Dr. L. LaSimba Gray & Roby Williams

The City of Memphis Municipal elections is getting ready to begin we talk about them with Dr. L. LiSimba Gray and Roby Williams on The Bev Johnson Show on WDIA Radio.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Goodwill and good times. We're amten seventy w d I a Memphis I
from Reeve's Law Firm Studios called nineoh one five oh four four four four
four. Let us be your voice, Be your voice dot com Memphis probably
presents The Beam Johnson Show. Letme say bad, done m game,

(00:31):
Let me say bad She's done damphisgame. No man, the problem.
She can help you show all yourmind ship to me that he by channing

(00:57):
you to just keep I do whenI go, I'm picking up fifty does
and shows because they've gotta have anhere every day. Your d I ain't
to place my Bi've got me thisstoking get h Good morning, Good morning,

(02:01):
good morning, and welcome in tow d I A The Bev Johnson
Show. It is indeed a pleasureto have you with us once again on
this Friday, September fifteenth, twentytwenty three. Enjoy this fabulous day to
day. On Friday's we talk aboutrelationships. Help make yours healthy, happy,

(02:23):
wholesome, wonderful, and most ofall loving between concerning adults. And
we'll have a different relationship day today. Yeah, yeah, you're gonna
like it. I think you're gonnalike it. Doctor Jefferies is in sessions.
She will be here. But we'regonna talk today and get you involved,

(02:43):
so you will now, Yeah,you will know when it's your turn
to talk. All you need todo is dial this number nine zero one
five three five nine three four two. That nine zero one five three five

(03:04):
nine three four two. We'll getyou in to us. And if this
day, this day, Friday Septemberfifteenth, twenty twenty three, is your
birthday. Happy birthday to each andevery one of y'alla out there who may

(03:29):
be celebrating a birthday on this dayand on Saturday, September sixteenth, Sunday
September seventeenth as well. Happy birthday, y'all go out and celebrate your life.
Yeah better, You're better when wecome back. Very special guests in
the studio next with me Bev Johnsonon The Bev Johnson Show, only on

(03:58):
w d I B B. Holythe Man, Take girl, I'm gonna

(05:30):
need your baby. Good morning.Yeah, I hear your brother, I
hear you. You're always on mymind. Good morning, Yes we do.
Good morning, good morning, goodmorning, and welcome in to w
d I A The Bev Johnson Showit is indeed a pleasure to have you
with us once again on this Friday, September fifteen, twenty twenty three.

(05:54):
Enjoy this fabulous day to day.Well, you know, as on Fridays
we have reallyationship day where we talkabout relationships to help make yours healthy,
happy, wholesome, wonderful, andmost of all loving between considering adults.
But today we won't. Doctor Jefferiesis in session today. Yeah she still

(06:15):
works, she still works, butshe won't be in today. But I
have a very special relationship day today because we need to know, we
need to know some things. Todayis the first day of early voting,
and we're going to talk about votingand how important it is. And I
have some very special guests in thestudio that I will be talking with.

(06:40):
So what I want you to dois sit back, relax and listen when
it is your turn to talk,because I know you will have some questions.
I know you will, and hereis the number to dial five three
five nine three four two five fivenine three four two. We'll get you

(07:03):
into us. So sit back andrelax as we talk elections this day on
the BEB Johnson Show right here onW d i A. You're listening to

(07:40):
the Bev Johnson Show celebrating thirty sixyears of good times and Goodwill on w
d i A, the Heart andSoul of Memphis. Ten seventy. W
d IA is encouraging you to makeplans to vote in this upcoming Memphis municipal

(08:03):
election. October fifth is election day, and you don't have to wait until
then. Early voting starts Friday,September fifteenth and goes through Saturday, September
thirty. Your vote matters, andit's crucial you vote. Did you know
that a new mayor could get aslow as thirty percent of the vote and
be elected mayor of Memphis. Let'sall get out and vote. Your vote

(08:24):
matters. We'll see you at thepolls. A reminder from your Goodwill and
Good Time station ten seventy w Opage. Everyone got talking now everyone,

(08:56):
Good morning and welcome back to wd i A. It is Friday,
as we say around here. Friya, it's September fifteenth, twenty twenty three.
Enjoy this fabulous day to day andlet me remind you the Bab Johnson
Show is being brought you by WashingtonBrothers Roofing it's going to rain again.

