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A CLOSER LOOK AT: Jim Strickland: ‘More Memphians have hope now than four years ago’

NEW TRI-STATE DEFENDER — Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland is optimistic. With the October 3 election less than a month away, the incumbent, who is completing his first term as mayor, believes the city’s voters will choose “results over rhetoric” to re-elect him.

Published

7 years ago

September 20, 2019

Oakland Post

“I guarantee more Memphians have hope now than four years ago.” – Jim Strickland, incumbent. (Photo: Karanja A. Ajanaku)

By Erica R. Williams

Updated: Profiles of all three of the leading candidates for Memphis Mayor are now live online. Excellent reporting and writing by Erica R. Williams. Click to access the candidate of your choice:

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland is optimistic. With the October 3 election less than a month away, the incumbent, who is completing his first term as mayor, believes the city’s voters will choose “results over rhetoric” to re-elect him.

“We have more progress to make, but the city has come a long way and we have seen results,” he said. “We’re now moving in the right direction.”

Adamant that the city has moved forward since he took office, Strickland isn’t taking all the credit, attributing the growth to combined efforts from city, county and state government.

Assessing his accomplishments and those of his administration, Strickland touted growth in economic development, universal Pre-K funding, police recruitment, and an increase in revenue for minority and women-owned businesses.

“The challenges that Memphis has had for decades are not solvable in three-and-a-half years,” he said. “I’d like another four years to tackle those issues.”

A stark proponent of growing minority and women-owned businesses, Strickland credits former city councilman and businessman Fred L. Davis for exposing him to some sobering statistics before he became mayor.

“I’ll never forget when he told me, ‘If I added up all the business transactions in the city of Memphis, one percent is spent with African Americans,” Strickland recalled. “That’s wrong on so many levels in a city that is predominately African American. If you want to grow the city, you have to grow black wealth.”

As mayor, Strickland and his team began focusing on growing minority and women-owned businesses. Since then, Black Enterprise magazine has named Memphis the #1 city for black-owned businesses. Leaders in other cities, said Strickland, have inquired about using Memphis’ model to grow their minority-owned businesses efforts.

The city’s Office of Diversity and Compliance has increased its contracts with minority-owned and women businesses to 20 percent. It was at 12 percent before Strickland took office.

Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer, who is also running for mayor, has asked for the number to be re-calculated after Strickland and his team admitted that there was an error in the reporting earlier this year. In January during his State of the City address, Strickland said that spending was up to 24 percent, but it was later found to be 18 percent at the time. Strickland and his team said they’re confident that the current number is accurate.

Last year, the city launched The 800 Initiative, with a goal of growing the revenue of 800 minority-owned businesses by $50 million by 2023. And recently, city leaders declared that $50 million-plus is being spent with minority-owned businesses in the Cook Convention Center renovation project.

“This campaign needs to be about results and not rhetoric,” Strickland said. “My opponents talk about this, but they don’t have the record to support their rhetoric. (Former Mayor Dr. Willie W.) Herenton only increased it by 8 or 9 percent when he was in office. He says he has unfinished business; well, you need to be able get it done in 18 years.”

Strickland also referenced Sawyer and what he noted as her lack of success with minority-owned businesses.

“Commissioner Sawyer and the county’s MWBE (minority and women-owned business enterprises) business is only at 3 percent,” he said.

With Sawyer calling it “morally wrong” that the city does not allot any funding to Shelby County Schools, Strickland pushed back.

“Unless you are going to cut back on police services and fire services or raise taxes, it’s not going to be done,” Strickland said. “But we are giving back to education in other ways.”

Through a city and county partnership, Strickland was able to invest in universal Pre-K with no new taxes. The plan’s goal is to ensure that Pre-K is accessible to all eligible by the year 2020.

Fielding Herenton’s criticism that Strickland is weak on crime, the incumbent shot back that Memphis was listed as the leading U.S. city for crime in 2006, which fell during Herenton’s mayoral watch.

Earlier his year, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released a report that cited “significant drops” in crime in Memphis, including decreases in robberies, property crimes, burglaries and domestic violence. However, homicide rates spiked to 14.5 percent.

“The data says that we are making progress and I believe that we would have made more progress if we would have had more police,” Strickland said.

