “Keep the

Tennessee River Beautiful” (KTNRB). At

the presentation, the motor was mounted

to the nonprofit’s 25-foot aluminum work

boat that used to host volunteer cleanups


Yamaha Right Waters, Anderson Marine Sponsors $10,000

Motor for Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful Work Boat

Customs House Museum Returns

to Sunday Hours, Reopens Huff &

Puff Express Model Trains

CLARKSVILLE, TN — All

aboard! The Customs House Museum

& Cultural Center is expanding its reopening

plan and will now be open on

Sundays beginning July 12 from 1-4

p.m. COVID-19 safety guidelines are

still in place including recommending

guests wear face masks, reserve their

time tickets before visiting and utilize

hand sanitizer stations around the museum.

While walk-ins are welcome,

there are a limited number of tickets

available per day. To guarantee entry,

guests are advised to reserve tickets in

advance. Tickets can be reserved online

at customshousemuseum.org or by calling

931-648-5780 ext. 2039.

With the revamped Sunday hours,

the Huff & Puff Express Model Trains

will be running every Sunday from 1 –

3:30 p.m. beginning July 12. The trains

will run from 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. on

Wednesdays beginning July 15. Proper

safety precautions will be taken in

high-traffic areas with a time-out sanitizing

break from 2 - 2:30 on Sundays.

Within the model train exhibit area,

one-way directional traffic flow will be

maintained and social distancing will

be mandatory. Train crew engineers

and conductors will be on-site during

these hours and are excited to once

again showcase one of the museum’s

most popular attractions.

The Customs House Museum will

also reopen the Coca-Cola Café for

rental parties, up to 24 people. The

rental space is available for birthday

parties, business luncheons or other

small gatherings. At this time, other

rental spaces within the Museum are

not taking reservations. Rentals do not

include museum admission, any rental

guest wanting to also visit the museum

must purchase a separate admission

ticket. More rental information is found

at customshousemuseum.org.

Located in the heart of Historic

Downtown Clarksville, Tennessee, the

Customs House Museum & Cultural

Center is the state’s second largest general

interest museum with more than

35,000 square feet of exhibit space, and

houses hands-on activities and special

events. Membership and admission

information can be found at customshousemuseum.org.

throughout the 652-mile Tennessee River.

Yamaha Rightwaters is a national

sustainability program that encompasses

all of Yamaha Marine’s conservation and

water quality efforts. Program initiatives

include habitat restoration, support for

scientific research, mitigation of invasive

species, the reduction of marine debris

and environmental stewardship education.

KTNRB is a 501c3 nonprofit that serves as

the first Keep America Beautiful affiliate

Huff N’ Puff Model Trains

Coca-Cola Cafe

A3

in the nation to focus solely on a river. In

2019, KTNRB removed more than 48,000

lbs. of trash with the help of its workboat,

ongoing partnerships, and more than 400

volunteers.

For more information, visit www.

KeepTNRiverBeautiful.org or follow

Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful on

social media: Facebook: www.facebook.

com/KeepTNRiver

Doerge Reappointed to Airport

Authority Board of Commissioners

NASHVILLE – Community

leader John Doerge

was reappointed this week

to the Metropolitan Nashville

Airport Authority

(MNAA) Board of Commissioners.

Doerge was

originally nominated to

the board in 2016 by then-

Mayor Megan Barry. For

his second term, he was renominated

by Mayor John

Cooper and confirmed by

the Metro Council at its

June 16 meeting.

Doerge, whose new

term expires in 2024, has

been Community Relations

Leader at Deloitte

for the past 16 years. He

has long been active in

the community, serving

on several boards including:

PENCIL Foundation

Board (Chair), United

Way Board of Directors

and Executive Committee,

Middle Tennessee Junior

Achievement Board,

Middle Tennessee March

of Dimes Board, Donelson

Hermitage Chamber of

Commerce Board, Leadership

Donelson Hermitage

Board, and is a member of

the McGavock Cluster Coalition.

Doerge is vice-chair

of the MNAA Audit and

Compliance Committee

and member of the Management

Committee, Finance/Administration/

Properties Committee, and

the Diversity and Workforce

Development Committee.

Doerge earned a B.S.

in radio and television and

an M.S. in organizational

communications from

Murray State University.

MNAA Board of Commissioners

is a 10-member

Board of Commissioners

appointed by the mayor of

Nashville/Davidson County,

and confirmed by the Metropolitan

Council, governs

the Metropolitan Nashville

Airport Authority. By statute,

the board is composed

of three business and finance

representatives, two

pilot representatives, two

neighborhood representatives,

one engineering representative,

one legal representative

and the mayor.

READY

TO BUY

AHOME?

New Metro Policy Regarding

Marijuana Prosecution

Statement from Nashville

District Attorney Glenn

Funk:

The Nashville District

Attorney’s office will no

longer prosecute individuals

for possession of less

than a half ounce of marijuana.

Marijuana charges

do little to promote public

health, and even less to promote

public safety.

For individuals, this policy

will eliminate the negative

effects of a criminal

charge which include potential

jail time and collateral

consequences on employment

and housing.

Davidson County Attorney

General Glenn Funk

For the justice system,

elimination of minor marijuana

charges will decrease

costs as jail housing expenses

for these cases will now

be totally eliminated. Similarly,

courts and the clerk’s

office will see savings from

docketing fewer cases.

Finally, and of great importance,

demographic statistics

indicate that these charges

impact minorities in a

disproportionate manner.

This policy will eliminate

this area of disproportionality

in the justice system.

Proper allocation of the

resources of the District

Attorney’s office requires

common sense and fairness.

These resources must be devoted

to supporting victims

and prosecuting violent

crime.

DOWN PAYMENT

ASSISTANCE

FOR

HOMEBUYERS

As the State of Tennessee’s housing finance

agency, THDA provides financial assistance to

help our approved homebuyers with their down

payment and closing costs.

Talk to your lender and Realtor ® or visit

GreatChoiceTN.com

INDEX Classifieds...B10 | Education...A8| Entertainment...B2 | Health & Wellness...B8 | Op-Ed...A4 | Religion/Faith...B6 | Sports...B4

Yamaha Right Waters and Anderson

Marine donated a Yamaha 90-horsepower

V MAX SHO® outboard motor to “Keep

the Tennessee River Beautiful” to use on

their work boat for river cleanups this past

Tuesday at the Anderson Marine Family

Boating Center, 841 Robinson Road; Old

Hickory, TN.

Yamaha Right Waters Government

Relations Senior Specialist, John O’Keefe;

Yamaha Marine sales representative, Michael

Pierannunzi; the Anderson Family

of Anderson Marine, and “Keep the Tennessee

River Beautiful” Executive Director,

Kathleen Gibi Representatives from

Yamaha Right Waters and Anderson Marine

presented a Yamaha outboard motor

valued at more than $10,000 to “Keep the

Tennessee River Beautiful” (KTNRB). At

the presentation, the motor was mounted

to the nonprofit’s 25-foot aluminum work

boat that used to host volunteer cleanups


Yamaha Right Waters, Anderson Marine Sponsors $10,000

Motor for Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful Work Boat

Customs House Museum Returns

to Sunday Hours, Reopens Huff &

Puff Express Model Trains

CLARKSVILLE, TN — All

aboard! The Customs House Museum

& Cultural Center is expanding its reopening

plan and will now be open on

Sundays beginning July 12 from 1-4

p.m. COVID-19 safety guidelines are

still in place including recommending

guests wear face masks, reserve their

time tickets before visiting and utilize

hand sanitizer stations around the museum.

While walk-ins are welcome,

there are a limited number of tickets

available per day. To guarantee entry,

guests are advised to reserve tickets in

advance. Tickets can be reserved online

at customshousemuseum.org or by calling

931-648-5780 ext. 2039.

With the revamped Sunday hours,

the Huff & Puff Express Model Trains

will be running every Sunday from 1 –

3:30 p.m. beginning July 12. The trains

will run from 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. on

Wednesdays beginning July 15. Proper

safety precautions will be taken in

high-traffic areas with a time-out sanitizing

break from 2 - 2:30 on Sundays.

Within the model train exhibit area,

one-way directional traffic flow will be

maintained and social distancing will

be mandatory. Train crew engineers

and conductors will be on-site during

these hours and are excited to once

again showcase one of the museum’s

most popular attractions.

The Customs House Museum will

also reopen the Coca-Cola Café for

rental parties, up to 24 people. The

rental space is available for birthday

parties, business luncheons or other

small gatherings. At this time, other

rental spaces within the Museum are

not taking reservations. Rentals do not

include museum admission, any rental

guest wanting to also visit the museum

must purchase a separate admission

ticket. More rental information is found

at customshousemuseum.org.

Located in the heart of Historic

Downtown Clarksville, Tennessee, the

Customs House Museum & Cultural

Center is the state’s second largest general

interest museum with more than

35,000 square feet of exhibit space, and

houses hands-on activities and special

events. Membership and admission

information can be found at customshousemuseum.org.

throughout the 652-mile Tennessee River.

Yamaha Rightwaters is a national

sustainability program that encompasses

all of Yamaha Marine’s conservation and

water quality efforts. Program initiatives

include habitat restoration, support for

scientific research, mitigation of invasive

species, the reduction of marine debris

and environmental stewardship education.

KTNRB is a 501c3 nonprofit that serves as

the first Keep America Beautiful affiliate

Huff N’ Puff Model Trains

Coca-Cola Cafe

A3

in the nation to focus solely on a river. In

2019, KTNRB removed more than 48,000

lbs. of trash with the help of its workboat,

ongoing partnerships, and more than 400

volunteers.

For more information, visit www.

KeepTNRiverBeautiful.org or follow

Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful on

social media: Facebook: www.facebook.

com/KeepTNRiver

Doerge Reappointed to Airport

Authority Board of Commissioners

NASHVILLE – Community

leader John Doerge

was reappointed this week

to the Metropolitan Nashville

Airport Authority

(MNAA) Board of Commissioners.

Doerge was

originally nominated to

the board in 2016 by then-

Mayor Megan Barry. For

his second term, he was renominated

by Mayor John

Cooper and confirmed by

the Metro Council at its

June 16 meeting.

Doerge, whose new

term expires in 2024, has

been Community Relations

Leader at Deloitte

for the past 16 years. He

has long been active in

the community, serving

on several boards including:

PENCIL Foundation

Board (Chair), United

Way Board of Directors

and Executive Committee,

Middle Tennessee Junior

Achievement Board,

Middle Tennessee March

of Dimes Board, Donelson

Hermitage Chamber of

Commerce Board, Leadership

Donelson Hermitage

Board, and is a member of

the McGavock Cluster Coalition.

Doerge is vice-chair

of the MNAA Audit and

Compliance Committee

and member of the Management

Committee, Finance/Administration/

Properties Committee, and

the Diversity and Workforce

Development Committee.

Doerge earned a B.S.

in radio and television and

an M.S. in organizational

communications from

Murray State University.

MNAA Board of Commissioners

is a 10-member

Board of Commissioners

appointed by the mayor of

Nashville/Davidson County,

and confirmed by the Metropolitan

Council, governs

the Metropolitan Nashville

Airport Authority. By statute,

the board is composed

of three business and finance

representatives, two

pilot representatives, two

neighborhood representatives,

one engineering representative,

one legal representative

and the mayor.

READY

TO BUY

AHOME?

New Metro Policy Regarding

Marijuana Prosecution

Statement from Nashville

District Attorney Glenn

Funk:

The Nashville District

Attorney’s office will no

longer prosecute individuals

for possession of less

than a half ounce of marijuana.

Marijuana charges

do little to promote public

health, and even less to promote

public safety.

For individuals, this policy

will eliminate the negative

effects of a criminal

charge which include potential

jail time and collateral

consequences on employment

and housing.

Davidson County Attorney

General Glenn Funk

For the justice system,

elimination of minor marijuana

charges will decrease

costs as jail housing expenses

for these cases will now

be totally eliminated. Similarly,

courts and the clerk’s

office will see savings from

docketing fewer cases.

Finally, and of great importance,

demographic statistics

indicate that these charges

impact minorities in a

disproportionate manner.

This policy will eliminate

this area of disproportionality

in the justice system.

Proper allocation of the

resources of the District

Attorney’s office requires

common sense and fairness.

These resources must be devoted

to supporting victims

and prosecuting violent

crime.

DOWN PAYMENT

ASSISTANCE

FOR

HOMEBUYERS

As the State of Tennessee’s housing finance

agency, THDA provides financial assistance to

help our approved homebuyers with their down

payment and closing costs.

Talk to your lender and Realtor ® or visit

GreatChoiceTN.com


A4


Commentary

by Pastor

Howard E. Jones. Jr.

Breakthrough!

We need a breakthrough!

In our personal

lives, homes, families and

in our public activities

within our neighborhoods

and communities, state,

federal, national, and international

arenas¸ we need

to plow through the clutter

and break through.

As we grapple with this

novel coronavirus pandemic,

we are totally lost, reeling

out of control. No treatment,

no antibiotics, just

“Grandmama and them”

reminding us to wash our

hands, cover our mouths

and noses so we can breathe

safely.

Perhaps the churches

need to lead and the government

follow. Churches

have been saving souls all

the time. Someone must

lead; perhaps a changing of

the guard for Godly leadership

needs to be front and

center.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee

signed an executive order

late Friday that allows local

governments across the

state to mandate masks to

try to slow the spread of

the coronavirus. Nashville

health officials took things

a step further last Thursday

by reverting the city back

to Phase Two of its reopening

plan. As of Friday, July

3, health inspectors were

empowered to enforce the

mask mandate with penalties.

Earlier this week, Lee

extended a state of emergency

order until Aug. 29.

These acts were prompted

as the total number of

identified cases to 48,712.

Testing has also increased,

but not at the same pace.

The state has seen a 7 %

positive rate in the past two

weeks, which is above the 5

% total for the pandemic.

In the past two weeks,

Tennessee is averaging

more than 1,000 new cases,

42 new hospitalizations,

and eight additional deaths

per day.

Beyond coronavirus,

being “sick and tired of being

sick and tired,” in the

words of Civil Rights activist

Fannie Lou Hamer,

is where many African

Commentary

Americans are with the

systemic racism with local

police departments and others.

Living while being African-American

in America

is a deadly challenge and

often times fatal. The killing

of George Floyd, with

the video and seen throughout

the world has made it

unabashedly clear that all

men and women are not

created equal.

We have much work to

do. As I follow the six teenagers

who are working for

a positive change in in this

world, others must stand

up beyond attending the

protests. Though we cannot

change people’s hearts,

we can change policies,

guidelines, and laws. Our

men should join together

and fight for change, because

the legacy of those

who were killed needs to

be refreshed by their lives.

Therein lives our breakthrough.

Howard E. Jones

serves as the Senior Pastor

of Fairfield M.B. Church

in Goodlettsville and is an

assistant principal at Strafford

High School in the

MNPS system. He conducts

the Lifting the Lid

Leadership Call, weekday

mornings at 6 a.m. 712-

775-8972 Ext. 199029349.

Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor;

The Washington Redskins National

Football League franchise is a disgrace!

In the year 2020, Washington team owner

Daniel Snyder cannot possibly continue to

rationalize keeping his ridiculously racist

team name in the face of widespread,

righteous public condemnation of Snyder’s

racist recalcitrance.

Our nation’s capitol’s team name “The

Redskins” will be retired before this

football season begins, if Representative

Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) has anything to

say about it: “The time [for the name] has

ended. There is no way to justify it. You

either step into this century or you don’t.

It’s up to the owner of the team to do that.”

In 1997, Washington, D.C.’s National

Basketball Association franchise willingly

changed its name from “The Bullets”

to “The Wizards.” So what’s Daniel Snyder’s

problem (other than being a bigot)?

As silly as some of these monikers are

below, any one of them would be preferable

to Washington D.C.’s current NFL

team name. Take your pick, Mr. Snyder.

* Washington Redcoats

* Washington Rednecks

* Washington Redrums

* Washington Red Dawns

* Washington Red Foxes

* Washington Red Lines

* Washington Red Rovers

* Washington Red Tides

* Washington Red Riding Hoods

* Washington Red Sparrows

(Melania Trump can be the team

mascot)

Jake Pickering

Arcata, CA

*****************************

Dear Editor;

Was The $1,200 Stimulus Enough To

Pay For Your Rent, Utilities, Food, Transportation,

and Phone Bill? If no, please

just say plain no, do not cuss (LOL).

Trump and his three wives, Mitch Mc-

Connell and his two wives, Lindsey Graham,

Thom Tillis, David Rozier, and all

other elected members of Congress are

paid over $200,000 a year. How many of

them do you think gave their $1,200 to a

poor person or family? Again, please just

answer, no descriptive adjectives for our

public servants (LOL). Our flag-waving

USA billionaires, like Robert Kraft and

Jerry Jones, who claim to be patriotic

got a large pepperoni pizza. We poor and

middle class essential under minimum

wage workers/sacrificial lambs got one

ridiculously small slice with three razorthin

pepperonis on it. Despite the record

number of workers at meat plants such as

Tyson, Smithfield and others testing positive

for COVID-19, Trump issued an executive

order that indemnified/exempted

them from lawsuits. What protection did

Trump order for the workers? As a retired

vocational education (shop) teacher,

I ask “where is OSHA”? My niece a

nurse practitioner, on the front line, asks

where is the CDC? Our government collects

enough of our tax dollars every April

15th to pay for anything our leaders want

to spend it on like wars and tax cuts for

the rich. We should press our elected officers

to give each adult $2,000 a month

until three months after we have a vaccine

that will slow or cure COVID-19. The rich

will invest their $2,000 in stocks while

the prices are incredibly low. We poor and

middle class will pay on some of our bills

and buy food. We will spend about 97%

of our $2,000, it will be taxed about ten

times, then back in our US Treasury in

7 to 10 days. My family and I are going

to contact our two U.S. Senators and one

U.S. Representative and demand the government

give us back our fair share of our

rainy-day savings during this pandemic. I

remember something I learned in my 10th

grade government class that always made

me feel independent. “Whenever any

form of government became destructive

of these ends, it is the right of the people

to alter or to abolish it, and institute a new

government.” If our 116th congress vote

NO on a fair and balanced stimulus bill to

save us from bankruptcy, we will exercise

our rights and vote NO on their election or

reelection on November 3rd. Will you and

your family join my family???

James J. Hankins

Wilmington, NC

Trump Makes Protecting White

Supremacy a Campaign Priority

By Rosetta Miller-Perry

Over the July 4th holiday

weekend president

Donald Trump made his

re-election campaign

strategy crystal clear.

It’s the preservation and

protection of white supremacy.

He presented

no policy ideas or second

term goals. Nor were

there new ideas or tactics

for fighting the spread of

COVID-19, which has already

killed over 130,000

Americans, and is spiking

in such states as Arizona,

Florida, Texas and

California. Trump said

nothing about the issues

of police misconduct and

brutality, nor did he present

any positive ways of

battling economic disparity

and the lack of opportunity

disproportionately

affecting millions

of Blacks and people of

color.

Instead, he went on

the attack against those

who have been demonstrating

in the streets for

weeks, the vast majority

in a peaceful and lawful

fashion, against police

mistreatment and

violence against African-

Americans. The image

forever stamped in many

folks’ minds was the video

of a white cop standing

on George Floyd’s

neck for nearly nine

minutes, with Floyd saying

“I can’t breathe,” and

Derek Chauvin acting

as though he was doing

nothing wrong. Instead,

Trump characterized the

protesters as “rioters,

looters, anarchists, and

Marxists,” using a bunch

of reactionary buzzwords

supplied him by some of

the Neo-Nazi types in his

inner circle.

Trump added that the

“radical left” wants to

“destroy our heritage”

and “indoctrinate our

children.” He claimed

these forces want to

overthrow the American

revolution, and equated

Confederate types like

Robert E. Lee and Jefferson

Davis with the

soldiers who fought in

World War II. He went so

far in one speech to say

protesters fighting for social

justice were “nazis,

facists, and communists.”

Setting aside the political

distortion since none

of these groups espouse

identical ideology, it was

clear he was making the

us vs. them distinction

that has always characterized

his politics.

Trump has endorsed

and embraced racist

themes and language

well before he became

president. He was part

of the “birther” movement

that claimed former

President Barack Obama

wasn’t a citizen, but a foreign

Muslim national. He

railed against Black NFL

players exercising their

constitutional rights to

nonviolent protest, calling

them “sons of bitches”

and urging NFL owners

to dismiss them.

Trump’s ignorance of

history is glaring, so it’s

obvious he’s utilizing

the script provided him

by his alt.-right buddies.

Still, it’s a scary tactic because

he’s clearly hoping

the polls are wrong, and

a lot more than 35 to 40

percent of the electorate

support him. Ever since

he uttered the “Make

America Great Again”

mantra prior to the 2016

election, Trump has never

wavered in presenting

what he thinks is the correct

vision of this nation.

In view the people

who fought for the Confederacy

weren’t traitors

trying to establish a separate

slave-holding republic.

They were merely

misguided, good folks

who were defending their

homes and property. The

fact that George Washington,

Thomas Jefferson

and Patrick Henry

owned slaves should be

seen as unimportant, just

a minor character flaw.

The hideous philosophies

that Andrew Jackson,

Theodore Roosevelt and

Woodrow Wilson had

regarding the inherent

inferiority of Blacks and

Native Americans also

isn’t that significant, and

pointing it out in school

textbooks only demeans

and diminishes their

achievements.

By focusing on the

vandalism and illegal activities.

of a handful of

protesters, Trump creates

this imagery of rampaging

hordes coming to attack

the good white folks.

He’s even talked about

issuing an executive order

gutting open housing

laws in order to protect

“the quality of life in the

suburbs.” This is straight

racist rhetoric masquerading

as a defense of traditional

American values

and standing up for the

nation’s heroes.

Most presidents have

used the July 4th weekend

to make speeches

urging national unity and

seeking a consensus towards

making this a better

country. Trump used

it to reaffirm his support

for white supremacist

ideas and his opposition

to substantive change.

He’s going to accelerate

these attacks in the days

and weeks ahead, and his

allies are going to gear up

their voter suppression

efforts.

Trump fears a huge

turnout by people of

color, educated women,

and young people, the

coalition that enabled

Obama to be a two-term

president. Even though

this strategy failed in the

2018 midterm elections,

Trump’s trying it again.

That’s because he has no

policy idea solutions to

the problems that plague

this nation. He’s only interested

in maintaining

power and using the office

of the presidency to

further enhance his fiscal

profile and value of his

businesses (by the way

he still hasn’t disclosed

his tax returns).

The challenge for

those who oppose him is

clear. We must turn out

in full force in November

and get this white

supremacist champion

out of office, before he

can appoint any more

Supreme Court justices,

and continue trying to reverse

what progress this

nation has made.

Published by Perry and Perry and Associates

President/CEO/ Publisher

Rosetta Miller Perry,

Associate Publisher/Executive Editor

Wanda Miller Benson

Published Weekly by

The Tennessee Tribune Publishing Company

1501 Jefferson Street, Nashville, Tennessee, 37208-3016

Phone: (615) 321-3268 Fax: 615-321-0409

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Email: sales1501@aol.com Website: www.TnTribune.com

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the right to edit for brevity and clarity. THE TENNESSEE TRIBUNE.



A5

Franklin Residents Face Racial History

By Clint Confehr

FRANKLIN, TN — With citizen groups talking

about disrupting bias and why it’s hard for white people

to talk about racism, another group has reached

its $150,000 goal toward placing a bronze statue of a

Black Union Army soldier at Williamson County’s

historic courthouse.

That building faces this town’s traffic circle. It’s

centerpiece is a monument — nearly 38-feet-tall —

owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

The monument includes an Italian marble statue of a

Confederate soldier, nicknamed “Chip” because part

of the brim of his hat chipped off during installation

in 1899.

Now, Columbus, Ohio-based sculptor Joe F. Howard,

a Tennessee native, is commissioned for the

$150,000 project described by Dr. Chris Williamson

of Franklin, pastor of Strong Tower Bible Church in

Forest Hills. He and Pastors Kevin Riggs and Hewitt

Sawyers, and historian Eric Jacobson decided to tell a

“fuller story” about race in Franklin. They were motivated

here during a candlelight vigil shortly after the

August 2017 “Unite the Right” rally against the Charlottesville,

Va. City Council vote to remove the Robert

E. Lee statue from a city park. The four men’s web

site, fullerstory.org, tells more.

Numerous Franklin residents apparently woke up,

recognizing what happened in there could happen

here. In October 2017, white supremacists canceled

their Murfreesboro demonstration following a white

lives matter march in Shelbyville that morning.

Instead of trying to remove “Chip” — there’s a

petition for that, and litigation over land around the

monument — the Fuller Story group wants to present

American history that’s “not to be erased,” but

“studied in light of truth and in light of where we are

today,” Williamson said. A “lost cause agenda” is the

opposite of winners writing history. “If you’re going

to have a physical representation of a Confederate soldier,

then you need to have a physical representation

of … a Black Union soldier,” Williamson said. It’s to

be unveiled during Juneteenth celebrations next year.

