NASHVILLE, TN — Across both local and state institutions, a deeply concerning trend has emerged. Black women in positions of political, academic, and community leadership are increasingly forced to defend themselves against coordinated, disproportionately harsh scrutiny. This rising tide of institutional friction represents an unjust, systemic approach structurally rooted in bias against race and gender. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us, and we must examine the clear pattern of how our women leaders are being treated.
In February 2023, the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office report heavily criticized Dr. Glenda Glover, president of Tennessee State University (TSU), over campus housing shortages and scholarship oversight. State lawmakers immediately weaponized these logistical issues, using them to overhaul the university’s governing board.
As the elected president of the NAACP in 2023, I stood on the front lines fighting alongside Dr. Glover for the $2.1 billion to $2.5 billion legally owed to TSU by the state. Dr. Glover explicitly shared with me the immense struggles of managing a university budget while historical, state-mandated funding was actively being withheld.
“Rather than funding our infrastructure, the state chose to strip away at Dr. Glenda Glover’s leadership,” states Rev. Venita Lewis. “I was aggressively removed from my elected role as President of the NAACP in the midst of my support for funds due the state institution by the State of Tennessee.” Lewis explained.
The silencing of Black women extends directly onto the legislative floor. In May 2026, State Senator Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville) stood on her desk in the Senate chamber with a “No Jim Crow 2.0” banner, singing in protest of a Republican-led congressional redistricting map that effectively diluted Black voting power in Memphis.
Following this demonstration of peaceful civil protest, Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally handed down unprecedented, severe punishments. Senator Oliver was aggressively stripped of her seat on the year-round Senate Government Operations Committee and banned from receiving out-of-state travel reimbursements or standard per diem office payments. Stripping an elected official of her legislative tools for standing up for her constituents is a direct attempt to silence Black representation.
We see this same hyper-fixation targeting Metro Nashville Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle. Dr. Battle has recently faced intense media and Metro Council backlash over a $165,000 renovation to her executive office suite.
The reality of this situation is clear: the facility improvements, which included constructing necessary conference space and correcting ductwork and plumbing, were reviewed, assessed, and fully approved by the elected members of the School Board within their lawful power. Yet, the Metro Council chose to publicly scrutinize Dr. Battle over an approved capital allocation. Unsurprisingly, this political pushback has been strategically timed alongside sudden public complaints regarding school operations and grade changes to maximize damage to her reputation.
The legal system is also being deployed with troubling severity. In January, Metro Councilwoman and attorney Joy Kimbrough filed a defamation lawsuit against a corporate executive who had lobbied a baseless ethics complaint against her regarding a northwest Davidson County expansion project.
Though Kimbrough was cleared by the ethics board, Circuit Court Judge Kathryn Olita not only dismissed Kimbrough’s defamation lawsuit with prejudice but ordered her to pay an astronomical $51,268.50 in attorney fees, plus an additional $40,000 in personal financial sanctions. This judgment is overly aggressive, punitive, and deeply personal. Rulings of this extreme magnitude are explicitly intended to send a chilling message to Councilwoman Kimbrough and the broader Black community.
Whether it is through a multi-billion-dollar state funding freeze, sudden committee purges, hyper-scrutinized administrative budgets, or unprecedented judicial penalties, the underlying mechanism remains identical. The state and city apparatuses are moving in tandem to destabilize, penalize, and publicly isolate Black female leaders.
“We will not stand idly by and allow these targeted institutional attacks to continue without resistance. We will continue to rigorously monitor these trends, document these biases, and stand completely unified to defend our women, our leaders, and our community,” states Rev. Venita Lewis.