His public safety plan consists of building the police force, increasing penalties for violent crimes, investing in youth through mentorship, jobs and programing, and expanding workforce re-entry programs.

The police department has hired close to 500 new officers since Strickland took office. He emphasizes that his approach to combating crime differs from his opponents.

“One says we don’t need police officers, which most residents will disagree with,” Strickland said of Sawyer.

“When my other opponent (Herenton) was mayor we had the highest crime rate in the country. And he’s also been quoted saying that there is nothing any mayor can do about crime. And I disagree with that.”

While he supports criminal justice reform as it relates to nonviolent offenders, Strickland said, “But we have to be tough on those who commit violent crimes.”

Overall, the city has momentum and is headed in the right direction, said Strickland, pointing to more than 24,000 Memphians who have gotten jobs since he became mayor.

“I am personally inserting myself in economic development,” he said. “I’ve been recognized for keeping ServiceMaster in Memphis, the St. Jude expansion that resulted in an additional 1600 jobs and the recent printing company Mimeo relocating its headquarters to Memphis.”

He’s expecting more opportunities to come to the city, putting more Memphians to work at livable wages.

“I raised the minimum wage that we incentivize to $13 an hour, which is a livable wage in Memphis,” he said. “But many of the jobs pay $16 an hour.”

The livable wage calculator issued by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology concluded that in Shelby County, $11 is a livable wage for an adult with no children. That number increases to $22, if there is a child in the household.

Strickland said that despite the challenges still evident, he’s optimistic about the future, if he’s re-elected.

“I guarantee more Memphians have hope now than four years ago,” he declared confidently. “We are ready to roll up our sleeves and tackle these challenges, but we also have to celebrate the good things.”

This article originally appeared in the New Tri-State Defender

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COMMENTARY: Jim Crow 2.0 at the Pentagon

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The American people are expected to believe that one extraordinary officer after another suddenly fails to meet some undefined standard of excellence. We are expected to ignore impeccable service records while accepting that political appointees alone possess the wisdom to determine who is worthy of advancement.

Published

3 weeks ago

August 3, 2026

bpusa-syndication

Pete Hegseth insists that he is restoring “merit” to the United States military. But after months of dismissals, blocked promotions, and ideological purges, the evidence tells a different story. His campaign against so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” has become something far more dangerous: an assault on equal opportunity that falls with particular force on African Americans, while also targeting women, Latinos, gay Americans, and transgender service members.

The latest example is both troubling and infuriating.

Once again, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reportedly blocked the promotion of an exceptionally qualified woman—Rear Admiral Amy Bauernschmidt. Bauernschmidt is no ordinary officer. She became the Navy’s first woman to command a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, one of the most demanding leadership assignments in the world. Her career reflects decades of exemplary performance, operational excellence, and leadership under extraordinary pressure.

Yet once again, a distinguished military career appears to have been subordinated to an ideological agenda masquerading as “merit.”

I call BS!

The American people are expected to believe that one extraordinary officer after another suddenly fails to meet some undefined standard of excellence. We are expected to ignore impeccable service records while accepting that political appointees alone possess the wisdom to determine who is worthy of advancement.

The pattern has become impossible to ignore.

General Charles Q. Brown Jr., only the second African American to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was dismissed despite a career that placed him among the most accomplished military leaders of his generation.

Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman ever to serve as Chief of Naval Operations, was removed despite decades of distinguished command experience.

Reports have documented interventions that blocked or delayed the promotions of Black officers and women selected through the military’s rigorous promotion system.

Now Rear Admiral Amy Bauernschmidt joins the growing list of highly accomplished officers whose careers have been derailed for reasons that have never been persuasively explained.

Where is Congress?

Its silence has become deafening.

Congress has an independent constitutional responsibility to oversee the armed forces. Instead, too many lawmakers have watched silently while one of the nation’s most respected institutions is subjected to ideological litmus tests and political interference.

This is not military reform. It is testosterone-fueled performative masculinity disguised as a philosophy of military excellence.

The irony is impossible to miss. Hegseth repeatedly invokes “merit,” yet his rhetoric begins with the assumption that Black officers, women, and other historically excluded Americans must somehow justify their achievements in ways that white male officers are rarely required to do.