There are other programs on race here.

• On the Tuesdays of July 14, 21 and 28 from 5:15-

8 p.m., another group, THE PUBLIC (THEPUBLICfranklin.com),

continues its “Book Study & Gathering”

including discussion on Robin DiAngelo’s book

“White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People

to Talk About Racism” on the front lawn of New Hope

Academy, 1820 Downs Blvd. Brad Perry, Brentwood

Academy’s 12th grade chair and history teacher, leads

the book study. Williamson Christian College Professor

Anthony Hendricks, who teaches An Urgent Call

to Biblical Unity, plans to discuss racial trauma with a

psychiatrist, a therapist and African Americans willing

to “share their emotions during this time” on July

14. “We’re trying to create a space for healing … a

A life-size bronze statue of a Black Union Army soldier like this

is to be placed at Franklin’s traffic circle so people can look him

in the eye and see his dignity. Sketch by sculptor Joe F. Howard

André Churchwell, MD speaks July 13 on Disrupting

Everyday Bias.

safe space to discuss these issues of volatility in our

country,” Hendricks said. “We give African Americans

a space to vent … to express the fact that we’re

all just tired … especially as we operate in white spaces.”

Since George Floyd was killed, attendance grew

to 500-600 with 3-6 percent Black. Franklin (pop.

81,000) is 79 percent non-Hispanic white.

• Monday, July 13, Vanderbilt University’s vice

chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion, and chief

diversity officer, Dr. Andre Churchwell, will discuss

“Disrupting Everyday Bias” during a Zoom webinar

simulcast on Facebook starting at 9:30 a.m. It’s one of

the FrankTalks monthly lectures organized by Franklin

Tomorrow Executive Director Mindy Tate and presented

by Williamson Medical Center and Renasant

Bank. Born and raised in Nashville, Churchwell’s father

broke the color barrier at the Nashville Banner as

the first full-time African American journalist hired

by a major newspaper in the South.

Dr. Chris Williamson is pastor of Strong Tower Bible Church and

a founder of the Fuller Story. Courtesy photo

Sculptor Joe F. Howard and Dr. Chris Williamson stand together

in Franklin near the anticipated location for a statue of a Union

Army Black soldier. Photo from Fuller Story

Sen. Gilmore Presses for

Forrest Bust Removal

NASHVILLE, TN — Sen. Brenda

Gilmore (D-Nashville) is urging members

of the Capitol Commission to remove

a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the

state Capitol.

Gilmore, a long-time Middle Tennessee

lawmaker, along with many Democratic

members of the General Assembly

have been advocating for the Nathan

Bedford Forrest bust to be moved to a

museum.

The panel, which oversees the Capitol

grounds, will vote on the matter Thursday,

July 9.

On Monday, Gilmore wrote a letter to

members of the commission asking them

to “make Thursday a moment in Tennessee

history where we stood together for

racial reconciliation.”

The following is the letter sent to the

commission:

“We are asking you, both as colleagues

of the Tennessee General Assembly

and as Black citizens who have built

our homes and families in Tennessee, to

please vote in favor of removing the bust

of Nathan Bedford Forrest from our state

Capitol building.

When we install memorials in our

public spaces, which are made possible

and maintained by taxpayers black, white

and brown, those monuments should reflect

the values that unite us all and the

moral principles that guide our families,

our society and our state today.

Confederate General and Ku Klux

Klan grand wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest

represents none of it.

Forrest made his personal fortune by

enslaving, torturing and selling Black

people. A disgraceful traitor, he waged

war against the United States of America

to preserve white supremacy and his

personal slavery profits. And, after the

Sen. Brenda Gilmore

treasonous insurrection was defeated and

slavery abolished, he led campaigns to

further terrorize, murder and suppress the

lives and liberties of freed Black people.

Above all else, the legacy of Nathan

Bedford Forrest represents an allegiance

to white supremacy in every form.

Slavery, oppression and bigotry are a

part of our American history, but we do

not, and should not, celebrate these ideals

today nor should we glorify them with

distinctions of honor in our public places.

When school children visit the Capitol’s

second floor today and see the large,

metallic Forrest bust enshrined in a beautiful,

limestone alcove above their heads,

what lessons do they learn?

Even a young child understands the

Capitol is a special building and that the

deliberate placement of this bust is an

obvious position of honor. Children and

adults alike must literally look up to Forrest

who is perched on a pedestal as if he

should be admired without criticism.”

First Horizon Bank

Promotes Doppler

NASHVILLE, TN

— First Horizon Bank,

member of the First Horizon

National Corp.

(NYSE:FHN) family of

companies, today announced

it has promoted

Lucas Doppler to relationship

manager, vice

president with its Middle

Tennessee commercial

banking team. Doppler is

dedicated to serving core

commercial and middle

market companies in the

Middle Tennessee Region

and will be based at the

bank’s Hill Center office

in Brentwood, reporting

to Community Bank

President Joe Walker.

“In his 11 years with

First Horizon Bank, Lucas

has proven to be a

leader and trusted, valued

member of our commercial

banking team,” said

Renee Drake, executive

vice president, Middle

Tennessee commercial

banking manager. “This

well-deserved promotion

recognizes his dedication

to serving our clients

and helping First Horizon

Bank grow our presence

in Middle Tennessee.”

A veteran banker with

18 years of experience,

Doppler will be responsible

for managing client

relationships and new

business development

in Middle Tennessee.

He joined First Horizon

Bank as a credit analyst in

2009. Doppler earned his

bachelor’s degree in business

administration from

Bemidji State University.

“It’s an honor to be

part of the amazing team

at First Horizon Bank in

Middle Tennessee,” said

Doppler. “First Horizon

values the relationship

we have with our clients

and has all the resources

needed to help them build

their business. Moving

our family to Nashville

more than a decade ago

to join First Horizon was

one of the best decisions

I made in my life, and I

look forward to continuing

to serve our clients in

Middle Tennessee.”


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Speak Your Excellence

Let’s Talk

All things

business, speech

& motivation

by Ms. June

There’s nothing worse

than feeling as if one has

a need to obtain confirmation

from others. Whether

it pertains to standards of

beauty, weight, business

aspirations, matters of the

heart, motivation and general

advice, you can harness

your own excellence

through speaking.

The dictionary says

excellence is being outstanding

or extraordinarily

good, but we have the

power to make, define and

speak our own excellence

regardless of our current

circumstances.

New opportunities and

new levels of elevation are

close to our finger tips but

we have to understand that

we can cause our own demise

or we can cause our

own excellence simply

through our spoken words.

What you have through

your spoken words can be

mightier than a dollar, can

have more power than a

locomotive and will move

your mountains.

This is not about faith

because that is a given

that should already be

deeply rooted. Speaking

your excellence starts with

self-confidence, discipline,

goals, personal desire,

honesty and the ability to

keep your seeds in good

soil. Other people’s doubt,

everyday life, media and

negativity can affect your

business and your personal

space. You have the ability

to speak out loud and proclaim

that you’re special,

accomplished in your own

right, your ventures will

be successful, your family

is balanced and you’re on

a mission with a destiny to

fulfill.

Others are not able to

see what you see in yourself

or see the big things

you envision. Therefore,

you have to make your

own arrangements to get

what you need to be successful

while speaking

your excellence into existence.

The universe should be

viewed as a big menu of life.

The same way orders are

placed at a fast restaurant is

the same process in which

you can use your tongue

to orchestrate your life. Of

course, there is great responsibility

attached to the

all mighty tongue because

you have to be careful what

you say because things of a

good or bad nature can be

willed into existence.

This process of speaking

your excellence places

a mental bookmark in your

mind and will spur you to

action which leads to progress.

This is not magic or supernatural

but a technique

to focus your attention

which leads to manifestation.

The key is to speak with

optimism, integrity, passion,

encouragement and

positivity. Reaching the

fullness of anything also requires

speaking with praise

and gratitude instead of

with a spirit of complaining.

One must also exercise

caution when speaking and

avoid the proud realists

that have the potential to

be dream killers. Speaking

your excellence around the

right people allows others

to hear your proclamations

and they may be willing to

offer help.

Your words have power

and you have to be intentional

when speaking.

Speaking excellence is to

build yourself and others

instead of tearing down

and being critical. In conclusion,

if you want that

good, happy, pleasant existence,

all you have to do is

speak what you seek, until

you see what you said.

Contact Ms. June by email

at justjune615@gmail.com

Women

Something Sweet, LLC:

Cookies for a Cause

By Ashley Benkarski

NASHVILLE, TN —

Local entrepreneur Alexis

Hughes-Williams is committed

to the community.

She found her calling-

-and the love of her life-

-in the baking skills she

learned from her greatgrandmother

since she was

eight years old. A graduate

of Tennessee State University’s

marketing program,

Hughes-Williams stunned

her classmates and future

husband Robert Calhoun,

Sr. with her confections.

For Robert, it was love at

first bite when he tasted her

Banana Bread.

Though Hughes-Williams

faced a challenge in

balancing classes and her

emerging business, she had

support from friends and

family that was crucial in

her success.

“Having that support

from my friends, family and

eventual husband was vital

in helping me get through

college,” she said. “Trying

to complete my studies

whilst simultaneously

trying to start up a business

was incredibly tough.

Luckily a friend let me use

a space in their commercial

kitchen in the early days

and I began running pop-up

stores at the African Street

Festival in Nashville which

really helped get Something

Sweet, LLC out there.”

Offering homemade delectable

desserts from family

recipes including cookies

and the popular Cake Batter

Krispies, profits from

her Nashville-based bakery

Something Sweet, LLC go

to giving back to the place

she calls home through the

501(c)(3) she runs, Girl, un-

Known, Inc. The nonprofit

provides young minority

women with the tools they

need to begin and successfully

run their own businesses.

“Without the support

from my loved ones,

there was no way I would

have been able to achieve

the success that I have,”

Hughes-Williams said.

“Girl, unKnown was created

to help mentor young

girls and women across the

whole of the United States

and instill in them the confidence,

pride and determination

needed to succeed.

Countless times we’ve seen

women give up on their

dreams because of no one

being there to provide support

and guidance.”

The nonprofit has donated

nearly 200 books to

improve literacy and education,

provided a grant to

five women-owned businesses

and provided college

scholarships to three young

women.

Hughes-Williams partnered

with Blue Bell Ice

Cream for The Great Cookies

and Ice Cream Social

Sat., June 20 at Hunter’s

Station benefiting the Community

Resource Center,

where visitors could purchase

cookies fresh from

the oven paired with Blue

Bell’s frozen treats. Earlier

this year, she ran a pop-up

at the Governor’s Mansion.

But you don’t have

to live in or visit Nashville

to experience all that

Something Sweet has to

offer--the bakery’s goods

are now available for delivery

nationwide, and everything

is produced in a

state-of-the-art and sterile

commercial kitchen that is

currently maintaining all

necessary additional cleaning

requirements during the

COVID-19 outbreak.

“We are currently living

in incredibly difficult times,

with many of us facing unprecedented

challenges,”

Hughes-Williams said. “I

wanted to add a little bit of

positivity to those people

who might be self-isolating

or feeling a little down during

this period by launching

nationwide delivery of

some of my most popular

products.”

Her line of cookies

include Chocolate Chip,

Peanut Butter, Oatmeal

Raisin and the signature

Everything Cookie (which

is made including oatmeal,

coconut and pecans),

but she also offers baked

goods such as brownies and

her delicious Cake Batter

Krispies, which sold out at

the Thistle Farm Café recently.

To find out more about

Something Sweet, LLC or

to order for delivery visit

https://www.somethingsweetllc.com/.

Rock the Vote, a nonpartisan organization that is working with businesses and

influencers, has asked Journal-isms to help publicize its National Voter Registration Day,

to take place September 22. 2020.

Something Sweet, LLC founder Alexis Hughes-Williams serves a customer a cookie and ice cream

sandwich at The Great Cookies and Ice Cream Social at Hunter’s Station Sat., June 20. The bakery

partnered with Blue Bell Ice Cream for the event benefiting the Community Resource Center in

Nashville. Photo by Ashley Benkarski.

Speedy, Simple & Safe

with contactless payments.

(615) 279-5214

(615) 279-5218

Alexis Hughes-Williams’s cookies are waiting to be put in the ovens in the Something Sweet bakery.

Photo provided by Danker and Danker, Inc.



A7

By Journal-isms

Lacey Named New York Times National Editor

Marc Lacey, associate managing editor at the New York

Times in charge of weekend coverage, has been named national

editor, the Times announced recently. “Marc has ably

led our newly established team on race, collaborating with a

range of desks and editors to tell the story of race and identity

in new forms, including the Race/Related newsletter, the

interactive on how views of the police shaped interpretations

of body camera videos, and a stream of ambitious stories and

social callouts,” Executive Editor Dean Baquet wrote to the

staff.

Rivera, Gonzalez to be Honored

Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera and veteran journalist Juan

Gonzalez will be honored with presidential awards at the upcoming

joint convention of the National Association of Black

Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists

in Washington, NAHJ president Mekahlo Medina announced

last week. Both have been honored previously by

NAHJ. Gonzalez, a past NAHJ president and 2008 inductee

in the NAHJ Hall of Fame, is to be awarded at the Noche de

Periodistas Journalism awards Gala Aug. 6. Rivera, named to

NAHJ’s Hall of Fame in 2009, is to be recognized at the Hall

of Fame & Honors Luncheon on Aug.5.

Tech Guru Advises to Learn Social Media

Sree Sreenivasan, the tech guru who on June 30 ended his

job as the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s first chief digital officer,

was asked whether he had advice for journalists on the

importance of keeping up with technology and social media.

“I used to do workshops on the new thing called email, and

why you should use it,” he told Carlett Spike of Columbia

Journalism Review. “Journalists would say, ‘I love the fax;

why should I need that?’ The lesson would be: Please learn

Twitter and learn LinkedIn, because it’s so important. Learn

them when you don’t need them, so that they’re there when

you need them. Otherwise you’ll come across as desperate.”

National Short Takes

Trump Refusing to Appear on TV

When Exposure Limited

“Donald Trump, in a sharp shift in strategy, is now refusing

to appear on many television outlets, and top advisers

who want to limit his exposure are no longer notifying him

of every interview request,” Howard Kurtz reported last Friday

for Fox News.

Mexican TV Reporter Fired

A Mexican TV reporter is out of a job after a photo surfaced

on social media showing locals carrying her down a

flooded street. TV Azteca reporter Lydia Cumming, 24, was

covering the devastating flooding in Puebla when two residents

offered to carry her, mic in hand, to her next interview

so she wouldn’t get her shoes wet. Cumming later said she

didn’t have the proper clothing with her on the assignment.

The image of Cumming being carried inspired parodies on

social media.

Orlando Sentinel Releases Digital Time Capsule

The Orlando Sentinel put together a digital time capsule

of what life has been like in Orlando since a man opened fire

in a gay nightclub and killed 49 people, reported by Kristin

Hare for the Poynter Institute. The video, 24-minutes long,

doesn’t focus on the shooter or his story. Instead, it tells small

stories from survivors, a first responder, the community and

each of the victims.

NPR Named Eaton to New Position

NPR has named N’Jeri Eaton to the new position of senior

manager for program acquisition. Eaton joins NPR from

the Independent Television Service, where she is content development

and initiative manager. She has worked for ITVS

for five years.”

Protestors Voice Disapproval of Unfair Treatment

In Meridian, Mississippi, protesters spent about two

hours last Wednesday voicing their disapproval of what they

call unfair treatment of African Americans by the media in

general and WTOK in particular. The protest comes in response

to a story about a video showing a black teenager

who appears to have been beaten, and continuing to be beaten

while having racial slurs thrown at him. They say they are

upset about the timing of the release of the story. The station

said it first received the video on June 30 and aired it July 1

after verifying its authenticity and learning some of the facts

regarding it.

Inge Named Race and Southern

Culture Reporter

Leoneda Inge, an experienced and award-winning public

radio journalist, has been named North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC’s

first-ever Race and Southern Culture Reporter,.

Inge comes to the new beat after 15 years as WUNC’s

Changing Economy Reporter.

Lee Promoted at Univision Communications

Univision Communications has promoted Chief News

and Digital Officer Isaac Lee to the newly created position

of chief news, entertainment and digital officer, TVNews-

Check reported recently.

Cable TV Companies Scrambling

for Digital Presence

Cable TV companies are scrambling to figure out how

they can expand their digital presence as advertiser dollars

flock to the internet. Univision is no exception. And now

the cable TV network is officially launching its latest digital

project: A music news site with a social justice bent, called

TrackRecord.

Decision to Shut Down Voice FM Condemned

The Committee to Protect Journalists said last week that

it “condemned the decision by Liberian authorities to shut

down the privately owned station Voice FM” and called on

the government to allow the station to resume broadcasting

immediately.

THDA Provides Covid-19 Assistance to State COC Organizations

With the effects of the

coronavirus pandemic being

felt throughout the

state, THDA is providing

$500,000 in COVID-19

Supplemental Funding to

Continuums of Care Grants

to Continuums of Care

across the state to help

them to continuing providing

essential services to

the at-risk populations they

serve.

THDA has provided

$50,000 COVID-19 Supplemental

Grants to seven

of the state’s Continuums

of Care, including the

Community Alliance for

the Homeless in Memphis,

Appalachian Regional Coalition

on Homelessness

in Johnson City, Chattanooga

Regional Homeless

Coalition, West Tennessee

Healthcare Foundation in

Jackson, Housing, Health

and Human Services Alliance

of Rutherford County

in Murfreesboro, MDHA

in Nashville and Community

Housing Partners of

Williamson County. Additional

funding announcements

are pending.

The funding is being

used by the organizations

in their response to COV-

ID-19 among Tennessee’s

homeless residents and has

been used to provide everything

from emergency

shelter to food and sanitizing

supplies.

HAB Announces

New Board Officers

NBCC Minority Business Profile of the Week

Elite Roofing Company

There is nothing in the world stronger

than a family bond, which is proved

through the Porter family. D’Arcy,

Mary, Carlo and Aaron have, as a family

unit, developed a thriving and successful

business in the Nashville area. Each

member brings their own personal level

of expertise to the business; D’Arcy’s

experience in the roofing industry; the

financial expert, Mary; technological

master, Carlo; and Aaron the business/

accountant. Through their collective

experience, knowledge and diligence, a

strong successful company, Elite Roofing

Company – General Contractor, has

emerged.

It all began with D’Arcy’s determination

to take care of his family. He

began working in the roofing business

in 1975 as a laborer but was steadfast

in his resolve to become a roofer. He

began learning and understanding the

roofing industry and became quite proficient.

As a result of his determination,

he transformed from laborer to roofer;

from a follower to a leader. Within two

years, he was promoted to a supervisory

position and began to lead, teach and develop

the workforce that he supervised.

Leadership and a willingness to share

the knowledge were his traits then and

remain his traits today. He has installed

roofing for federal and state offices;

Metropolitan Schools and numerous

commercial industrial buildings.

The Porter family, realizing that no

African American roofing company

existed in the Nashville area, decided

to use D’Arcy’s sixteen years of experience

to begin their company, Elite Roofing

Company of Nashville. With every

successful business there are always ups

and downs, but with perseverance and

determination the Porters proved, that

Mary and D’Arcy Porter

any storm can be weathered when you

have the support of the family. Elite

Roofing Company of Tennessee has

been servicing the Middle Tennessee

area for 29 years.

In 2009, with much contemplation,

discussion and prayer; a decision

was made to change the name to “Elite

Roofing Company-General Contractor”

which allowed the company to broaden

its capabilities and move into the construction

industry. Elite’s goal is to always

exemplify its name, to be a leader

and to be the best quality roofing and

construction company in the State of

Tennessee.

CONTACT INFO: Mary Porter,

Elite Roofing Company Of Nashville,

Inc. 1048 Jefferson Street, Nashville,

TN 37208 Phone (615) 259-0774 Fax

(615) 255-8646 mary@eliteroofingofnashville.com

Alex Fisher, Secretary

NASHVILLE, TN — The Hospital

Authority Board bylaws state each

officer holds their position for a oneyear

term.

Dr. Shindana Feagins, chair, is a

practicing Internist in private practice.

She is the owner of Health MD

which provides house calls to disabled

and elderly patients. She initiated the

Walk With Your Doctor initiative to

support patients and their need for

healthy living. She is a graduate of

Meharry Medical College.

Attorney Richard Manson, vice

chair, is the CEO of SourceMark, a

Brentwood-based medical and surgical

supply company. Manson also

serves as chairman Citizens Savings

Bank & Trust. He has a proven history

of a commitment to the community.

Alex Fisher, secretary, is an attorney

at Morgan & Morgan. Fisher is a

leader in the legal community, loves

fighting for the underdog, and spent

her legal career representing individuals

against large systems and institutions.

She is a graduate of Vanderbilt

University Law School.

Dr. Shindana Feagins, Chair

Attorney Richard Manson, Vice Chair


A8


Education

Nashville Opera Partnership to Expose

TSU Music Students to Real-World Artists

By Emmanuel Freeman

NASHVILLE, TN (TSU News Service)

— Tennessee State University

music majors with dreams of performing

with some of the best entertainers in

the world, may actually be a step closer

to making that a reality thanks to a new

partnership between the university and

the Nashville Opera.

The joint venture, made possible

with funding from the National Endowment

for the Arts, will launch a digital

masterclass series in performance, music

industry and arts management.

Led by the Nashville Opera, working

professionals will present masterclasses

that bring real-world musical artists to

TSU students. The university will also

lead in coordinating with other historically

black colleges and universities to

participate in the virtual educational

experience.

Isaiah Batey, a senior vocal music

major and opera singer, is excited about

learning from “the best in the business.”

“This is just the kind of opportunity

I am always looking for,” says Batey, a

Nashville native who wants to be a professional

singer “traveling around the

world and sharing my talent.” Inspired

by opera singers like Luciano Pavarotti,

Renee Fleming and Jessye Norman,

Batey says the new partnership will

give TSU students like him the opportunity

to learn from professionals who

are actually in the music industry.

“To have these people work with us

college students who are trying to get

to where they are professionally, technically

and vocally, is just so fulfilling,”

says Batey, a graduate of the Nashville

School of Arts, who currently sings

with the Concert Chorale of Nashville

TSU music major Isaiah Batey says the university’s partnership with the Nashville Opera gives students like him the opportunity to learn from

professionals who are actually in the music industry.

and the William Crimm Singers, a

group organized by TSU music instructor

William G. Crimm.

Dr. Robert L. Elliott, professor and

chair of the TSU Department of Music,

says the new joint venture is a continuation

of the long-standing partnership

with the Nashville Opera that will better

position TSU and other HBCU students

for success in a digital, virtual

world upon graduation.

“This partnership will provide new

and different experiences for our students,

and facilitate learning at multiple

universities,” says Elliott.

An NEA release says the Nashville

Opera will receive $25,000 to fund the

digital masterclass series with TSU beginning

September, and will be free to

the public through livestreaming.

“We are deeply grateful for this support

from the National Endowment for

the Arts,” says John Hoomes, Nashville

Opera CEO and artistic director. “It

helps us do the important work of creating

more equity in our art form.”

The Nashville Opera’s relationship

with TSU spans more than a decade and

includes such activities as presentations

of masterclasses, free student tickets to

performances, and Opera 101 lectures

for the Department of Music.

For more information on the music

program at TSU, visit http://www.tnstate.edu/music/

TSU, Vanderbilt Partner With National Initiative

to Bring Engineering to Tennessee High Schools

By Emmanuel Freeman

NASHVILLE, TN (TSU News Service) — Tennessee

State University is collaborating with Vanderbilt University

in a national initiative to bring engineering to area high

schools.

Engineering for US All, or E4USA, a National Science

Foundation initiative, provides a standardized educational

curriculum for pre-college students to learn and demonstrate

engineering principles, skills and practices. The curriculum

affords students the opportunity to earn college

credit at participating colleges and universities.

Under the initiative, TSU’s College of Engineering will

work with students at Stratford STEM Magnet High School

in a curriculum that introduces basic principles of engineering,

and allows students to design and build projects through

a hands-on learning experience. For the last eight years, the

TSU College of Engineering has been working with Stratford

in many other precollege engineering programs.

Dr. S. Keith Hargrove, dean of the College of Engineering,

says providing the E4USA course allows the university

to expose more students to career opportunities in engineering

and “the preparation needed.”

“It also allows TSU to collaborate with multiple high

schools, teachers, and recruit students to TSU and to STEM

fields,” says Hargrove, who serves on the Engineering Advisory

Board at Stratford. “Students will get a head-start for

those interested in academic careers in engineering and are

eligible to receive academic credit at a university.”

The Engineering for US All initiative was launched

across the country early this academic year as a pilot with

Vanderbilt and four other universities paired with high

schools in their states to enroll students in E4USA’s free,

design-based introductory engineering course.

In the 2020-2021 academic year, TSU, MTSU and the

University of Tennessee will work with Vanderbilt University

to move the program into Metro Nashville’s Stratford and

Glencliff High Schools, Rutherford County Schools’ Riverdale

High, and Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga.