(09:18):
So call Washington Brothers roofing at ninezero one for eight six zero six zero
nine. That's nine zero one foreight six zero six zero nine. Well,
today is relationship Day, and it'sa different kind of earlyationship day because
today is the day of early votingfor the City of Memphis municipal election.

(09:43):
And wanted to talk about that andtalk about it with some brothers who know
a little bit about city elections.And let me welcome in to the show
and to Wdia. No strangers.We have the honorable I to say,
doctor l Lesimba Gray is in thehouse, and my friend, well the

(10:05):
friend brothers, I guess, inthe house, and Robbie Williams in the
house. Good morning, fellas,how are you doing well? Thank you
Bell for having us. You areso welcome. Well, today is the
first day of early voting for theCity of Numphis municipal elections. And when
I think about this day, DoctorGray, and and and Robie, you

(10:28):
think I go back a long ways. That we've come a long way.
Absolutely, we really have come alongwhen you think about it, and and
you were probably here doctor graywin fromfrom Chandler Mayor Lobe Chandler. As we
going down the line, hack It, Harrington, Wharton, Strickland, and

(10:50):
now here we are again to votesomebody in for mayor. But before we
talk about it, let's let's talkabout, because you have history with us,
and how we got to the point, doctor Gray, of electing a
mayor no runoffs. Let's talk aboutthat. Well belt at the very center
of all of that was the radiostation WDIA. Ernie Jackson coming one day

(11:16):
and said, Leo, He said, I'll give you all the radio time
you need if you head up theboycott. I said, for what?
He said, city council just voteddown the city budget for the school board.
I said what I said? Youknow, we don't need no protest.
I said, we need a lawsuit. He said what kind of lawsuit?
I said, Voting Rights Act.Lawsuit. Because of the theory of

(11:37):
the one man, one vote,it's been violated whenever you have these runoffs
on a continuous basis. We hadhad about four of them. So Ernie
Jackson, well, you organize that. I'll get the money. And Ernie
Jackson I don't know where he isnow. You know Ernie's disease. I
did not know that yes we areindebted to that brother, Yes we are.
Brother. Put WDA on the frontline and for the first time of

(12:01):
the collaboration with w D, IA and wl OK on the Jackson and
Art Gilliam lay at that movement andwithout a trial. I didn't know that
without a trial, bay of nono trial. When Jerome Turner got the
lawsuit, and see it took usa long time to get a lawyer to

(12:24):
file the lawsuit, and Otis Higgssaid I'll do it. And when he
filed the lawsuit, Jerome Turner,a Republican judge, federal judge, said
that it is a violation of theUS Constitution under the Voting Rights Act.
No trial and that ended the runoffin city elections and Mayor W. W.

(12:50):
Harrington was elected, the first AfricanAmerican mayor to be elected. Now
you know the history of Joe Pattersonhad served as an interim Yes, yes,
uh uh mayor because of a channelergoing to a judge ship. But
that was in uh nineteen ninety thatwe founded the lawsuit. And Chandler,

(13:11):
yeah, oh, Chacke Hackett firsttime. Well, see the chandeler was
uh was prior to Hackett and Hackettwas in the seat when we founded the
lawsuit. Okay, and Uh atthat time, Muhammed Uh had found a
lawsuit about the at large elections,diluting UH the African American voting. And
I met him in Washington, DCat the airport and I said, hey,

(13:33):
man, how are you coming.He's I'm struggling and I'm struggling.
I said, we're gonna, We'regonna join you in that lawsuit. He
said, come on in Nissa mayp. But see, we took the approach
of the runoff, okay, whileMuhammed had the approach of the at large
seats. That's what he was fighting. So when the when the UH judgment
came down, the ruling came down, Brother, we had UH doctor W.

