Earle Fisher says it’s tone deaf and targeted as Memphians, in the state’s largest county, remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Tennessee state lawmakers are taking another shot at prohibiting local governments like Shelby County from disbursing or even studying reparations to descendants of slaves.
Last year, Shelby County wanted to look into the possibility of dedicating $5 million to address disparities in areas such as affordable housing, health care and financial literacy, and now the idea could be completely blocked statewide from ever becoming a reality if this law passes.
“It is a holistic approach to be able to start a conversation about what does retribution look like to our local Black community,” Commissioner Britney Thornton said at the time.
This bill currently making its way through the legislature could seriously imperil those efforts.
The bill’s House sponsor, Representative Republican John Ragan of Anderson County, and the sponsor of the Tennessee Senate’s version of the bill, Republican Brent Taylor, did not respond to our request for comment.
This latest move by the Republican supermajority in Nashville pushed Pastor Earle Fisher to circulate a petition to rally voices against the measure.
“Trying to figure out if, indeed, racial and economic disparities continue to this day and why and what would be a good faith measure of repairing those inequities. I mean, that’s basic,” Fisher said.
Earle Fisher said it’s tone deaf and targeted as Memphians, in the state’s largest county, remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“He was assassinated and murdered because he advocated for the economic repair of the racial inequities in our country,” Fisher said. “And so, in the spirit of Dr. King, it is not only hypocritical, it is disrespectful.”