Ronald Glenn, an incoming freshman, who was part

Engineering for US All, or E4USA, gives high school students an opportunity to earn college credit at participating

colleges and universities.

of the TSU pre-college engineering program at Stratford

during his freshman, junior and senior years, says adding

the E4USA course will be great for the program . He says

it helped him develop a strong foundation in engineering.

“I enjoyed working with TSU professors during those

years,” says Glenn, of Nashville, who will major in architectural

engineering. “The program helped me get a

head-start on my college work.”

According to the E4USA website, the program fills a

current gap in engineering education training by recruiting

high school teachers of all disciplines. No prior engineering

experience is required to become an E4USA

teacher.

“High school teachers are trained and supported by

engineering colleges with curriculum and laboratory resources,”

says Hargrove.

In this pilot year, E4USA has reached more than 400

students, including several seniors who plan to study

engineering and have been accepted to colleges. In the

coming year, it is anticipated that E4USA will reach over

2,000 students across 14 states and territories.

For more information on the TSU College of Engineering,

visit http://www.tnstate.edu/engineering/



Trump’s Small Business Rescue Bailed Out Kushner’s

Family, Obama’s Aides and Other Political Elite

By Lachlan Markay, Sam Brodey,

William Bredderman, Jackie Kucinich/

Daily Beast

When the Trump administration began

implementing a trillion-dollar program

to bail out struggling employers amid the

COVID-19 pandemic, a central concern

was that the president would use the program

to benefit his friends and allies.

It turns out that Trump’s pals weren’t

the ones catching the windfall so much

as Washington, D.C.’s well-off and wellconnected

in general. Among the entities

cashing six to seven-figure checks from

the federal government’s Paycheck Protection

Program in recent months were

a fiscal responsibility advocacy organization

run by anti-tax crusader Grover

Norquist, a high-powered consulting firm

run by former Secretary of State Madeleine

Albright, the nonprofit headed by

President Donald Trump

former Trump campaign official David

Bossie, and a political strategy firm linked

to two alumni of the Obama White House

who’ve turned anti-Trump podcasting into

a lucrative enterprise.

Businesses tied to the president’s sonin-law

as well as members of Congress

got taxpayer funds. As did the elite D.C.-

area schools where both President Donald

Trump and President Barack Obama

enrolled their children: St. Andrew’s

Episcopal School, where Barron Trump

is a student, got between $2 million and

$5 million; and Sidwell Friends School,

where both Obama children graduated

high school, got between $5 million and

$10 million.

Earlier this week, the Treasury Department

finally released the name of everyone

who received a loan greater than $150,000

through the PPP. The disclosure does not

cover loans below that amount, nor does

it specify the exact amount that each organization

received. In the months before

Monday’s loan disclosure, certain companies

and entities—sensing the possibility

A9

of negative publicity—announced their

receipt of loans and, more often than not,

that they were returning them. The media

company Axios, for example, proactively

announced it had applied for and received

a PPP loan, and then said it was returning

those funds after taking criticism.

Other outlets had no such compunctions.

Records show $350,000 to $1 million

went to Observer Holdings LLC, the

parent entity of Observer Media—the

publishing company formerly owned by

White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner.

Kushner resigned from the news organization

before decamping to Washington,

D.C. in 2017, but it has remained in the

family: Joseph Meyer, wedded to Kushner’s

sister, Nicole, lists it among the holdings

of his Observer Capital investment

firm. The federal assistance preserved 41

jobs, according to the SBA.

Supreme Court Rules Religious

Employers May Deny Birth Control Coverage

By Melissa Jeltsen and Nina Golgowski

HuffPost

WASHINGTON, DC — The Supreme

Court recently ruled that the

Trump administration may give employers

with religious or moral objections

the right to deny women free birth

control coverage under the Affordable

Care Act.

The court’s 7-2 vote dealt a blow to

the reproductive rights movement.

The case, Trump v. Pennsylvania,

consolidated with Little Sisters of the

Poor v. Pennsylvania, centered on the

birth control mandate, a fiercely disputed

regulation under the Affordable Care

Act that requires most private health insurance

plans to cover Food and Drug

Administration-approved forms of birth

control without a copay.

This was the third time the mandate

has reached the Supreme Court, but the

first since conservative Justices Neil

Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh ― appointed

by President Donald Trump ―

joined the bench. This case concerned

rules issued after Trump took office that

would allow almost any employer to opt

out of providing birth control coverage

by citing religious or moral objections.

Oral arguments were presented in

May via teleconference ― one of the

first times in history for the court ―

due to the coronavirus pandemic. At the

time, the justices appeared divided on

the issue.

The mandate has been credited with

significantly reducing birth control costs

in the U.S. Before the Affordable Care

Act, commonly known as Obamacare,

contraceptives made up about 30% of

women’s total out-of-pocket health care

costs, according to the National Women’s

Law Center. In 2013, the mandate

saved women more than $1.4 billion in

out-of-pocket expenses for birth control

pills.

When cost is not a barrier to birth

control, people are better able to choose

the method that meets their needs and

have access to it consistently, said

Kristyn Brandi, board chair of Physicians

for Reproductive Health, in a

statement released in May when the

case was argued.

“Contraception is an essential component

of health care. Its necessary coverage

should not be lost to the whim of

employers,” she said. “It not only allows

people to plan and space their pregnancies

in a way that is best for their health

and their families, but also helps manage

a variety of health conditions.”

We

Stand

Visit

at www.TnTribune.com

Together.


A10


Robert De Niro’s Restaurant Chain Nobu Took 14 PPP Loans

By Jessica Chasmar

The Washington Times

The high-end sushi

restaurant and hotel chain

co-founded by actor Robert

De Niro accepted as

much as $27.7 million

in taxpayer-backed loans

from the Paycheck Protection

Program, according

to government filings

released Monday.

The nationwide chain,

founded by Mr. De Niro,

celebrity chef Nobuyuki

“Nobu” Matsuhisa and

film producer Meir Teper,

received 14 loans

from the federal small

business relief program

established in response to

the coronavirus pandemic,

CNBC first reported.

The disclosure by the

Small Business Administration

provides only a

range for the loan sizes

instead of precise dollar

amounts. The Nobu

group, for instance, received

as much as $27.7

million or as little as $11

million, CNBC reported.

Some other chains,

including Dig Inn, Five

Guys, Mod Pizza and

Chopt, received PPP

loans of at least $5 million,

CNBC reported.

A controversy regarding

the PPP erupted in

April upon the news that

well-funded companies

such as Shake Shack, Potbelly,

Ruth’s Hospitality

Group, Nathan’s Famous

and the Los Angeles Lakers

had all received loans

under the program. They

all responded to the backlash

by returning the loan

proceeds.

The high-end sushi restaurant and hotel chain co-founded by actor Robert De Niro

accepted Payment Protection Program money during COVID-19 shutdown.

Meharry grant, Continued from page A1

to practice transformative

research that reaches beyond

institutional walls

and touches lives in the

community.

“The Center for Health

Policy at Meharry is a focal

point for innovative

thought,” said Meharry

President James E.K. Hildreth

Sr., Ph.D., M.D. “The

center is making a difference

in the lives of those

we benefit, congruent with

our mission to the underserved.

The BRIDGE to

Success program is one

more way we can do that.”

Samuels said the Center

for Health Policy team is in

erage for the 40th anniversary

of Dr. King’s assassination.

She started thinking

about what it would be like

for a news organization to

mark the 50th anniversary

of Dr. King’s death.

Thomas left the Appeal

in 2014, got a Nieman Fellowship

at Harvard where

she says dreaming was encouraged.

So, she did.

She came back to

Memphis with a big idea

and started MLK50 with

$3000. “When we started

in 2017 the goal was to examine

what Memphis had

done with Dr. King’s ultimate

sacrifice. Rather than

focus on surface evaluations

we really wanted to

look at why Dr. King came

to Memphis, which was in

support of low-wage black

workers, and be critical of

where we were now. How

are low-wage black workers

in Memphis doing?

What does that community

look like today?”

MLK50 focuses on the

lives of low-income people

and that is a pretty wide

lens in Memphis where

28% of the population

lives below the poverty

line and 64% are African

American.

“We prioritize the people

who Dr. King would be

centered on if he were still

alive. That was the goal for

the first year. And it went

well because we’re still

here,” Thomas said.

MLK50 did a living

wage survey in 2017 and

sent it to the 25 largest

companies in Memphis.

The idea was to find out

if they were paying decent

wages.

“Many of them did

not even respond. That’s

a pretty big deal. Companies

that represent 160,000

workers in Memphis and

they wouldn’t even say

if they were paying their

workers enough to live

on,” Thomas said.

She said that many

Memphis companies give

the beginning stages of the

program. “We are excited

to partner with the Tennessee

Department of Human

Services over the next four

years on this noteworthy

endeavor and look forward

to effecting lasting change

in the families we will

serve,” he said.

Meharry Medical College,

founded in 1876, is

the nation’s largest private,

independent historically

black academic health sciences

center dedicated to

educating minority and

other health professionals.

True to its heritage, it is a

United Methodist Church

MLK50, Continued from page A1

a nod to Dr. King’s legacy

in public while doing exactly

the opposite with

their workers. Take Baptist

Memorial Health Care. It

runs the city’s largest hospital

and is non-profit. It

pays 98% of its employees

more than a living wage.

Minorities make up 50

% of its college student

population and about 90

% are women. Baptist offers

about $1 million a year

in scholarships to its students.

Since 2015 Baptist

has hired 2,127 new workers

and now has a total of

6,647 employees, the 9th

largest employer in Memphis.

Here’s the rub: between

2014 and 2018, Methodist

Le Bonheur Healthcare

sued more than 8,300

people for unpaid medical

bills, including those with

low incomes. The nonprofit

hospital system, the

city’s largest and affiliated

with the United Methodist

Church, garnished hundreds

of workers’ paychecks,

including those of

its own employees.

After MLK50’s series

exposed the hypocrisy,

Methodist stopped dragging

poor people into court

and erased at least $11.9

million in debts. It also announced

it would boost the

wages of its lowest-paid

workers to at least $15 an

hour by 2021.

The Profiting from the

Poor series won a $50,000

prize for investigative journalism

from the Annenberg

School of Journalism

in 2019.

“My goal is to make

a measurable and tangible

difference in the lives

of low income people and

that is our focus,” Thomas

said.

The website banner

for MLK50 says “Justice

Through Journalism” in

large white print in front

of a background mural of

black and brown faces.

The next line describes

related institution. The

college is particularly

well known for its uniquely

nurturing, highly effective

educational programs;

emerging preeminence in

health disparities research;

culturally sensitive, evidence-based

health services

and significant contribution

to the diversity of the

nation’s health professions

workforce. Meharry is a

leading national educator

of African Americans with

M.D. and D.D.S. degrees

and Ph.D. degrees in the

biomedical sciences.

what kind of stories they

do: on poverty, power, and

public policy.

Those are uncommon

priorities. Thomas says

they are not arbitrary but

deliberate and while they

may express a point of

view, MLK50 stories are

not one-sided. Thomas

said MLK50 always gives

the people they are criticizing

an opportunity to

respond. She said they are

open about their data and

they are scrupulous about

fact-checking any assertions

they make.

“Accuracy comes

down to punctuation and

grammar and making sure

all your names are spelled

right and your numbers are

accurate. It’s about credibility

so people can trust

that what we’re saying is

accurate. And it is a lot of

work,” she said.

Are MLK50 stories

slanted? Yes, but they

aren’t biased the way conventional

news often is.

Thomas said you have

to ask for whom does

MLK50 advocate? When

she worked at the Commercial

Appeal the paper

had one person assigned to

education for all of Shelby

County. Four or five reporters

covered Grizzly games.

“What would be more important

to the community,

the Grizzlies--- and I say

this as a big Grizzlies fan-

--or public education that

affects way more people?

“So I would argue that

every day in what they

choose to cover and don’t

choose to cover official

news outlets tell you what

they think is important.

And what we do is more

transparent: we’re saying

that we are not accepting

the official narrative

whether that’s from the local

elected officials or the

police. Rather how does it

affect the most vulnerable

people in Memphis? How

would they benefit or be

harmed?”

Charlie Daniels, Continued from page A1

Music Hall of Fame.”

In the 1990s Daniels

softened some of his lyrics

from his earlier days when

he often was embroiled in

controversy.

In “The Devil Went

Down to Georgia,” a 1979

song about a fiddling duel

between the devil and a

whippersnapper named

Johnny, Daniels originally

called the devil a “son of

tions, and acknowledged,

“there is that possibility

that the issues are referred

to the regular agencies and

authorities.

“We weren’t getting

the level of transparency

that we were accustomed

to,” Walthour said, “and it

raised a set of red flags.”

Gibson, co-founder and

chairman of African-American-owned

Clear View

Group, which purchased

Ebony, left management of

the franchise two years ago

but remains on the Ebony

board, Walthour said.

Under Gibson and Jackson,

Ebony was taken to

court by writers who had

not been paid; the magazine

was difficult to find

on newsstands, and in 2017,

it laid off nearly all of its

masthead — as many as a

dozen key members of its

editorial team. The Chicago

mainstay said it was consolidating

editorial operations

with sister publication Jet in

Los Angeles.

The publication’s operations

are now in Houston.

Walthour is based in Newark,

N.J.

In addition, “Ebony no

longer offers a print edition,”

spokesperson Jennifer

Farmer told Journalisms.

a bitch,” but changed it to

“son of a gun.”

In his 1980 hit “Long

Haired Country Boy,” he

used to sing about being

“stoned in the morning”

and “drunk in the afternoon.”

Daniels changed it

to “I get up in the morning.

I get down in the afternoon.”

“I guess I’ve mellowed

in my old age,” Daniels

Ebony, Continued from page A1

by Fox Business News. “I

do. I support it but it has to

be done properly,” he said.

“And I support actually

larger numbers than the

Democrats.”

Additionally, Treasury

Secretary Steven Mnuchin

told reporters last week

that “we’re going to seriously

consider whether

we need to do more direct

payments,” since the first

round “worked very well.”

The $3 trillion HE-

ROES Act, which passed

the House in May and has

been held up in the Republican-dominated

Senate,

proposed $1,200 direct

payments to individuals

with a maximum amount

of $6,000 per household.

Currently, Congress is

on a two-week recess and

it reconvenes on July 20

when lawmakers will likely

continue discussing the

Visit



said in 1998.

Otherwise, though, he

rarely backed down from

in-your-face lyrics. His

“Simple Man” in 1990

suggested lynching drug

dealers and using child

abusers as alligator bait;

his “In America” in 1980

told the country’s enemies

to “go straight to hell.”

In its statement, the

company said “The board

of directors will appoint an

interim CEO and operating

committee. It will continue

to assess all structural,

managerial, and financial

facets of the organization

with an eye toward amplifying

the current calls for

economic and racial justice

and equality. As part of the

board’s engagement, they

are prioritizing the payment

of delinquent compensation

to EBONY employees and

expect to make announcement

soon.”

As for Jet magazine,

once a significant part of the

company but which ended

its print edition in 2014 to

go digital, Farmer said,

“We are in the early stages

of developing a broader

JET campaign.”

With Jackson out, the

remaining board members

are Walthour of Newark,

N.J.-based Blueprint Capital

Advisers, John C. Robinson,

president and CEO

of Atlanta-based Consequent

Capital Management,

and Gibson, co-founder

(with Jackson) of Houstonbased

CVG Group.

The future of the print

publication will rest on an

evaluation of the three pillars

of the company, Walthour

said — the print magazine,

the digital operation

and the Ebony Power 100,

its annual fundraising gala

to honor “beautiful black

excellence.”

Walthor’s firm was in

the news less than two

weeks ago when it sued

New Jersey for racial bias,

saying officials told it that

the state’s pension was

averse to hiring moneymanagement

firms owned

by people of color.

“Blueprint Capital Advisors

is one of the few U.S.

investment firms founded by

African-Americans,” Dawn

Lim reported June 23 for the

Wall Street Journal.

“The Newark firm said

in court documents Tuesday

that New Jersey’s pension

office ‘usurped’ its ideas

and hired money-management

giant BlackRock Inc.

to run Blueprint’s strategy.

Blueprint alleges pension

staff made efforts to block it

from investing state money

and turned against the firm

after it spoke up about being

treated unfairly. Blueprint

was eventually hired

to run money for New Jersey,

but under terms that it

describes as ‘punitive.’

Stimulus checks, Continued from page A1

scope of the next phase of

stimulus.

“I can’t comfortably

predict we’re going to

come together and pass it

unanimously like we did

a few months ago. The

atmosphere is becoming

a bit more political than it

was in March,” McConnell

said. “But I think we

will do something again.

I think the country needs

one last boost.”

Knoxville News


A11

Taking it to the Streets: Mural of BLM

By Vivian Shipe

KNOXVILLE, TN — It happened.

Despite the late night announcement

by Mayor Indya Kincannon to the 10

pm News that it was a no go...Despite

the”mysterious’’ water main break at 615

am, when the project was supposed to

start at 630 am....the people showed up.

After all, everything was in order

right up to the night before. Approval had

been given during a zoom meeting held

between Vice Mayor Gwen McKenzie,

Diversity Director Charles Lomax, the

police department and other city departments

with the project coordinators, Black

Coffee Justice and Black Lives Matter

pending the signatures of approval from

the surrounding citizens and businesses of

the community; all of which were turned

in to the city the following morning.

One of the first to sign the petition

giving approval to create the Black Lives

Matter mural which was to be painted

between Austin-East High school and

the oldest Black business in Knoxville;

Jarnigans Mortuary, was the owner, Beal

Bourne.

Bourne, who fully supported the project,

opened his building to allow people to

use his restrooms, provided a rest space

from the 90 degree heat, even provided

electricity for the DJs who played music

all through the project. He allowed Black

food trucks and businesses to use his parking

lot to set up and feed the people who

came to paint. His only requirement was

that they must wear masks on his property

which they respectfully did as they

worked, young and old, in shifts to paint

the letters.

The mural work began with the artist

directing the drawing of the 25 foot letters.

From paper to concrete, the words begin to

come alive. After the base was painted, the

adults moved in to fill in the design. Using

the Rastafarian colors, BLACK was

red, LIVES was yellow and MATTER

was green. After the adults had done their

painting, it was the children’s turn.

Children, Black and white, from ages

one to teenagers, dipped their hands in

the paint and left their mark on history by

placing their hand prints in the letter yellow

“L” and the green “M.” All day, young

and old laughed and danced together as

the mural came to life. Whole families

came to participate. Some even arriving at

sunrise to be a part of history.

Everything was donated by the community.

Food, ice, coolers, Gatorade, waters,

paint, and the rollers flowed into the

event as people drove up and gave supplies

all day. There were medic tents, and even a

very successful voter registration tent.

The last few letters of the mural which

could not be completed, will be painted in

the weekend to come, after the city completes

the repair of the water line. Then,

the children will return to complete making

their mark on history.

Bourne, who sat observing the entire

event said, “Look at those children, they

are having fun. There is no trouble here,

there is only unity. These are our future

leaders. They are a part of history.”

Hand prints of future leaders. Photo by Vivian Shipe

Future leader. Photo by Vivian Shipe

Middlebrook Appointed

to Lead Police Advisory

Review Committee

By Vivian Shipe

KNOXVILLE, TN — LaKenya

Middlebrook was chosen by Mayor Indya

Kincannon as the new Executive

Director of the Police Advisory and

Review Committee for Knoxville. The

purpose of PARC is to strengthen the

relationships between the members of

the police department and the citizens

they serve through an independent review

of police actions. PARC, created

in 1998, reviews incidents following

the conclusion of investigations by the

internal affairs department. Citizens

then can register formal or anonymous

complaints through PARCs executive

director.

Middlebrook is an attorney and

community leader in Knoxville and the

daughter of civil rights icon Rev. Harold

Middlebrook.

“I am honored and humbled to

have the opportunity to serve as Executive

Director of the Knoxville Police

Advisory & Review Committee,”

Middlebrook said. “For more than two

decades, PARC has worked to demand

accountability, increase transparency,

and build improved relationships between

the Knoxville Police Department

and our communities. Those charged

LaKenya Middlebrook

with the responsibility to protect and

serve can only be effective in doing so

if our communities trust that protection

and service will be administered fairly,

justly and equitably.

“I look forward to working in partnership

with residents, community

groups, advocates, PARC members,

Mayor Kincannon, City Council and

the Knoxville Police Department to ensure

that individuals continue to have

a voice in examining and shaping the

policies and practices of the Police Department

and that policing in Knoxville

becomes a model for effective community-centered

policing.”

Looking down MLK in Knoxville. Photo by Aaliyah Shipe

Young and old rejoiced as the mural came together. Courtesy photo


A12


Crump Heralded as Black America’s Attorney General

By Black Press

USA/NNPA

Momentous events can occur in an instant,

but more often they emerge after a

long build-up.

The explosion of protests all over the

world was such a moment following the

George Floyd killing. And Ben Crump who

has been called the African American family

emergency plan received yet another call

from an African American family who was

devastated unexpectedly by an unjustifiable

killing at the hands of the police.

This is not out of the ordinary for the

North Carolina native Ben Crump who

moved to South Florida when he was 12

years old. He first received national recognition

when he represented 14-year-old

Martin Lee Anderson who was killed at the

Bay County Sheriff’s Boot Camp in 2006.

Crump advocated for the family and received

the largest settlement from the state

of Florida for wrongful death. He worked

with the Black Conference of State Legislators

to close boot camps in the state.

Crump rose to international prominence

when he represented the family of Trayvon

Martin, the 17-year-old child who was killed

Attorney Ben Crump

by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman

in 2012.

Most recently, Crump has represented

three of the most high-profile cases in

America today in his representation of the

families of Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, who

was shot while jogging in Brunswick, Georgia,

and Breonna Taylor, gunned down in

her bed by Louisville police in Kentucky.

But his role in the movement stretches back

more than a decade and includes the cases of

Michael Brown and Tamir Rice, as well as

Corey Jones, Pamela Turner, Botham Jean,

Stephon Clark and others.

His face and voice are everywhere –

from rallies to funerals, from cable news to

a recent profile in the Washington Post. At

Floyd’s Houston funeral, the former President

of the National Bar Association was introduced

by the Rev. Al Sharpton as “Black

America’s attorney general.”

Ben Crump’s passion for civil rights and

justice goes back to his childhood in small

Lumberton, NC, where he attended his first

integrated school in fourth grade and came

to idolize Thurgood Marshall. His family

moved to Florida when he was in middle

school and he got his undergraduate and law

degrees from Florida State University. The

50-year-old Crump is the founder and principal

of Ben Crump Law, which has grown

to over eight offices across the country, but

he never forgot his Lumberton, North Carolina,

roots.

He began his law practice handling personal

injury cases, but his determination to

right wrongs and achieve justice spans the

spectrum from fighting for Black Americans

killed by police to ensuring restitution

for poor residents, subject to environmental

toxins. His current workload includes cases

accusing Flint, MI, of poisoning Black residents

though a tainted public water supply,

and Johnson & Johnson of targeting Black

women with talcum powder that causes

ovarian cancer.

Crump is widely known as the go-to

attorney when police violate the rights of

Black men and women. And, sadly, those

cases abound.

Even though they make up less than

13% of the U.S. population, Blacks are more

than twice as likely as Whites to be shot and

killed by law enforcement.

In an era when cell phone videos and

body cams are capturing acts of police

misconduct and keeping the cases front

and center, there is no end in sight for Ben

Crump’s work on behalf of victims. He is

simultaneously encouraged and concerned

about the necessary shift in public opinion

in the wake of the 8 minutes and 46 seconds

that took George Floyd’s life.

“I’m not stunned that this is happening

in 2020. It takes extraordinary effort in

America for Black people to get simple justice,”

Crump, said in that Washington Post

profile. “I feel like I’m running out of time.”

President Trump’s Race Tactics Fall Flat

By Niall Stanage/The Hill

WASHINGTON, DC — President Trump

waded anew into racial controversy on Monday,

criticizing NASCAR for banning the Confederate

flag at its events.

In the same tweet, Trump suggested that

the sport’s only Black driver, Bubba Wallace,

should “apologize” over an incident where a

rope tied into a noose was found in the driver’s

garage at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

Trump lambasted the incident as a “HOAX”

— an investigation found the rope had been

there for months, though it was not Wallace

who first found it — and added, “That & Flag

decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!”

His remarks stoked instant outrage.

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) told The Hill,

“This is a president who seems to side with

the Confederacy, a rebel flag, the people who

preach hate. And I think it is very unfortunate

that such a person holds the highest office in

the land.”

The Monday tweet was the latest example

of how hard Trump has leaned into racial politics

as his poll ratings have slid during the coronavirus

crisis.

In a controversial speech at Mount Rushmore

on Friday, Trump lambasted a “left-wing

cultural revolution” and “a new far-left fascism.”

At other times in recent weeks, he has

made a number of inflammatory remarks about

the protests that followed the police killing of

George Floyd in Minneapolis in late May.

