Tami Sawyer Talks presents informed, independent, and engaging digital commentary hosted by activist and former elected official Tami Sawyer. Tami Sawyer tackles global and US issues through the lens of her reality as a southern Black woman. Each episode includes a special segment on the southern United States and her hometown of Memphis, TN.
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On The Record is the interviews that become Daily Memphian stories by Bill Dries. Read the stories and listen to the interviews for a combination that gives you a fuller context of the stories and issues that are essential Memphis.
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Forget about getting mad or getting even, this is a political show about how we are moving forward. Movement building pros Gina Christo and Wilnelia Rivera helped get Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-7) elected and know how deep democracy works when it centers the people we usually see at the margins. Each month they look at dumpster fires happening on the political ground and highlight the women, queer folk, and POC fighting the good fight and winning key battles across the country.
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S6E12: Democratic Senate nominee Gloria Johnson
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The Democrat challenging Republican U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn on the Nov. 5 ballot talks about the statewide campaign and the historic change in the Democratic presidential ticket on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast.
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S6E11: Lisa Arnold - The race for General Sessions Court Clerk and why it is important
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Tami Sawyer and Lisa Arnold are the candidates in the only countywide race to be decided by Shelby County voters this election year. Arnold is a retired supervisor in the clerk’s office who began working there part-time as a teenager.
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S6E10: Tami Sawyer - The race for General Sessions Court Clerk and why it is important
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Tami Sawyer and Lisa Arnold are the candidates in the only countywide race to be decided by Shelby County voters this election year. Sawyer is best known as a former county commissioner.
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S6E9: Shelby County Commissioner Mickell Lowery on hip-hop museum
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Shelby County Commissioner Mickell Lowery talks in the “On The Record” podcast about more specific plans for a hip hop museum in Memphis.
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S6E8: Mayor Harris talks about the compromises of county budget season
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Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris breaks down how county commissioners settled amid budget season, including keeping vacant positions on the books and local opposition to the Regional One Health rebuild.
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S6E7: Countywide voter registration numbers up as early voting approaches for August election
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Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips talks on the “On The Record” podcast about the upcoming August elections and voter turnout. Meanwhile, the latest election commission count shows 593,121 voters countywide as of May - an increase of approximately 10,000 voters from two years ago.By The Daily Memphian
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S6E6: Explaining the two major features of the Shelby County budget proposal
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Shelby County Budget Director Michael Thompson talks about the 2024 budget season in county government on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast as well as the savings found in vacant county positions.
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S6E5: County budget proposal ups county’s share of Regional One Health campus rebuild
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Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris talked on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast about his $1.6 billion county budget proposal and the change to more local funding for a rebuilding of the Regional One Health campus.By The Daily Memphian
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One of the artists working on new stained glass images for Historic Clayborn Temple talks on the “On The Record” podcast about bringing images of the 1968 sanitation workers strike to the frames of the landmark.
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County Commissioner Henri Brooks found out two years ago she was adopted through the Tennessee Children’s Home Society - a notorious black market adoption operation. Her lawsuit against the state could open a “floodgate.” Brooks talked about the sudden revelation in The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast series.…
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S6E2: Early voting begins for Super Tuesday in Tennessee
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Early voting in 2024’s first election in Shelby County begins Wednesday, Feb. 14. The Tennessee presidential primaries top the ballot, but Memphis voters haven’t seen much of the presidential campaigns this year.
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S6E1: August ballot contenders begin checking out petitions as early voting nears
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Tennessee Republican Party chairman Scott Golden talks in an “On The Record” podcast about the presidential primaries and general election races.
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S5E29: Inside the strategy of a winning mayoral campaign
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The On The Record podcast talks to Daniel Deriso and Grif Gray, who helped guide Mayor-elect Paul Young’s successful campaign.
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Daily Memphian political reporters Sam Hardiman and Bill Dries go over some notes on the 2023 city elections and what the unofficial results mean in an “On The Record” podcast.
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S5E27: Bill Dries interviews Marcus Pohlmann
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Marcus Pohlmann is a former political science professor at Rhodes College whose 2008 book “Opportunity Lost: Race and Poverty in Memphis City Schools” is required reading for teachers and school administrators in Memphis-Shelby County Schools. It is a case study of busing in Memphis City Schools.