That is not meritocracy. It is prejudice wrapped in patriotic language.

No one is asking that anyone be promoted because of race or gender. Americans simply expect that promotions be based on demonstrated competence, leadership, integrity, and service. The officers being targeted have already proven themselves repeatedly under one of the world’s most demanding evaluation systems.

Their records speak for themselves.

The attack on African American military leadership has been especially pernicious.

For generations, Black Americans fought in segregated units, earned decorations while denied equal treatment, and repeatedly demonstrated loyalty to a nation that often failed to extend them full citizenship. They broke barriers not because standards were lowered but because excellence finally overcame institutional discrimination.

Today’s campaign against “diversity” threatens to revive old assumptions under new slogans.

The implication that Black generals and admirals somehow owe their success to affirmative action rather than extraordinary performance echoes some of the ugliest stereotypes of the Jim Crow era. Yesterday’s segregationists claimed Black Americans were inherently less qualified. Today’s culture warriors simply employ more politically acceptable language while inviting the same suspicion about Black achievement.

That is why Hegseth’s campaign increasingly resembles Jim Crow 2.0.

The targets may now wear stars on their shoulders instead of military patches on segregated uniforms, but the underlying message is hauntingly familiar: Black excellence is presumed suspect, while white excellence is presumed earned.

America’s military became the finest fighting force in history because it opened its doors to talent wherever it could be found. It grew stronger after President Truman desegregated the armed forces. It became stronger when women assumed greater command responsibilities. It became stronger when every qualified American was given the opportunity to serve to the fullest extent of their abilities.

Diversity is not a concession. It is a strategic advantage.

The nation’s adversaries do not fear an American military because it is racially homogeneous. They fear it because it draws upon the talents of more than 340 million Americans whose diverse experiences, perspectives, and abilities make our armed forces unmatched anywhere in the world.

Every politically motivated dismissal of a distinguished officer sends a chilling message throughout the ranks: excellence alone may no longer be enough if you belong to the wrong demographic group.

That weakens morale. It weakens recruitment. It weakens retention.

And ultimately, it weakens national security.

Pete Hegseth has every right to pursue military readiness. He has no right to redefine merit in ways that repeatedly cast suspicion upon the accomplishments of Black officers, women, and others who have devoted their lives to defending this nation.

America deserves better. The men and women who wear the uniform deserve better. The Constitution deserves better.

And unless Congress finds the courage to exercise meaningful oversight, history may well remember this period not as a restoration of military excellence, but as the moment political ideology attempted to resurrect, in modern form, the old poison of exclusion.

Jim Crow did not strengthen America. Jim Crow 2.0 will not strengthen America’s military. It will only diminish it

Wade Henderson
Strategic Advisor
Civil and Human Rights
wade@wadejhenderson.com

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New Judge Could Decide if Karmelo Anthony Gets a New Trial

By Emilie St. John (Contributor) Karmelo Anthony will return to court next month in his first step to overturn his murder conviction. Anthony was found guilty last month in the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison. His new legal team has filed motions seeking the recusal of State District […]
The post New Judge Could Decide if Karmelo Anthony Gets a New Trial appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

Published

3 weeks ago

July 31, 2026

Oakland Post

By Emilie St. John
(Contributor)

Karmelo Anthony will return to court next month in his first step to overturn his murder conviction.

Anthony was found guilty last month in the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison. His new legal team has filed motions seeking the recusal of State District Judge John Roach Jr. from overseeing the appeals process.

Two hearings have been scheduled on the motion for Aug. 9 and 10 in the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, Texas, according to Fox4 News.

On July 14, Senior Judge Sid L. Harle of the 226th District Court was assigned to preside over the defense’s motion to recuse Collin County Judge John Roach. The assignment took effect immediately and authorized Harle to handle all matters related to the recusal request, the filing read.

The Collin County District Attorney’s Office continues to defend its handling of the case by issuing a statement to NBC 5 DFW.

“The defendant’s new lawyers have filed a motion containing several inaccurate characterizations of the trial proceedings. The entire prosecution team and I conducted this trial ethically and in full compliance with the Court’s rulings and any agreements with defense counsel. We look forward to addressing these claims thoroughly in a Court of law in the coming weeks. The jury heard extensive evidence over the course of the trial and returned a unanimous verdict. We remain confident in that verdict and the fairness of the proceedings.”