There is little indication his tactics are

working, however. There has been no sign of

an upswing in Trump’s polling numbers, and

opinions of his handling of racial issues have

generally been disapproving.

Trump may have sought to replicate Republican

politicians of an earlier era who were able

to reap a political dividend from racially coded

appeals.

He has used phrases like “law and order”

and “silent majority,” which were once associated

with President Nixon, whose “Southern

strategy” helped flip the South for Republicans

— and won Nixon two presidential elections

before he was brought low by Watergate.

Nixon was first elected to the presidency

more than half a century ago, however. Attitudes

on social issues, including race, have

shifted, especially among younger voters.

Trump’s response to the protests following

Floyd’s death was judged unfavorably by

53 percent of Americans and approved of by

just 34 percent, according to an Economist-

YouGov poll released last week. Black and

Latino Americans disapproved by resounding

margins — 75-13 percent and 56-24 percent,

respectively — but so too did a plurality of

whites, 48-40 percent.

Trump may, in part, be assuming that the

views of his generation are more universally

shared than is actually the case. In the Economist

poll, 44 percent of Americans 65 and older

approved of his response, the biggest number

of any age group. Only 23 percent of the under-

30s shared that view.

“He is completely out of sync with the country,

and all of his instincts are driving him to

act in ways that are politically self-destructive,”

said Peter Wehner, who has worked for three

Republican presidents but is a Trump critic.

There seems little doubt that an embattled

president is betting everything on his ability to

turn out his base in November.

“To me, it’s clear that the president doesn’t

see a path to winning that includes moderate

swing voters,” said Jamal Simmons, a Democratic

strategist who presents the InstagramTV

show “#ThisIsFYI.” “The path he is on is about

deepening his connection with a narrower slice

of the American public.”

But there are some defenders of the president’s

approach. Rich Lowry, a writer for the

conservative National Review, contended in

a recent article that the media reaction to the

Mount Rushmore speech was “unhinged and

dishonest.” To Lowry, the speech was an extolling

of America’s virtues. It was unfair and

inaccurate, he wrote, to term it “racially divisive.”

At a recent briefing, White House press

secretary Kayleigh McEnany contended that

Trump’s vision “is not a culture war, as the media

seeks to falsely proclaim, it’s an embrace of

our American family, our values, our freedom

and our future.”

The president’s critics, though, note that his

comments are part of a history that has included

pushing the “birther” smear against former

President Obama, equivocal comments about

racist violence in Charlottesville, Va., in August

2017 and a reported description of some

majority-nonwhite nations as “shithole countries,”

among other controversies.

There is also a widespread assumption, at

least in Democratic quarters, that Trump is

ratcheting up the culture war rhetoric in part

as an attempt to distract from the coronavirus,

which has now killed more than 125,000 people

in the U.S.

Most don’t believe the strategy will work.

Democratic strategist Joel Payne noted that

the electorate is becoming more diverse and

younger over time — demographics that are

much less amenable to Trump’s brand of politics.

“As that part of the electorate is growing,

Trump has decided, ‘I have to squeeze as much

of the old, white, male, rural vote as possible,’”

Payne said.

Other Democrats remain cautious. “He is

not doing this out of ignorance. This is not by

accident,” said Green, the Texas congressman.

“It is by design that he is maintaining his 38-

40 percent base. He sees that as a foundation

of victory that is predicated on the idea of him

getting maybe a few points more.”

Green added: “My hope is that in the end

the president will fail. But you will note that I

said it is my ‘hope’ — because of having seen

what he was able to do in the last election.”

NASHVILLE, TN — American Baptist

College (ABC) and The Tennessee Tribune

Showcase signs with some of the names of

African American men and women have

been killed by police or law enforcement

vigilantes.

ABC has posted more approximately 16

signs with the names of African American

women and men who have been killed by

police or law enforcement vigilantes on the

front lawn of the campus. The sign project

is a part a project to bring awareness

to these murders that will result in change

from systemic racism.

American Baptist College President, Dr.

Forrest E. Harris, Sr., said it is important to

know our history and remember the names

of these individuals who were murdered.

“I ask you to remember these times, and

research the times of the 60’s Civil Rights

Say Their Names...Keeps Growing

Movement, of which American Baptist College

played a pivotal role in Nashville. We

must understand challenges and obstacles

are always with us.”

Harris said it is important to reflect on

the many African American females and

males whose lives have been brutally and

tragically taken from us so that we a moved

to challenge the status quo and make a positive

difference..

“At ABC, we have posted the names of

many of these victims on the front lawn of

the campus. As a remembrance we want

everyone to know….to see…and to remember

to say their names.

George Floyd…Breonna Taylor…

Ahmaud Arbery…Daniel Hambrick….

Jocques Clemmons...David McAtee…Botham

Jean…Philando Castille…Eric Garner…Quanice

Hayes...Mike Brown…Sandra

Bland…Freddie Gray…Tamir Rice.

The Tennessee Tribune has also posted

names of some of the victims in front of

its office on historic Jefferson Street. The

names are on a 48”x 96” in banner with

the names of the cities of where they were

killed, listing six names, including Daniel

Hambrick and Jocques Clemmons of Nashville.

Tribune Publisher Rosetta Miller-Perry

said, “I want people to take pride in themselves,

and as they drive past our building,

to be encouraged to “Say Their Names.”

When they do that they will be encouraged

to work for positive change, so that others

will not be killed by police and those acting

as though they have official authority to

shoot and kill African Americans.”

Many believe the George Floyd murder

by police in Minneapolis, with similar acts

occurring countless times, has turned 8:46

seconds into an international Movement.

Say Their Names.

Harris added, “There are more unknown

victims, whose tragedies do not

meet the public eye. So many incidents are

invisible and unheard. We remember them

and include each of them in our American

Baptist College Circle of Love.”

Pastor Howard E. Jones, Jr. proprietor

of Kingdom Café & Grill, also located on

historic Jefferson Street, plans to place a

sign in front of his establishment as well.

“Sometimes we have to have visible images

to move us to action to change things for the

good of all humankind. The shootings of

our brothers and sisters, must end and it is

up to us to stop it,” said Jones.

Names of individuals who have been killed by police or vigilantes, including Nashvillians Daniel Hambrick

and Jocques Clemmons are posted on the sign in front of The Tennessee Tribune on historic Jefferson Street.

Standing with banner is Phyllis Qualls, Ph.D.

President Forrest E. Harris, Sr., right, stands in front of one of the approximately 16 signs on the front

lawn of American Baptist College. He stands in front of the George Floyd sign with James Bevel, Jr.

Bevel’s father, James Bevel, Sr. was a staunch Civil Rights activist in the movement of the 60s.



B1

The Case for Mixed-Race Relationships

By Robert Thompson

Founder of InterracialDatingCentral.com

What is race? That four-letter word that has plagued

American culture since its inception, as it turns out, may

not even be real, but rather a political and financial ruse

used to manipulate and separate people. According to a

2018 National Geographic article titled, There’s No Scientific

Basis for Race – It’s a Made Up Label, “Over the

past few decades, genetic research has revealed two deep

truths about people. The first is that all humans are closely

related—more closely related than all chimps even though

there are many more humans around today. Everyone has

the same collection of genes.”

A 2017 article put out by Harvard University asks the

question, “[Is]race a myth - a mere social construct - and

biologically meaningless?” It goes on to state, “today, scientists

prefer to use the term ‘ancestry’ to describe human

diversity. ‘Ancestry’ reflects the fact that human variations

do have a connection to the geographical origins of

our ancestors. With enough information about a person’s

DNA, scientists can make a reasonable guess about their

ancestry. However, unlike the term ‘race,’ it focuses on

understanding how a person’s history unfolded, not how

they fit into one category and not another.”

On an anecdotal level, if you were to crack open a

current day middle school history textbook (just in case

you need a refresher), a pretty grim portrait is painted of

Europeans scouting lands on other continents that were

rich in natural resources, conquering those lands and indigenous

people, and claiming ownership based on little

more than feelings of self-entitlement and self-proclaimed

superiority.

It seems what we are looking at are artificially constructed

concepts of racial designation based on financial

gain and the acquisition of global turf that has remained

with us over centuries, as propaganda and myth were

accepted as fact. This is not about pointing fingers as to

whose ancestors did what to whom, but to point out the

dysfunctional origins of race designation, that in my opinion,

have negatively impacted all people.

Although older generations may sit you down for the

old Bird and Fish conversation (a bird and a fish can fall

in love… but where will they build their nest…?) when it

comes to the presumed perils of dating or marrying outside

one’s race or ethnicity, another 2017 article, this one

written by Psychology Today, concludes, “if we compare

mixed-race and same-race couples who enjoy the same

quality of life, we find no difference in divorce rates. In

this sense, there’s no evidence for the received wisdom

that biracial marriages are more likely to fail.”

In fact, in 2020, mixed couples are more likely to experience

pushback from well-meaning members of their

own respective inner circles than they will from society

at large, causing many mixed-race couples to say, “Mom,

dad, you are the ones discriminating against us. Society is

busy with its own problems.”

As we explore the disturbing hot button issues of white

privilege, police brutality and hate crimes, yes, society’s

problems can spill over into mixed couplings and mixed

families, though in a most curious way. A Caucasian person

may be worried about his/her Black partner when that

partner is out and about without them, thereby removing

the veil of white privilege they provide when the couple is

together. Mixed race children that are half Caucasian and

half Black also tend to benefit from the veil of white privilege

extended to them when they are in the presence of the

white parent. This may lead to a false sense of security if

lessons about racial discrimination and violence against

Black Americans are not taught by both parents. The

bottom line is that this is an issue that impacts the Black

members of that family when the Caucasian partner is

not around; a problem that would have effected them as

Black Americans with or without their mixed relationship

or mixed family dynamic.

For their part, Caucasian people with Black life partners

and Black children have a considerable responsibility

to be educated, empathetic and approachable about

this issue, but they must know that they cannot “rescue”

their partner and children or “fix” the problem. Only

changed public policy and a changed mass consciousness

can eventually do that. This is a substantial lesson for the

Caucasian partner in humility, compassion, understanding

and providing support without condescension or attempting

to control the situation. Accept that you don’t

know what it feels like, nor can you give advice based on

experiences that you have never had.

In terms of integrating cultural differences, the Psychology

Today article does go on to highlight potential

marital pitfalls, stating, “What’s most important in determining

whether a marriage will succeed or fail is the

amount of long-term stress the couple experiences. This

stress can come from outside the marriage, for example

from financial problems or work-related issues. It can also

arise within the marriage, for instance from difficulties in

child-rearing or health issues—whether physical or psychological.

Lack of support for the marriage from society

in general or from extended family, in particular, can also

tip the scale towards dysfunction and divorce.”

The article goes on to say, “When two people from

different cultures marry, an important key to making the

union a success is respect for each other’s cultural heritage.

When spouses look down on their partner’s culture

as inferior to their own, or when they feel it’s not worthwhile

getting to know their partner’s people or their ways

and traditions, there’s little chance for long-term happiness

in the marriage.”

In other words, interracial or mixed relationships and

marriages are made or broken by one simple word: respect.

And respect is universal to all relationships, mixed

or not. Only the details are different.

All relationships, marriages and long-term romantic

partnerships endure major stressors throughout a shared

lifetime. In the case of mixed-race couplings, you could

simply be swapping one potential stressor for another, but

that does not mean that the challenges of blending two

races or cultures has to spell trouble.

On the contrary, some of the major purposes of longterm

relationships are emotional, spiritual, and intellectual

growth. Partnering with someone from another race or

ethnicity is fertile ground for this worthy human pursuit.

There is great opportunity to learn empathy, to expand

oneself to allow for the acceptance of cultural and social

ideals outside of one’s upbringing, to learn to see the

world through someone else’s eyes and experiences, and

to gain the valuable gift of knowing that romantic love

and family love transcends race and culture. In short, you

will learn a lot and perhaps be better for it.

There is also something to be said for the freedom of

expression that comes from being one half of a mixed

relationship. When marrying within one’s own race, religion

and ethnic background there are a lot of “should”

that both parties have grown up with in terms of what

is expected by their families and social circles. You may

find little to no sympathy in your partner since they were

raised within the same exact cultural construct as you,

and likely see and accept that construct as what is expected.

Mixed couples have broken out of that mold through

the sheer existence of their coupling, creating more of a

“let’s make our own rules” or “us against the world” dynamic,

which is not without its challenges but can also

be a proverbial relationship superglue, strengthening the

bond between a couple.

A 2016 Ebony article titled “Culture Clash: Why You

Should Date Outside Your Comfort Zone” expresses the

freedom factor that mixed couples tend to experience,

stating, “The cool part about blending two different backgrounds

is the ability to create and share new traditions.”

If racial constructs are indeed a myth with no scientific

precedent, the very act of coupling interracially or interculturally

makes you two more people in the world courageous

enough to dispel this long held destructive racial

myth that has caused insurmountable pain and suffering

in the United States and around the world.

Apart from expanding your horizons in search of Mr.

or Ms. Right, you are saying no to the race myth and yes

to love, and possibly creating something that will contribute

to changing the world.

Robert Thompson is co-founder of InterracialDating-

Central.com, the world’s largest online interracial and

inter-ethnic dating platform since 2004, and the InterracialDatingCentral

Facebook community, which boasts

1.7 million heavily engaged members worldwide.

Interracial Marriage in the American Church

By Julie Coates

Race, Class And Christianity

The body of Christ has played an unfortunate

role in stigmatizing interracial marriage

in the United States. Interracial unions

were common in the early days of American

settlement when European men intermarried

with Native American women and

with freed people of African descent. But as

America developed a slavery-based economy,

many pastors began to preach that slavery

was ordained and blessed by God.White

supremacy and “racial purity” were justified

by stereotyping interracial unions as sexually

perverted and sinful—especially for

“good” white Christians. Interracial marriages

between whites and Native Americans

or blacks were eventually banned,

slave marriages were not recognized, and

Native American marriages were typically

viewed as barbaric rituals. Many Christian

slave owners justified adultery and exploitation

of black and multiracial women by referencing

Abraham and Hagar. Race-based

slavery corrupted white churches, dividing

them into pro-slavery groups (e.g., Southern

Baptists) and anti-slavery groups (e.g.,

Quakers). In the 1850s a pastor from New

York named Josiah Priest taught congregations

that the very thought of interracial sex

was disgusting and sinful. He hypothesized

that if the abhorrent idea crossed the mind

of a white person, it was followed with an

ice-cold chill of the soul, that chill being

the voice of God. Apparently many Christian

slave owners chose to ignore this chill

when sexually abusing their female slaves;

the chill must have been unique to the soul

of Priest.

Despite interracial marriage becoming

legal decades ago, there are still contemporary

cases in which American churches

continue to believe Christian tradition forbids

interracial unions. In 2011 a Kentucky

church banned an engaged white-Zimbabwean

couple from attending their services

despite the fact that the white woman had

been a long-term member. Bob Jones University,

a Christian college with notable

alumni such as evangelist Billy Graham and

Tim LaHaye of the Left Behind series, had

a school policy banning interracial dating

up until 2000. In 2013, a pastor in Carter

County, Tennessee preached that he believes

that “coloreds” and whites should not mix.

I myself have been called sexual slurs or

“disgusting” for my current and past interracial

relationships by Sunday school companions

(the same friends who will cry over

poor black children in Africa but not shed a

tear for the poor black children downtown),

and a white friend of mine was once slapped

across the face while on the phone with

her black boyfriend by her best friend (the

daughter of a minister) to force the phone

call to end ”because (my friend) should have

‘known better’ than to keep speaking to

‘that black guy.’”

These “biblical” condemnations of interracial

marriage are simply false and not,

well, biblical. Interracial marriage, especially

evidenced by the black-white example in

the United States, has been an unfortunate

case of culture twisting and replacing theology.

There are multiple examples of interracial

and interethnic marriages in the Bible

that were ordained and blessed by God, and

Christians who continue to claim that interracial

marriage is wrong are blatantly denying

that each person is created in the image

of God and are equal in value (Gen 1:27,

Rom 10:12, Gal 3:28). They are choosing to

ignore multiple instances of God-given interracial

marriages in the Bible, including

those in Jesus’ family tree, in addition to

stagnating the spiritual growth of too many

American congregations when we are called

to be one with people of all backgrounds

(Mt 28:19, Mal 2:10, Jn 13:34).

Matthew lists four women with Gentile

associations in Jesus’ genealogy: Tamar,

Rahab, Ruth, and Uriah’s widow. This is

extremely interesting for two reasons: first,

Jewish genealogies were a source of pride

to many Jews in order to prove their racial

purity, and second, genealogies traditionally

only listed men. We can only infer that

by drawing attention to not only Gentiles in

Jesus’ family tree, but women with Gentile

associations, that it is important for us to

know that Christ was a product of multiple

interethnic marriages Himself. Joseph was

rewarded by God with his Egyptian wife

Asenath (Gen 41), Esther brought forth lifesaving

ethnic reconciliation through her

marriage to Persian king Xerxes, Song of

Solomon (the book of the Bible that solely

celebrates marital sex) portrays Solomon

with his dark-skinned wife, and when Miriam

spoke poorly of her brother Moses for

marrying an African woman, God poetically

struck her skin with leprosy—turning her

skin white with rotting flesh, allowing Miriam

to physically feel how unclean whiteness

could be in addition to being viewed as a

social outcast due to her skin (Num 12).

Here are common questions that

Christian interracial couples face:

1) What about the children? Whenever

someone asks me this, I think of a quote by

Lee Chanult from his book, Mixed Messages:

“What white people are saying with that

statement is that they think racial prejudice

is awful, especially when it affects children,

and they sure are glad their kids are white!”

Ultimately, it is the responsibility of loving

Christian parents to teach their children

that their identity is primarily that of Christ;

every other label is secondary. Parents need

to teach their children that regardless of the

surrounding culture’s messages, they are

beautifully and wonderfully made and created

in the image of God (Jer 1:5, Ps 139:14).

But ultimately, the Bible teaches that children

will endure immense scorn and experience

social rejection just for being Christians!

Yet, I have never had a person close to

me look at me with tears down their face and

ask me gravely if I have thought of the ramifications

of raising my children in church,

because the Bible says that my children will

be hated if they follow Christ (Jn 15:18-19,

Jn 16:33).

2) Marriage is hard enough without the

interracial stress; why not just find someone

See INTERRACIAL, B11


B2


Colin Kaepernick Signs Disney Deal

By Ron Wynn

NASHVILLE, TN — At this rate Colin

Kaepernick doesn’t really need the NFL

any more, even though he says he still wants

to play. But Monday it was announced he

had signed a first-look deal with Disney.

This includes a forthcoming ESPN Films

documentary series on his life, plus the opportunity

to develop various projects across

Disney platforms and brands. That means

Walt Disney Television, ESPN, Hulu, Pixar

and ESPN’s The Undefeated are places

where a Kaepernick project might land.

That follows last week’s announcement

about a scripted limited series devoted to

his teen years under the auspices of noted

producer/director Ava DuVernay. That will

be on Netflix. Kaepernick released a prepared

statement about the new Disney deal

Monday to several entertainment websites

and publications.

“I am excited to announce this historic

partnership with Disney across all of its

platforms to elevate Black and Brown directors,

creators, storytellers, and producers,

and to inspire the youth with compelling

and authentic perspectives,” Kaepernick

said. “I look forward to sharing the docuseries

on my life story, in addition to many

other culturally impactful projects we are

developing.”

“During this unprecedented time, The

Walt Disney Company remains committed

to creating diverse and inclusive

content that resonates and matters,” said

Bob Iger, Disney’s executive chairman.

“Colin’s experience gives him a unique

perspective on the intersection of sports,

culture and race, which will undoubtedly

create compelling stories that will educate,

enlighten and entertain, and we look forward

to working with him on this important

collaboration.”

“Colin has had a singular path as both

an athlete and an activist, and, as the nation

continues to confront racism and social

injustice, it feels particularly relevant

to hear Colin’s voice on his evolution and

motivations,” said Jimmy Piatro, president

of ESPN.

No details were released regarding

starting dates or eventual release times for

Kaepernick’s projects at either Netflix or

ESPN.

Philly Vocalist Balances Vintage, Contemporary Influences

By Ron Wynn

NASHVILLE, TN — Philadelphia

vocalist and songwriter Ashley Scott has

been involved with music nearly his entire

life. Not only did he begin singing as a

three-year-old, but he grew up immersed

in the classic sounds of soul and funk. in

addition, his aunt Helen Scott is a member

of the Three Degrees, and Scott remembers

watching her perform at shows both

across America and overseas. He also

cites the legendary songwriter Kenneth

Gamble as a mentor and friend.

But while Scott’s very aware of the

long and impressive history of soul and

R&B, he’s careful in his own music to add

some contemporary touches and sensibility.

“I’m really not a fan of the term “old

school” in terms of describing my sound

because then people tend to think you’re

doing dated music,” Scott told the Tribune

during a recent interview. “What I try to

do is have a soulful sound and edge in my

Ashley Scott

singing, with a production that can appeal

to those who may not have heard or be

aware of some past greats.”

Still, Scott’s done a lot of impressive

things in his career dating back to his days

at Howard, where he studied jazz voice

under the great vocalist/drummer Grady

Tate and pianist Webster Lewis. He also

joined the school’s University Gospel

Choir. During his time there he performed

behind Edwin Hawkins and Dorinda

Clark of the Clark Sisters. In more recent

years, he’s done background vocals for a

host of top acts, and now is emphasizing

his own material.

His debut release “Dance The Night

Away” did well overseas, particularly in

England. The first single “Words” was cowritten

with Alysha Ashley and spotlights

conflicts that can occur among couples,

even those very much in love. Scott’s latest.

release is a remixed version of “Dance

The Night Away,” which was co-written

with the outstanding smooth jazz artist

Will Downing. Downing has teamed with

Scott before, and he says it’s an honor to

have people like Downing and Gamble in

his corner, but also puts pressure on him to

always bring his best to anything he does.

“When you’re working with someone

like Will Downing, he’s very supportive

and encouraging, but he’s also very honest

about what he hears. The same thing with

Kenny Gamble. These are people who

know about quality, and they don’t hesitate

to give you the kind of feedback you need

to be successful.”

He also says he’s currently concentrating

on issuing singles rather albums. “It’s

like people are going back again to focusing

on individal tunes rather than albums

so much,” Scott concludes. “We’re really

now in a time when it’s easier to get your

music across doing it that way rather than

trying to promote an entire project and

having to see which songs might break

out. Now you put our your best single and

get it to all the right places.”

Ashley Scott’s remixed single “Dance The

Night Away” is now available on multiple

digital platforms including Itunes and

Spotify.

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Entertainment


B3

Billie Holiday

Film Gets a Home

By Ron Wynn

NASHVILLE, TN —

One of the more shameful

tales in American cultural

history is how the great

vocalist Billie Holiday was

harassed and humiliated

by the government. She

was targeted by the Federal

Department of Narcotics

as though she were a profiteering

supplier rather than

a suffering addict. That

campaign is the focus of

the new film “The United

States vs. Billie Holiday.”

The project, which has

two high profile names attached

to it, was acquired

last week by Paramount

according to reports on the

Shadow and Act website.

The rights to the film

were made available during

its showing at the recent

Cannes festival, which

was held virtually. Paramount

outbid Focus Features,

Sony and 101 Studios.

Lee Daniels will be

the director, with Pulitzer

prize winner playwright

and poet Suzan-Lori Parks

serving as principal writer.

Among the film’s ugly

parts is the fact a Black

man. who was also her

romantic interest at the

time, led the sting operation

against Holiday. That

was Jimmy Fletcher, one

of the FBI’s then rare Black

agents. Andra Day portrays

Holiday, while Trevante

Rhodes plays Fletcher.

Others in the cast include

Natasha Lyonne, Garrett

Hedlund, Da’Vine Joy

Randolph, Rob Morgan,

Erik LaRay Harvey, Dana

Gourrier, Evan Ross, Miss

Lawrence, Tristan D. Lalla

and Melvin Gregg.

Netflix to Air Unscripted

Gospel Production

By Ron Wynn

NASHVILLE, TN —

Netflix continues to scoop

up prestigious Black-themed

and produced projects. Sunday

they announced a new

deal with producer and artist

Pharrell Williams for

an unscripted production

spotlighting Bishop Ezekiel

Williams, Pharrell’s cousin,

as he searches for undiscovered

and fresh gospel talent.

News of the deal was featured

on several entertainment

websites.

By Tribune Staff

NASHVILLE, TN

— The legendary Ennio

Morricone, an Oscar

winner who composed

scores for over 50 years

and was considered the

greatest for Westerns,

died early Monday in

Rome at 91. It is estimated

that he created

more than 500 scores

for both films and television

shows. He’s best

known for the scores of

what were termed “spaghetti

westerns” in the

‘60s. His music for “The

Good, the Bad and the

Ugly” and “Once Upon

A Time in the West” are

deemed classics, while

other scores to films

like “The Mission” and

“Cinema Paradiso” were

also highly celebrated

and praised.

