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Local play honors life and legacy of famous educators See page 3
Movie Reviews: Creed III See page 7
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Volume XXXVii, Number 10
People Are Talking Titans stadium plan passes first vote in Metro Council
Proposed Titans stadium rendering Plans for the new $2.1 billion stadium passed on the first of three votes on March 8. Despite the progress, the outcome is far from assured. With 10 council members voting against the plan, the second vote has been delayed until April 4, to give council members extra time to review the plan. The final vote is scheduled for April 18. A group protesting the new stadium gathered outside the courthouse prior to the vote. They want to make sure the city is prioritizing needs like affordable housing, adequately funded public schools, better transit, and jobs that pay a living wage ($20 per hour) that don’t require a degree or specialized training. In December, Metro Council voted by a two-thirds margin to approve the framework where football-related funding sources including the Titans, the NFL, and personal seat license (PSL) sales will combine to represent the largest source of funding for the new stadium. At least $840 million for the new stadium and any construction cost overruns will come from the Titans, NFL, and PSL sales. Five hundred million dollars will come from a one-time state contribution. The remaining $760 million will come from revenue bonds issued by the Metro Sports Authority to be repaid by revenue generated primarily by hotel visitors and users of the new stadium. Both revenue sources designated by state statute for the Sports Authority bonds can only be used to fund stadium related construction and maintenance, and in the case of the hotel tax contingent upon the building of a new, enclosed stadium. According to Titans officials, there have been over 34 public meetings regarding the new stadium, with 10 more scheduled before the second vote.
Former Atlanta fire chief says slavery was God’s plan In a videotaped lecture that many called out as teeming with self-hate, a former Atlanta fire chief ridiculously opined that it was God’s divine plan that permitted Americans to enslave Africans. NBC News reported that Kelvin J. Cochran, who is Black, lectured at a Georgia Department of Labor event honoring Black History Month. More on page 2 The Nashville PRIDE Newspaper is on Facebook and follow us on Twitter: @pridenews
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March 10, 2023
On Bloody Sunday anniversary, Pres. Biden, V.P. Harris vow continued push for voting rights by Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire senior national correspondent To protect one of America’s most precious liberties, the right to vote, 600 courageous people marched out of Selma, Alabama 58 years ago. However, their peaceful demonstration on the Edmund Pettus Bridge was met with brutal force. John Lewis, a young civil rights leader and congressman, was beaten and had his skull fractured when he was 25. “Those brave marchers were pushed back, but they continued to march forward,” Vice President Kamala Harris stated ahead of the March 5 commemoration ceremony at the foot of the famous bridge. Harris said the courage of those civil rights marchers and their sacrifice inspired many to join the fight to put an end to poll taxes, literacy tests, and other forms of discrimination that blocked Black Americans’ access to the ballot box. “They achieved passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965, which enshrined critical protections for voting rights in federal law,” the vice president said. But the Shelby County Supreme Court decision in 2013 undermined the Voting Rights Act, making it more difficult to prevent discrimination. Harris argued that this has led to a renewed attack on the right to vote in the United States in recent years. “Extremists have worked to dismantle the voting protections that gen-
In many cases, the same baseless and thinly-veiled rationales used to challenge ballot access in the 1960s are resurfacing today in support of these efforts to shrink our democracy. (Pictured top l): Alabama police attack Selma to Montgomery marchers on ‘Bloody Sunday’ in 1965; (top r): Marchers carrying banner ‘We march with Selma!’ on street in Harlem, New York City, in 1965; (bottom l): participants in the Selma to Montgomery march in Alabama during 1965; (bottom r): Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. Ralph David Abernathy, their families, and others leading the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965 (photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons). erations of civil rights leaders and advocates fought tirelessly to win,” Harris said. “They have purged voters from the rolls. They have closed polling places. They have made it a crime to give water to people standing in line.”
Representatives Terri Sewell of Alabama and James Clyburn of South Carolina; NNPA President/CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.; Rev. Jesse Jackson; civil rights leader Charles Continued on page 5
Brenda Haywood honored by Nashville Public Library Exhibition
Brenda Harris Haywood exhibition at Nashville Public Library. By Cass Teague exhibition in recognition of her Brenda Harris Haywood is a groundbreaking achievement in furNashville legend. She is currently thering the public school desegregaserving the city as its Deputy Mayor of tion of the city on the second floor of Community Engagement, and was for- the Nashville Public Library (NPL) in merly a Metro Councilwoman. She downtown Nashville. has been highlighted in a photographic “Moments From the Movement”
tells the story of Nashville’s public school desegregation in the 1960s with a particular focus on 12 year old Brenda Harris, who along with three other girls, Pamela Franklin, Beverly Ward, and Bernadine Rabathaly, integrated the 7 th grade at East Nashville’s Stratford High School in 1963. With this new art exhibit and the addition of Brenda Haywood’s oral history to NPL’s Civil Rights Collection, “Moments From the Movement” tells Brenda’s story more fully, deeply, and artistically than ever before and invites us all to experience the renowned Civil Rights Room and Collection again and again. You can enjoy this inspiring and affirming exhibit through August 31, 2023. The exhibition was opened with a well-attended public reception event on February 28, beginning with a Continued on page 5
NNPA requests equal access to January 6 commission footage given Fox News The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the national trade association of Black owned newspapers and media companies throughout the United States, has urgently requested that Congressman Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, provide the NNPA with copies of the 41,000 hours of security tape footage that was given to Fox News host Tucker Carlson regarding the January 6 Commission. According to the organization, it is a matter of equal access to governmental information for the Black Press of America and specifically referencing the fact that Speaker McCarthy set the precedent by providing the 41,000 hours of footage to Fox News. The NNPA awaits a timely response to this request for equal access. “The U.S. Constitution does not distinguish the freedoms of the press to just White press, mainstream press,
(pictured l to r): Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D), Bennie Thompson (D), and Liz Cheney (R) during the Jan 6 hearing. The NNPA is requesting equal access to the 41,000 hours of security tape footage granted exclusively to Fox News. or right-wing press. These freedoms are afforded to all media. The Black Press is a trusted voice in African American communities and should receive the same equity and access as all other press entities in the U.S.,”
said Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., president/CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), known as the Black Press. The NNPA has made two requests, Continued on page 5
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