Memphis VA Medical Center Changes Name to Honor Tuskegee Airman, Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr.

The family of Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr. joins U.S. Rep. Steve 
Cohen (TN-09), left, and Joseph P. Vaugh, third from left, at the VA
Medical Center during the unveiling of a newly minted sign
honoring their famous father. Vaugh is the medical center’s 
executive director. (Photo by Wiley Henry)  

 

Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr.

MEMPHIS, TN – It’s official! The Memphis VA Medical Center (VAMC) has been renamed the Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr. VA Medical Center. The dedication ceremony was July 24.

This is the first name change for the VAMC since it was established in 1922. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (TN-09) introduced a bill in the 117 Congress on Feb. 28, 2022, to add Weathers’ name to the medical center. 

H.R. 6863 passed both chambers of Congress in 2022 – the House on Nov. 14 and the Senate on Dec. 6. President Biden signed Public Law 117-236 on Dec. 20. 

“I am truly excited to share this day with you, a renaming day, where we officially become bonded perpetually to Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr., a truly inspiring veteran,” said Joseph P. Vaugh, the medical center’s executive director.

“This is a great story for America,” Cohen said. “This story should be directly sent to [Florida Gov.] Ron DeSantis. You don’t eliminate history. You learn from it and make people stronger and better.”

Weathers made history as a fighter pilot in WWII as a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, or “Red Tails.” His acts of heroism are recorded in the annals of U.S. military history.

He was credited with shooting down several German fighter planes, including two fierce Messerschmitt 109 fighters, while escorting a damaged B-24 bomber over Italy in 1944.

“He was a hero to this country and a hero to this city,” Cohen said. 

Luke Weathers III, the oldest of his father’s five children, said his father would have been humbled to see his name attached to the VA Medical Center and the fanfare surrounding it.

Weathers just didn’t talk about his heroic exploits as a combat fighter pilot with the 332 Fighter Group’s 302 Fighter Squadron, better known as the Tuskegee Airmen, his son said. 

“Dad never spoke about that,” he said. “He was very quiet. He just wanted to do his job. When he was around 70 or 80 years old, he would have discussions if you brought it up.”

When a group of Black coworkers refused to believe that Black fighter pilots existed in WWII, Luke Weathers III launched a search in 1975 and learned more than his father had ever told him and his siblings.

They weren’t born when their father and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen commanded the skies in WWII. They would learn that he was a decorated war hero who served his country valiantly, even when segregation was the order of the day back home in Memphis. 

“Before he could fight the Germans, he had to fight America, a segregated America that existed…that still goes on to some extent today,” Cohen said.

The ceremony and special attention to Lt. Col. Weathers stirred Renee Weathers emotionally. “I miss him,” she said, and added: “I will never forget this day in my life.”

Renee Weathers was her father’s caregiver in Tucson, Ariz., where she resides with her family.

“Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr. was a hometown hero,” Trina Weathers-Boyce said. “But to our family he was gentle, stoic and a patriot that we simply knew as daddy and granddaddy.”

Weathers-Boyce described her father as a confident man who was strong and humble “in spite of his accomplishments.”

He earned several military awards, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with seven Oak Leaf Clusters, the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.

The City of Memphis proclaimed June 25, 1945, as “Captain Luke Weathers Jr. Day” and presented him with a key to the city. He was the first African American to receive such an honor.

In 1965, Weathers became the first African American Air Traffic Controller in Memphis. And on March 29, 2007, Congress honored him and all Tuskegee Airmen with the Congressional Gold Medal.

“We’re honored Lt. Col. Weathers’ family has lent us his name,” Vaugh said, “and we promise to live up to the legacy as we service the finest veterans in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi, and the veterans who walk through our doors at all locations.”

Weathers died Oct. 15, 2011, at the age of 90 in Tucson. He was given full military honors at his interment – including an Air Force flyover – at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., on Jan. 20, 2012. Cohen’s office initiated the process.

New Book Explains the ‘Genocide’ of Black Baseball

Reginald R. Howard's book, "Baseball's Silent Genocide," expresses
his beliefs on why and how Black youth were kept from playing
the "Great American Game" called baseball.

MEMPHIS, TN – Before the wanning of Negro League Baseball, Black players with amazing athleticism excelled on the diamond with “speed, strength, quickness, and agility.” 