Anthony’s new legal team, made up of appellate, civil rights, and criminal defense attorneys, was retained following Anthony’s conviction.

“Our responsibility is to determine whether a legal error occurred and to ensure that every issue supported by the record is fully and vigorously presented on appeal,” the team said in a statement.

“We recognize the profound loss suffered by one young man’s family and the uncertainty facing another, and we extend our respect to everyone whose lives have been forever changed by these events,” the release reads.

Anthony was charged with the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf during a track meet in Frisco, Texas, April 2, 2025. Anthony has long maintained it was an act of self-defense.

The attorneys are representing Anthony pro bono. The nearly 200-page notice of appeal seeks a new trial because his Sixth Amendment right to a public trial was violated.

“The cumulative and practical effect of these provisions was to exclude members of the public from proceedings at every stage,” the filing reads.

The filing also focused on an alleged “handshake deal” that kept Anthony from taking the stand in his defense.

The defense filing said the agreement was that the jury would not hear that Metcalf and his twin brother had been accused of racism and bullying in the past. In exchange, they also would not see Anthony’s cellphone records or his school disciplinary record, according to court documents reported by the Dallas Morning News.

Anthony’s former defense attorney, Mike Howard, said the defense relied heavily on that deal. The team chose not to ask certain questions of witnesses or call on a separate expert witness based on that agreement. It also abandoned plans to introduce testimony and evidence about the allegations against Metcalf and his brother.

Appellate attorney Russell Wilson is now handling post-trial proceedings and Anthony’s appeal. He recently sat down for an interview, stating, “The court committed multiple errors during the June murder trial, preventing him from receiving a fair trial.”

“You know, we file motions that we expect to prevail on, but we understand that there’s two sides to every story. And at the end of the day, it’ll be a judge that has to make these decisions, but we feel confident in the positions that we’re taking,” Wilson said during an interview with WFAA. “There were substantial issues that we thought a reviewing court needed to look at. We thought these were constitutional irregularities, and we could have them addressed now. And so, we put them into a motion for a new trial.”

Bree West, a former Dallas County Assistant District Attorney, found it startling that so little time was given to Anthony’s team for such a serious “life or death” situation.

“I do think that it’s really challenging that potentially a court decided that you have 10 minutes to make that level of decision when it has the potential of being life-altering,” said West during an interview with Fox 4 News.

Judge Harle is no stranger to high-profile cases, having presided over the prosecution of a police officer charged in connection with the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

Anthony was convicted on June 9 of the murder of Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison.

The post New Judge Could Decide if Karmelo Anthony Gets a New Trial appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

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COMMENTARY: LSMFT! Lord Save Me from Trump!

WESTSIDE GAZETTE — The author criticizes Donald Trump’s rhetoric, noting his use of terms like “Dumbocrats” and “Communist” to describe Democrats and democracy. The column asserts that Trump’s current strategy involves creating doubt about midterm elections due to a lack of Republican agenda.
The post COMMENTARY: LSMFT! Lord Save Me from Trump! appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

Published

3 weeks ago

July 31, 2026

Oakland Post

Frankly Speaking

Wow! Wow! Wow! The swamp drainers have truly stepped down to new levels of stupidity. You remember Weapons of Mass Destruction? We now have Weapons of Mass Distraction. Trump has introduced Dumbocrats and Communists into the conversation about Democrats and Democracy.

Trump lies so much, and his current strategy is to set up doubt about midterm elections because he and Republicans have no agenda!

He has no “Trump “ card, but Iran has a strait! He called it a skirmish; it’s now a War. He said five days; now it’s five months. He said few casualties; now it’s 18 deaths. He knew nothing about Project 2025 but hired its architects! Trump lies about the lies and often forgets these little inventions called cameras and phones

We see and hear and then see and hear the inconsistencies.

I didn’t like 45 and dislike 47 even more!

The post LSMFT! Lord Save Me From Trump! appeared first on The Westside Gazette.

Based on reporting by Westside Gazette.

The post COMMENTARY: LSMFT! Lord Save Me from Trump! appeared first on BlackPressUSA.