Author: Clint Confehr

By Clint Confehr By Clint Confehr NASHVILLE, TN — Physicians and their allies across America are working to improve the health of Black men through better treatment, research and education. This important work is supported by institutions including Meharry Medical College, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Black Men’s Health Project, Heal90, and many other medical professionals. Studies have found Black men’s health care is better when African American doctors treat them, experts told The Tennessee Tribune. With the goal of increasing workforce diversity, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services formalized a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with…

By Clint Confehr NASHVILLE, TN — How men are affected by stress, trauma and grief, and how to cope with those issues are subjects for a conference co-sponsored by a nearby health clinic and a fraternity on Saturday at Meharry Medical College. “We’ve noticed some things going on with African American males,” says Clyde Poag, co-chair of the conference, and a licensed clinical social worker who’s been an adjunct professor at Tennessee State University and a conference speaker. Poag points to one cause of stress, trauma and grief as described by an NAACP leader. It’s the death of Sr. Airman…

By Clint Confehr LAWRENCEBURG, TN — Belmont University students have designed options for renovation of West Gaines School where Black children were educated here until desegregation nearly 60 years ago. Belmont University Architecture and Design College Professor Rebecca Moore — a 1990 Lawrence County High School graduate — says six of her students prepared several concepts for the West Gaines School Community Center Inc. (WGSCC), a non-profit group planning a community center. Belmont students propose a classroom area to be restored like a Rosenwald School classroom. The design students’ proposals also include: a time-line of the building’s history; a community…

By Clint Confehr LAWRENCEBURG, TN — A public-private partnership here is leading toward a community center in an 87-year-old building where African-American children were taught before desegregation. Lawrence County commissioners have budgeted money to pay for a new roof over the old public school on West Gaines Street, County Executive David Morgan said, explaining that ownership of the building shouldn’t be transferred to a private non-profit group until after roofers are paid. It’s illegal for Tennessee governments to work on private property. “I’d hate to give it to them [West Gaines School Community Center Inc.] with the roof being in…

By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — The district attorney prosecuting civil rights intimidation charges against a klansman and his 17-year-old accomplice says he doesn’t anticipate requesting a transfer of the juvenile’s case to circuit court where he’d be tried as an adult. The prospect of District Attorney Brent Cooper petitioning Juvenile Court Judge Douglas Chapman to transfer the high schooler to circuit court was considered by Maury County community leaders last month. Some favor forgiveness and reform; others want him tried as an adult. Daniel Walls, 38, of Santa Fe, an imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan in Tennessee,…

By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — An Old Glory Knights imperial wizard paid $300 for a public defender, he and public records say as two related court hearings are set next week. For allegedly distributing handbills warning “the klan is back,” Daniel Walls, 38, of Santa Fe, and a boy are charged with vandalism and civil rights intimidation of three historically Black churches. Maury County’s Juvenile Court is asked to declare the boy delinquent. People offended by Ku Klux Klan “night rides” might appear split on whether the minor should be tried as an adult. Walls’ arrest warrant says the…

By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — Blacks breaking the color barrier in the U.S. Marine Corps thrived after strict training and overcame racism in the military since the 1940s and through Vietnam. Paco Havard, immediate past-president of the NAACP Branch here in Maury County, a Marine, retired UAW GM employee and son of an honored U.S. Marine, explained that Montford Point is mostly a swampy part of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., where basic training was conducted for African American Marines. They started by pitching tents in the ‘40s. Barracks were segregated. Among those honored as Montford Point Marines…

By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — The statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest on a horse — moved from Memphis — is at an ante-bellum mansion and national headquarters of the Sons of Confederate Veterans which plans to reconstruct a memorial with reinterred remains of the Confederate general and his wife. SCV Executive Director Adam Southern discussed the plans in a library at the National Confederate Museum, 2357 Park Plus Drive, Columbia. How the statue got here five years ago was explained by Franklin-based attorney H. Edward Phillips III of Nashville, the Forrest family’s attorney who, while researching monumental technicalities of…

By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — With explanations about bylaws on representation within and beyond city lines, Maury County commissioners didn’t re-elect the African-American on their public library board of trustees. “It is not racial,” Charlsie Estes of Terrapin Branch Road, Mt. Pleasant, told commissioners Aug. 21. “No one is struggling with phobias and no one is a Nazi,” she said, alleging the library had “a pornographic book.” Estes cited George M. Johnson’s “All Boys Aren’t Blue” on his adolescence and identity. The library removed it before Aug. 21. Commission discussion is streaming at maurycounty-tn.gov/129/Agendas-Minutes. The library’s June 2022 Pride…

By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — The African American Heritage Society of Maury County is hosting a Smithsonian museum exhibit opening here Saturday to, among other things, examine the freedoms and responsibilities of citizenship. Aug. 19 is the grand opening for the exhibit, society President Jo Ann McClellan said of the Smithsonian Museum on Main Street display, “Voices and Votes: Democracy in Action,” at the Maury County Public Library, 211 W. 8th St., on display through Oct. 1. Columbia is one of several stops for “Voices and Votes’” statewide tour. Humanities Tennessee, a non-profit organization, is cosponsoring the exhibit and…