(13:54):
W. Harrington elected mayor. Sothat's the history of it. Wow,
Uh fighting to preserve that power.And now here's what happened there.
We got all that political power,but somewhere roby we went to sleep.
I met Midden guilt. We wentto sleep. Yeah, because that political
power was supposed to transfer a transformbrother, political power into economic power.

(14:18):
And we went to sleep, andthe money kept going the same direction that
had been going under the lobe,under the Channel and under the dick Hacket
administrations, and the money kept goingthe same way. So we got a
lot of jobs, but we reallydidn't turn the economic tide and the way
that it should have gone. Andthat's critically the problem still facing us.

(14:41):
Yeah. Well, and and andso with that that lawsuit again, because
I want to be clear that thatended run off elections, right, That's
why I see Gerald Patterson had beaten, had won the election prior to w
I'd be running okay, but helost to hack It in the runoff.

(15:03):
And two okay, he lost tohim. And because we go out and
say, hey, Robert, you'regonna vote. I've already voted. When
did you vote? I voted?Sons Also, I said that was the
general, not a runoff r I'vealready voted. But the attitude in our
commander was they had already voted,right, So you couldn't ever get people
to go back to the poll asecond time. That was a difficult gotcha.
And so but here's the thing.Dick Hacket did not challenge the election,

(15:26):
which was really an unusual thing,particularly in the fight that had been
fought intensely as that one had beenfought, but he wouldn't challenge the election.
And if he had, we wouldhave had a runoff. But he
would not challenge that runoff, andwe went down in history. Not only
is that, please appreciate this audience. In nineteen this lawsuit by La Simbo

(15:48):
Grade, Randy Wade, Our Gilliam, doctor Billy Cows. May he rest
in peace when sneedne I'm over looking, oh, Doctor Bill Atkins and Bill
Atkins, they all foul this lawsuitin nineteen nineteen antecedent to the mayor's race.
In nineteen ninety one, they eliminatedthe runoff provision. Now consider this.

(16:08):
You may recall the doctor Harrington onethat election in nineteen ninety one by
one hundred forty two votes. That'sright. In the January election, there's
a guy named Robert Prince Mungo Hodgen, Yeah, who got five thousand votes.
If they have a runoff election,the folks who voted for Prince Mungo
are likely to vote for Hacket.I don't know little black folks who vote

(16:30):
for Prince Mungo in nineteen ninety one, you might, I don't hello.
So, but for this lawsuit innineteen ninety there would be non Meryl Harrington.
We need to understand that. Andthis same lawsuit established the super districts.
Okay, and I'm let doctor Graytalk about that. The super the
same lawsuit exactly. And so Iain't gonna say no nothing less. I
just wanted everybody. We want youto jump in if you need to,

(16:52):
all right, but everybody, thisis the main point. But for this
lawsuit in nineteen nineteen, we wouldhave had a run off in nineteen ninety
one. Now five thousand people whodidn't vote for Hackett or Harrington voted for
Prince Mungo. Now who y'all thinkthey did want to vote for him the
runoff? Hello, But for thislawsuit, and I want to salute doctor

(17:14):
Gray, doctor Atkins, Art Gilliam, Ernie Jackson, because that's heroic what
they did. That was a differencemaker. But for this lawsuit, we
didn't have a black maid in ninetyone. We wouldn't have a black maid
in ninety one. Wow, thankyou, brother, here's the thing,
and thank you Roby for your supportingthe support over the years. The other
thing was this lawsuit resulted with amajority of African Americans serving on the school

(17:37):
Board, which at that time hada billion dollar budget. It also gave
us majority on the Shelby County Commissionthat handled millions and billions of dollars.
So all of that lawsuit just didn'tdidn't win the mail's office for us.
It changed the political landscape of ShelbyCounty. So talking about the lasses that

