Author: Clint Confehr

By Clint Confehr NASHVILLE, TN — Mike Espy’s election campaign to represent Mississippi in the U.S. Senate got a boost last week from Democrats here and their friends elsewhere. Their fundraising campaign exceeded expectations. For some it was like a family reunion. Espy is a three-term congressman who became an Agriculture Department secretary for Bill Clinton. Perhaps more importantly, Espy is one of seven children from Yazoo City. Mississippi is where his grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Huddleston Sr., — a son of slaves — was known as “Cousin Tom.” That’s not a derogatory epithet. It’s according to Espy’s sister, Joyce…

Mike Espy is ready to be the first African-American U.S. Senator from Mississippi since Reconstruction. By Clint Confehr NASHVILLE, TN — An Edgehill neighborhood couple and their friends are raising campaign contributions for a U.S. Senate candidate who’s poised ready to make history in America’s old South. The candidate, Mike Espy of Jackson, Miss. — a three-term congressman who became an Agriculture Department secretary for Bill Clinton — is a brother of Joyce Searcy, wife of local civil rights leader Walter Searcy, a member of Nashville’s transit board. Joe Biden’s endorsement of Espy was announced a day before Espy’s scheduled…

By Clint Confehr PULASKI, TN — The first Black student at Martin Methodist College — MMC recently signed a letter of intent to join the University of Tennessee System — is hopeful for her alma mater. “I think everything will work out,” said Lena Will Brown-Prince, a retired federal employee now living in Nashville. “You have to keep an open mind. We surely have to work out the religious part.” “Hopefully, more African Americans will be able to attend,” Brown-Prince said. Officials said tuition might go down. Born in Pulaski, Brown-Prince graduated with an associate in arts degree in sociology…

Pulaski resident John Finch Nelson, left, and Mayor Pat Ford take a moment to recreate their spontaneous handshake shortly after the board of mayor and aldermen unanimously voted to honor the late J.R. McClure, an acclaimed announcer for Bridgeforth High School football games. Photo by Clint Confehr By Clint Confehr PULASKI, TN — The Board of Mayor and Aldermen has unanimously voted to grant a petitioner’s request for a plaque honoring the Blue Devils’ football team and its announcer. Bridgeforth High School was the school for Blacks in Giles County from 1937 until integration in 1965. The board’s petitioner, John…

By Clint Confehr NASHVILLE, TN — If you’re sick, go to the doctor. If not, “come to my birthday bash” on Saturday, Sept. 26. That’s according to the Rev. Enoch Fuzz, pastor of the Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church, who was in fine form during a phone call recently. Many people know that Fuzz has cancer. “I’m a public person,” he said, dismissing privacy. “Tell people, I got stage IV lung cancer and COPD, and if they have those conditions, go see a doctor. Go to General Hospital if you don’t have insurance.” Fuzz lost weight, but regained 31 pounds — from…

By Clint Confehr NASHVILLE, TN — As a Meharry Medical College doctor embarks on a public awareness campaign about COVID-19 vaccines, state leaders have said they’ll be ready to inoculate medical professionals on the Sunday before Election Day. Two top medical scientists at the medical college have said separately that having a vaccine against COVID-19 by Nov. 1 is impractical and impracticable. One said it’s irresponsible and he wants people to be willing to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, but only after it’s been through Phase III Trials and approved by the FDA as effective and safe. “I’ve talked…

By Clint Confehr PULASKI, TN — There’s word among folks here that their city might have an advisory committee on how to treat men equally when memorializing their talent when calling football games. The mayor and aldermen are scheduled for a 4:30 p.m. work session on Monday, Sept. 14,  in City Hall, 203 South First St., where they voted 6-1 on Tuesday, Sept. 8, to delay a decision on a petition to honor a Black man the same way a white might be honored. Discussion before their Sept. 8 decision to delay included a recommendation voiced among nearly 40 people…

By Clint Confehr PULASKI, TN — The city board on Tuesday voted 6-1 to delay a decision on how to honor an African American the same way a Caucasian is honored. Alderman Hardin Franklin voted against delay, saying the Board of Mayor and Aldermen could have decided Sept. 8. Public discussion is to continue at a 4:30 p.m. Sept. 14 work session in City Hall, 203 S. 1st St. A vote is possible at noon Sept. 22. This summer, the board voted to name one of two announcers’ booths to honor a former Giles County High School football announcer, the…

By Clint Confehr NASHVILLE, TN — Ethel Richburg, now residing in the Haynes Manor Community with her daughter, Kenne’ Shute, “turned 108 years young” Sept. 5, their neighbor, Blondell Strong, has reported. Richburg has lived nearly twice as long as a woman’s 56-year life expectancy in 1912 when Woodrow Wilson defeated President William Howard Taft, Teddy Roosevelt and Eugene Debs. When Richburg was called that Saturday afternoon, Shute spoke for her. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, they had no visitors. “She has been satisfied with that,” said Shute, 85. How’d Richburg live so long? “‘By being a good girl,’” Shute…

By Clint Confehr Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is gaining support from a reorganized multi-racial and cross generational coalition that put Barack Obama in the White House, and last week another group emerged for the Biden-Harris ticket. “We need all groups of voters — regardless of race, creed or religion — to come out to vote for Joe Biden for president on Nov. 3,” Black Women for Biden-Harris National Co-Chairs Danyell Smith and Pat Duncan said in a joint statement. Black Women for Biden-Harris is “a multi-cultural, intergenerational network of women and men, known as ‘Good Brothers,’” the women said, announcing…