Readers voice
THE PEOPLE’S PLATFORM The Knoxville Interdenominational Christian Ministerial Alliance requests Senator Blackburn to apologize for her treatment of Judge Katanji Brown Jackson during the Senate confirmation hearings. KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (April 5, 2022) To Senator Marsha Blackburn, United States Senate, State of Tennessee, We condemn your treatment of Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in…
ETE CITIZEN’S SPACE Hubert Smith Political Pundit and Host of the Hubert Smith Show February 19, 2022 I was one of only a handful of people not associated with Knox County Schools in attendance yesterday (Tuesday, Feb. 17 community forum at Bearden High School) to watch and listen to candidates respond to questions from the…
Nursing homes and assisted living communities faced workforce and economic crises long before the pandemic, due in large part to chronic Medicaid underfunding. But now, long-term care facilities are grappling with the worst job loss among all health care providers, and hundreds, if not thousands, of nursing homes could close over the course of the…
OP-ED By Erik Wiatr Wednesday, April 7, 2021 I respectfully encourage anyone who is an opponent of prioritizing taxpayer money for a baseball stadium to benefit private entities – including the Smokies and Gem Development – with massive profits, that now is the time to take action. In a Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee meeting on…
COMMENTARY NATIONAL (January 11, 2021) – That this should happen at the Capitol, the People’s House, is a grave desecration of our democracy. Many of us know that the Capitol was built by Black people, both enslaved and free. As Fred Beuttler, former Deputy Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives notes, every step of…
OP-ED Knox County Democratic Party’s Statement on Tennessee and Knox County GOP Elected Officials’ Complicity in Recent Seditious Actions KNOXVILLE (Jan. 6, 2021)— Our local and state Republican Elected Officials are complicit in the seditious actions & insurrection in Washington DC. Wednesday, January 6th, 2021 For weeks, Marsha Blackburn, Bill Hagerty, Tim Burchett, and TN…
OP-ED: By Barbara Bridges I lived for 4-plus months at a Knoxville shelter for women and children when my kids were little. It was during my first year of architecture school. While I appreciate the support they provided, I can also tell you that the expectations they placed on residents were unmanageable for most of us….
By Joe Biden There is injustice in America. There is discrimination. There is a legacy of racism and inequality that lives still in our institutions, our laws, and in too many people’s hearts that makes it harder for Black people to succeed. These are facts in the United States of America in 2020, and we…
By Kanika White I’ve been thinking deeply about the effects that this pandemic will have on black people and our communities and I must say for a brief moment, I thought to not address or discuss it along the lines of race because everybody is dealing with it and “the powers that be” will surely…
From the Publisher’s Perspective
Citizen’s Perspective By Taru Taylor, submitted The American Negro is a prisoner of war. Of the race war started by Portuguese and Spanish conquistadors, and furthered by English, Dutch, and French pirates. We were Africans whom Europeans uprooted and brought to the New World and enslaved, notwithstanding the Maroons who never submitted to white mastery….
CITIZEN’S VOICE “We Charge Genocide” is a historic petition for relief from the United States Government’s Crime of Genocide against Negro People. It was presented in 1951 to the United Nations, Secretary-General Trygve Halvdan Lie. The world ignored it then, as now. OP-ED By John Burl Smith Although I was a pre-teen in 1951, living in Memphis, I…
Patricia Williams, ETE Editor Knoxville, TN (June 2020) – His mother died years ago, but in his last breaths, pleas in desperation, George Floyd cried out to his Moma. How much submission, surrender, and desperation is needed for a police officer to feel safe. In total submission, he pleaded “officer, officer please, I can’t breathe….
“The Negro only wanted an opportunity to be a man and then he would manifest his ability to accomplish great things.” – W.E.B. DuBois speaking at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Knoxville, July 23, 1914. KNOXVILLE, TN (June 5, 2020) – Renee Kesler, Director of Beck Cultural Exchange Center, 1927 Dandridge Ave. issued a…
“I never want to be the token Negro.” – Taru Taylor has a message for black and brown high school graduates and college students. By Taru Taylor, Guest Columnist When I decided on law school, I aimed to meet, or exceed, the mean average Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) score wherever I chose to attend….
Clean water advocate Renee Hoyos continues her work against corruption KNOXVILLE, TN Dec. 17, 2019) – Community leader Renee Hoyos released a statement today regarding the upcoming vote regarding President Trump’s impeachment. “Tomorrow the US House of Representatives will vote on two articles of impeachment regarding President Trump’s conduct in Ukraine. Tennesseans are no strangers…
By Michael Covington, Guest columnist One of the worst things an advocate can do is go after a righteous dude. Former State Rep., former City Council member, former mayoral aide, former Beck Cultural Center director and Knoxville’s foremost African American historian Robert Booker is just such a righteous dude. When Mr. Booker devoted his Knoxville…
By David Hayes, Former Candidate for at large City Council seat KNOXVILLE, TN (Nov. 7, 2019) – Thank you to everyone who showed up for this campaign. Thank you for the long hours of canvassing and phone banking, for sharing our message of #KnoxvilleForAll with your networks, friends, and family, and for participating in local…
By Miriam Sapiro, Guest columnist OP-ED (Nov., 2019) American businesses face enormous challenges right now. The ebb and flow of the trade war with China is roiling supply chains. A simmering tariff war with the European Union could soon boil over. This swirl of uncertainty is threatening to hold back U.S. economic growth and has…
OP-ED As an active member of the District 1 Democrats, I am shocked at the support for a Republican candidate for mayor among elected Democratic officials who have gladly received funds from the local Democratic party, and its supporters. And we aren’t talking a nominal Republican, but someone who has remained a supporter of the…
Op-Ed (Oct. 31, 2019) Knoxville’s mayoral election is pitting Indya Kincannon, who trained in public affairs at the prestigious Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and served as Mayor Madeline Rogero’s Special Program Manager for 3 years and the head of the Knox County School Board for 10, against Eddie Mannis, a Republican who…
After the Revolutionary War, the United States approved reparations and returned lands to slave-holders; but stopped short of compensating Black slaves with reparations of “40 acres and a mule.” By Taru Taylor (First published by Truthout.org on July 21, 2019. Reprinted with permission.) The U.S. government was on the wrong side of history when…
Citizen Commentary The upcoming City of Knoxville’s mayor’s race is shaping up to be an interesting one for certain. The field of candidates is among the most diverse in recent times. These candidates are diverse in terms of gender, ethnicity, and political persuasion. The mayor’s race is “technically” non-partisan, there are known Democrats and Republicans…
By Charles Washington A brave new world. America made great again – not so much last night. What’s going on in America made its way to my neighborhood, my home, down my driveway, past the protection of my front door and settled in the consciousness of my son’s world for what I fear will be…
Indya Kincannon, a 2019 candidate for Mayor, recalls the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church shooting. Eleven years ago, our Sunday (July 29, 2008) started out pretty normal. My husband, Ben had to catch an early flight to go to a work conference. The girls and I dropped him off at the airport, had breakfast at…