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Tennessee

How Memphis Is Responding To ICE And National Guard Presence

March 19, 2026 Eliana Perozo, Next City. , , ,
Carlos Ochoa is a Latino Memphian. He has lived in Memphis, Tennessee, for over a decade. And for a large portion of that time, he’s worked to protect immigrant rights in the city. He’s the media correspondent for Vecindarios 901, a volunteer-based coalition rapidly responding to the fear and chaos Tennessee’s Governor Bill Lee has brought to the Memphis community since he invited the National Guard in, as part of the Memphis Safe Task Force. According to Ochoa, people are afraid to drive to work or take their children to school. It’s not just immigrants who are afraid.

Prison System In Tennessee: A Cycle Of Racism And Control

March 14, 2026 Lindy Drolsum, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
Tennessee likes to call itself “tough on crime.” But what that usually means is locking up kids too young, targeting Black and brown communities, and pouring public money into the private prisons that exist because of an exploitative and racist system. Growing up in rural Tennessee, I saw punishment take priority over real support at every turn. There was a kid in my high school who came to class daily on downers — probably Xanax, which we all knew he sold. My teacher would pull him into the hallway to talk, trying to keep him awake and connected.

Tennessee Volkswagen Workers Get Their First Union Contract

February 26, 2026 Stephen Bisaha, Portside. , , , , ,
It's been a long road to this contract. Workers initially voted twice against joining the union before casting ballots in favor in 2024, making this VW plant one of the few to unionize in the South, and the rare one that's not a member of the "Big 3" auto companies: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. That was nearly two years ago and negotiations have dragged on since, with workers at one point granting the union the ability to call a strike if necessary. But contract talks were resolved in early February when the UAW and Volkswagen struck a tentative agreement, which the workers have now voted to approve, with 96% of them voting yes.

Community Control: No To The National Guard, No To Privatization

February 19, 2026 Black Alliance for Peace Nashville Citywide Alliance, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
On the weekend of January 24, 2026, Nashville, Tennessee was hit by winter storm Fern. It began as snow but as temperatures dropped and ice began to form, and freezing rain began to fall. The accumulating ice snapped tree limbs and brought down power lines. By Tuesday, January 27, 2026, nearly 140,000 households were without power as temperatures dropped to the single digits. The current weather-related death toll in Nashville reached 29 people as of February 4th, due to a range of issues, from hypothermia to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Black Memphis Residents Report Harassment By Police Task Force

November 17, 2025 Wendi C. Thomas & Katherine Burgess, Scalawag. , , , , ,
When Reggie Williams turned 18 two decades ago, his mother entrusted him with his birth certificate. Keep it on you at all times, she advised, in case you encounter police. On a recent afternoon, he had a copy in his wallet, along with his state ID, as he walked from his uptown apartment in Memphis, Tennessee, to a nearby corner store. A Memphis Police Department cruiser pulled up, and two officers questioned him: Where was he coming from? Where was he going? Williams responded, and the interrogation continued: Did he have any weapons on him? No. Any drugs? No. When asked to empty his pockets, the 39-year-old artist turned over his wallet and phone. Minutes later, four men poured out of an unmarked SUV with tinted windows. They carried rifles and wore body armor — but no identifying badges.

Fighting Trump And The Black Collaborators Too

September 28, 2025 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
Black Agenda Report has long pointed out that billionaire rule and its capture of the political process has made electoral politics a less and less effective means of meeting the needs of the masses of Black people. Now that Donald Trump has succeeded in exposing the rot in the liberal class that collaborates and capitulates to him and to his administration, it is necessary to also expose the worsening rot in the Black political class.  Donald Trump is vowing to send the National Guard and federal law enforcement to cities like Memphis, Tennessee, even when the cities in question make clear that they want no part of these plans. Trump is working with Tennessee’s republican governor, who approved the National Guard deployment, ostensibly to fight crime, even though Memphis mayor, democrat Paul Young, said he doesn’t want or need them, and therein lie several problems.

Trump Announces He Will Send National Guard To Occupy Memphis

September 15, 2025 Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Truthout. , , , , ,
President Donald Trump announced during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” that he is planning to send military troops to Memphis, Tennessee. During his appearance on September 12, Trump said his administration would deploy the National Guard “and anybody else we need” to the Tennessee city. Trump did not provide a timeline for the deployment. “By the way, we’ll bring in the military too if we need it,” he added. Trump said Memphis is “deeply troubled.” “We’re going to fix that, just like we did in Washington,” he said. The Memphis Shelby Crime Commission shows that crime in Memphis, including violent crime, has decreased since last year. Violent crime from January to June is down more than 17 percent this year compared with the same period in 2024.