“[So] why is 75 percent of Blacks playing basketball, 65 percent-plus Blacks playing football, and only 8 percent of Blacks playing baseball?” Reginald R. Howard, an infielder for the Indianapolis Clowns in the 1950s, asked.

The league folded at the end of 1950. Howard calls this period and after “Baseball’s Silent Genocide,” the title of his new book, which GrantHouse Publishers in Memphis released in June.

The book’s subtitle – “How They Cut Black Youth Out of Baseball” – would be enough for Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida to ban the book, according to Oscar-winning actor Lou Gossett Jr., who penned one of the book’s two prefaces.

Howard said it took more than 50 years for the book to become a reality. He began compiling information after a frank discussion with his father about the vicissitudes of Black baseball.

“He stopped me and said, ‘Look, they did their part on the field. You didn’t have the skill level to do it on the field. So why don’t you write about it.’ I said, ‘Nobody wants to hear what I got to say.’”

Howard, in fact, has so much to say about the subject. At one point he was on the verge of giving up. After chatting with his father, he felt compelled to write. 

“I got to get this thing done now before I die,” the 88-year-old said.

He needed to tell the story and proceeded with determination – with editorial assistance from Ilunga Adell, a television and film producer, screenwriter, and actor. 

“The stuff that I’ve been telling you about is not something that I’ve read, but something that I’ve experienced,” said Howard during an interview. “A lot of Black people [players] have just about died out.”

There aren’t many left, he added. 

Howard was born in South Bend, IN. He moved to Memphis in 1979. “I don’t want to die with this stuff in my head,” he wrote. “It would be a serious dereliction on my part if I did.”

What was in Howard’s head is now in print. It is a recollection of his experiences on and off the diamond, his relationship with players – the celebrated and the unsung – and what he believes led to the genocide of Black baseball.

The premise of the book is that the “majority” systemically kept baseball out of the hands of Black youth, fearing they would eventually dominate the game as Black athletes had done in basketball and football. 

“The first thing they did was to stop sponsoring baseball in the inner city.” Howard contends this was a “sophisticated and clandestine design to reduce the number of Blacks playing baseball.”

And then too, the equipment was expensive for the inner city’s poor Black kids, he said, and that coaches often steered them to other sports as his coach in South Bend had tried to do when he was in school.

“…all the Black students would be steered toward track and field because they didn’t want you playing baseball.”

Howard calls such practices little “nuances” which, he maintains, led to the withering of Black baseball.

The book is interspersed with the photos of Black players whose names are legendary and etched in the annals of history. The midsection is replete with a cache of individual photos, team shots, contracts, even a 1946 score card.

Perhaps the much-heralded Black baseball player ever was Jackie Robinson. He broke baseball’s color line in 1947 when he played Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers. 

“They talk about Jackie Robinson like he was playing by himself,” Howard said. He wasn’t being resentful or begrudging but added: “There were 200-something players playing too.”

Many of those players are referenced in Howard’s book: “Baseball’s Silent Genocide.”

And many of them, he pointed out, were gifted with “speed, strength, quickness, and agility,” the four “attributes” for excellence.

For more information, or copies of the book, contact Reginald R. Howard at 901-487-5949. 

Fulton’s Artwork Highlights the Blues and Egyptian Culture

 

Artwork by Jerome Fulton, such as “Feeling His Music,” is on 
exhibit for six months at the Blues Hall of Fame Museum in
Downtown Memphis. (Photo by Wiley Henry) 

MEMPHIS, TN – When Kimberly Horton met Jerome Fulton at the 2022 King Biscuit Festival in Helena, Ark., in October, she was bowled over by the depth and intensity of his artwork. 

She had to tell Andrew Ross, director of the Blues Hall of Fame Museum in Downtown Memphis, which “exposes, educates, and entertains visitors with all that is blues culture.”

“I got the two of them together so he could curate an exhibit at our museum,” said Horton, president/CEO of The Blues Foundation, which has operated the museum since it opened in 2015.

“When she came back, she said, ‘We got our artist,’” Ross said.

Horton was swept away by one of Fulton’s pieces at the festival. “I talked about that piece,” she said.

Ross went on to curate an exhibit for Fulton entitled “Crossroads 2 Memphis.” It is a multi-media compilation of deep Southern culture and blues music, including ancient Egyptian and Nubian cultures.