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S5E26: Bill Dries interviews Roderick Richmond
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Roderick Richmond started at Shannon Elementary School as his neighborhood school at a time when busing as well as private schools were changing the definition of neighborhood schools in public and private school systems. For the first grade, he was bused to Wells Station Elementary School, which racially was a school in transition. His time as a s…
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S5E25: Bill Dries interviews Roshun Austin
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Roshun Austin is a founder of The Works Inc., a community development corporation. She is also a planner who works as a developer in some of the communities affected the most by the impact of busing. She grew up in the Hyde Park section of North Memphis. Austin is also on the board of Memphis Fourth Estate, the nonprofit behind The Daily Memphian.…
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The founder of Sound Diplomacy, a music industry consulting firm, talks about the groups coming work in Memphis on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast.
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S5E23: Bill Dries interviews Archie Willis III
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Chapter Three: 'Plan Z' busing begins.
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S5E22: Bill Dries interviews Edith Abakare
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Chapter Three: 'Plan Z' busing begins.
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S5E21: Bill Dries interviews Steve Steffens
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Steve Steffens arrived in Memphis with his family from rural Illinois and Arkansas in 1972, a semester before Plan A began. His neighborhood school was Oakshire Junior High in Whitehaven as an eighth grader. Oakshire and greater Whitehaven beyond the school was predominantly white at the time. Steffens and his family were part of that white majorit…
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S5E20: Bill Dries interviews former Memphis City Schools research and planning director O.Z. Stephens
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Drawing Plans A and Z.
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S5E19: Bonner says he's the answer to Memphis crime question
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The Daily Memphian's Samuel Hardiman interviews Floyd Bonner Jr.
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S5E18: Walking with Willie Herenton as he makes another bid for mayor
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The Daily Memphian's Samuel Hardiman interviews Willie Herenton.
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S5E17: In bid for mayor, Paul Young is out to change the city's reality
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The Daily Memphian's Samuel Hardiman interviews Paul Young.
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Memphis Mayoral Candidate Series: Van Turner
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Episode 5 of the Tami Sawyer Talks Memphis Mayoral Candidate Series features Van Turner, former County Commissioner and civil rights attorney. More info about Van Turner can be found at www.vanformemphis.com Seventeen candidates are on the ballot to be the next mayor of Memphis, and the people want to get to know them. Sourcing questions from socia…
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Memphis Mayoral Candidate Series: JW Gibson
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Episode 4 of the Tami Sawyer Talks Memphis Mayoral Candidate Series features JW Gibson, former County Commissioner and entrepreneur. More info about JW Gibson can be found at www.jwgibsonformayor.com Seventeen candidates are on the ballot to be the next mayor of Memphis, and the people want to get to know them. Sourcing questions from social media …
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S5E16: Political Roundup: J.W. Gibson and Earle Fisher
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We are joined by Doctor Earl Fisher, co-founder of the Memphis People's Convention.By The Daily Memphian
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Memphis Mayoral Candidate Series: Reggie Hall
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Episode 3 of the Tami Sawyer Talks Memphis Mayoral Candidate Series features Reggie Hall, South Memphis community leader and entrepreneur. More info about Reggie Hall can be found at www.reggiehallformayor.com Nineteen candidates have filed to run to be the next mayor of Memphis, and the people want to get to know them. Sourcing questions from soci…
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Memphis Mayoral Candidate Series: Michelle McKissack
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Episode 2 of the Tami Sawyer Talks Memphis Mayoral Candidate Series features Michelle McKissack, currently a member of the Memphis-Shelby County School Board. More info about Michelle McKissack can be found at www.michelleformemphis.com Eighteen candidates are expected to run to be the next mayor of Memphis and the people want to get to know them. …
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Episode 2: The Supreme Court's Commitment to White Supremacy
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This week Tami talks about SCOTUS' decisions and how the court upholds white supremacy and views Black Americans as second-class citizens. ---To Do List-- FOLLOW Tami on Twitter @tamisawyer / Instagram @tamisawyer901 READ Nikole Hannah-Jones - The Resegregation of Jefferson County READ Kwame Ture - Black Power WATCH James Baldwin: The Price of The …
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Memphis Mayoral Candidate Series: Paul Young
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Episode 1 of the Tami Sawyer Talks Memphis Mayoral Candidate Series features Paul Young, Executive Director of the Downtown Memphis Commission. More info about Paul Young can be found at www.youngformayor.com Fourteen candidates are running to be the next mayor of Memphis and the people want to get to know them. Sourcing questions from social media…
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S5E15: How to win a mayoral election with Cole Perry of Perry Strategy's
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The Daily Memphian's Sam Hardiman sits down with Cole Perry of Perry Strategies, which worked on Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland's two campaigns. Perry shares his insight on the crowded 2023 race and peels back the layers on what a successful campaign looks like.