His death brought

a tribute from Italian

Prime Minister Giuseppe

Conte, who said

on Twitter that “We will

always remember, with

infinite gratitude, the artistic

genius of the Maestro

#EnnioMorricone.

It made us dream, feel

excited, reflect, writing

memorable notes that

The series will be called

“Voices of Fire,” and it’s being

billed as a docu-series

according to Hollywood

Reporter. It’s set to debut

later this year on Netflix.

Bishop Ezekiel Williams,

who’s also a musician in

Pharrell’s hometown community

of Hampton Roads,

Virginia, is trying to build

a new gospel choir. Williams

says he and his team

will search for people of

various ages, backgrounds

and ethnicities.

The deal was jointly announced

at the Essence Festival

by both Pharrell and

Ezekiel Williams. “Voices

of Fire” will be produced

by A. Smith and Co., along

with I am OTHER. Additional

executive producers

include Williams and Mimi

Valdés for i am OTHER,

and Arthur Smith and Frank

Sinton for A. Smith & Co.

Bianca Barnes-Williams

will also executive produce.

Voices of Fire l-r; Bishop Ezekiel Williams and Pharrell Williams in Voices of Fire.

Photo by Antony Platt/Netflix © 2020

Legendary Film Composer Dies

The great film music composer Ennio Morricone, who was best

known for his scores to “spaghetti westerns,”

passed away in Rome at age 91.

will remain indelible in

the history of music and

cinema.”

Morricone received

six Oscar nominations,

but didn’t win

one outright until 2015

for Quentin Tarantino’s

“The Hateful Eight.”

The list of great directors

he worked with included

Sergio Leone, Gillo

Pontecorvo, Bernardo

Bertolucci, Terence Malick,

William Friedkin,

Roman Polanski, Brian

De Palma, Barry Levinson,

Mike Nichols and

Giuseppe Tornatore. He

became only the second

composer in Oscar history

to receive an honorary

award for his work

in 2006. The Academy

of Motion Picture Arts

& Sciences saluted him

for “his magnificent and

multifaceted contributions

to the art of film

music.”

Morricone was a

classically trained composer,

and personally

created everything in

his scores. He also creatively

utilized everything

from bells and

electric guitars to choral

support, whistling and

wordless vocals.

The upcoming film “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” documents a shameful sting campaign

against the legendary singer masterminded by a Black FBI agent who was pretending to be in

love with her.

‘55, Underemployed, and Faking

Normal: Your Guide to a Better Life’

Book Review

by Terri Schlichenmeyer

Your last regular paycheck

has come and gone.

That was awhile ago,

back before you were

downsized / laid

off / reassigned

right out of a job

and you’re not sure

what to do. Your

savings are nearly

gone, your retirement

funds are

next, and you’re

too young to get

Social Security.

In “55, Underemployed,

and Faking

Normal” by Elizabeth

White, you’ll

see how to make

this new life work.

At 35 years-old,

Elizabeth White

had a solid job at

the World Bank,

she owned a house,

and she was heading

to Harvard

to get a PhD. There, she

“caught the entrepreneurial

bug” and, in partnership

with her mother, she

became a business owner;

when the business failed,

she was resilient and landed

some consulting gigs

that put her finances back

to where they were before.

And then the Great

Recession hit. Suddenly,

White was exactly where

the title of this book indicates:

too young, too old,

and suddenly “totally out

of the loop.” Shortly afterward,

when an essay she

penned went surprisingly

viral, she learned that she

wasn’t alone.

Experts say that, to retire

successfully, Americans

need “fifteen to

twenty times their annual

salaries” in some sort of

savings or program but

White points out the realism:

very few new retirees

have achieved that.

The vast majority haven’t.

What’s more, rosy retirement

pictures are painted

of island getaways, long

walks in Paris, and palatial

homes, when the reality is

that a very high percentage

of Americans age 55+

don’t know where they’ll

be living this fall. Some of

America’s seniors are trying

to get by on less than

$500 per month.

If this is your new reality,

there are things you can

do.

First, know that “the

cavalry ain’t coming”

and you’re more-or-less

on your own. Learn to

“small up” in your housing

and your possessions

by knowing exactly what’s

important to you. Re-think

your priorities. Ignore your


pride away and take the

dang food stamps. Take

care of your home. Take

care of your relationships.

Take care of yourself.

So, here’s what you

need to know about “55,

Underemployed, and Faking

Normal”: what you get

out of this book will depend

on how old you are

now.

Regardless of what the

title indicates, this book is

absolutely for new college

grads or those entering

the workforce this

year and are serious

about their futures.

Younger readers,

throw away those

horror novels that

line your shelves;

for you, this book

is a cautionary, real-life,

terror-filled

memoir that doubles

as a hardcover

warning for your

elderhood.

For anyone

who’s facing a retirement

that’s not

necessarily on their

terms, author Elizabeth

White has

frights for you, too,

but they’re tamer.

You’ve met those terrors

already, and the advice she

offers helps make them

less scary, more attackable,

more survivable.

“55, Underemployed,

and Faking Normal” is

useful, even enjoyable,

but it’s serious stuff with

no fluff. For readers who

are facing a new reality for

their Golden Years, reluctantly

or otherwise, reading

it might pay off.

By Elizabeth White, c.2020

in paperback, Simon &

Schuster, 272 pages

Visit


B4


Sports

SPORTS VIEW

Leagues Still Face

COVID-19 Issues

By Ron Wynn

This is supposed to be

the month sports makes

a big return to the playing

fields. Major League

Baseball teams reported to

training camp last Friday.

The NBA will soon have

players report to Orlando.

while the NHL is relocating

to Canada, using the

cities of Toronto and Edmonton

as hub sites. Major

League Soccer has games

scheduled in their opening

round tournament this

week, which is also being

held ini Orlando. Nashville

SC was scheduled to

play Chicago FC July 8.

So on the surface it looks

like things may slowly be

getting back to normal.

Only if you look closer,

things are far from settled

for any of these sports.

Nashville SC had to

delay leaving for Orlando

after one of its players

tested positive for the

coronavirus/COVID-19. It

took almost two days, but

they are now in Orlando

But what happens once

the games begin if another

player gets the disease?

Considering Florida

is one of the states where

cases have been spiking

for two weeks, that possibility

clearly exists MLS

insists it has enough testing

kits available to ensure

that players are regularly

checked, and they are cautiously

optimistic that the

first round can be completed

without interruption.

The NBA has already

had 16 players test positive

prior to even opening

the bubble in Orlando. A

100 page plus guide has

been compiled detailing

protocols, suggested behavior,

rules for who will

and won’t be allowed on

site, etc. But there has

been grumbling from

some players about their

freedom of movement

being restricted. Avery

Bradley is one of the high

profile players who’ve

opted out of playing citing

family concerns. Dwight

Howard at one point was

suggesting doing the

same, saying he was concerned

that playing games

would take attention away

from the ongoing protests

against police misconduct

and systemic racism. But

he has since changed his

mind and is reporting.

The NBA also says it

has plenty of testing kits

available, and that players

will be regularly tested

before and after games,

as well as officials and

all support personnel.

The league will have the

22 participating teams

play eight-regular season

games before the playoffs

begin. The NHL is going

straight to the playoffs,

with teams currently practicing

at home facilities

before preparing to leave

for Canada. They also feel

confident that they can address

any possible problems

arising if players test

positive. Both leagues say

having a player test positive

wouldn’t necessarily

mean the season would

shut down again, but if

there were massive numbers

infected, that possibility

existed.

As per usual, MLB was

having the most trouble.

The Boston Red Sox had

multiple players test positive

upon reporting. But

that wasn’t the worse

news. Instead, the reigning

American. League MVP

Mike Trout said last Thursday

he was considering not

playing this season due to

family concerns. It’s one

thing for good but far from

star caliber players like

the Washington Nationals’

Ian Desmond to sit out the

season. It’s something else

when arguably the best

player in the sport does so.

Any player who chooses

not to report will not be

paid, but there’s no price

that can compensate for

the loss of life. Players

with senior citizens living

with them or with pregnant

wives are weighing

the possibilities of either

being away from them for

weeks at a time, or getting

the disease and later transmitting

it to them. There

remains so much that’s not

known about the virus, and

there are several observers

who felt sports in general

should take the year off

It’s instructive that in

non-contact sports like

auto racing and golf athletes

are still getting the

virus. Multiple NASCAR

champion Jimmy Johnson,

in his final season, has gotten

it, while two of the top

10 golfers in the world had

to bow out of a recent tournament

after their caddies

were infected. It’s an indication

that the coronavirus/COVID-19

pandemic

is still very much with us,

and that highly conditioned

athletes aren’t immune to

it. What impact it will have

on the seasons of MLS, the

NBA, NHL and MLB will

be determined in the days

and weeks ahead.

By Ron Wynn

By Ron Wynn

NASHVILLE, TN — Things

remain in flux for the NFL, although

league representatives maintain

that the season will start on

time. But last week they reduced

the preseason schedule from four

games to two. The NFLPA is pushing

for a complete elimination of

preseason games. The league had

already cancelled the annual Hall of

Fame game, which usually marked

the start of the preseason. As a result

of these changes, the Titans lose one

road and one home preseason game.

NASHVILLE, TN — The announcement

no one wanted to

hear was finally made last week,

and it means there won’t be any

regular season Triple-A baseball in

Nashville this year. Major League

Baseball officially announced that

they were canceling the entire minor

league season. The majors are

only playing a 60-game season, and

that deal was finally reached when

owners agreed to pay full pro-rated

salaries. But there won’t be any expanded

playoffs, and negotiations

on the next Collective Bargaining

Agreement (CBA) are expected to

be even more bitter.

The Sounds made their own announcement

last week in conjunction

with MLB on their website.“We

are extremely disappointed to not

be able to bring Minor League

Baseball to our fan base in Middle

Tennessee in 2020,” said Nashville

Sounds General Manager Adam

Nuse. “While we will not have our

traditional Minor League Baseball

season this year, we’re continuing

to finalize details for the 2020 Nashville

Sounds Alternate Season and

hope to share those plans as soon as

possible.”

The Sounds have been a Nashville

staple since the late ‘70s. They

were originally in Double-A, but

have been one of the nation’s top

draws among minor league teams

since building First Horizon Park

Thus far the regular season schedule

has not been changed.

The league eliminated the first

and fourth weeks of preseason.

Historically the fourth game was

when a lot of players whose status

was uncertain got a chance to make

a final impression as regulars usually

didn’t play in that contest. It also

may result in starters playing.more

minutes in both the second and third

games as that’s all the teams will be

playing. The Titans will face the

New York Giants at Nissan Stadium

August 22. The last preseason game

will be at Tampa Bay August 29.

five years ago.They have drawn

nearly three million (2.8) fans

over that time.“These are unprecedented

times for our country and

our organization as this is the first

time in our history that we’ve had

a summer without Minor League

Baseball played,” said MiLB President

& CEO Pat O’Conner. “While

this is a sad day for many, this announcement

removes the uncertainty

surrounding the 2020 season and

allows our teams to begin planning

for an exciting 2021 season of affordable

family entertainment.”

But the hope still remains that

there will be baseball of some sort

at First Tennessee Park, as negotiations

continue to have top prospects

playing games here by August.

Titans Preseason Schedule Changes

NASHVILLE, TN — The Austin

Peay Governors had a dream

season in 2019, but last week the architect

of that success suddenly resigned.

Head coach Mark Hudspeth

submitted his resignation last Friday

after only one season the job. That

year resulted in 11 wins including

two playoff victories, the first in the

school’s history. Hudspeth was selected

OVC Coach of the Year. But

now Hudspeth is gone, saying in his

resignation notice that personal and

family reasons were behind the decision.

“I need to take some time away

from the game with Tyla and the

kids,” Hudspeth said in a statement

released by Austin Peay. “I could

Training camp schedules so far

have not been changed. Veterans are

scheduled to report by July 28. The

NFL hopes that the extra time will

help in establishing the necessary

setup for various protocols and testing

regarding the coronavirus/COVid-19

pandemic. The league has also

not yet made a ruling on attendance.

But with Nashville back in phase

2, it’s highly doubtful full capacity

would be allowed for the August 22

game since the state of emergency

won’t end until August. 29.

Austin Peay Coach Resigns

By Ron Wynn

not be more thankful for my time at There were also four chosen as All-

Austin Peay and will be a fan forever.

Americans.

I will miss the players and coach-

Athletic director Gerald

Harrison

es incredibly and

will never forget

their commitment to each

other and this team. I

will return to coaching

in the future at

the right time.” Austin

Peay had seven

players become

first team All-

OVC selections

and 11

overall were

named to

either the

first or

second

t e a m .

Coach Mark Hudspeth

said that the remainder

of Hudspeth’s staff

would be retained. If the season

begins on time, Austin

Peay will Central Arkansas

in the Guardian Credit Union

FCS kickoff Aug. 29 in Montgomery,

Alabama. However

last Monday Austin Peay

temporarily shut down

all workouts after

11 athletes tested

positive for

COVID-19.



B5

Mary Trump’s Book Offers

Devastating Portrayal of President

By Larry Neumeister

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald

Trump’s niece offers a scathing portrayal

of her uncle in a new book obtained

by The Associated Press that credits a

“perfect storm of catastrophes” for exposing

the president at his worst.

Mary L. Trump, a psychologist, writes

that the coronavirus pandemic, the possibility

of an economic depression and

deepening social divides have brought out

the “worst effects” of Donald Trump’s pathologies,

which were less evident when

the country had a stable economy and the

lack of serious crises.

Those factors, along with “Donald’s

penchant for division, and uncertainty

about our country’s future have created a

perfect storm of catastrophes that no one

is less equipped than my uncle to manage,”

she writes in “Too Much and Never

Enough, How My Family Created The

World’s Most Dangerous Man.”

In the book, Mary Trump makes several

revelations, including alleging that the

president paid a friend to take the SATs —

a standardized test widely used for college

admissions — in his place. She writes that

his sister, Maryanne had been doing his

homework for him, but she couldn’t take

his tests. Donald Trump worried that his

grade point average, which put him far

from the top of the class, would “scuttle

his efforts to get accepted” into the Wharton

School of the University of Pennsylvania,

which he transferred to after two years

at Fordham University in the Bronx.

“To hedge his bets he enlisted Joe Shapiro,

a smart kid with a reputation for being

a good test taker, to take his SATs for

him. That was much easier to pull off in

the days before photo IDs and computerized

records. Donald, who never lacked

for funds, paid his buddy well.”

And she writes, in awe, of Trump’s

ability to gain the support of prominent

Mary Trump, right, is the daughter of President Trump’s older brother, Fred Jr., who died after a

struggle with alcoholism at 42.

Christians and White Evangelicals, saying,

“The only time Donald went to

church was when the cameras were there.

It’s mind boggling. He has no principles.

None!”

Mary Trump traces much of her pain to

the death of her father, who died when she

was 16, and her grandfather Fred’s penchant,

as she describes it, to sew division

in the family.

“The atmosphere of division my grandfather

created in the Trump family is the

water in which Donald has always swum,

and division continues to benefit him at

the expense of everybody else. It’s wearing

the country down, just as it did my father,

changing us even as it leaves Donald

unaltered,” she wrote. “It’s weakening our

ability to be kind or believe in forgiveness,

concepts that have never had any meaning

for him.”

Trump, who rarely admits regret, told

The Washington Post last year that he regretted

having tried to pressure his brother

to join the family business — something

Fred, who had long wanted to be a pilot

had no interest in doing.

“It was just not his thing. ... I think the

mistake that we made was we assumed

that everybody would like it. That would

be the biggest mistake. ... There was sort

of a double pressure put on him,” Trump

told the paper.

Trump has also cited his brother’s

struggle with alcohol as one of one of the

reasons he doesn’t drink.

Publisher Simon & Schuster announced

Monday that they would be publishing

the book two weeks early, on July

14, citing “extraordinary interest.” The

revised date came after a New York appellate

court cleared the way for the book’s

publication following a legal challenge.

Robert Trump, the president’s younger

brother, had sued Mary Trump to block

publication of a book, arguing in legal

papers that Mary Trump was subject to

a 20-year-old agreement between family

members that no one would publish accounts

involving the core family members

without their approval.

A judge last week left in place a restraint

that blocked Mary Trump and any

agent of hers from distributing the book,

but the court made clear it was not considering

Simon & Schuster to be covered by

the ruling.

In the book, Mary Trump said she

didn’t take her uncle’s run for the presidency

seriously when he first ran.

“‘He’s a clown,’ my aunt Maryanne

said during one of our regular lunches at

the time. ‘This will never happen.’”

“I agreed,” Mary Trump wrote.

She said she declined an invitation to

attend her uncle’s election-night party in

New York City four years ago, convinced

she “wouldn’t be able to contain my euphoria

when Clinton’s victory was announced.”

Instead, she found herself wandering

around her house a few hours after

Trump’s victory was announced, fearful

voters “had chosen to turn this country

into a macro version of my malignantly

dysfunctional family.”

She writes that current challenges have

weakened the president’s usual tools for

shielding himself from blame.

“His ability to control unfavorable situations

by lying, spinning, and obfuscating

has diminished to the point of impotence

in the midst of the tragedies we are currently

facing,” she writes.

“His egregious and arguably intentional

mishandling of the current catastrophe

has led to a level of pushback and scrutiny

that he’s never experienced before,

increasing his belligerence and need for

petty revenge as he withholds vital funding,

personal protective equipment, and

ventilators that your tax dollars have paid

for from states whose governors don’t kiss

his ass sufficiently,” Mary Trump wrote.

White House press secretary Kayleigh

McEnany said of the book: “It’s ridiculous,

absurd accusations that have absolutely no

bearing in truth. I have yet to see the book,

but it is a book of falsehoods.”

White House counselor Kellyanne

Conway said in an interview with Fox

News that “there are too many books out

there that are never fact checked,” adding:

“I believe family matters should be family

matters.”

Boundaries Matter: It’s OK to Not Want

to Talk to White People About Racism

By Robin D. Stone, LMHC

As protests continue around the

world in response to racist acts of violence

against Black people, know that

symptoms of the collective trauma we

all may be experiencing — intrusive

thoughts, insomnia, difficulty concentrating,

irritability, anxiety, fear,

exhaustion, feeling disconnected and

hopelessness — are real and valid.

Many of us are returning to work

from coronavirus quarantines to find

messages from sympathetic white

friends or to hear white colleagues suddenly

expressing shock and concern

for the pain we’ve felt (and often buried)

all our lives. While the coronavirus

pandemic had its own challenges,

we may recognize that lockdowns and

working from home kept us insulated

from white work spaces where racism

wages daily assaults on our psyches.

And now some white people want to

know how we’re feeling about it all.

By setting boundaries we are showing

ourselves some love at a time we

really need it.

“I’m furious. I’m grieving. I’m exhausted.

I’m numb,” you might want to

say. “I haven’t slept in weeks.” But you

may find yourself saying, simply, “It’s

a lot,” because you refuse to bare your

soul to help white people manage their

sense of being overwhelmed when

you’re trying to cope with your own.

I have heard again and again — from

family, friends and my psychotherapy

clients alike — this is all just too much.

And because of the emotional weight

of these events, which fell in rapid succession,

you may not be ready to talk

about any of it, especially to white

friends or colleagues. And that’s OK.

“This makes me want to stay home

for good,” a girlfriend said to me, terrified

by the video of a white woman

named Amy Cooper weaponizing her

white privilege and calling 911 on a

Black man, Christian Cooper (no relation),

who was bird-watching in New

York City’s Central Park. Hysterically

screaming into her phone, Central Park

Amy falsely told police that there was

an African American man threatening

her life. His threat? The temerity to tell

her to obey the posted park rules and

leash her dog.

“These Amys are the worse,” my

girlfriend said, noting that the woman,

who worked at an investment firm

(which subsequently fired her), could

easily be a colleague. “They smile in

your face at the office but they’re capable

of calling the police on an innocent

Black person.”

Boundaries are a form of self-care,

and taking your time to process your

emotions before talking about them,

or keeping them close to the vest, is an

important part of taking care of yourself.

Here are some ways to set healthy

boundaries and protect yourself from

trauma as you return to white spaces.

It’s OK to say, “I don’t want to talk

about this right now.” Don’t feel obligated

to take the lead on the new diversity

and inclusion initiative at your

company or to talk with every colleague

about social justice. You have

a right to decide when and with whom

you discuss these potentially charged

issues.

It’s OK to not want to educate white

folks about current events or the history

of racism and oppression in the

U.S. White people must be a part of

the solution to end racism by educating

themselves rather than expecting Black

people to shoulder this responsibility.

There are plenty of books, podcasts and

documentaries that can help them get

started.

It’s OK to challenge white people

to have their own conversations about

race relations and how they will make

change. If asked, you can suggest that

your company bring in an outside facilitator

or someone who is trained to lead

discussions on issues like social justice,

race relations and white privilege

within your company’s culture. This

way a neutral third party can guide you.

Experts to consider include Jackie Jenkins,

organizational psychologist and

change strategist; Traci Baxley, associate

professor, curriculum, culture and

educational inquiry, Florida Atlantic

University; and Brenda Fellows, industrial/organizational

psychologist and a

behavioral, social and data scientist.

It’s OK to not have the answers or to

not want to give the answers. As Pulitzer

Prize-winning author Toni Morrison

said in a 1993 interview with Charlie

Rose, “If you can only be tall because

somebody is on their knees, then you

have a serious problem. And my feeling

is: White people have a very, very

serious problem, and they should start

thinking about what they can do about

it. Take me out of it.”

Call

It’s OK to share your experiences

with racism that have shaped your

perspective and to stop when you feel

you’ve shared enough. To say what you

need to say and to leave it at that. Don’t

feel obligated to answer further questions,

describe in more detail or explain

what it felt like. It’s your story and you

decide how much you want to share.

It’s OK to walk away from discussions

about race when someone is trying

to compare their experiences to

yours. Well-meaning white people or

non-Black people may think that by

comparing your experience with racism

to theirs with sexism, for instance,

they can find common ground. But in

doing so they fail to acknowledge your

pain or to even hear you. Keep stepping

and save yourself the frustration.

By setting boundaries we are showing

ourselves some love at a time we really

need it. Holding firm will help you

find the space to process what you’re

feeling and weather the adversity that

we are all enduring these days.

Print & Online editions

are available!

or visit TnTribune.com


B6


Faith & Religion

Clergy Members ‘Upset’ by Memphis Mayor’s

Claim of Consensus on Police Reform

By Maya Smith, Memphis Flyer

MEMPHIS, TN — A group of Black clergy members

said they were “surprised and upset” by city officials’

at last week’s press conference in which they

laid out steps to reform the Memphis Police Department

(MPD).

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland told the public that

over the past four weeks his administration has been

meeting with clergy members and other concerned

citizens to discuss ways to improve MPD.

City officials announced that the group has reached

a consensus around five reforms, which include:

• MPD updated its policies to include the sentiment

of “8 Can’t Wait”

• Made improvements to the Civilian Law Enforcement

Review Board (CLERB), including enhancing

communication with the public, providing training for

CLERB members and staff, and reviewing the request

for members to have subpoena powers

• Started posting board opportunities on the city

website

• Began discussions with the Memphis Police Association

to look for opportunities to strengthen language

in the memoranda of understanding between

the city and association to ensure that officers will be

held accountable when using excessive force

• Looking to partner with community activists to

improve implicit bias, cultural awareness, and cultural

diversity training for MPD officers

However, a number of clergy members who participated

in the meetings said in a statement Friday that

a consensus had not been reached. They also called

meetings with officials “frustrating” and “disappointing.”

“As African-American clergy who participated in

the meetings, we found the discussions to be frustrating

and disappointing overall, characterized largely by

those who represent the power structures of Memphis

claiming that the processes in place are sufficient,” the

statement reads.

“The five reforms presented to us June 24th, the

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and city officials are working

on police reform.

date of the last meeting, stopped far short of the substantive

changes we had requested in calling for a reimagined

police department. Though the administration

couched these reforms as an agreement, we did

not, in fact, agree to them. Rather, they demonstrated

to us the administration’s lack of courage and appetite

for making Memphis truly more equitable for all.”

The statement is signed by Gina Stewart, Revs.

Stacy Spencer, Keith Norman, Melvin Watkins, Earle

Fisher, J. Lawrence Turner, and Chris Davis, as well

as Bishops Ed Stephens Jr. and Linwood Dillard.

The clergy members also noted that none of those

who were involved in the meetings were invited to

Thursday’s press conference and were not aware that

it was taking place.

“Though the administration couched these reforms

as an agreement, we did not, in fact, agree to them.”

“Unfortunately, this typifies the tepid spirit of our

recent interactions with the administration,” the clergy

members said. “What was dressed up for the public

yesterday as reform was, in our opinion, reinforcement

of the status quo. We continue to be open to taking

part in the pursuit of meaningful police reform in

Memphis, which people in the streets and throughout

the city are clamoring for. But we expect substantive

dialogue, genuine agreement, and concrete steps toward

major change in the way police interact with the

residents of our city.”