Family, friends, art enthusiasts, and the curious strolled into the museum on opening night, June 30. They took note of the “blues” in two- and three-dimensional forms while bluesman Mick Kolassa sang and played guitar.

The music complemented Fulton’s artwork and provided some respite from the sweltering heat. “Crossroads 2 Memphis” will hang for six months and closes the end of December.

“I want to show a level of creativity that is different from a Southern perspective,” Fulton said. He has traveled the country and the world exhibiting his artwork at festivals, markets, conventions, and at other venues. 

“Crossroads 2 Memphis” is Fulton’s first full-scale art exhibit. The months-long exhibit exposes him to art appreciators and blues lovers alike. 

“He’s also the first Memphian and the first African-American artist, I believe, who has been with us on site here,” Horton said. “Most of the art that we have here has a direct correlation with the blues.”

“We’ve had great art in the past,” Ross added. “But there is so much going on in the pieces. It’s tangible. It gets at that connection between Memphis and the Delta in powerful ways.”

Fulton describes his artwork as folklore. It’s a retelling of stories with historical significance. Like the syncopated rhythm of blues music, the artist is not pigeonholed to how he creates art. 

He’s comfortable with creating cotton fields, shacks, or any other subject matter in watercolors, acrylics, tinfoil, metal, aged wood, window frames, burlap, and more. He said much of his artwork is derived from found material.

One such piece is an antique rocking chair. It would be a simple rocker if Fulton hadn’t embellished it with images from Egyptian culture, such as obelisks and the Eye of Horus (The Third Eye).

He also adorned the rocker with shacks, cotton fields, and guitars, bringing it up to the age of modernity.

“I also used these things called the four entities, or the four seasons,” said Fulton, a 1976 graduate of the Memphis College of Art. “So, on each chair, I put nations of music, which is jazz, blues, country and gospel.” 

He titled the piece “The Cotton Rocker.” The concept came from the tomb of Ramesses III during his dynasty, he said. 

“There are names under the chair itself that date from 1885 to 1965,” said Fulton, adding, “I’m incorporating everything to tell the story.”

Other works on exhibit are just as intriguing, such as “Feeling His Music,” a multi-media piece painted on rusty corrugated tin of a bow-tied blues player strumming his guitar with another set of hands stroking a keyboard. 

“Crossroads 2 Memphis,” the exhibit’s namesake, utilizes a pleated wooden window with images of guitars, a cotton field, a pyramid, and The Third Eye. The image of a person is also fused into the background. 

“Every time I look at the pieces, I see something new,” Ross said.

For more information, contact The Blues Foundation at (901) 527-2583.

Campbell’s ‘Foot’ Man Character Honors ‘60s ‘Foot Soldiers’

 

Stanley Campbell Sr. as the Memphis 
“Foot” Man on the Edmund Pettus Bridge
in Selma, Ala. (Courtesy photo) 

MEMPHIS, TN – A small town in Mississippi felt eerie to Stanley Campbell Sr. in March when he was scouting for a spot to film a character that he’d created to pay tribute to the “foot soldiers” of the civil rights movement.

He described the area as wooded with trees hovering over him. He’d mistakenly turned down a beaten path and noticed that pieces of clothing were strewn where he’d ventured a quarter mile on foot.

“I’d turned down the wrong road,” Campbell said. He was looking for an ideal location to shoot video of himself as the Memphis “Foot” Man – but not down this eerie path into nothingness.

He was unaware that he’d veered not far from Philadelphia, Miss., where civil rights activists Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney were murdered and buried in 1964.

He shuddered just thinking about their gruesome death and regretted that he’d gone off course. “I don’t want to do that again,” he admonished himself. “I didn’t know what I was thinking.” 

He’d begun imagining Black bodies swinging from taut tree limbs, the Klan, the worst. His nerves were frayed. Then Billy Holiday’s hauntingly graphic song, “Strange Fruit,” came to his mind.

She sang: “Southern trees bear a strange fruit/ Blood on the leaves and blood at the root/ Black bodies swingin’ in the Southern breeze/ Strange fruit hangin’ from the poplar trees…”

“I was hoping I wouldn’t see bodies hanging from trees,” said Campbell, adding, “I was in a time zone that went back to the 1960s.”

