The Urban Institute Gets Inclusion Backwards, Again
The following is written by Joe Cortright, Portland economist and primary author of the City...
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Category: Civil Rights
Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Thumbnail: Dr. Martin Luther King’s example and words are as pertinent today as they were...
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MLK50: $7,000 FedEx Fine For Hazards Already Proven Fatal
Workers at FedEx Express World Hub said they were pressured to work faster than they felt was safe. The company faces its busiest season ever, but experts worry about safety practices after the “extremely preventable” death of a temporary worker.
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Systemic Racism and Car Insurance
Thumbnail: The always perceptive Joe Cortright of the City Observatory think tank pointed out that the car insurance rate paid by bad or aggressive drivers is less that what is paid by people living in an African American neighborhood. It’s why states should ban insurance rates being based on things like zip codes rather than on individual driving records.
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Collierville: Clinging To A Confederate Past Or Moving To A Shared Future?
Thumbnail: The decision about the relocation of the Confederate monument in Collierville’s most visible park on the town square will say volumes about its view of itself and be a preview of its future. So far, the mayor and board of aldermen have shown little political courage to be the kinds of leaders willing to unify their city.
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Can The Police Committee Be A Force For Change, Not More Of The Same?
Thumbnail: The new committee on reimaging policing has the opportunity to be the change agent that Memphis has needed. It requires them to do more than rely on the usual suspects for ideas, data, and recommendations. Recent research by Prof. Barry Friedman and commentaries by consultant David Eichenthal are must reads for the committee to get off on the right foot.
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Data Points: Diversity In Memphis Suburbs
Thumbnail: Donald Trump’s latest dog whistle with its underlying implications about the threats to the suburbs by Black and brown people fails on the facts: people of color are making up more and more of the suburbs and life goes on.
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Required Reading: Axios’ 10 Myths About The Racial Wealth Gap
Thumbnail: All the popular talking points about closing the African American wealth gap would not result by doing any of them.
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Where Do African Americans Go To Escape Racism?
Thumbnail: Racism can rear its head in the most mundane of situations for African Americans. Even a Memphis family in Destin is not immune from racist encounters. My memories of the Jim Crow South indicate how deeply engrained racism is in our culture.
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Neo-Confederates’ Lost Cause Mythology Put South On Race To The Bottom
Thumbnail: It’s incredulous that we are still working to shake off the vestiges of the Confederacy and incredulous even more that some fanatically hold up traitors who fought to destroy the United States so they could own human beings as property. Southern states not only lost the war but by clinging to racist myths of the Confederacy, they also sacrificed the future. In light of the continuing discussions about Confederate statues and the Confederacy itself, I’m posting this column written for MLK50.com on July 27, 2017.
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A Wake-up Call For Income Equality, Justice And Opportunity
Thumbnail: Making the most of the wake-up call from protests following George Floyd’s murder and developing a plan for Memphis that is about action, not more talk, to attack racism, lack of opportunity, and inequality in an authentically Memphis way.
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Latest Bill Day Cartoon
by Bill Day. Memphian Bill Day is two-time winner of the RFK Journalism Award in Cartooning. His cartoons are syndicated internationally by Cagle Cartoons. Cartoons Archive →