Turner, the pastor at Mississippi Boulevard Christian

Church, said he has some concerns and reservations

about the five reforms announced yesterday. He

also says they “aren’t enough.”

Specifically, Turner said he’s concerned about the

statements officials made related to the “8 Can’t Wait”

policies. He questions whether or not MPD is in “complete

alignment” with the policies.

For example, MPD director Michael Rallings said

Thursday that the department has banned chokeholds,

but Turner said that the topic was a “source of considerable

conversation” during the meetings with officials.

“The way it was discussed in our meetings is as if

this is something MPD is particularly open to outright

banning,” he said. “If they were really challenged on

all the ‘8 Can’t Wait’ policies, I don’t really think that

they could really produce proof that they align with all

eight; maybe five at best.

Turner also said there needs to be more clarity

around CLERB reforms, as well as more empowerment

for the board.

“CLERB needs more than more dollars for marketing

and communication,” he said. “It needs to be

empowered and taken seriously.”

The mayor mentioned recently that reviewing

CLERB’s subpoena power would be added to the

city’s legislative agenda, but Turner says it needs to be

a “top priority.”

Ultimately, Turner said the city and county need to

take a more comprehensive look at reforming policing

“in a way that is reflective of Memphis’ citizenry.”

This process, if done right, should take at least six to

12 months, he said. “ it was made to seem like we had

completed the meetings, but the conversation is not

over,” Turner said. “Let’s make a real investment in reimagining

policing in Memphis and Shelby County.”

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Faith & Religion


B7

Retiring Pastor Says,

‘Don’t Count Me Out’

Our Grass is Greener

Than We Think

At the pulpit, the Rev. Richard Sibert of Murfreesboro speaks with the retired Rev. James “Tex”

Thomas — he’s remembered as having been Nashville’s mayor of Jefferson Street — standing near

his friend at center rear. Photo by Clint Confehr

By Clint Confehr

MURFREESBORO,

TN — Having pastored

Walnut Grove Missionary

Baptist Church for 40

years, the Rev. Richard

Sibert has retired. “Don’t

Count Me Out” was his

parting message.

Rev. Sibert spoke June

28 to more than 100 people

in the Smith Fork District

Association building

here with a story about

perseverance in the face

of adversity and contagious

disease.

“The Bible only talks

about four lepers,” he

said. “They … refused to

resign themselves to a life

of ‘less than.’ They were

not going to be counted

out… They refused to allow

their condition to set

the stage for how they

looked at themselves …

You don’t need a word

from people who have

not walked in your shoes.

Sometimes you need to be

encouraged by somebody

who has been there and

done that!”

Just before Sibert

spoke, the Rev. George

T. Brooks, pastor of Saint

James Missionary Baptist

Church in Nashville since

June 1984, reported that of

all such ministers, “only 2

percent retire.”

Those attending in

person and through social

media heard the Rev.

James “Tex” Thomas —

he’s the retired pastor remembered

as Nashville’s

mayor of Jefferson Street

— say, “In about 1970, I

came here” for employment,

“but the Lord said

‘No.’”

Pastor Sibert thanked

his wife, Carolyn, who

“stood by my side through

the good, the bad and the

ugly.” They have seven

children and he uses

“007” in his email address,

not because of a

spy. The Sibert children

spoke words of their love

for a man who sacrificed

home life to serve the

church, a burden born by

others when serving.

Among those attending,

was another public

servant and writer of

truth, Lisa Marctesoni,

who says, “Rev. Richard

Sibert believes in being

honest and frank. He’s not

going to sugar-coat his

comments to make one

feel better. He’s going to

give you the truth, a characteristic

I admire.”

The pastor is retiring

from a church that’s more

than a century old. In recent

years, it was vandalized

by a few high schoolers

who lashed out with

hateful words and deeds.

Captured and taken to

court, the boys included

one whose mother brought

him to apologize to the

congregation. The pastor

prayed with him and told

Rutherford County’s juvenile

court judge that he

had a place for their public

service to help the teens

avoid more time in confinement.

Asked why he became

a minister, Rev. Sibert

replied that in his early

years, his cousin — someone

who was like a brother

to him — was killed.

He took the higher road.

“A basic struggle for

people is knowing their

purpose and fulfilling

that,” Sibert said. Not

knowing is dangerous because

anger and frustration

comes with it.

“Nobody is more dangerous

than someone who

has nothing to lose or hope

for,” the pastor said. “We

need to remember that

God is active even when

He seems to be absent. I

can’t always see what God

is up to on my behalf. I

just have to trust Him that

something is going on for

my good.

“Each setback is setting

me up for a comeback.

Don’t count me out.

He didn’t bring me this far

to leave me now. For 40

years I have been walking

with Him, talking with

Him. He tells me I am His

own.”

And the congregation

said “Aye men.”

Living on Purpose

by Dr. William Holland, Jr.

I really appreciate

readers who send me

emails and hand-written

letters, they are truly an

encouragement. Actually,

I received a wonderful

letter the other day by

a gentleman from South

Carolina who had recently

lost his wife and

he said one of these columns

touched him deeply.

My topic was about

how God’s eye is always

on the sparrow, and this

reminded him of a precious

memory that he and

his wife had experienced

many years ago. He sent

along some photos and it

was just a very kind expression

of appreciation.

Meeting new acquaintances

like this are very

special to me and one

of the blessings which

comes with having the

opportunity to share my

heart with others. I realize

that many readers of

the newspapers are a part

of the older generation

and that is wonderful. I’m

also a member of what is

now commonly called,

“old school” who enjoys

holding the newspaper

in my hands along with

reading good ole paper

and ink books. It seems

the younger folks would

rather stay glued to their

phones and receive their

information from the internet

headlines.

I’m sure that most

of us would agree the

Lord has been good to

us. I know we are very

busy, but when we consider

what it means to be

happy and blessed, many

times we forget just how

blessed we are and what

we already have. Our human

nature is convinced

that to have more things,

guarantees we will have

more happiness and contentment,

but this is not

true. The old, “grass is

always greener” philosophy

influences individuals

to ignore their existing

level of happiness by

thinking there are much

higher levels to attain. In

reality, our earthly existence

can only be so good

because there is a limit to

how mentally and emotionally

satisfying it can

be. We know that heaven

will be much more spiritually

wonderful than we

could possibly imagine,

and the highest vision of

heaven on earth is referring

to our intimate relationship

with God, not a

two week European vacation.

My wife and I can

honestly say we are as

happy as we can be, and

this is not just a frivolous

statement - it’s literal.

I’m not implying we are

free from trials and challenges

because we have

them just like everyone

else. What I’m saying is

this natural life has a plateau

of fulfillment and

many of us are actually

there now. For those who

have an intimate relationship

with God, a faithful

soulmate, a nice place to

live, decent health which

includes having the ability

to function physically

and mentally without terrible

pain, and enough

money to do whatever

they want within reason,

how much happier

can they be? What could

make them happier?

More possessions? Solomon

was not any more

satisfied or content than

we are because we all

have the same things, except

his “stuff” was larger

and more expensive.

For most of us, we can

appreciate and be very

grateful that our grass

is actually very lush and

green.

Read more about the

Christian life at billyhollandministries.com

The Living Word International Church

Bishop George O. Adebanjo &

Dr. Jennifer W. Adebanjo

5100 Wyoming Avenue

Nashville, TN 37209

www.thelivingwordcogic.com

Sundays: 9:30 am

and 11:00 am

615-297-7437

New release “Lord I’ll Go”

www.cdbaby.com


B8


By Jeffrey L. Boney

Associate Editor

Houston Forward Times

HOUSTON, TX — An “average Joe”

is often described as “an ordinary person

without anything exceptional about

them.”

When it comes to two Houston-based

doctors – Dr. Joseph Gathe, Jr. and Dr.

Joseph Varon – referring to them as “average

Joes” should be considered a huge

slap in the face, because when it comes

to these two gentlemen, they’re not your

“average Joes” by any stretch of the

imagination.

So many doctors, nurses and members

of medical staffs across this country are

putting their lives on the line to help save

the lives of others and are doing their part

to help make a difference in the lives of

patients that have been impacted by the

dreaded COVID-19 pandemic.

Gathe and Varon are both infectious

disease doctors and have been on the

frontlines addressing the COVID-19

epidemic. Their stellar work has been

highlighted by many major news outlets,

elected officials and even celebrities.

Gathe, who was born in St. Louis,

Missouri, has a storied history in the

Greater Houston area. Not just because of

the impact his family has had in the area

of medicine generationally in the Greater

Houston area, but because of his own personal

reputation as being one of the only

specialists in the Greater Houston area

to tackle and treat the HIV/AIDS virus

from the very early days of it becoming

a major epidemic in the U.S., particularly

amongst Black people.

Because Dr. Gathe is no stranger to

dealing with unprecedented infectious

diseases like HIV/AIDS, when the CO-

VID-19 pandemic began to heighten, he

wanted to jump right in and figure out

how to address it. After the virus began to

spread across the Greater Houston area,

Dr. Gathe connected with Dr. Varon in

order to work collaboratively to address

the pandemic.

Dr. Varon, who is originally from

Mexico City, Mexico, has dual citizenship

between Mexico and the United

States, and has extensively practiced

medicine in both countries over three

decades and is also one of the leading

Health & Wellness

Two Local Doctors Refusing to Ignore the COVID-19

Plight in the African-American Community

infectious disease doctors in the Greater

Houston area.

Gathe, who serves as the co-director

of the COVID-19 Dedicated Care Unit

at the United Memorial Medical Center

(UMMC), said he got a call one day from

Dr. Varon, and they began discussing

patients they had recently seen that had

been getting sick with this unusual new

virus.

After comparing notes and experiences

with patients, the two men decided to

come together to see if they could make

a difference. They knew they needed to

have a base of operations, so Varon, who

serves as UMMC’s Chief Medical Officer,

suggested that there was available

hospital space at UMMC to specifically

deal with COVID-19 patients. Another

reason that Dr. Varon suggested they

function out of UMMC was because the

CEO of UMMC, Syed Mohiuddin, was

not afraid to reach out and care for this

population.

Gathe decided to join Varon to work

collaboratively to address COVID-19 patients,

and within a week after the phone

call, the COVID-19 Dedicated Care Unit

was operational.

“My goal is, and has always been, to

be part of an organized effort in our community

to address this significant public

Ascension Saint Thomas

Offers New Way to Connect

with Loved Ones in Hospital

As hospitals around the globe fight to

keep communities safe by tightening visitation

policies, many patients have been

unable to see their loved ones’ faces for

weeks or even months. Ascension Saint

Thomas is hoping to help families and

friends stay connected with this week’s

launch of a creative new program called

“Pictures for Patients.”

If someone dear to you is a patient at

any Ascension Saint Thomas hospital,

you can now brighten their stay with free

Dr. Joseph Gathe, Jr. and Dr. Joseph Varon are both infectious disease doctors and have been on

the frontlines addressing the COVID-19 epidemic

photo delivery. Simply email the patient’s

full name and a photo of your face, a favorite

place, or a beloved pet to Picsforpatients@ascension.org.

Our Patient Experience

team will print and hand-deliver the

photo to your loved one so that it can be

displayed in their hospital room.

Pictures for Patients was inspired by a

similar program that recently launched at

Lowell General Hospital in Lowell, Massachusetts.

health emergency,” Gathe said. “In the

midst of an environment that is so full of

confusion and misinformation, as well

as a lack of an organized effort from a

national perspective to address this pandemic,

I felt I had to be a source of appropriate

information relative to things

we do know and we don’t know. It was

important for me to do something at the

local level in order to mitigate the damage

that this infection is doing in our

community.”

Since they began working together

after establishing the COVID-19 Dedicated

Care Unit at UMMC, none of the

COVID-19 patients under the care and

treatment of Dr. Gathe and Dr. Varon at

UMMC to date have died. They have a

unique and innovative COVID cocktail

that they have created that they state is a

difference maker and game changer when

it comes to helping positive COVID-19

patients recover from the virus.

Varon and UMMC have gone even

further in their commitment to addressing

the COVID-19 pandemic, as they have

opened up numerous drive-thru testing

sites across the Greater Houston area to

tackle the virus and provide FREE testing

to the community.

“We saw a need to detect COVID-19

early in February and we wanted to help

people by finding the best options to do

so,” Varon said. “We tried to approach a

variety of people, but no one wanted to

help. So, we decided to open up drivethru

testing sites, which Congresswoman

Sheila Jackson Lee found as an appealing

idea. Once she listened to our vision, she

decided to become a major spokesperson

of this endeavor. We immediately bought

testing kits, made arrangements with

a laboratory, and created a system that

works like clockwork – ALL at no charge

to the patient.”

Varon states that when the pandemic

began, he reached out to Gathe because

he had worked with him previously on

special occasions, and he knew that

Gathe was the right person to have a conversation

with about how the virus should

be addressed in the Greater Houston area.

“The COVID-19 pandemic gave

Gathe and I the best opportunity to put

our minds together and address this virus

and it has allowed us to be real doctors

working together again to save lives and

make a difference,” said Dr. Varon.

Dr. Varon is deeply concerned about

the community spread of this virus, especially

amongst young African American

males.

“I know that I am not African American,

but I am still a minority and I cannot

stand to see young African American

people dying,” says Dr. Varon. “Statistics

are showing that COVID-19 is impacting

young Black males significantly and they

are dying because of it.”

Dr. Varon is emphasizing the need

for African Americans to get tested and

treated for the virus.

“COVID-19 is here to stay and is not

going anywhere,” says Dr. Varon. “We

need to be smart about it. Testing is a priority

in identifying where it stands. We

do have treatment options, so if you have

any symptoms, you need to contact your

healthcare provider or come see us. We

are not afraid to care for any COVID-19

patient. We want you to live!”

Dr. Gathe admits that the COVID-19

pandemic is unlike anything he has ever

seen in his lifetime and believes that there

must be an appropriate prevention message

targeting communities that are the

most vulnerable and impacted by the virus.

“We have to ensure that adequate

FREE testing is available for every member

of our community,” says Dr. Gathe.

“More importantly, we must provide

some interpretation to those who get

tested, about what the results of that test

actually means. We must also provide

members of the community with appropriate

outpatient therapy, inpatient care

and an assurance that every individual is

truly well enough to return to their home

or work setting in a safe manner.”

Dr. Gathe has one message for the African

American community.

“COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting

our community as far as percentage

of those infected, the percentage of

those going into the hospital and the percentage

of those who are dying. For our

community, there are only two possibilities:

Either you have it or you are at high

risk of getting it…PERIOD. The difference

between the two is getting tested to

know your status. Once you get tested,

if you have it seek medical treatment. If

you don’t have it, do everything in your

power not to get it, such as social distancing

and wearing a mask until this public

health emergency is under control, which

will not be in the near future.”

In order to further help address the

disproportionately affecting the African

American community, Gathe and Varon

have also formed a new nonprofit organization

called the Cure COVID Consortium

(CCC), which will use 100% of

the funds they receive to offer a state of

the art, comprehensive program for CO-

VID-19 prevention efforts, a comprehensive

testing program, and direct inpatient

and outpatient medical care for those

infected with the virus and for treatment

that will be needed for vulnerable communities

across the greater Houston area.

Not all superheroes wear capes, but in

the case of these two Joes, they do wear

white coats.



15th Episcopal District Establishes COVID-19 Relief Fund

This article details AME pandemic relief efforts in the 15th

Episcopal District (the countries Angola and Namibia and

the western provinces of South Africa).

The effect of COVID-19 in our geographical area

The novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic did not

only strike the continents of the Northern hemisphere earlier

this year 2020 but is a Global Pandemic. First World

and Third World countries are all affected. Developed, developing,

and under-developed nations across the globe are

suffering because of sudden deaths, infections, and poor

health conditions. In most areas in the world, the effects of

the pandemic are severe and the impact on the economy is

devastating. In Southern Africa for example thousands of

people employed in small businesses lost their jobs during

the lockdown period.

Ordinary people are suffering because of hunger and

poor means of living. In some families the breadwinner

died because of COVID-19 and the family is left without an

income. Many of these broken families belong to the AME

Church. They are officers and members of our Zion. We

have discovered months ago that the virtual worship services

are good and encouraging but far from enough. There

is a Macedonian Call from the most devastating and needy

love ones: “come over and help us.” Acts 16:6-10.

The shared vision of Bishop David R. Daniels, Jr.

and Supervisor Irene M. Daniels

We are blessed to have Bishop and Supervisor Daniels

as our Episcopal leaders. In spite of the limitations of reaching

out in the 15th Episcopal District in these trying times,

they still envisioned on a COVID-19 Relief Plan to provide

food to the neediest families in the entire Episcopal District.

Our research indicates that one food Hamper will provide

food to a family of 3 to 5 persons for at least 3 weeks.

The plan was to provide at least 300 hampers every month

for the months of May, June and July 2020. We are blessed

to report that we have in the months of May and June 2020

provided food for at least 2400 persons across the 15th Episcopal

District. This was made partly possible because of the

generous financial contribution of more than ZAR100.000

(approximately US $5900) by our prelate, Bishop Daniels,

and his partner in missions, Supervisor Daniels

The response of the entire constituency of the

15th Episcopal District

The vision of Bishop and Supervisor Daniels was received

with open arms by the entire leadership of the 15^th

Episcopal district. The Presiding Elders’ Council, The

Women’s Missionary Society, The Young People’s Division,

BOCE (Board of Christian Education), Pastors, and

the Lay Organization are practically involved in the execution

of the project. All of the 15th Episcopal District leadership,

Annual Conferences, Presiding Elders, Auxiliaries,

and Departments made financial contributions from the

members out of their extreme poverty and disadvantages

to this noble project.

The Setting, Planning, and Working of the Project

The setting of the 15th Episcopal District COVID-19

Relief Fund and Food Parcels has been done by the COV-

ID-19 Committee. This Committee comprises of the Chairperson,

Presiding Elder Wellington Bikwa who is the President

of the Presiding Elders’ Council for the 15th Episcopal

District and as Co-Chairs Ms. Phyllis Fezeka Baduza-Kabi,

B9

the President of the WMS of the 15th Episcopal District,

Bro M. Chris Qwane the President of the Lay Organization

of the 15th Episcopal District and Presiding Elder M.

Henderson Bisiwe the 15th Episcopal District Treasurer. A

Manual which comprises of the working principles, procedure,

and protocol for the project was compiled by the

COVID-19 Relief fund Secretariat. The Application and

Evaluation process is done by the 15th Episcopal District

Presiding Elders, the local pastors in consultation with the

WMS organizational structure on local, area, and conference

levels. On the approval of the successful applications

and the endorsement thereof by the

Committee and Bishop and Supervisor Daniels respectively,

the food parcels were purchased and distributed to

the successful applicants. For the months of May and June,

2020 more than 600 food parcels were distributed in the

15th Episcopal District. Some of the Presiding Elder districts

also have their personal outreach programmes which

increase the numbers. We are in the process now to plan for

the month of July and even for the period beyond July 2020.

The 15th Episcopal District is blessed and thankful

The Lord really blessed the 15th Episcopal District

abundantly in these trying times. With all the initiatives,

achievements and endeavours we are saying “to God be the

glory.

We salute our Episcopal leaders, Bishop and Supervisor

Daniels for their noble vision and contribution. Surely, they

are standing in the gab for desperate and despondent people

negatively affected by COVID-19.

Thank you to the entire Episcopal district leadership

who bought in the vision and help to make it a huge success.

Tennessee’s Child Poverty Rate Has Improved, But

1 in 8 Children in Still Live in Poor Neighborhoods

By Kristi L. Nelson

Knox news

First, some good news: The number of

Tennessee children living in areas of concentrated

poverty fell 7% between 2013

and 2017.

And now, the bad: There are still

enough children living in poverty in this

state to fill Neyland Stadium twice.

About 200,000 Tennessee children —

nearly 1 of every 8 children in the state

— live in neighborhoods with high levels

of concentrated poverty, according to

“Children Living in High-Poverty, Low-

Opportunity Neighborhoods,” a report

released this week by the Annie E. Casey

Foundation using U.S. census and Kids

Count data.

The report defines a community of

concentrated poverty as a neighborhood

where 30% or more of residents live below

the federal poverty level, and connects

poverty to risks to children’s development:

Lack of access to food.

Lack of access to quality health care.

Greater risk of exposure to environmental

elements, such as lead, or poor air

quality.

Chronic stress from financial hardship.

Trauma from fear of or witnessing violence.

“Toxic stress affects the developing

brain,” said Richard Kennedy, executive

director of the Tennessee Commission

on Children and Youth. “Our youngest

children are the most likely to live in lowincome

households. We need to develop

solutions to help families and their children

live in safe communities and grow

up healthy.”

Recent studies have linked Adverse

Childhood Experiences, which include

trauma and stress, to issues with mental

and physical health later in life, including

increased risk of diabetes, heart disease

and stroke. Children who grow up in poverty

are themselves more likely to have

low incomes as adults, putting them at risk

for associated problems — and perpetuating

the cycle.

Like Tennessee, other states in the

South have high rates of children living in

concentrated poverty. In fact, states in the

South and West account for 17 of the 25

states with child poverty rates of 10% and

higher.

Nationally, black children and American

Indian children are seven times more

likely than white children to live in poor

neighborhoods, and Latino children are

five times more likely than white children

to live in poor neighborhoods.

The study shows child poverty exists

in higher numbers in rural and urban areas

than suburban, affecting 23% of urban

children, 11% of rural children and 5% of

suburban children.

The report also outlines possible solutions,

including supporting models for affordable

housing; ending programs that

refuse housing assistance to people who

have been incarcerated; helping low-income

residents pay higher property taxes

that accompany regentrification of historically

poor neighborhoods; and developing

and funding small-business loan

programs serving entrepreneurs of lowincome

neighborhoods and communities

of color, especially for people with poor

credit or criminal records who would have

difficulty getting a traditional loan.

“Providing better training and work

opportunities for families to assist them to

rise out of poverty would help us prevent

and mitigate the effects of these problems,

increase community safety and prosperity,

and strengthen our state,” Kennedy said.

They matter

to me.

Terry W Jones, Agent

545 Mainstream Drive, Suite 104

Nashville, TN 37228

Bus: 615-256-6066

terry.w.jones.nlt6@statefarm.com

Mon - Fri 9:00am to 5:00pm

Sat and After Hrs by Appt

open 24x7x365 @ 615-256-6066

I get it. Your home and car are

more than just things. They’re

where you make your memories

and they deserve the right

protection. It’s why I’m here.

LET’S TALK TODAY.

1706814

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

State Farm Fire and Casualty Company

Bloomington, IL


B10



SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE’S SALE Sale at public auction

will be on July 23, 2020 on or about 12:00PM local time,

at the Davidson County Courthouse, South Main door,

One Public Square, Nashville, Tennessee, conducted by

the Substitute Trustee as identified and set forth herein

below, pursuant to Deed of Trust executed by DOLORES

V JENKINS, to John T. McMahan, Trustee, on December

14, 2001, as Instrument No. 20020102-0000335 in

the real property records of Davidson County Register’s

Office, Tennessee. Owner of Debt: U.S. Bank National

Association, as Trustee, successor-in-interest to Wachovia

Bank National Association, as Trustee for GSR

Mortgage Loan Trust 2005-6F, Mortgage Pass-Through

Certificates, Series 2005-6F The following real estate located

in Davidson County, Tennessee, will be sold to the

highest call bidder subject to all unpaid taxes, prior liens

and encumbrances of record: BEING Lot No. 38 on the

Plan of Northumberland, of record in Book 6250, Pages

128 and 129, Register`s Office for Davidson County,

Tennessee, and as amended by Surveyor`s Certificate

of Correction, of record in Book 6386, Page 194, said

Register`s Office. Being the same property conveyed

to Harold, L. Jenkins and wife, Dolores V. Jenkins from

John M. Baird, Trustee by Quitclaim Deed dated March

6, 1992 and recorded March 9, 1992 in Book 8570, Page

64 in the Register`s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee.