(18:00):
that the new shape we have.And then we're talking about this election coming
up exactly and and I want togo back, doctor Grad. I don't
know if you were part of that. We hear so much about the people's
convention choosing one candidate and talk aboutyou can talk about that because now we

(18:22):
have and I understand people can runif they want to do that. Yeah,
we understand that. Now we haveall these candidates, but seventeen is
something running for mayor for mayor.You know that's the heart breaking part.
Okay uh Robi remembers when the RepublicanParty would run for an office in the

(18:42):
county didn't have a runoff. Theythey saw that they coming that they couldn't
win without a runoff. So whatthey did they started their own primarily the
Republican primary that they paid for initially. Then they got tired of that.
Initially, we make the public paperpay for that primary, so then you
start having partisan elections in the county. So in the county, when you

(19:06):
run for mayor, you're gonna runfor either the Republican seat or the Democratic
seat in the primary. The primaryreduces or eliminates twenty or forty other people
running. The top two will thenface each other. It's a shame that
we can have a primary in thecounty, but we can't have a primary
in the city of Memphis. Andthat's why the foolishness goes on. You

(19:27):
got seventeen people failing to run forone position. Right when it makes up
again, it dilutes the African Americanvote again. And then a one Caucasian
person can walk right down the middleof that. You got seventeen of us
in the racing. One of themcan get in the race and walk right
down and win every time. It'samazing to me, And I'm still waiting

(19:48):
for Robot to explain to me,Yeah, while we don't have a white
candidate for may you know, anddoctor Gray, I'm asking, I'm saying,
we don't have a white candidate formayor. I am so happy you
asked question. Okay, now Iwant you to follow me really really closely,
our audience. Okay, consider this. There was a white candidate for
mayor. He backed out. Nowthey have decided all the strategy they are

(20:11):
we're going to try to pick offone of our super district seats. Consider
this. If you get a copyof the vote of the UH. This
is UH the City of Memphis Municipalelection, Chervy County, Tennessee, October
fifth. It has a list ofall the candidates running for all the offices.
Now understand this. In nineteen ninetywhen pastor doctor Greg theytablished, they

(20:33):
found a lawsuit they'll established six superdistricts. They were broad uh the large
geographical area. But they said theyset it up such that there will be
three African American super districts and threeCaucasian super districts. And that's where it's
being up to now every time andright now today running in the they're super
district. Now we're super District eight. Running in Super District eighth. You

(20:56):
have three incumbents. You have ChaseCarlisle for Canally and Jeff Warren. They
all got walkovers. They have somebodyrunning against him. I don't know any
of these people who are running again. In fact, Jeff Warren is unopposed.
Now we have one incumbent and twoopen seats in super District eight.
The one incumbent is uh, excuseme is uh uh JD smiling and he's

(21:18):
unopposed, unopposed. But we have, but we have. If you see
that we have two seats open,that's District two. In District three.
Now, in District two, wegot one two three four five six people
running, all black. In Districtthree we got one two three four five
six seven people running and one Caucasian. Now you may recall in nineteen,

(21:40):
in two thousand nine, two thousandand six, we had all those people
running to succeed Harold Ford Junior,right and in congressman and Steve Cohen came
in and one with twenty something percentof the voted. They're about because we
had so many people running. Uh. And I was supporting Marville Mitchell Senior
in two thousand and six, andI was upset about that, and I
told him, I vill, I'ma father, this dude. I'm if
he mess up, I'm aa ifhe split on the side, white split

(22:00):
on the sidewalk and step on thecrack on the sidewalk. I got him,
and you run against him in twothousand, but he worked behind off
in game. I suspect my respect. He served us well, however.
But Congressmancoin had legislative experience on theCounty Commission, where he was the final
vote to established the mid He votedwith him with Vasco and and and and
and and that was the final vote. He was an exciting vote. And

