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Meet summer intern Kailan Dixon
We’re excited to announce another addition to our development team — at least temporarily. Kailan Dixon, a graduate student at the University of Missouri-Columbia, has joined us as our first intern. During a 10-week stint this summer, she’ll support the development team with our first summer campaign, co-design a donor survey and use her strong communication skills to help develop digital assets for a range of projects.
Memphis needs affordable housing. But it’s gotten harder to build.
Pastor Clifford Causey says he was stirred by the Spirit to take a late-night drive through Parkway Village back in 2018. On it, he saw a faded for-sale sign sitting in the brush of a vacant property across from his small church on Mt. Moriah Road Extd. He called the number on the sign to express his interest despite his lack of funds. A few months later, the owner called back to offer him the land for free.
Donald Trump is a convicted felon. Should he be allowed to vote?
In Tennessee, the voices of Black communities have been systematically silenced through disenfranchisement, perpetuated by a white nationalist supermajority in Congress. Between 2008 and 2020, approximately 320,000 Black voters in Tennessee have been disenfranchised due to felony convictions. This oppressive tactic, rooted in historical racial injustice, continues to deprive marginalized...
They charged Frances Thompson with indecency when all she wanted to do was live a safe life
“Am I not a woman and a sister?” 19th century abolitionist slogan. Imagine walking through Downtown Memphis on a Monday morning, in the summer of 1876. The Civil War’s shadow still touches everything in sight. In a few months, a presidential election will bring the end of Reconstruction, that brief moment when many former slaves thought they might enter U.S. society on more equal terms.
Meet development manager Lyndsey Pender
We’re ecstatic to announce that native Memphian Lyndsey Pender has joined the MLK50 team as our development manager. Pender started last week and will be essential in improving our donor strategy as well as our grants management. Before joining MLK50, Pender served as senior donor experience research manager at...
Local immigrants fear impact of new state law, but say Young is listening
When a group of immigrant rights advocates walked through Cooper-Young on April 15 to protest a new state law, Memphis police responded by driving their vehicles into the crowd, sometimes coming within inches of marchers. Sirens blared in Spanish and English, saying, “You must leave the immediate vicinity,” and threatening,...
Some Baptist-Desoto patients go to jail to await mental health treatment
This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with Mississippi Today and co-published with the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, the Sun Herald and MLK50. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published. When Sandy Jones’ 26-year-old daughter started...
Memphis’ unmet promise leaves Black burial sites in disarray
An empty Budweiser can was propped between the bottom edge of Walter “Furry” Lewis’ tombstone and bunches of tall, prickly sow-thistles that had begun to flower. Local lore has it that musicians and music lovers pilgrimage to this plot at historic Hollywood Cemetery to sip a little, then pour an honoring libation on soil that received the iconic bluesman’s remains after he died in 1981 at the age of 88.
Tennessee rep calls Memphis preemption bill worse than ‘overreach’
This story has been republished with permission from Tennessee Lookout. Read the original story here. A Memphis state representative is calling a preemption bill signed into law by the governor more than a case of “overreach” as it turns back efforts to stop “pretextual” traffic stops such as those that led to the 2023 death of motorist Tyre Nichols.
MLK50 moves to co-leadership model
It’s a transformative week at MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. As we reported today, our beloved founder Wendi C. Thomas is readying for a well-deserved sabbatical before transitioning back into the newsroom as an investigative editor. The MLK50 team has spent the last four years planning and building for this...
Wendi C. Thomas, founder of MLK50, to return to investigative work
When Wendi C. Thomas launched MLK50: Justice Through Journalism in 2017, she had a clear vision for what she wanted to do: journalism that explored the intersection of poverty, power and public policy in Memphis and changed lives. The 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 2018 provided obvious context for the kind of reporting Thomas knew was necessary.
MLK50 receives five-year, $500K grant from The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
MLK50: Justice Through Journalism has been awarded a five-year, $500,000 grant from The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to improve its sustainability and broaden its reach through audience engagement, major donor cultivation and revenue diversification efforts. Knight Foundation focuses its work and grantmaking in 26 communities in the...
South Memphis celebrates its collective power after closure of toxic facility
After months of vague promises from Sterilization Services of Tennessee about closing, South Memphis residents and environmental advocates believe that the Florida Street facility, known for emitting a cancer-causing gas, has finally shut down. This spring, the community experienced mixed feelings regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s new regulations, which require...
General Assembly makes Tennessee’s eviction laws tougher on tenants
Tenants generally don’t stand much of a chance in eviction court in Shelby County. They’re rarely represented by a lawyer, and most of the General Sessions Civil judges overseeing cases don’t take the time to explain what’s going on. One of the few rights tenants have...
Tough-on-crime bill imposing adult sentences on juveniles heads to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk
This story has been republished with permission from Tennessee Lookout. Read the original story here. Teens as young as 14 years old who commit serious crimes in Tennessee will face up to five years of adult incarceration or probation once their juvenile sentence ends under a bill now awaiting Gov. Bill Lee’s likely signature.
MLK50 wins national award for creating change
MLK50: Justice Through Journalism will be honored with the Lorraine Branham IDEA Award at the 2024 Mirror Awards ceremony in New York City on June 13. The IDEA Award recognizes a media organization that has worked to promote inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility over the previous year. It specifically acknowledges the hiring and development of leadership talent who create change, both to the organizations they oversee and the content they produce. It was established to honor the first Black woman to serve as dean of the Newhouse School.
100 days as mayor: Young starts work on campaign promises
Memphis Mayor Paul Young has talked a lot during his first 100 days as mayor. He’s listened, too. Young has met with everyday Memphians around the city, state legislators, the Memphis Police Department and others to collaborate and hear feedback as he tries to create “One Memphis.” He described that vision in his October victory speech as a “united Memphis, where all of our neighborhoods are supported and pride is renewed.”
Memphis Area Legal Service wants more time. Funder says it’s too late.
Memphis Area Legal Services hasn’t served local low-income residents well for years, according to its top funder. In a rare move, the Legal Services Corp. — a nonprofit funded and overseen by Congress — decided to stop sending cash to the Memphis organization simply because of outstandingly poor performance, according to LSC president Ron Flagg.
Here’s how local leaders say they’ll address Memphis’ lead crisis
Shelby County Commissioner Henri Brooks is optimistic she’ll be able to secure local dollars for lead remediation. City Councilman Philip Spinosa is hopeful he’ll be able to protect more kids in his district. And state Sen. London Lamar thinks she’s making progress in Nashville. After our recent...
South Memphis seeks justice as toxic leaks decline
South Memphis residents living near Sterilization Services of Tennessee, the Florida Street facility emitting a cancer-causing gas into the air, are receiving new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency with mixed emotions. On Thursday, the EPA announced new rules in the Clean Air Act to cut down on harmful air...
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