The said Harold L. Jenkins being deceased. Tax

ID: 130120A03800CO Current Owner(s) of Property:

DOLORES V JENKINS The street address of the above

described property is believed to be 19 Inveraray, Nashville,

TN 37215, but such address is not part of the legal

description of the property sold herein and in the event of

any discrepancy, the legal description referenced herein

shall control. SALE IS SUBJECT TO OCCUPANT(S)

RIGHTS IN POSSESSION. THE RIGHT IS RESERVED

TO ADJOURN THE DAY OF THE SALE TO ANOTHER

DAY, TIME AND PLACE CERTAIN WITHOUT FUR-

THER PUBLICATION, UPON ANNOUNCEMENT AT

THE TIME AND PLACE FOR THE SALE SET FORTH

ABOVE. THE TERMS OF SALE ARE CASH. ANY TAX-

ES OR FEES WILL BE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE

PURCHASER. IF THE SALE IS SET ASIDE FOR ANY

REASON, THE PURCHASER AT THE SALE SHALL BE

ENTITLED ONLY TO A RETURN OF THE PURCHASE

PRICE. THE PURCHASER SHALL HAVE NO FUR-

THER RECOURSE AGAINST THE GRANTOR, THE

GRANTEE, OR THE TRUSTEE. OTHER INTERESTED

PARTIES: None THIS IS AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT A

DEBT AND ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE

USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. If applicable, the notice

requirements of T.C.A. 35-5-101 have been met. All right

of equity of redemption, statutory and otherwise, and

homestead are expressly waived in said Deed of Trust,

but the undersigned will sell and convey only as Substitute

Trustee. If the U.S. Department of Treasury/IRS,

the State of Tennessee Department of Revenue, or the

State of Tennessee Department of Labor or Workforce

Development are listed as Interested Parties in the advertisement,

then the Notice of this foreclosure is being given

to them and the Sale will be subject to the applicable

governmental entities right to redeem the property as

required by 26 U.S.C. 7425 and T.C.A. §67-1-1433.This

property is being sold with the express reservation that

the sale is subject to confirmation by the lender or trustee.

If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the

sale shall be entitled only to a return of the purchase price.

The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the

Mortgagor, the Mortgagee or the Mortgagees attorney.

MWZM File No. 20-000165-671-1 Mackie Wolf Zientz

& Mann, P.C., Substitute Trustee(s) Cool Springs Commons,

Suite 273 7100 Commerce Way Brentwood, TN

37027 TN INVESTORS PAGE: http://mwzmlaw.com/

tn_investors.php Ad #174332 2020-06-25 2020-07-02

2020-07-09

SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE’S SALE Sale at public auction

will be on July 30, 2020 on or about 10:00AM local time,

at the Front Entrance, The Historic Davidson County

Courthouse, One Public Square, Nashville, TN 37201,

conducted by the Substitute Trustee as identified and set

forth herein below, pursuant to Deed of Trust executed

by MARY F. IVEY AND JORDAN IVEY, III, to Archer

Land Title Inc, Trustee, on December 20, 2005, as Instrument

No. 20051228-0155296 in the real property

records of Davidson County Register’s Office, Tennessee.

Owner of Debt: U.S. Bank National Association,

as Trustee for Residential Asset Securities Corporation,

Home Equity Mortgage Asset-Backed Pass-Through

Certificates, Series 2006-KS2 The following real estate

located in Davidson County, Tennessee, will be sold to

the highest call bidder subject to all unpaid taxes, prior

liens and encumbrances of record: A certain tract or parcel

of land in Davidson County, in the State of Tennessee,

described as follows: LAND in Davidson County,

Tennessee, being part of Barrows Addition, Plan Book l,

Page 13, Chancery Court, Davidson County, Tennessee,

and part of W.W. Tottens Addition, Plan Book 57, Page

22, Register`s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee,

described according to a survey made by Barge, Waggoner

and Sumner, Engineers, on July 22, 1971, as follows:

BEGINNING at an iron pin in the northerly margin

of Boscobel Street, said pin being 205 feet east from the

northeast corner of Boscobel and South Ninth Streets;

thence North 24 deg. 52 min. West, 190 feet to an iron

pin in the south margin of Alley No. 261; thence with the

margin of same, North 64 deg. 50 min. East, 50 feet to an

iron pin; thence South 24 deg. 52 min. East, 190 feet to

an iron pin in the north margin of Boscobel Street; thence

with the margin of same, South 64 deg. 50 min. West, 50

feet to the point of beginning. BEING the same property

conveyed to Jordan Ivey, Ill by Quitclaim Deed from Jordan

Ivey, Jr. and spouse, Margie Ann Ivey, dated February

5, 1999 and recorded July 9, 1999, in Book 11566,

Page 585; and by Quitclaim Deed from Mae Lottie Ivey, a

single individual, dated April 26, 1999 and recorded July

9, 1999, in Book 11566, Page 587, all in the Register`s

Office for Davidson County, Tennessee. Also being that

same property conveyed to Jordan Ivey, III and wife, Mary

Ivey from Jordan Ivey, III by Quitclaim deed dated December

20, 2005 and recorded December 28,2005, as

Instrument Number 20051228-0155295 in the Register`s

Office for Davidson County, Tennessee. Subject to such

limitations, restrictions and encumbrances as may affect

the premises. PROPERTY ADDRESS (for information

only): 907 Boscobel Street, Nashville, TN 37026 Map &

Parcel: 082 16 0 288.00 Tax ID: 08216028800 Current

Owner(s) of Property: MARY F. IVEY AND JORDAN

IVEY, III The street address of the above described

property is believed to be 907 Boscobel St, Nashville,

TN 37206, but such address is not part of the legal description

of the property sold herein and in the event of

any discrepancy, the legal description referenced herein

shall control. SALE IS SUBJECT TO OCCUPANT(S)

RIGHTS IN POSSESSION. THE RIGHT IS RESERVED

TO ADJOURN THE DAY OF THE SALE TO ANOTHER

DAY, TIME AND PLACE CERTAIN WITHOUT FUR-

THER PUBLICATION, UPON ANNOUNCEMENT AT

THE TIME AND PLACE FOR THE SALE SET FORTH

ABOVE. THE TERMS OF SALE ARE CASH. ANY TAX-

ES OR FEES WILL BE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE

PURCHASER. IF THE SALE IS SET ASIDE FOR ANY

REASON, THE PURCHASER AT THE SALE SHALL

BE ENTITLED ONLY TO A RETURN OF THE PUR-

CHASE PRICE. THE PURCHASER SHALL HAVE NO

FURTHER RECOURSE AGAINST THE GRANTOR,

THE GRANTEE, OR THE TRUSTEE. OTHER INTER-

ESTED PARTIES: ARS RESCUE ROOTER THIS IS AN

ATTEMPT TO COLLECT A DEBT AND ANY INFORMA-

TION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PUR-

POSE. If applicable, the notice requirements of T.C.A.

35-5-101 have been met. All right of equity of redemption,

statutory and otherwise, and homestead are expressly

waived in said Deed of Trust, but the undersigned will

sell and convey only as Substitute Trustee.

If the U.S.

Department of Treasury/IRS, the State of Tennessee Department

of Revenue, or the State of Tennessee Department

of Labor or Workforce Development are listed as

Interested Parties in the advertisement, then the Notice

of this foreclosure is being given to them and the Sale will

be subject to the applicable governmental entities right to

redeem the property as required by 26 U.S.C. 7425 and

T.C.A. §67-1-1433.This property is being sold with the

express reservation that the sale is subject to confirmation

by the lender or trustee. If the sale is set aside for

any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled

only to a return of the purchase price. The Purchaser

shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor,

the Mortgagee or the Mortgagee s attorney. MWZM File

No. 20-000296-671-1 Mackie Wolf Zientz & Mann, P.C.,

Substitute Trustee(s) Cool Springs Commons, Suite 273

7100 Commerce Way Brentwood, TN 37027 TN INVES-

TORS PAGE: http://mwzmlaw.com/tn_investors.php Ad

#174493 2020-06-25 2020-07-02 2020-07-09

Foreclosures & Legals

To be included in the Tribune’s

Classified section contact us:

Email: sales1501@aol.com

Phone: 615-321-3268

TRIBUNE’S

NOTICE OF SUBSTITUTE TRUSTEE’S

SALE

WHEREAS, Thomas Gulley, an unmarried

man by Deed of Trust (the “Deed of Trust”),

dated March 19, 2004 and of record in

Deed Book 20040325-0033731, Page ,

Register’s Office of Davidson County, Tennessee,

conveyed to Arnold M. Weiss, Attorney,

Trustee, the hereinafter described

real property to secure the payment of

a certain Promissory Note (the “Note”)

described in the Deed of Trust, which

Note was payable to Mortgage Electronic

Registration Systems, Inc. (“MERS”) as

nominee for America’s Wholesale Lender,

as last transferred to THE BANK OF NEW

YORK MELLON, F/K/A The Bank of New

York as trustee for registered Holders of

CWABS, Inc., Asset-Backed Certificates,

Series 2004-5 by Assignment recorded at

Instrument #20091119-0106517, Davidson

County, Tennessee records, and

WHEREAS, Mantenn, LLC has been duly

appointed Substitute Trustee by the owner

and holder of the Note by instrument recorded

in Instrument #201909110092025,

Davidson County, Tennessee

WHEREAS, default has been made in the

payment of the Note; and

WHEREAS, the owner and holder of the

Note has demanded that the hereinafter

described real property be advertised and

sold in satisfaction of the indebtedness

and costs of foreclosure in accordance

with the terms and provisions of the Note

and Deed of Trust. The notice requirements

of T.C.A. §35-5-117 have been

satisfied.

NOW, THEREFORE, notice is hereby

given that an agent of Mantenn, LLC,

Substitute Trustee, pursuant to the power,

duty, and authority vested in and conferred

by the Deed of Trust, will July 22, 2020 at

11:00 a.m. at the Register of Deeds Office

at the corner of 5th Avenue and Broadway

Davidson County, Tennessee, be sold to

the highest call bidder for cash free from

all legal, equitable and statutory rights of

redemption, exemptions of homestead,

rights by virtue of marriage, and all other

exemptions of every kind, all of which have

been waived in the Deed of Trust, certain

real property located in Davidson County,

Tennessee, described as follows:

Being Lot No. 304 on the plan of Cherry

Hills Subdivision, Section 6,of record in

Book 4300, Page 176, Register’s Office

for Davidson County, Tennessee, to which

reference is hereby made for a more complete

and accurate description.

Said Lot No. 304 fronts 80 feet on the

northerly margin of Cherry Hills Drive, and

runs back 152 feet on the west sideline,

and 152 feet on the east sideline, and

measures 80 feet across the rear line.

Being the same property conveyed to

Thomas Gulley, an unmarried man, from

Carol S. Livingstone, unmarried, by dead

on March 19, 2004, of record in instrument

Number 200403250033730, Register’s

Office for Davidson County, Tennessee.

The street address of the above described

property is believed to be 2916 Cherry Hills

Drive, Antioch, TN 37013, but if such address

is not part of the legal description of

the property sold herein and in the event

of any discrepancy, the legal description

herein shall control.

Owner of Property: Thomas Gulley, an

unmarried man

In addition, the following parties may claim

an interest in the above-referenced property:

Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC Assignee

of Providian National Bank at Instrument

#20160908-0094519

This sale is subject to all matters shown on

any applicable recorded plat; any unpaid

taxes; any restrictive covenants, easements

or setback lines that may be applicable;

any statutory rights of redemption of

any governmental agency, state or federal;

any prior liens or encumbrances as well as

any priority created by a fixture filing; and

to any matter that an accurate survey of

the premises might disclose.

All right of equity of redemption, statutory

and otherwise, and homestead are

expressly waived in said Deed of Trust,

and the title is believed to be good, but the

undersigned will sell and convey only as

Substitute Trustee. The right is reserved

to adjourn the day of the sale to another

day, time, and place certain without further

publication, upon announcement at the

time and place for the sale set forth above.

Mantenn, LLC, Substitute Trustee

180 Interstate North Parkway Suite 200

Atlanta, GA 30339 (404) 252-6385

THIS LAW FIRM IS ACTING AS A DEBT

COLLECTOR ATTEMPTING TO COL-

LECT A DEBT.

ANY INFORMATION

OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT

PURPOSE. MBFC19-265 Publication

Dates: June 25, July 2, 9, 2020.


SALE

WHEREAS, John Schutt and Taffnee

Schutt by Deed of Trust (the “Deed of

Trust”), dated May 27, 2005 and of record

in Instrument# 20050606-0064090, Page

, Register’s Office of Davidson County,

Tennessee, conveyed to Arnold M. Weiss,

Trustee, the hereinafter described real

property to secure the payment of a certain

Promissory Note (the “Note”) described in

the Deed of Trust, which Note was payable

to Mortgage Electronic Registration

Systems, Inc. (“MERS”) as nominee for

Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., as last

transferred to THE BANK OF NEW YORK

MELLON, F/K/A The Bank of New York

as trustee for the certificateholders of the

CWABS, Inc., Asset-Backed Certificates,

Series 2005-7 by Assignment recorded in

Instrument #20110805-0060463, Davidson

County, Tennessee records, and

WHEREAS, Mantenn, LLC has been

duly appointed Substitute Trustee by the

owner and holder of the Note by instrument

recorded in Instrument #20200622-

0066327, Davidson County, Tennessee











satisfied.


given that an agent of Mantenn, LLC,

Substitute Trustee, pursuant to the power,

duty, and authority vested in and conferred

by the Deed of Trust, will July 22, 2020, at

11:00 a.m. at the Register of Deeds Office

at the corner of 5th Avenue and Broadway

Davidson County, Tennessee, be sold to







real property located in Davidson County,


Being Lot No. 1 on the Plan of Darryl

Schutt Land, as of record in Plat Book

8250, Page 213, Register’s Office of Davidson

County, Tennessee.

Map/Parcel: 30-20

TRACT I:

A tract of land in the 14th Civil District, described

as follows:

Beginning in the easterly margin of White’s

Creek Pike at a post which is located 124

feet from the northwest intersection of said

Pike and Trantham Road; thence along a

fence from north 59 degrees, east 494.5

feet to a fence post in the southwesterly

margin of Trantham Road; thence along

the margin of said Road around a curve

in the northwesterly direction 275 feet,

more or less, thence south 66 degrees

37 minutes west 490 feet, more or less,

to the easterly margin of White’s Creek

Pike; thence with the pike around a slight

curve in the southeasterly direction 324

feet, more or less, to the beginning and

containing 3.11 acres, and to which plan

reference is hereby made for a complete

and accurate description thereof.

TRACT II:

Beginning at a concrete monument in

the northeasterly margin of Whites Creek

Pike, 796 feet southeast of the intersection

of Laws Road with Whites Creek Pike;

thence with the margin of Whites Creek

Pike North 51 degrees 50 minutes 25 seconds

West 100.00 feet to a point; thence

north 0 degrees 46 minutes 25 seconds

west 250.00 feet to a point; thence north

88 degrees 53 minutes 44 seconds east

392.52 feet to a point in the westerly margin

of Trantham Road; thence with a curve

to the loft having a radius of 230 feet, a

distance of 75.03 feet in a southerly direction

to a point; thence south 53 degrees

48 minutes 53 seconds west 433.00 feet

to the point of beginning, containing 2.00

acres, more or less.

Being Lot No. 1 on the plan of Darryl

Schutt Land, as of record in Plat Book

8250, Page 213, Register’s Office for Davidson

County, Tennessee.


the grantor(s) in Instrument #20050606-

006408, said Register’s Office. Being the

same property conveyed to Andrew R.

Schutt and Sherry L. Schutt by deed from

Darryl W. Schutt and wife, Anita Schutt

and filed for record on February 11, 2004

in Instrument No. 20041203-0144343,

Register’s Office for Davidson County,

Tennessee.


property is believed to be 4819 Whites

Creek Pike, Whites Creek, TN 37189,

but if such address is not part of the legal

description of the property sold herein and

in the event of any discrepancy, the legal

description herein shall control.

Owner of Property: John Schutt





















Mantenn, LLC, Substitute Trustee 180 Interstate

North Parkway Suite 200

Atlanta, GA 30339 (404) 252-6385



LECT A DEBT.

ANY INFORMATION



Dates: July 2, 9, and 16, 2020.


SALE

WHEREAS, Kendall D. Webb, A Single

Man by Deed of Trust (the “Deed of Trust”),

dated September 26, 2005 and of record

in Deed Book 549, Page 1865, Register’s

Office of Rutherford County, Tennessee,

conveyed to Arnold M. Weiss, Attorney,

Trustee, the hereinafter described real

property to secure the payment of a certain

Promissory Note (the “Note”) described in

the Deed of Trust, which Note was payable

to Mortgage Electronic Registration

Systems, Inc. (“MERS”) as nominee for

America’s Wholesale Lender, as last transferred

to The Bank of New York Mellon,

F/K/A The Bank of New York as trustee for

registered Holders of CWABS, Inc., Asset-Backed

Certificates, Series 2005-13

by Assignment recorded in Record Book

1126, Page 3580, Rutherford County, Tennessee

records, and

WHEREAS, Mantenn, LLC has been duly

appointed Substitute Trustee by the owner

and holder of the Note by instrument recorded

in Deed Book 1926, Page 2637,

Rutherford County, Tennessee











satisfied.


given that an agent of Mantenn, LLC, Substitute

Trustee, pursuant to the power, duty,

and authority vested in and conferred by

the Deed of Trust, will July 31, 20, at 11:00

a.m. at the steps of the front entrance of

the Courthouse at S Public Square, Murfreesboro,

Tennessee, 37130, be sold to







real property located in Rutherford County,


Situated in Civil District Number Three

(3) of Rutherford County, Tennessee and

within the corporate limits of the City of

Lavergne, Tennessee, and being known

as Unit Six (6) of the Horizontal Property

Regime Private Element Plat of the Cottages

of LaVergne 2000 (Being All of Lot

208 on the Plat of Phase Two, 2000, Plat

Book 22, Page 15, Register’s Office for

Rutherford County, Tennessee, as the

same appears of record in Plat Book 22,

Page 103, Register’s Office for Rutherford

County, Tennessee, to which plat specific

reference is hereby made for a more particular

description.


Kendall D. Webb unmarried by deed from

Roger L. Livingston dated September 26,

2005 and filed for Record in Book 549,

Page 1863, Register’s Office for Rutherford

County, Tennessee.


property is believed to be 5013 73RD

AVE, LAVERGNE, TN 37086, but if such

address is not part of the legal description

of the property sold herein and in the event

of any discrepancy, the legal description

herein shall control.

Owner of Property: Kendall D. Webb, Unmarried

In addition, the following parties may claim

an interest in the above-referenced property:

The Cottages of Lavergne 2000 Homeowners

Association, Inc.





















Mantenn, LLC, Substitute Trustee

180 Interstate North Parkway Suite 200

Atlanta, GA 30339 (404) 252-6385



LECT A DEBT.

ANY INFORMATION



Dates: July 9, 16, 23, 2020.

NELLY B. KADIO vs.

ELVIS AWUA BENLE Docket # 19D2126

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction

of the Court that the defendant is a

non-resident of the State of Tennessee,

therefore the ordinary process of law cannot

be served upon YOUSRY HENEIN. It

is ordered that said Defendant enter HIS

appearance herein with thirty (30) days

after July 9, 2020 same being the date of

the last publication of this notice to be held

at Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1

Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee

and defend or default will be taken

on August 10, 2020. It is therefore ordered

that a copy of the Order be published for

four (4) weeks succession in the Tennessee

Tribune, a newspaper published in

Nashville.

Attorney for Plantiff D. Scott Parsley; Richard

R Rooker, Clerk Publish Dates: June

18, 25, July 2, 9, 2020

EMMA KINYEMI DEMONBREUN vs.

KEONTREZ DEWAYNE RIDLEY

Docket # 20D368

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction

of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident

of the State of Tennessee, therefore

the ordinary process of law cannot

be served upon KEONTREZ DEWAYNE

RIDLEY. It is ordered that said Defendant

enter HIS appearance herein with thirty

(30) days after July 16, 2020 same being

the date of the last publication of this notice

to be held at Metropolitan Circuit Court

located at 1 Public Square, Room 302,

Nashville, Tennessee and defend or default

will be taken on August 17, 2020. It is

therefore ordered that a copy of the Order

be published for four (4) weeks succession

in the Tennessee Tribune, a newspaper

published in Nashville.

Attorney for Plantiff D. Brad H Frakes;

Richard R Rooker, Clerk

Publish Dates: June 25, July 2 , 9, 16 2020

Service ID 134435 DAVIDSON COUNTY

20 TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT

SMITH, LORETTA SUE

vs. SMITH, REGINALD

PATRON 3301 CREEKWOOD DR B11

NASHVILLE, TN 37207

Plaintiff/Petitioner

CIVIL ACTION DOCKET NO. 19D1940

Method of Service:

Davidson County Sheriff

Defendant/Respondent

To the above named Defendant:

You are summoned to appear and defend

a civil action Complaint for Divorce/

Domestic Petition filed against you in the

Circuit Court, 1 Public Square, Room 302,

P.O. Box 196303, Nashville, TN 37219-

6303 , and your defense must be made

within thirty (30) days from the date this

Summons is served upon you. You are further

directed to file your defense with the

Clerk of the Court and send a copy to the

Plaintiff’s attorney at the address listed below.

Also, you are summoned to appear –

if a Court date has been scheduled below

– to show cause why the relief requested

should not be granted.

In case of your failure to defend this action

by the above date, judgment by default will

be rendered against you for the relief demanded

in the Complaint/Petition.

RICHARD R. ROOKER ISSUED:

01/10/2020 Circuit Court Clerk

Davidson County, Tennessee

ADDRESS OF PLAINTIFF’S ATTORNEY

OR PLAINTIFF:

MICHELLE BRADY SISCO

LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF MIDDLE TEN-

NESSEE AND THE CUMBERLANDS

1321 MURFREESBORO PIKE

NASHVILLE, TN 37217

To request an ADA accommodation,

please contact Dart Gore at (615) 880-

3309. Publish July 9, 16, 23, 30, 2020

NOTICE TO CREDITORS 20P934

ESTATE OF TONI J. ROTHFUSS, DE-

CEASED. Notice is hereby given that on

the 25th day of June, Letters of Authority

in respect to the estate of TONI J. ROTH-

FUSS who died on 05/21/2020 were issued

to the undersigned by the Circuit

Court of Davidson County, Tennessee

Probate Division. All persons, resident

and non-resident, having claims, matured,

or un-matured, against the estate are required

to file same with the clerk of the

above name court on or before the earlier

of the dates prescribed in (1) or (2), otherwise

their claims will be forever barred:

(1) (A) Four (4) months from the date of

the first publication (or posting, as the

case may be) of this Notice if the creditor

received an actual copy of the Notice

to Creditors at least sixty(60) days before

the date that is four (4) months from the

date of the first publication (or posting); or

(B) Sixty (60) days from the date the creditor


to Creditors, if the creditor received the

copy of the Notice less than sixty (60) days

prior to the date that is four (4) months

from the date of the first publication (or

posting) as described in (1) (A); or Twelve

(12) months from the decedent’s date of

death this 21st day of MAY 2020. Personal

Representative(s) JOSEPH B. ROAD

WHITE BLUFF, TN 37187; Attorney for

Personal Representative(s) ; SANDERS,

BRANDLEY KYLE 207 NORTH MAIN ST

DICKSON, TN 37055. Publish dates July

2 and July 9, 2020


ESTATE OF JOE FREDDIE NEWBELL,

DECEASED. Notice is hereby given that

on the 22nd day of June, Letters of Authority

in respect to the estate of JOE FRED-

DIE NEWBELL who died on 08/06/2019

were issued to the undersigned by the

Circuit Court of Davidson County, Tennessee














date of the first publication (or posting);

or (B) Sixty (60) days from the date the

creditor received an actual copy of the

Notice to Creditors, if the creditor received

the copy of the Notice less than sixty

(60) days prior to the date that is four (4)

months from the date of the first publication

(or posting) as described in (1) (A); or

Twelve (12) months from the decedent’s

date of death this 6th day of AUGUST

2019. Personal Representative(s); CLIF-

TON NEWBELL 200 MARLIN COURT

MADISON, TN 37115; Attorney for Personal

Representative(s).HAIRSTON II,

ROLAND THOMAS 615 MAIN STREET

SUITE 104-4 NASHVILLE, TN 37206.

Publish dates July 2 and July 9, 2020


ESTATE OF SAMUEL PRIME III, DE-


the 22nd day of June, Letters of Authority

in respect to the estate of SAMUEL PRIME

III who died on 03/18/2020 were issued to

the undersigned by the Circuit Court of

Davidson County, Tennessee Probate

Division. All persons, resident and nonresident,

having claims, matured, or unmatured,

against the estate are required to

file same with the clerk of the above name

court on or before the earlier of the dates

prescribed in (1) or (2), otherwise their

claims will be forever barred: (1) (A) Four

(4) months from the date of the first publication

(or posting, as the case may be) of

this Notice if the creditor received an actual

copy of the Notice to Creditors at least sixty(60)

days before the date that is four (4)


(or posting); or (B) Sixty (60) days from the

date the creditor received an actual copy

of the Notice to Creditors, if the creditor

received the copy of the Notice less than

sixty (60) days prior to the date that is four


(or posting) as described in (1) (A);

or Twelve (12) months from the decedent’s

date of death this 18th day of MARCH

2020. Personal Representative(s) RA-

NITHIA SETTLES 1605 JO ANNE DRIVE

LAVERGNE TN 37086; Attorney for Personal

Representative(s); HAIRSTON II,

ROLAND THOMAS 615 MAIN STREET

SUITE 104-A NASHVILLE, TN 37206.

