By Rosetta Miller-Perry The racist Republican Party is now openly and consistently doing everything it can to derail progress for Black Americans, both statewide and nationally. Whether it’s dividing Nashville into small parts to dilute Black voting access and power, or openly opposing President Biden’s plans to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court, the GOP currently is to racist to even try to hide its efforts at restricting opportunity for African Americans at the ballot box and in the courts. Fortunately, there are plenty of people ready to back the President as he fulfills a campaign promise to…
Author: Rosetta Miller Perry
By Rosetta Miller-Perry Throughout the history of oppressed people in America, and particularly Blacks, there has always been those within our population who cooperate and assist the evil forces of systemic racism. Every slave revolt that failed, whether it was Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey or Nat Turner, was unexecuted, in large part because there were slave snitchers informing their masters about the plan. Fast forward centuries to the present, we still have collaborators who hate being Black so much they are willing to help undermine others, while serving as apologists and mouthpieces for white injustice. The most recent collaborator is Kenny Collins, the police chief of…
By Rosetta Miller-Perry Kentucky senator and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been backing away from support for Civil Rights and Voting Rights for decades. So it was no surprise last week when he remarked “African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.” For McConnell and the 21st century Republican Party, Blacks aren’t their definitions of Americans because they don’t suck up to Donald Trump, and don’t support their backwards political agenda. McConnell claimed he misspoke, then retreated into what’s become today the standard right-wing defense whenever they get called out about making racist and…
Darrell Freeman Speaks Truth to Power By Rosetta Miller Perry NASHVILLE, TN — The Tennessee Tribune has always celebrated and championed people of courage, those willing to speak truth to power, no matter the situation or individuals involved. That’s why we’ve selected entrepreneur Darrell Freeman our Man of the Year for 2021. Freeman dared to expose hypocrisy and challenge powerful people to do more than pay lip service to issues of diversity and inclusion. He did that during an address at Middle Tennessee State University’s Dec. 8 board of trustees meeting. The board has supposedly been studying and debating for…
By Rosetta Miller-Perry and Wanda Miller-Benson Public service and filling a void in the community service were the reasons behind the creation of the Tennessee Tribune three decades ago, and they are the motivation behind the establishment of the Tribune Stores at the BNA airport. We extensively studied developments occurring in Nashville, and examined both positive and negative aspects of those things being cited as reasons for Nashville’s designation as an “it city.” We felt it vitally important that the ongoing changes that we saw also reflect the city’s growing diversity, and the products and commerce that came from these…
By Rosetta Miller Perry There are very disturbing reports out now about Vice President Kamala Harris and the lack of support she’s allegedly receiving from President Biden. If these are true, they are not good indicators of Biden’s faith in her, or his willingness to defend her against many attacks that are both excessive and unwarranted. They also represent yet another time when Biden’s rhetoric on race doesn’t match his actions. While some of the accounts from right-wing media like the New York Post might not be totally complete or accurate, it’s something else altogether when CNN presents a detailed…
By Rosetta Miller-Perry HBCU football was once the glamour sport in Black communities. especially in the South. For decades many of this nation’s finest football players were headlining at Grambling State, Florida A&M and Tennessee State. The lily-white schools in the SEC, SWC and ACC ignored them, but the NFL didn’t, and many of these players would go on to be pro football stars. But then the era of integration saw these predominantly white institutions now welcoming Black stars into their ranks, something that decimated the ranks of HBCUs., However over the past two seasons, there’s been a new development…
By Rosetta Miller-Perry This state has always denigrated Tennessee State University fairly and this past week the degree of harm that it’s still doing was made public. A bipartisan group of legislators meeting on the issue discovered that Tennessee currently owes TSU around half a billion dollars. Just think about that for a second, then ask yourself what the public reaction would be if this state owed the University of Tennessee even 1 million, let alone half a billion dollars. This is outright racism against Tennessee State University and a Federal charge should be filed with the Justice Department immediately.…
By Rosetta Miller-Perry There was once a time when the union movement was a noble and honorable one. A. Phillip Randolph’s Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters did many great things while helping Black railroad workers get better wages and equitable treatment. There was also union support of the Civil Rights Movement, and the basic tenet of union creation, getting fair treatment and salaries for labor, remains a just one. Unfortunately, corruption has seeped into too many of the nation’s biggest unions, most notably the United Auto Workers (UAW). In a contest between them and the Teamsters, one would be hard…
By Rosetta Miller Perry The Lilly White Williamson County Board of Education has recently made national news, and not in a positive or flattering way. Multiple broadcasts showed the ugly scene of parents openly threatening health officials for the crime of trying to protect their very own children. It was a sorry display of bullying and disgraceful behavior, with parents even yelling at officials that “we know who you are,” a statement more usually uttered by gangsters when targeting potential victims. But while the Board can’t be held totally responsible for the awful actions of some parents, it is accountable for representing…