Race Town

If there is a city in America that is more divided racially than Memphis, Tn. I have never been there. I suspect that if America ever again has race riots in the streets, the riots will begin in Memphis.
While other American cities torn by the race riots of the 60s have moved on, Memphis remains stubbornly fixed in place. While most of America has progressed from the days of segregation, Memphis continues to pick at the sores of a shameful period in American history. Even though recent decades have seen an influx of Mexicans, Cambodians, Chinese and Indian residents, Memphis continues to view every conflict as a racial conflict between black and white.
There are very few integrated neighborhoods in Memphis. The ghettos in North Memphis and South Memphis are solidly black. Whites gravitate to the gated communities in East Memphis. The city itself is majority black, while just beyond the city limits, whites are the overwhelming majority, the result of decades of "white flight" to the suburbs.
Two generations after school desegregation ended, Memphis city schools are more segregated than ever, with some schools reporting nearly 100% minority students. Outside the city limits, Shelby County operates a separate school system that is majority white.
Memphis churches are even more racially divided than its schools or neighborhoods.
Other cities have moved beyond the divisiveness of the Jim Crow South. Why is Memphis a notable exception?
Politics is certainly one of the main reasons. For nearly 40 years now, black politicians have worked to maintain the divide between blacks and whites in order to hold political power on the local level. The Ford family built a political dynasty by playing to the resentment of black residents who once were barred from many aspects of life. The scion of the Ford dynasty portrayed whites as devils in order to maintain his congressional seat. Memphis mayor Willie Herenton repeatedly stoked the fires of racial hatred in order to win five terms as the city's first black mayor. Herenton would portray his critics as racists and Uncle Toms while enriching himself with real estate deals and ignoring the needs of the black poor.
When law enforcement caught a number of black officials soliciting and receiving bribes, these thieves attempted to convince the public they were singled out because of race by racist prosecutors. The county commission is similarly divided - with black Democrats holding seats within the city limits and white Republicans controlling the suburban bloc.
But perhaps the worst offender in creating racial tension may be the daily newspaper, The Commercial Appeal. Hardly a week goes by where the newspaper hasn't published a story guaranteed to heighten racial tensions. Today's newspaper is a prime example. In one front page story, the CA informs readers that black men still make significantly less money than white men. Is this really news? In the same edition, a letter to the editor criticizes an earlier article that suggested that the Civil War was fought to end slavery. The letter received more than 170 responses online. One hundred and fifty years later, Memphians want to refight what's called the War of Northern Aggression.
For years, a racist named Mike Fleming had a daily talk show which he used to fuel racial tensions in order to attract ratings. Fleming is forgotten now. He's disappeared except for an occasional television appearance as a so-called "political expert." But the daily newspaper that once employed Fleming has taken up his cause, continuing to stir racial tensions in Memphis at every opportunity. I hope I am far away when those tensions once more come to a boil.