The newly redrawn Tennessee congressional districts may be many things but describing them as fair, legal, defensible, and an accurate reflection of the will of the state’s voters is like saying the Grand Canyon is a ditch. I watched in disbelief as President Donald Trump directed Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to undertake immediate redistricting after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling struck down race-based district lines in Louisiana last week. Before the call was barely finished Governor Lee gathered the Tennessee legislature to hurriedly redraw our lines, despite the fact we were in the midst of election season. Our beautiful state…
Author: Cynthia Bond Hopson, Ph.D.
This latest government shutdown is a Democrats versus Republicans blame game. Yes, it is unacceptable that we’re having another one, and yes, it ought to be against the law that government employees who work don’t get paid but politicians who exploit this faithful labor as bargaining chips, do. For weeks we’ve seen mile-long lines in airports around the country with a daily litany of how Transportation Safety Administration agents quit or didn’t come to work because they haven’t been paid. Be clear: I understand Democrats are holding Homeland Security funding hostage to get ICE reforms; and, I understand President Trump…
Edwin Starr’s 1970 protest anthem from the Vietnam War era poignantly asked “War, what is it good for?” That question today is still the right one to ask though sadly, this “absolutely nothing” remains the correct answer almost 56 years later. Countries and factions go to war but we know in terms of human lives maimed and lost, homes, habitats, and communities ravaged by bombs, in war, nobody wins. Whether we justify the missiles, bombs, drones, ships at the ready, or get to brag about our might and cool toys, the result is the same. When you count the families…
When my parents repeatedly warned “Everybody is not your friend,” and “Choose your friends carefully,” they must’ve known the guilt-by-association trouble Jeffrey Epstein’s friends would encounter. From the rich and powerful to aspiring wannabes, I suspect we haven’t felt the full weight of this sordid sex trafficking tale and the unfriendly tenacles waiting to snare those who keep trying unsuccessfully to distance themselves from him. We’ve had a million distractions–legislative holidays, foreign invasions, resignations, political wrangling, court delays, and President Trump’s insistence that this is a partisan attempt to discredit him, but Epstein’s horrific acts won’t go away. We, the…
Poverty is big business and a bunch of folks make millions from/because of it. Of course, I didn’t just figure this out– I said it in a lecture 30 years ago. My students and I then painfully discussed exorbitant rents, subpar housing, wages, food deserts that led to limited choices and chronic diseases—the list was longer than the lecture. What has prompted today’s conversation is the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and its “day on not a day off” philosophy that emphasizes helping neighbors and an intentional focus on the dignity of work and our role all year. First, the…
Before I comment on whether Dr. Jamal Bryant’s wife’s ball gown at a recent UNCF fundraiser was too revealing, too tight, or inappropriate, let me first say I mind my own business because I have some, and, none of it goes by the name of Dr. Karri Turner Bryant. Even if Brother Bryant hadn’t bought the dress in question, and loved/hated it, or you thought it was way too much, we should do what blues great, Memphis Minnie, advised decades ago: “Use good judgment and keep your big mouth closed.” In the African American church, first ladies—(the pastor’s wife, not…
“Someday at Christmas man will not fail, hate will be gone and love will prevail; …maybe not in time for you and me, but someday at Christmastime…” As soon as the first Christmas card arrived, I pulled out the Christmas music. Nestled between “Silent Night,” “Away in a Manger,” and “O Holy Night” was my favorite, Stevie Wonder’s prolific “Someday at Christmastime.” The poignant lyrics, though almost 60 years old, could have been written yesterday. Songwriters Bryan Wells and Ronald Miller long for a Christmastime without wars, where “men won’t be boys playing with bombs like kids play with toys…,…
I’ve stopped counting which day this is for the federal government’s shutdown. The fact that there is a shutdown at all is the disgrace, so everything that happens as a result of it is a conversation we should not be having. After persons are elected as a senator or representative in our government, they take an oath. It says they will uphold the Constitution—not be more loyal to their party than the people who elected them—not cast blame and point fingers—not watch the “America First” moniker become a joke as our neighbors and friends line up at food banks and…
“Be a voice, not an echo.” These six words are a gentle reminder of my work each morning. Today they seem more mockery than inspiration as I decide which one I’ll be. My voice is right where it has always been, but my mighty pen, the voice I ordinarily shout with—the one that’s “mightier than the sword” has been in a strange and quiet place. I’ve mulled and discussed every hot-button question to death. I’ve fretted about what to say and to whom. I’ve worried that if I say what I’m thinking, I could wreak havoc or bring harm to…
We must stop hurling mean, hateful/hurtful labels