Rev. William J. Barber II: 'If you don’t change the narrative, you cannot change the agenda.'

By Barbara Kuhn and Shenay Nolan
The kick-off for Moral Mondays in Memphis brought a diverse crowd to the sanctuary of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church to hear the Rev. William J. Barber II, who initiated the Moral Mondays movement while president of the North Carolina NAACP.

Rev. William J. Barber II speaks at the first Moral Mondays
event in Memphis, held at Mississippi Boulevard Christian
Church on Oct. 16. He called for the audience to join his
New Poor People's Campaign.

The Moral Mondays campaign is part of the New Poor People’s Campaign, which is being organized nationally by Repairers of the Breach, of which Barber is president and a senior lecturer.

Moral Mondays began in Barber's home state of North Carolina, but now are held in several cities across the country. The purpose of the gatherings, which sometimes take the form of protest marches, is to develop solutions for social justice issues that affect the community. In Memphis, Moral Mondays are part of the events marking the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Analysis: Forrest statue viewed as harmful to Memphis

By Shenay Nolan

Many Memphians oppose the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue and are determined to have it removed by the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination.

An Aug. 19 protest of the Nathan Bedford Forrest
statue in Health Sciences Park in Memphis resulted
in several arrests. (Photo by Barbara Kuhn)

Elaine Turner, owner of Heritage Tours and director of Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum, has been fighting to have the statue removed for many years. Turner said the Heritage Tours is where tourists see about 30 historical locations and one of which happens to be where Nathan Bedford Forrest’s slave market was located.

“There is a historical marker at that location where the slave market was and it does not accurately depict what he was engaged in,” said Turner.

“The other marker said that his business made him wealthy. Well, we know that his business was selling slaves. That was his big business. A slave trader. He was also a slave breeder, so he was really entrenched in the slave trading business.”

She said the statue is not on the tour but they do inform the tourists about Nathan Bedford Forrest.
“We do talk about Nathan Bedford Forrest being one of the organizers of the Ku Klux Klan. He was the so called General who led the Massacre at Fort Pillow Tennessee, where over 200 black soldiers were killed as well as some whites.”

Analysis: Putting 'Silent Sam' in his proper place

By Jeniece Jamison

Protestors draped a banner on the
pedestal of the statue of Silent 
Sam with a banner on Aug. 23 
during protests on the campus
 of UNC-Chapel Hill

Image: Martin Kraft
 (photo.martinkraft.com)
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
via Wikimedia Commons

Confederate monuments have become a lightning rod for pro and counter demonstrations across the south in recent years. But this year, protests that garnered national attention moved out of the streets and into the ivory tower. Violent clashes surrounding the University of Virginia and the city it calls home, Charlottesville, were in the national spotlight in the late summer. And along with UVA, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Silent Sam is seeing its fair share of scrutiny and defense, even sparking a non-stop protest.

The Confederate monument known as Silent Sam was erected in 1913, after the University received it from the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1909. It was dedicated remembrance of “the sons of the University who died for their beloved Southland 1861-1865,” according to UNC’s information on University landmarks. It sits on McCorkle Place facing Franklin Street. The University says more than 1,000 men from UNC fought in the Civil War. And at least 40 percent of the students enlisted in the military. UNC states that it was the highest amount of student enlistment for either the Union or Confederate forces.

Historians in the Triangle region said most Confederate monuments were erected post-Civil War as an effort to promote white supremacy in the reconstruction era.

NC State workshop addresses problems within GLBT community

By Jeniece Jamison
North Carolina State University’s website says it values diversity and benefits from multiple viewpoints and perspectives. Ultimately, N.C. State believes diversity is crucial to its mission to educate its students and prepare them for jobs post graduation, and to become productive citizens. But, some factions within the university don’t believe this is necessarily the case for them.

Preston Keith of N.C. State’s GLBT Center led a workshop on how college campuses create systemic oppression for members of the GLBT Center that are people of color. He said sexual, economic, racial and cultural identities aren’t brought into the discussion when it comes to creating safe spaces for students that identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. And that can create obstacles for the student experience.