Then it dawned on him that the wooded area was conducive for a video shoot after all. 

“It was the best decision I’d made,” said Campbell, a visual artist, playwright, producer, activist, humanitarian, and owner of The House of Mtenzi, a museum that honors his late mother, Thelma Brownlee.

Campbell, the youngest of nine children, had been to the 58^th annual [Edmund Pettus] Bridge Crossing Jubilee in Selma, Ala., and wandered through the heart of Mississippi en route to Memphis.

“I was in the Deep Delta,” said Campbell, and transformed himself into the Memphis “Foot” Man, one who travels “one step at a time” to “remind, educate and rebuild,” his motto.

Since his character’s creation in March, Campbell’s Memphis “Foot” Man has traveled to once turbulent areas during the civil rights movement where gallant foot soldiers trod by day and night seeking justice and freedom.

He’s been to Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., where The Little Rock Nine in 1957 were confronted by an angry white mob and the Arkansas National Guard for trying to enter the school building.

He also traveled to Tulsa, Okla., where a white mob in 1921 rained down bombs on “Black Wall Street” in the Greenwood District and massacred scores of Black residents in this wealthy Black community.

At home, in Memphis, the “Foot” man called attention to Room 306 at the National Civil Rights Museum, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was staying on that fateful day in 1968 when it was The Lorraine Motel.

The Memphis “Foot” Man, Campbell explained, embodies “the image of all the civil rights fighters – the 1960s trench coat, the skinny necktie, the shades, the brim” – who fought valiantly to change the status quo.

“When I see the face, the image, of the Memphis ‘Foot’ Man, it gives me a visible illusion of the past, the present and the future,” said Drew McCraven III, CEO of Millennial Entertainment and a Campbell ally.

“The picture from Selma, Ala., that he took puts you in the mindset of what our ancestors had to go through in the process of their struggle when they marched across the bridge in Alabama, in Selma,” McCraven explained.

He continued: “When I look at the picture of him in the mask with the flag of the United States, it takes me through the struggle of where we are now and where we are going. That’s what he represents.”

Black Farmers: Pursuing BlueOval Business

 

Thomas Burrell is president of the Black Farmers and
Agriculturalists Association and advocates for Black farmers
like himself. Photo by Patricia Rogers

MEMPHIS, TN – The $5.6 billion dollar Ford Motor Company’s BlueOval City project is being built on farmland in Haywood County, Tenn., approximately 70 miles from Memphis.

While the plant is a boon for Haywood County, Thomas Burrell believes it is an opportunity for Black farmers and landowners in the area to create generational wealth by incorporating and developing the land around BlueOval City.

Burrell is a farmer from Covington, Tenn., and president of the Memphis-based 20,000-member Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association (BFAA), a nonprofit organization.

In 1991, Burrell protested the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in his hometown for allegedly discriminating against Black farmers. The protest gained traction nationally and morphed into the historic (Pigford v. Glickman) 1999 class-action lawsuit against the USDA. 

The lawsuit alleged racial discrimination against Black farmers in its allocation of farm loans and assistance between 1981 and 1996. It was settled in 2010 during the Obama administration.

Burrell is now focused on creating long-term economic development opportunities for BFAA members who own land in proximity to BlueOval City. 

“We want real wealth creation with an initiative for fair and equitable treatment of Black farmers and landowners who have land on the $5.6 billion dollar Ford Motor Company’s BlueOval City project,” he said.

By 2025, Ford’s mega plant is expected to be the largest facility in the world for manufacturing electric vehicles and batteries. Burrell, however, is looking at the big picture. 

How can Black farmers and landowners benefit from the windfall in Haywood County and not become “victims of the overall economic development process, which often excludes African Americans?” he said.

“We're gonna have to incorporate in order to collaborate,” Burrell said. “It is hard or difficult for Ford Motor Company or General Motors or Nissan to cooperate or collaborate with an unincorporated entity.”

Most of the land that African Americans own – whether it is in Tennessee, Alabama or Kentucky – will be unincorporated, Burrell said, even though “African Americans own millions of acres in this country.”

In some cases, African Americans can’t prove that they own their land, he said, when there isn’t a clear deed or title to the property.

He said unequivocally that “nobody's gonna do business with you if you can't prove that you own it (land). If there's a cloud on a title, why would they want to do business with the person with a defective title to his property?”