Publish dates July 2 and July 9, 2020


ESTATE OF SARA EZELL YOUNG, DE-


the 30th day of June, Letters of Authority

in respect to the estate of SARA EZELL

YOUNG who died on 02/05/2020 were

issued to the undersigned by the Circuit















date of the first publication (or posting); or

(B) Sixty (60) days from the date the creditor


to Creditors, if the creditor received the

copy of the Notice less than sixty (60) days

prior to the date that is four (4) months

from the date of the first publication (or

posting) as described in (1) (A); or Twelve

(12) months from the decedent’s date of

death this 5th day of FEBRUARY 2020.

Personal

Representative(s)MEREDITH

ANN EZELL 2200 HARDING PLACE #5

NASHVILLE TN 37215; LASSITER, WIL-

LIAM HANCE JR 150 4TH AVE N STE

1820 NASHVILLE, TN 37219. Publish

dates July 9 and July 16, 2020


ESTATE OF ROBERT ROY GAL-

BREATH, DECEASED. Notice is hereby

given that on the 2nd day of July, Letters

of Authority in respect to the estate of

ROBERT ROY GALBREATH who died

on 05/19/2020 were issued to the undersigned

by the Circuit Court of Davidson

County, Tennessee Probate Division.

All persons, resident and non-resident,

having claims, matured, or un-matured,

against the estate are required to file

same with the clerk of the above name










(or posting); or (B) Sixty (60) days from

the date the creditor received an actual

copy of the Notice to Creditors, if the creditor

received the copy of the Notice less

than sixty (60) days prior to the date that

is four (4) months from the date of the first

publication (or posting) as described in (1)

(A); or Twelve (12) months from the decedent’s

date of death this 19th day of MAY

2020. Personal Representative(s);MAXIE

GALBREATH 2361 CROCKER SPRING

ROAD GOODLETTSVILLE, TN 37072;

KELLY MENDENHALL 300 NORTH SIDE

DRIVE MADISON, TN 37115; Attorney for

Personal Representative(s). BELOTE,

JACQUELINE MIRANDA UPTON 365

W. MAIN ST HENDERSONVILLE, TN

37075. Publish dates July 9 and July 16,

2020


ESTATE OF SANG AI KIM THWEATT,

DECEASED. Notice is hereby given that

on the 2nd day of July, Letters of Authority

in respect to the estate of SANG AI KIM

THWEATT who died on 08/24/2019 were

issued to the undersigned by the Circuit















date of the first publication (or posting);

or (B) Sixty (60) days from the date the

creditor received an actual copy of the

Notice to Creditors, if the creditor received

the copy of the Notice less than sixty

(60) days prior to the date that is four (4)


(or posting) as described in (1) (A); or

Twelve (12) months from the decedent’s

date of death this 24th day of AUGUST

2019. Personal Representative(s)SAUNG

B. KIM 621 MEADOW GLEN COURT

NASHVILLE, TN 37221; Attorney for Personal

Representative(s);DUNCAN, JAD

ANDREW 161 BELLE FOREST CIRCLE

NASHVILLE, TN 37221. Publish dates

July 9 and July 16, 2020


ESTATE OF RODNEY W. SCOTT, DE-


the 2nd day of July, Letters of Authority in

respect to the estate of who RODNEY W.

SCOTT died on 05/19/2020 were issued

to the undersigned by the Circuit Court

of Davidson County, Tennessee Probate



against the estate are required to

file same with the clerk of the above name










(or posting); or (B) Sixty (60) days from the

date the creditor received an actual copy

of the Notice to Creditors, if the creditor

received the copy of the Notice less than

sixty (60) days prior to the date that is four


(or posting) as described in (1) (A);

or Twelve (12) months from the decedent’s

date of death this 19th day of MAY 2020.

Personal

Representative(s);SHARON

SCOTT NEWBERN 203 DOLPHIN

DRIVE HENDERSONVILLE, TN 37075;

Attorney for Personal Representative(s).

BELOTE, JACQUELINE MIRANDA UP-

TON 365 W. MAIN ST HENDERSON-

VILLE, TN 37075. Publish dates July 9

and July 16, 2020


ESTATE OF FRANCIS HEERY JR, DE-


the 27th day of May, Letters of Authority in

respect to the estate of FRANCIS HEERY

JR who died on 02/20/2020 were issued

to the undersigned by the Circuit Court

of Davidson County, Tennessee Probate



against the estate are required

to file same with the clerk of the above

name court on or before the earlier of the

dates prescribed in (1) or (2), otherwise

their claims will be forever barred: (1) (A)

Four (4) months from the date of the first

publication (or posting, as the case may

be) of this Notice if the creditor received

an actual copy of the Notice to Creditors

at least sixty(60) days before the date that

is four (4) months from the date of the first

publication (or posting); or (B) Sixty (60)

days from the date the creditor received

an actual copy of the Notice to Creditors,

if the creditor received the copy of the Notice

less than sixty (60) days prior to the

date that is four (4) months from the date

of the first publication (or posting) as described

in (1) (A); or Twelve (12) months

from the decedent’s date of death this

20th day of FEBRUARY 2020. Personal

Representative(s) FRANCIS LEO HEERY

III 1648 WESTGATE CIRCLE STE 301

BRENTWOOD TN 37027; GOLDSTEIN,

ANDREW P. 1648 WESTGATE CIRCLE

STE 301 BRENTWOOD, TN 37027. Publish

dates July 9 and July 16, 2020


B11

COVID Grants Given to

Local Arts Organizations

By Jon W. Sparks

Memphis Flyer

The National Endowment

for the Arts (nea)

has chosen artsmemphis

as one of nine local arts

agencies nationwide to receive

$250,000 in cares act

funding. Separately, the

community foundation of

greater memphis (cfgm)

selected artsmemphis to

receive a $200,000 capacity

building grant from the

mid-south covid-19 regional

response fund.

Both grants will help

the nonprofit arts community

combat the financial

implications of COVID-19.

In addition to the

CARES Act grant to Arts-

Memphis, the NEA announced

grants of $50,000

each to four Memphis arts

organizations: Blues City

Cultural Center, Hattiloo

Theatre, Indie Memphis,

and Opera Memphis.

The NEA recommended

grants for direct funding

through the CARES

Act to 855 organizations

across the country. Arts-

Memphis and eight other

local arts agencies were

selected to receive a larger

grant of $250,000, joining

Boston, Chicago, Lafayette,

Colo., Phoenix, Reno,

Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa,

and Tucson. The remaining

846 organizations will

receive grants of $50,000.

The CFGM grant is part

of a larger block of funding

from the Mid-South COV-

ID-19 Regional Response

Fund intended to address

community needs, and to

provide a wider safety net

for the forward progress

of the arts sector. “We will

redirect these funds as unrestricted

support to nonprofit

arts organizations

in Memphis and Shelby

County,” says ArtsMemphis

president and CEO

Elizabeth Rouse.

A survey of more than

250 Shelby County artists

and organizations conducted

by ArtsMemphis

indicated a total anticipated

loss of income across

the arts sector of $7.4 million

through June 30, 2020.

Nationally, according to

data released by Americans

for the Arts (AFTA)

of 17,000 arts organizations

surveyed, projected

losses through June 30th at

$8.4 billion.

This is the second distribution

of funds received

by ArtsMemphis from

CFGM’s Mid-South COV-

ID-19 Regional Response

Fund since the pandemic

forced arts organizations

to close on March 16th.

ArtsMemphis established

the Artist Emergency

Fund (AEF) in partnership

with Music Export Memphis

(MEM) and together

they distributed $308,000

to 443 individuals in the

Mid-South arts sector.

Interracial, Continued from page B1

among your “own people?”

The Bible never promises

us easy marriages. Marriage

takes work, commitment

and sacrificial love, no

matter what the racial combination.

The only reason

an interracial relationship

is more difficult is because

of the racial sin of society,

not because of the sin

of the people in the union.

No Christian has the right

to tell another Christian to

mold their personal decisions

accordingly because a

sinful society does not tolerate

their biblical actions. As

Christ-followers, we are to

endure scorn as Jesus did

and support our fellow believers

with love and acceptance

(2 Tim 3:12).

As far as your “own

people” goes, as a Christian

“your people” are any

and every Christian on

earth. Inter-cultural differences

may be a hurdle in

some instances, but if both

partners are willing and following

God’s guidance, differences

can be celebrated

and worked through (1 Cor

12:13). This concern usually

comes from a misinterpreted

understanding of Deuteronomy

7:1-4, in which God

commands the Israelites

not to intermarry with the

nations around them. This

command was to protect the

Israelites from idolatry and

the pain of unequally yoked

marriage–not to prevent

races from mixing.

3) What if my family disapproves?

This question is

usually asked with Exodus

20:12 in mind. Honoring

your parents and obeying

them are not synonymous.

Honoring your parents

means that their opinion is

important, but ultimately

we are not biblically bound

as adults to obey them

in all things. Despite this

fact, Christians should respond

to disapproving family

members with unconditional

love, patience, and

forgiveness. Even though

you may not be “obeying”

your parents by dating outside

your race, you still can

“honor” them by respecting

them and being kind to

them. Jesus himself did not

listen to his family while in

Capernaum (Mk 3:20-34).

Mary was well-intentioned

and was a strong believer

(Lk 1:28), but Jesus ultimately

knew that He needed

to respectfully and lovingly

disobey her in order to fulfill

God’s will for Him in

that moment.

In conclusion, I am not

saying that in order to be a

good Christian you must be

part of an interracial relationship,

but what I am saying

is that that you have the

biblical freedom to do so.

When entering an interracial

relationship, prepare to

be tested in ways you could

not have predicted. Be sure

that you are in the relationship

for the right reasons—

not to rebel, or to prove a

point, etc., and be comforted

that in when choosing a

mate, there should only be

two qualifications: 1.) Does

this person love Jesus? and

2.) Does this person love me

in a biblical way? (1 Cor 13).

Ultimately, it is impossible

for Christians to promote

unity in Christ while

simultaneously prohibiting

fellowship and marriage

based on ethnicity. Scripture

does prohibit certain types

of sexual unions (such as

extramarital) but both testaments

portray godly interracial

unions, some of which

were used to heal historical

wounds in communities. If

ethnic reconciliation is to

take place within the American

church, then increased

interethnic social relationships

including marriage

are a must. White American

Christians cannot afford to

suffer from historical amnesia

any longer; racism is sin

that must be confessed, renounced

and repented (Acts

3:19). The Southern Baptist

Convention has been an admirable

example of this: in

1995 the denomination rejected

past racist beliefs and

issued an apology to their

black brothers and sisters in

Christ. Since then they continue

celebrate diversity and

now have minority leadership.

No matter what

the culture around us is,

Christians are supposed

to be not of the world, but

living radically for Christ,

even if our actions or beliefs

are condemned or

ignored by others. As long

as Christians continue

to misinterpret biblical

teachings concerning interracial

marriages, interethnic

reconciliation within

the American church

will be stunted.

2020 Toyota 4Runner Venture Sport

By Tribune Staff Writer

Got some places to go? The 2020

Toyota 4Runner Venture Sport Edition

is ready and capable to get you there.

Some of its many features include

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available convenient technologies, just

connect your compatible iPhone®to

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Also enjoy the advanced voice-activated

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All 4Runners get extra thick skid

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suspension and fuel tank. Standard Hill

Start Assist Control (HAC) helps keep

the vehicle from rolling backward

when switching from brake to accelerator

on a steep incline. The available

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a controlled speed on steep or slippery

descents.

The multi-terrain select feature

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4Runner may be built to take on

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everything from the climate control to

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4Runner’s roomy interior seats up

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The 2020 4Runner features a power

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With 4Runner’s 40/20/40 fold-flat

second-row seats, you can make room

for everything you need by folding one

or both seats down to accommodate up

to 88.8 cubic feet of cargo. When not

folded down, the seatbacks recline for

added passenger comfort.

The Toyota Safety Sense P (TSS-

P) 40 is an active safety package that

comes standard on every new Toyota

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safety system combines the Pre-Collision

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(PCS w/PD), 41 Lane Departure Alert

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B12


Foster Wanted to Create a Black Baseball

League Equal to the White Major Leagues

One hundred years ago, on Feb. 13, 1920, Rube Foster

— the outsize owner of the Chicago American Giants —

walked into the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri.

Trailing Foster were 11 other men: three sportswriters,

Cary B. Lewis of the Chicago Defender, David Wyatt of

the Indianapolis Ledger, and Charles Marshall of the Indianapolis

Freeman; attorney Elisha Scott; and the owners

of seven other black baseball teams.

This was Foster’s meeting. He’d arranged it and he led

it. On his agenda was one item: Create a Negro baseball

league with a national footprint equal to that of the white

major leagues, on and off the field.

Foster had been dreaming about it — and championing

it — for years. The timing was right, said Negro Leagues

historian Larry Lester. “With blacks serving honorably

in World War I, albeit in segregated units, Americans

were more open to African-Americans forming their own

teams.”

As Foster saw it, black players had already proven in

barnstorming tours that they were as talented as white

players. So why not create a black league to parallel the

white major leagues? Besides, maybe one day baseball

would be integrated. Shouldn’t the owners of black teams

be ready?

Foster, a big personality in an even bigger body — he

stood a few inches taller than 6 feet, and depending on

the day, tilted the scale somewhere between 220 and 260

pounds — was an excellent salesman. But he also knew

of what he spoke. He had built the preeminent black team

of the era, the Chicago American Giants, into perennial

winners.

So, on Friday, Feb. 13, when he took out the league

charter and incorporation papers and placed them on the

table, his fellow owners readily signed. By Sunday afternoon,

all eight teams — the Detroit Stars, the Cuban Stars,

the Kansas City Monarchs, the St. Louis Giants, the Indianapolis

ABCs, the Dayton Marcos, the Chicago American

Giants, and the Chicago Giants — had hammered out a

constitution, bylaws, and player selections, and appointed

Foster president.

They’d also settled on a name: The National Baseball

League of the United States. The organization soon took

on a less formal title, the Negro National League, and

would go on to become the first viable black baseball circuit

— and launch what we now refer to as “The Negro

Leagues.” (There had been two previous attempts at organizing:

The first league never played a game; the other

lasted only one season.)

When Foster and the other owners left the YMCA, the

league had a vision that was encapsulated in a slogan borrowed

from the words of abolitionist Frederick Douglass:

“We are the ship. All else is the sea.”

Andrew Foster was born in 1879 in Calvert, Texas.

His parents, Andrew and Evaline, had been enslaved and,

upon Emancipation, became sharecroppers. Young Andrew

left school after the eighth grade, set on becoming

a professional baseball player. He hooked up with a local

barnstorming team, the Waco Yellow Jackets, and began

to attract notice. At 17, he made his way to the Midwest

and, by 1902, was making $40 a month playing for the

Chicago Leland Giants. Legend has it that in an exhibition

game against the major league Philadelphia Athletics,

Foster beat their star pitcher, Rube Waddell — and from

then on, his teammates called him Rube.

The history of black barnstorming teams is sketchy —

few records were kept, and mainstream newspapers often

ignored the games. But it is known that, while pitching for

the Giants, Foster blossomed into a bona fide star. And the

stories, some apocryphal, grew around the big man. He is

said to have won 44 games in a row in 1902. Two years later,

the Philadelphia Item reported that Foster, pitching for

the Philadelphia Giants in the “colored” world championships,

struck out 18 Cuban X-Giants, setting a record for

black baseball. Another widely circulated story had New

York Giants manager John McGraw hiring Foster to teach

star pitcher Christy Mathewson the screwball.

“If Andrew Foster had not been born with a dark skin,”

wrote the Philadelphia Telegraph, “the great pitcher would

wear an American or National League uniform. … Foster

has never been equaled in a pitcher’s box.”

That opinion wasn’t limited to the black press. The

sporting editor for the Detroit Free Press, commented,

“Several of them [black players] would be in the big

leagues, were it not for their color, and notably among

these players is ‘Rube’ Foster, who is considered among

the best pitchers in the world. … He is the best known

Colored man in the world today.”

As player-manager of the Leland Giants, Foster famously

invented strategies to thwart opposing teams. According

to Lester and fellow historian John Holway, Foster

popularized the hit-and-run, the drag bunt, the double

steal, the suicide squeeze, and what he called the “buntand-run”

— that is, advancing a runner from first to third

on a surprise bunt.

In one game, the story goes, with his Giants down

18-0 to the Indianapolis ABCs in the eighth inning, Foster

signaled for 11 bunts in a row. Opposing fielders were

so flummoxed they couldn’t get anybody out. The Giants

went on to hit two grand slams and tie the score before the

game was called on account of darkness.

In his book Rube Foster in His Time, Lester quotes

Wee Willie Powell, who played for Foster in the mid-

1920s: “When Rube would sit there on the bench in his

street clothes, fans always thought he was giving signals

with his smoking pipe. Sometimes he would, sometimes

he wouldn’t,” Powell said. “To confuse the opposition,

he made other players think that was what he was doing.

While they’d be watching Rube, somebody else on the

bench was giving the real signals.

Circa 1909, Rube Foster was a bona fide star for the Chicago

Leland Giants. Chicago Sun-Times/Chicago Daily News

Collection/Chicago History Museum/Getty Images

A 2004 color illustration of Rube Foster by Michael Hogue. As a

player-manager of the Leland Giants, Foster famously invented

strategies to thwart opposing teams, including the hit-andrun,

the drag bunt, the double steal and the suicide squeeze.

Dallas Morning News/Tribune News Service/ Getty Images

“Foster was the smartest baseball man I ever knew.”

In the early 1900s, black businesses began to flourish

in Chicago as the Great Migration brought millions of African

Americans from the rural South to the Northeast and

Midwest. The city’s so-called Black Belt became home to

businesses of all kinds — insurance companies, banks,

funeral homes, real estate dealers, and retail stores.

According to Lester, “When you’re dealing with a situation

where separation is legal, you really don’t raise too

much opposition. It’s not right, and it’s not comfortable,

for me as a minority, but what can I do? I’m not allowed

to go here, I’m not allowed to eat here, I’m not allowed to

sit here. I don’t have any options. So Rube Foster didn’t

have any options other than to put a quality black team

on the field and show all Americans, black, white, yellow,

whatever, that we are human beings who just want to play

baseball, and we are human beings who put a good product

on the field.”

But Foster also was willing to do business with whites.

For example, he knew black teams had a far better chance

at success if, instead of paying booking fees to white stadium

owners to use their facilities, they owned their own

ballparks. No written contract survives, but Foster formed

a partnership with John Schorling, a white tavern owner in

Chicago, that gave Schorling half of the Chicago American

Giants. In exchange, Schorling, who had taken over

the White Sox’s former park from Sox owner Charles

Comiskey, gave the American Giants a permanent home.

“What Rube Foster recognized was that for him to do

business in mainstream America, he had to negotiate with

the white power structure,” Michael Lomax, the author of

Black Baseball Entrepreneurs, 1902-1931, told The Undefeated.

“So, he was trying to create his segregated enterprise,

which was the Negro Leagues, to work within the

fabric of the national economy. That was pretty much the

goal of the African-American businessman of the early

20th century.”

Foster fell short of his goal to see every team have its

own park. Still, what he achieved at the YMCA that day

didn’t only make history — it changed the course of it.

With Foster at the helm, the Negro National League

was a success. Baseball became a source of pride in African

American communities and players enjoyed much the

same stature as ministers, doctors, lawyers and dentists.

“It became a viable league with a structure similar

to Major League Baseball,” Lester told The Undefeated.

“They abided by the same rules that Major League

Baseball did. They ordered their baseballs from Wilson

manufacturing company. They ordered their bats from the

Louisville Slugger company. They got their uniforms and

gloves from Spalding. They were just like the major leaguers,

except their skin was darker.”

But Major League Baseball commissioner Kenesaw

Mountain Landis didn’t want his players shown up by

black clubs and banned them from competing in interracial

games while wearing their pro uniforms. In 1921,

when Babe Ruth ignored the mandate, Landis slapped the

Yankee slugger with a 40-game suspension and a $3,700

fine, the amount of Ruth’s World Series share. (Ruth continued

to defy Landis’ order, suggesting that the commissioner

“go jump in a lake.”)

Buck O’Neil was a 12-year-old aspiring baseball player

in Florida when Foster brought his team to Palm Beach

to play an exhibition game. In his autobiography, I Was

Right on Time, O’Neil wrote, “For us, seeing the Chicago

American Giants in their red-and-white uniforms and

CAG across their shirts, it was like seeing the gods come

down from heaven.”

O’Neil went on to play for and later manage the Kansas

City Monarchs. “I was baseball crazy,” he wrote, “and

people like Rube Foster gave me the idea that it was possible

to dream the dream of playing for a living.”

The only thing Foster wanted more than to spread

black baseball around the country was to make money

doing it. He started by scheduling and booking parks for

most of the teams in the league.

“He worked out a deal whereby the teams would pay

him a 5 % booking fee,” Lomax said.

Foster previously had vilified white stadium owners

for charging such a fee. But now, black teams were paying

it twice: 5 % to the white stadium owner and 5 % to Foster.

“Without any ledgers, it is problematic to suggest how

much of that booking fee went into Foster’s pocket and

how much was used to sustain the league,” Lomax said.

“Without question, he ran the Negro National League like

a dictator.”

As a result of Foster’s unqualified power and questionable

math, he was often the subject of criticism. But even

those who railed against him admitted he was an effective

leader and hell-bent on seeing his league succeed. It’s unclear

how much money Foster earned in baseball — most

historians say he was far from wealthy — but he often

propped up troubled franchises with his own money, and

paid transportation costs when teams were short of funds.

He even sent his own star outfielder, Pete Hill, to the Detroit

Stars to boost the Stars’ level of play — and their

chances to compete for the title.

In exchange, however, he expected others to follow his

edicts or face the consequences.

In his book, Only the Ball Was White, author Robert

Peterson wrote that after the 1920 season, Foster reportedly

shut down the Dayton Marcos franchise and redistributed

its best players to other teams — while the club’s

owner, John Matthews, was sleeping.

“He was loved and hated,” Lester said. “Some of the

fellow owners felt like he was maybe too powerful. I chalk

that up to jealousy. Until you become successful, nobody

really knows who you are. He was out there, making

changes. He was an innovator, had a Rolodex memory, big

ego, and some people didn’t care for that type of demeanor,

but he made it happen. And that’s the bottom line.”

Lomax agrees. “What he did in the segregated economy

embodied the ideology of Booker T. Washington, the

doctrine of self-help and racial solidarity.

“He always maintained the attitude of being a businessman

first, a race man second.”

At six o’clock on a spring morning in 1925, Foster was

about to take a bath before heading to the ballpark. His

American Giants were in Indianapolis playing the ABCs.

As he stepped into the tub, he became overwhelmed by

gas fumes, and collapsed on the floor of the boarding

house bathroom. He lay there, unconscious, inhaling the

poisonous vapors, until he was discovered four hours later,

leaning against a still-lighted gas heater. Although he

recovered, his physical and mental health were never the

same.

The following year, Foster had what has been described

as a nervous breakdown. Some say it was a result of the

deadly gas, but more likely, he cracked under the pressure

of keeping the league together. As he himself had written

in the Chicago Defender, “The strain placed upon me has

proved great almost beyond endurance.”

His behavior became erratic and he was sent to the Illinois

State Hospital in Kankakee, where he died of a heart

attack four years later, in 1930. He was 51. He left behind

a wife, Sarah, and a 20-year-old son, Earl. (His daughter,

Sarah, had died at the age of 5 in 1921.)

More than 3,000 mourners packed St. Mark’s African

Methodist Episcopal Church in Chicago for the funeral.

Two carloads of flowers preceded the hearse in a procession

that stretched a half-mile.

The Chicago Defender described the scene: “Andrew

‘Rube’ Foster was buried at Lincoln Cemetery Monday

just as the church bells were tolling the hour of day

at noon. Ball players and family and friends stood ankle

deep in the snow as the body was lowered into the grave.”

The National Negro League lasted until the Great Depression

hobbled it in 1931, but it started up again a couple

of years later — and remained in existence until Major

League Baseball was integrated. During that time, the Negro

Leagues also expanded to include seven circuits.

Foster didn’t live to see his dream of interracial

baseball. But the talent that his National Negro League

spawned was undeniable — it fielded 16 future Hall of

Famers, including Cool Papa Bell, Oscar Charleston, Turkey

Stearnes, and Monarchs owner J.L. Wilkinson.

Foster himself was enshrined in 1981.

Now, as the Negro Leagues centennial gets underway,

the Paseo YMCA, the building where Foster held his historic

meeting, has been transformed into the Buck O’Neil

Education and Research Center, located around the corner

from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

There, baseball fans congregate in the spot where the

big man once stood, armed with nothing but a sheaf of

papers and a radical idea that black baseball players should

be competing on the same level as their white counterparts.

John Florio and Ouisie Shapiro are the authors of

‘One Nation Under Baseball: How the 1960s Collided

with the National Pastime,’ and ‘One Punch from the

Promised Land: Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks, and the

Myth of the Heavyweight Title.’ They have also written

the young adult book, ‘War in the Ring: Joe Louis, Max

Schmeling, and the Fight Between America and Hitler.’


The Tennessee Tribune

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