The Memphis Safe Task Force's goal was always to round up as many people as quickly as possible. Like a citywide ICE raid. It's fantastical for the Mayor to think he's going to convince 1,500 federal agents to solve homicides and do actual police work. www.psrmemphis.org/mayor-young-...

It's bleak out there. But we're gonna do some good this week. How I'd Fix Atlanta has partnered with Undue Medical Debt to help a bunch of ATLiens this week, and we need your help. Give what you can. Tell everyone you know. unduemedicaldebt.org/campaign/whe...

JUST NOW — With Senators @MarshaBlackburn & @SenatorHagerty obediently by his side Trump establishes a “task force” to send the National Guard into MEMPHIS

So much for the Blue-State-Only theory....I'm sure this decision has nothing to do with Memphis being the largest majority Black city in America.

“Elon Musk's xAl is constructing one of the world's largest Al supercenters in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. This mirrors a long history of environmental racism where polluting industries and hazardous developments are placed in communities with the least political and financial power.” 🧵

I see that the MAGA movement is reaffirming the values of the urban renewal program, straight out of the Housing Act of 1949 [the urban renewal program cleared millions of people from their homes, destroyed countless US center cities, uprooted communities of color, other than that it was great]

I’m sure my fellow urban southerners are as concerned by this as I am…. @thetnholler.bsky.social @mlk50.com

A lot of the "he's a uniquely gifted candidate" and "New York City isn't replicable elsewhere" takes—both of which have merit—neglect the extent to which Mamdani is uniquely suited TO THIS HISTORICAL MOMENT. And the lessons of that ARE replicable elsewhere.

New: the Trump administration is preparing to shut down seven major housing discrimination and segregation cases — including high-profile investigations in Chicago, Houston and Flint — despite findings in some that civil rights violations occurred. www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Read my new piece with @jasonhackworth.bsky.social in the #JournalofBlackStudies. We have some thoughts about this…and it’s open access!

Atlanta is the most surveilled city in the United States. But because the Atlanta Police Department claims that releasing the locations of these 60,000+ cameras will lead to terrorism, we’ve not been able to map their locations... Until now. Read more 👇👇

The federal government has lost so many lawyers at HUD that the housing agency is at risk of fraud, abuse and litigation, according to an internal report. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Tip for PhD applicants reaching out to prospective advisors: Don’t use an LLM to write these emails. It’s not a great first impression to express your admiration for a recent paper the faculty member published if that paper does not exist.

Organizing >> wonkism, right now We need more Saul Alinskys, Ella Bakers, and Gale Cincottas, and fewer of these guys tbh

🔥WATCH: “This environmental racism has led to the slow lynching of our community for too long. We are standing up.” Rep. @justinjpearson.bsky.social goes in on @memphischamber CEO Ted Townsend’s comments about XAI and their gas turbines. #MemphisVsMusk Full: www.instagram.com/reel/DJIU7z3...

Can confirm: Just spoke to him, and Barber and two others were, in fact, arrested. Story coming.

MEMPHIS VS. MUSK: “XAI’s reps have avoided the public, leaving city officials & @MemphisChamber to explain how it will benefit the city. For residents it feels like a familiar pattern of environmental racism that has targeted the community for decades.” mlk50.com/2025/04/25/s...

🔥WATCH: “Elon Musk is hurting Tennesseans. He does not care about Tennessee.” As Faison pushed a resolution to honor Musk & SpaceX for bringing back the astronauts, @justinjpearson.bsky.social pointed out XAI is polluting MEMPHIS - without permits or community input. #MemphisVsMusk

Got to review a recent contemporary history comparing community organizing in Pittsburgh and Lyon from the 70s up to the subprime crisis. First book review. Had fun.

The great John Lithgow reading @timothysnyder.bsky.social ‘s 20 Lessons.

Apparently the mayor of Atlanta is proposing to extend the @atlantabeltline.org TIF/TAD district beyond its 25 years (ends in 2030). This would mean keeping schools and basic citywide services from benefiting from (all/most of) tax revenue growth spurred by the original TIF.

We had a terrific turnout today of congregation members representing our church at the MICAH issues convention! Kudos to the organizers who helped sign them up and coordinated the carpool, and to the volunteers who gave their Sunday afternoon to this important work. Blessings to all!