Then there’s the issue of eminent domain that concerns Burrell. He said some BFAA members have been asked to surrender some of their land to extend Tennessee State Route 194 into BlueOval City.

“The issue (or grievance) is whether or not they are receiving just compensation,” he said, compared to white farmers and landowners.

However, Burrell believes generational wealth is possible when Black landowners develop a part of their land rather than sell it. “You can't give your grandchildren what you’ve sold,” he said.

“Traditionally, when we look out into the field now, we see cotton and soybeans,” Burrell said. “But if you're next door to an automobile manufacturer that's investing $6 billion, you won't see soybeans; you won't see cotton.” 

He said the new crop will be hotels, restaurants, warehouses, homes, apartments, and other development, including infrastructure. 

But first and foremost, Black farmers and landowners must incorporate “to create a building bloc,” said Burrell, using as an example a member of BFAA whose father incorporated the land before he died decades ago.

He said the member is talking to his neighbors and trying to encourage them to incorporate and collaborate on increasing their acreage to attract mega corporations like BlueOval City.

Corporations, he emphasized, will not do business with “unincorporated entities.” 

The Memphis Juneteenth Festival Celebrates 30 Years with Monthlong Events

 

This drumlins from The Memphis Youth Arts Initiative played
an integral part in last year's Memphis Juneteenth Festival.
(Photo by Wiley Henry)

MEMPHIS, TN – Juneteenth is alive and well in Memphis all monthlong and culminates June 17-18 in the 30th annual Memphis Juneteenth Festival from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day at Health Sciences Park, 26 South Dunlap in the Medical District.

“We have been at the forefront in Memphis for 30 years in terms of celebrating Juneteenth,” said Dr. Telisa Franklin, the festival’s president. “Now that Juneteenth is a federal holiday, we’re excited that everybody gets a chance to celebrate.”

The celebration began June 1 with the Juneteenth Family Empowerment Fair at Ed Rice Community Center in the Frayer community. Job seekers – even budding entrepreneurs – gleaned something from participating businesses, city and county governments, recruiters, schools, and more.

Next on tap is Franklin’s Juneteenth The Musical Stage Play, Saturday, June 10, at the Holloran Centre for Performing Arts & Education, 225 South Main St. Talented singers and dancers from the Young Actors Guild (YAG) will take center stage in this adaptation of the Juneteenth experience after slaves in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been emancipated.  

Chrysti Chandler, who founded YAG 32 years ago, is the play’s creative director. Tickets can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com for either the 2 p.m. stage play or the one at 7 p.m.

“I give kudos to Chrysti for her vision, creativity, and for interpreting the story of Juneteenth from YAG’s perspective,” Franklin said. “This is a signature event for the Memphis Juneteenth Festival.” 

Up next is the Memphis Juneteenth Community Baby Shower Empowerment Luncheon, Sunday, June 11 at The Kent, from 1 p.m.-3 p.m. This event is powered by District 7 City Councilwoman Michalyn Easter Thomas and Franklin.

“The baby shower benefits expecting mothers who need to know where to go for invaluable resources,” Franklin said. “Lots of information will be available.”

There will be information on the health and wellness of mothers and their babies, including breastfeeding and free baby essentials. Topics include “Maternal Mental Health & Grief Trauma Counseling” and “Connections to Resources & Supportative Services.” 

Food, fun and, again, powerful information will be available. Registration is required. Visit www.MemphisJuneteenth.com for more information and details.

The 30th Anniversary Juneteenth Freedom Luncheon is up next, Thursday, June 15, at Holiday Inn University of Memphis, 3700 Central Ave. The grand ballroom is the setting for this 11:30 a.m. luncheon. 

Dr. Raymond Winbush, a noted scholar, activist, research professor and director of the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University (MSU) in Baltimore, Md., is the keynote speaker.

“If you haven’t heard Dr. Winbush expound on reparations as it relates to Juneteenth, then you’re in for a treat,” Franklin said. “He is the go-to person for African-American history and culture.”

More information is online at www.MemphisJuneteenth.com.

On Saturday, June 17, the Juneteenth Freedom 2.5 Run/Walk commences at Health Sciences Park. The 2.5K Run/Walk is significant because it took 2 ½ years before the slaves in Galveston, Texas, learned they’d been freed.

