By Rosetta Miller-Perry There are few things worse in life and society than people who deliberately embrace evil principles for personal goals. Dictators and mass murderers are prime examples of that, but so are people like Vidkun Quisling who founded a pro-Nazi party called the Fascist National Union Party. He was a Norwegian politician who volunteered to help the Nazis take over Norway. His betrayal of Norway to Germany has made his name a label for all collaborators and traitors. After World War II, Norwegian authorities arrested Quisling, tried and convicted him on charges of treason and he received a death sentence. …
Author: Rosetta Miller Perry
By Rosetta Miller-Perry Sometimes things which seem like progress instead turn out to be huge steps backwards. As editor/publisher of the Tennessee Tribune, one of the causes that we have championed over the last three decades is equality and opportunity for women. But just as there are some Black folks whose ascension to power actually represents a negative rather than positive event (Clarence Thomas, my former boss, for example), so there are also some women whose behavior, actions and stances on public policy are no better, and in some cases worse, than the men they replaced. A prime example of…
By Rosetta Miller-Perry America has at least advanced far enough in the 21st century that anyone who is publicly identified as a racist finds themselves at a disadvantage. So the new con game of the Republican Party is to pretend they aren’t being racist by taking bigoted stances and trying to repackage them as being “anti-racist.” In their view this insulates them from the charges of spreading hatred and discord, especially if they also happen to be people of color. One of the biggest perpetrators of this fraud is current GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, who in reality has little…
By Rosetta Miller-Perry In today’s super-heated, overly-personal political environment, it is often quite difficult to make the distinction between personal affection and political preference, but that is precisely what we are doing in our approach in the Nashville mayoral race. The Tribune has endorsed Freddie O’Connell for mayor and we stand by that. In our view, he is the best choice for the job in 2023. Despite the idiotic comments of neophyte psuedo-political observers writing for knock-off imitation would-be journalist, the Tribune doesn’t tell people HOW or WHO to vote for, but offers our RECOMMENDATIONS. People with genuine political savvy…
By Rosetta Miller-Perry Dr. Glenda Glover’s career as president of Tennessee State University is coming to a premature close, and that’s not a good thing for either the university, or the community as a whole. Despite serving with distinction for over a decade, Dr. Glover was literally forced into retirement due to the ignorance, blatant disrespect and just plain racist attitudes she had to endure from people in state government, most notably anti black comptroller Jason Mumpower, whose open contempt and disregard for both Dr. Glover especially Black students and education as a whole was enormous and publicly displayed on…
By Rosetta Miller-Perry Now that the mayoral race is down to two people, it is being accurately framed as a choice between political philosophies. Freddie O’Connell has represented District 19 honorably for eight years. He is part of our community. His office has been in the heart of the Black community for eight years. He voices concern about the impact of gentrification and unregulated business development. He is on record wanting to make certain Nashville’s Black neighborhoods are not left out of the constant push towards rampant 21st century infrastructure and technological expansion. He wants to see affordable housing and…
By Rosetta Miller-Perry The campaign to succeed John Cooper as mayor of Nashville has attracted 12 candidates (now 11 though the one dropout remains on the ballot), and it has been a hotly contested one. But thus far only one candidate has been subjected to ugly, and in some cases ethically questionable and borderline racist attack ads. That is Freddie O’Connell, who has represented District 19 since 2015 and is extremely popular. Two different factions have paid for these ads that include disturbing imagery of Black and poor citizens, and one inaccurately implies support for their position from an influential…
By Rosetta Miller-Perry The current Tennessee state legislature, with its white GOP racist supermajorities in both houses, continues through its actions and attitudes to demonstrate contempt for Black voters and their elected representatives. Last week they introduced three resolutions to formally expel Reps. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, Justin Jones of Nashville, and Justin Pearson of Memphis. They claimed these three legislators were leading “an insurrection,” and that they were more interested in getting arrested and making a spectacle than in conducting legislative business. But the racist legislators in question did nothing more than aid demonstrators in protesting the lack of action…
By Rosetta Miller-Perry The horrendous mass shooting Monday at the Covenant Church and private school made Nashville the latest city to suffer the worse nightmare of innocent children and adults being brutally murdered by an armed killer and shockingly a female. But what too many people in this nation, Tennessee and Nashville do not want to admit or acknowledge, is that pro-gun policies are responsible for all these tragedies. These policies kill our children and adults. Remember, 348,000 students have experienced gun violence in school in this nation since Columbine. Republican legislators not only in Tennessee but nearly half of…
By Rosetta Miller-Perry In another blatant vicious act of racism and cowardice, some white Tennessee Republicans are considering leaving federal dollars meant for Tennessee students on the table all because these children are not white. Remember there are 50 states and the District of Columbia and Tennessee ranks shamefully #48! The Volunteer State is one of 15 states with the lowest graduation rates at 87%, again we rank shamefully 48 out of 50. Why do some Republicans hate Tennessee students of color so much that they would reject federal dollars? Do they not have children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren who…