WATCH: “This will affect all of MEMPHIS… Musk feels like he can get away with it because poor-ass Black folks live there and nobody gives a damn.” @memphiscap_org shares voices pushing back against XAI as they buy another 1 MILLION square feet there Full: www.instagram.com/reel/DHI7o6v...

Meet me in St. Louis. The view from my window this morning.

Now, more than ever, we call upon the courage and commitment of all faculty, staff, students, and academic workers to join us in defying the assault on education. Read our full statement here: bit.ly/4hc8UVE

I swear, the centrists at The Atlantic bear significant blame in the fall of the Democratic Party and its failure to recognize that long-term organizing and turnout —-versus winning over mostly nonexistent “undecided centrists” —is the way to win elections.

State of TN is trying to financially punish companies like Ford who enter Community Benefits Agreements around big development projects like Blue Oval City. My class is campaigning against the bill, sign this petition. chng.it/hPm7jMzYNt

One silver lining amid this constitutional crisis is that it's a real mask-off moment for the way corporate interests have remained the dominant recipients of public money in recent decades, especially at the local level in cities like Memphis

How much Elon Musk makes from the government a day: $8 million. How much a senior on Social Security gets a day: $65 Guess which budget Musk and Trump want to cut?

Reading this, I’m reminded that, in the lead-up to the 1996 Olympics, Atlanta police pre-printed thousands of arrest citations with "homeless" and "African-American"—officers only had to fill in a name.

Ja Morant put Victor Wembanyama on a poster and it didn't count but I will be starting a petition to make it count if you want to sign it.

"If everyone was guaranteed a safe, secure house, labor power would radically increase overnight. A fixed percentage of poverty is necessary to discipline the bottom rung of labor, whose fear of homelessness is one of their biggest motivations for working a shitty, sweaty, abusive, low paying job."🔥

Sign/share broadly! Policing has to change in our city. This Accountability is necessary

From AAUP’s powerful condemnation of NYU’s imposing this penalty on peaceful protesters without due process. Absolutely shameful. All power to the protesters. #FreePalestine.

Peter Dreier with a timely reminder, the house was decided by 7,000 votes. Not a landslide, when we organize we can (still) win.

Tennessee is winning the race to the bottom I see. Least democratic state in the Union. Sounds about right. Great work. @tnlookout.bsky.social @thetnholler.bsky.social @mlk50memphis.bsky.social

Go @sjccorn.bsky.social Go!

Thanks @mlk50memphis.bsky.social for bringing some truth and accountability to this DOJ report. Asking the right questions here. No consent decree is a move to dehumanize many Memphians.

Yesterday Memphis HCD stepped in to preserve PILOTs for long time slumlords of two problem properties citing the need to preserve affordable stock. Developers will tell you anything to keep a subsidy. Cities CAN preserve affordability AND improve conditions. It’s never an either or

@dailymemphian.bsky.social. with more irresponsible journalism. "It is unclear whether Pam Bondi, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, would have the same priorities regarding police reform as current AG Merrick Garland." Is it though? City is clearly stalling here. Call it out. bit.ly/4iiylqq

Ahhhh Giving Tuesday, otherwise known as the day I wonder how I got on all these email lists! Sheesh

Here we go! I am an urban studies prof at Rhodes College in Memphis. I nerd out on housing policy and neighborhood change. Trained community organizer with 10+ years of experience. Co-lead the Memphis Research-4-Action lab where I do applied policy research with students. Links in bio.

This is suppose to be the “policy nerd” platform right? Find it interesting then that #2024APPAM only encourages sharing on Xitter still. Times they are a changin’

New Research Thread🧵: We examine the spatial patterns and eviction rates of single-family landlords in the Twin Cities. We find Private Equity firms and REITs each have their own distinct geographies and evict tenants at higher rates than smaller landlords. 1/

Followed Michael’s work since my Ga State days. Encourage everyone in Memphis to check this out

Come on Geoff....this is irresponsible framing. dailymemphian.com/subscriber/s...

Today, US Rep. AOC & Sen. Tina Smith introduce a proposal for a federal social housing authority that would make a direct public investment in the construction of affordable homes in mixed-income complexes www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/o...

A giant whom too few know about has passed.

Great piece by Atlantan Kerri Leigh Merrit on the organized underdevelopment of the South. I can't help but place the *especially* tenant-hostile rental market in Southern states in the context of: "the labour lords of the antebellum period merely became the landlords of the postbellum period."