There’s a Kid Dash as well for runners ages 2-11. Medals will be awarded in each race. Participants can register online as well. 

Also on June 17, the first day of the festival, there will be a Juneteenth Greek Stroll Off. Fraternities and sororities from Historically Black Colleges and Universities will step, snap, or stomp in spirit and pride.

Other highlights of the first day include the Juneteenth Youth Showcase featuring majorettes, drummers, dancers, singers, and cheerleaders. Altogether, the two-day festival features a variety of entertainment, including arts & crafts, food vendors, a car and bike show, and activities for seniors and children.

The Memphis Juneteenth Festival is a 501c (3) organization and one of Memphis’ longest-running festivals. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland recently proclaimed June 17-18 as “The Memphis Juneteenth Festival” and “claim this the official Juneteenth festival in the City of Memphis.”

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris also claimed Juneteenth to be the official festival.

Pastor Dianne Young Hopes to Save More Souls From Suicide

 

After the death of her husband, Bishop William M. Young Sr., 
Pastor Dianne M. Young is keeping the “National Suicide and
the Black Church Conference” alive. (Courtesy photo)

MEMPHIS, TN – Black people don’t commit suicide. At least that was the consensus in the Black community, according to the Rev. Dianne M. Young, pastor of The Healing Center Full Gospel Baptist Church.

Young and her late husband, Bishop William M. Young Sr., were confronted with this fallacy in 2002 when a distressed church member took her life on the grounds of the church.

Her suicide devastated the Youngs. “We were already counseling and working with people,” she said, when the unthinkable happened. In 2003, they founded the “National Suicide and the Black Church Conference.” 

This year’s conference (the 10th one) is slated for Wednesday, June 14, from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Thursday, June 15, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Southwest Tennessee Community College, 5983 Macon Cove. 

The theme is “Anchored in Hope.” 

Experts in the field will provide participants with a plethora of information such as signs (behavioral, social and emotional) to look for, and prevention and intervention techniques.

Dozens of presenters will join the conversation as well, including pastors, government officials, educators, clinicians, doctors and more. “We’re trying to save lives,” Young said.

That day at the church reminds Young that Black people are just as susceptible to suicide as any other group. Depression, she said, is the culprit that often drives a person to the brink of suicide.

“She stopped me that Sunday morning and said that she wanted to see me. I told her we would meet that Monday afternoon at 4:00,” Young recalls. The next morning, at 7:30, “We got a call from the church that somebody was lying on the ground.”

Young’s husband sped to 3885 Tchulahoma Rd. What he discovered was shocking. The woman was lying at the foot of the cross in front of the church. She’d used a pistol to end her life.

“That's how the journey began,” said Young, who along with her husband had been counseling individuals over the years and facilitating mental health initiatives at the church.

Young is hoping this year’s conference, which will be available online as well, will attract as many attendees as possible now that her husband of 46 years is no longer with her.

Bishop Young died Oct. 9, 2022.

“We had conversations about how to carry on, what my role would be, and how to keep it going,” Young said. “This is what we saw as our purpose. I really haven't stopped since William passed.”

Jay Barnett, a former NFL player, once suffered from depression. He attempted suicide twice. Now he’s a clinical therapist, author, and speaks unabashedly about the mental health of Black men.

He’s the conference keynote speaker. 

Tamu Lewis will provide testimony. She is the co-founder and board president of the LTY Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping erase the stigma associated with mental illness.

Lewis launched the foundation as a living legacy to her brother, actor Lee Thompson Young, who lost his life to suicide in 2013. He was at the apex of his career when he succumbed to depression. 

The conference is an extension to what the Youngs had been doing at the church. For example, they launched The Healing Center Wellness & Stress Clinic of Memphis in 1999.

They’d partnered with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, the University of Memphis, Rhodes College, local government, Memphis Area Legal Services, and the West Cancer Center.

In 2008, the Youngs opened the Emotional Fitness Centers of Tennessee, a network of 10 faith-based counseling centers and two satellite sites providing access to mental health care and substance abuse screenings in the African-American community.

“This is why the conference is so important,” Young said. “We got to do something.”

For more information about the National Suicide and the Black Church Conference, call 901-370-4673 or register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/559702744977.