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Episode 1: Orcas, Tulsa, the GOP Race to the Bottom, and Memphis
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This week Tami talks Orcas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, the GOPs race to the bottom, the Pakistani migrant crisis, and the Memphis City Council district races.By Tami
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Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris talks about the defeat of his wheel tax proposal on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast and says he is still pushing for county financing of the rebuilding of the Regional One Health campus.
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S5E13: JB Smiley Jr. mulls run for U.S. Senate
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He would be a heavy underdog in the general election were he to win the Democratic nomination.
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S5E12: County budget season hinges on property tax drop for wheel tax deal
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County Commission Budget Committee Chairman Michael Whaley talks about the proposed doubling of the county’s capital budget on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast.
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S5E11: Trolleys mark 9 years down and counting on riverfront loop and Madison line
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Nine years ago this month all trolleys stopped running following a fire on the Madison line. Nine years later, the Riverfront loop and Madison Avenue line are still down. MATA’s chief development officer talks about the delay on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast.
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S5E10: Strickland says DOJ investigation will show MPD culture
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Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said this week the results of a federal investigation will show whether Tyre Nichols’ death was part of broader cultural issues in the Memphis Police Department.
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S5E9: County approaches Green Fleet goals
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As a final county commission vote nears on a timeline for a green fleet on county government vehicles, there are a lot of questions about the aggressive timeline the county administration is setting toward the goal over the next decade.
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S5E8: Kirkwood renews push for police review board with fewer limits, more teeth
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CLERB chairman James Kirkwood talks in The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast about the review board’s possible role in investigating allegations of police misconduct, pending legislation in Nashville.
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Three contenders reported raising $300,000 or better in the first report of the mayor’s race. J.W. Gibson talked on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast about his mix of contributions with self financing and why he wants to depart from outgoing Mayor Jim Strickland’s “brilliant at the basics” theme.…
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City Council weighs Philadelphia police reform.
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S5E5: Shelby County Commissioner Britney Thornton
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Who gets county tax delinquent properties?
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S5E4: Strickland says outside review of MPD essential to questions about police culture
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Strickland said, on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast that an outside review of MPD’s special units will likely determine if police culture needs to change or if more police training is the answer.
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Next week, a specially equipped vehicle will begin a drive around of the city collecting data for later analysis on potholes and the condition of streets. The data will be analyzed to find and repair stretches of road for immediate action. The city is also experimenting with artificial intelligence that could make calling in reports of potholes a t…
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen talks about the new Republican majority in the U.S. House and the prospects for bipartisanship.
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S5E1: An unofficial primary for mayor and State House District 89 candidates forum
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The cofounder of the People’s Convention says a 2023 edition of the gathering could serve to whittle down the field in this year’s race for Memphis Mayor.
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S4E31: Shelby County November certified ballot, by the numbers
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The certified vote totals from the November election show an increase in the number of provisional ballots cast and counted compared to the August elections. The votes added didn’t change any of the outcomes on the November ballot, but they did boost the turnout to 34.4%.
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S4E30: What Tuesday's vote totals say about the bluest county in a red state
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The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast takes closer look at the unofficial results in the Tuesday Nov. 8 election and finds a lackluster show of support for the Democratic nominee for Governor in the bluest county in the state as well as interesting numbers from the four amendments to the state constitution.…
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