Critics Decry Scotus Ruling Upholding Ban On Gender-Affirming Care

June 19, 2025 Chris Walker, Truthout. , , , , ,
On Wednesday, the United States Supreme Court ruled to uphold a Tennessee law that bans physicians from providing gender-affirming care to transgender children, a decision that will likely reverberate across the more than two dozen states that have similar bans. Critics decried the decision as denying trans kids access to safe and critical health care options. Gender-affirming care, including for youth, is endorsed by the vast majority of respected health organizations, and is considered to be life-saving by many who receive it. All six conservative justices on the high court sided with Tennessee lawmakers, who argued that their ban should be allowed to operate.

xAI Data Center Emits Plumes Of Pollution

June 14, 2025 Nick Cunningham, DeSmog. , , , ,
A massive data center at xAI’s controversial site in Memphis, Tennessee is emitting huge plumes of pollution, according to footage recorded by an environmental watchdog group. xAI quickly built an enormous data center and supercomputer at an empty factory site in Memphis last year, aimed at providing computational power for xAI’s chatbot, called Grok. Having difficulty securing enough grid power to fuel the energy-hungry data center, xAI brought in 35 portable gas turbines, and assembled them without environmental permits or pollution controls. A new video, recorded by Oil Field Witness, an environmental group, shows vast plumes of pollution coming from those gas turbines.

I Was Banned From Nashville Airport For Protesting Uber

April 26, 2025 Monique Mcclain, Labor Notes. , , , ,
On February 14, I joined 50 other Uber and Lyft drivers, all of us members of the Tennessee Drivers Union, in a peaceful caravan at the Nashville airport to protest our low pay and dismal working conditions. Our action, which took place on public property and when our rideshare apps were turned off, coincided with Valentines Day protests by rideshare unions across the country. A few days later, 34 of us received emails and text messages from Uber and Lyft informing us that we were permanently banned from pick-ups at the Nashville airport. The rideshare companies falsely accused us of unlawfully picking up passengers at the arrivals level of the airport.

Lyft, Uber Drivers Banned From Tennessee Airport

March 4, 2025 Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams. , , , , , ,
A Tennessee union announced Monday that 34 Uber and Lyft drivers received messages "informing them that they had been permanently banned" from working at Nashville's airport after joining scores of workers for a peaceful caravan there last month to support a state bill that would impact the companies. The Tennessee Drivers Union (TDU) said in a statement that some participants, "including those in the passenger's seat not driving," were banned from providing rides at Nashville International Airport following the February 14 action, during which "participating Uber and Lyft drivers had their apps turned off."

Members In Motion Changed The Game In Daimler Contract Campaign

January 9, 2025 Chris Brooks, Jonah Furman, and Mike Morrison, Labor Notes. , , , , , ,
Inspired by the success of the Big 3 strike, United Auto Workers members at Daimler Truck North America ran a very different kind of contract campaign this year than we ever had before. The 7,300 members at DTNA’s four North Carolina plants and parts distribution centers in Atlanta and Memphis were very active, informed, and involved in the bargaining process. This is not how the union had done things in the past. Here’s what we did differently, and some ideas on how to keep members in the loop and in motion for an effective contract campaign.

Tennessee Rideshare Drivers Call Strike During Country Music Awards

November 20, 2024 People's Dispatch. , , , , ,
Tennessee Uber and Lyft rideshare drivers have called a strike on Wednesday, November 20, the day of the Country Music Awards. Drivers, organized with the newly-formed Tennessee Drivers Union (TDU), are demanding fair pay and better working conditions. These rideshare workers aim to use the strike to show that they are “essential to Tennessee’s 30 billion-dollar tourism economy” by disrupting an event that brings in millions of dollars each year.  According to TDU, Uber and Lyft take a cut of 60% to 80% from each ride. TDU reports an example of a rideshare driver earning USD 12.58, and a customer being charged USD 52.72.

Hundreds Of Rideshare Drivers Form Tennessee Drivers’ Union

September 2, 2024 People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , , , ,
On Tuesday, August 20, hundreds of rideshare drivers voted to form the Tennessee Drivers’ Union and to strike on Friday, August 30 to address worsening working conditions at the Nashville International Airport. Workers are striking strategically on Labor Day weekend, as they recognize that it is one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. These drivers represent 14 different nationalities and speak multiple languages. “We are many nations working for [a] common goal,” says the co-president of the Tennessee Drivers’ Union. “If we don’t come together as people striving for their rights then we will continue to suffer and [be] robbed by two giants, Uber and Lyft.”

Over 200 Dollar General Workers And Customers Protest Annual Meeting

May 30, 2024 Smithville Review. , , ,
Goodlettsville, TN — Over 200 Dollar General workers and customers gathered for a march and protest at the corporation’s annual shareholder meeting to demand store safety and better pay. The group gathered for a rally where workers delivered speeches to share their stories about the repeated hazards they face while working at Dollar General. The rally was followed by a march to Dollar General headquarters, where chants from the protest could be heard inside the shareholder meeting, according to three Dollar General workers who attended the meeting as proxies. Dollar General headquarters were on lockdown as protesters arrived.
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