(22:26):
he served in the state Senate wherehe is the architect of the lottery.
And I have a lot of respectfor example, idea that I'm gonna say
this on the radio now, howlong do you think he would have taken
him to get that? I'm asalesman. How long do you think he'd
have taken him to get that lotterydone? If these concept meet me in
the cloak room, I got anidea. I got an idea that would
have black folks and members to prayfor your kids college education. It took

(22:48):
forty five minutes. But he didn'tdo that. And I respect him a
lot for that he did because hepushed that honorably, pushed that that that
boulder up the hill by himself.He was prepared. He had a law
degree from Memphis State and an undergraduatedegree from from from Vanderbilt, so he
was prepared and he was experienced.However, however, today we got six

(23:11):
black folks in this race super Districtthree, and we have one Caucasian.
And the Caucasian has a high schooldiploma? Are you hearing me? What?
What? The caucasian running in therace has a high school diploma,
that's all he has. And nowin education exactly now the city of Memphis.
And don't mis understand me. Okay, there are places for him to

(23:33):
serve. Oh, he can bethe the the the the the the the
head master what are you called it? The master? No, no,
the the what's called the guy headof a parade? Oh? Oh oh
Marshall Grand marsh white Haven Parade parade. But I don't want somebody to represent
me on and this is my districttoo. Now. Martavius Jones represents us

(23:55):
in this district as president of theBlack Business Association. I know that Mark
Caves Jones can count. Martevis Joneswas able with Joe Brown to get more
money to support black businesses on theSey Council. But I don't know this
boy. I don't know if thisboy canterfifteen with the shoes are m well?
And he's a newcomer right, yes, because I've never heard his name

(24:17):
before. What Robi's pointing out is, yeah, is that we got to
do a better job a voter education. Yes, understand who you're voting for,
what the record is not, allowfor get excited about what people promise,
But I don't know what have youdone? Yeah, what have you
performed? At what level have youperformed? Then I have a better way

(24:37):
of looking at who you are andwho you might and what you might do
for me. But if I'm justI got to listen to what you say
you're gonna do promises, then Idon't have much to go. And so
what Robi's saying is we got todo a better job of screening our candidates
for the education and and and doctorGray. I said that yesterday. I
said, all politicians gonna say somethingabout crime and this and this and prom

(25:00):
but hey, if it it's notnecessarily when when they get into that office,
they will be able to do thatabsolutely absolutely, because every every group,
whether you have a constituency before youget to office, you will soon
have one after you get an office, and the constituency that that beats on
the drum the loudest and screams theloudest, really and we all that squeaks

(25:22):
the loudest normally gets the awe.So then you got to be uh constituently
involved once the person gets an office. And that was a mistake we made.
We went home applauding the big majorelections and the constituencies around these guys
and what their interests were. Theywent to see them on a regular basis,
They attended see the council meetings,they attended civic meetings in the community,

(25:45):
and on it or not. Andwe got to do a better job
of doing that. And uh,aspert Robi's point, now, we have
not done proper screening of these candidates. We listened to who's endorsing them,
yes, and and the kinds ofyard signs that got up the bill boards
they got up, and then weget on the bandwagon as some bandwagons,
I'm not gonna get on. Andhey, I'm like you, doctor Gray.

(26:07):
Yeah, And I was saying this, I was thinking about this,
and I remember years ago, doctorGray, years years years and I was
telling our listeners, I remember whensomething was wrong in the city. You
guys, I can see doctor atwill be at that city council. It
would be packed. It would bepacked. Yeah, it would be packed.
Wait, we hear stuff. Nowthe folks are not down there at

(26:29):
the city council or the county.I'm going like, what the hell's going
on? Well, I think thedisconnect between how things get done. Okay,
you know, the the city Council, for example, passes the budget,
the County Commission passes the budget,the city council control passes the budget,
and the mail then implements the budget. So you got to find out

(26:52):
how's the budget being formed, Whenis it being formed, how's it being
formed? How did I get involvedin that process? Well, I had
to salute Martavius Jones did an outstandingjob as chairman of the budget committed before
he became the chairman of the CityCouncil. And because of term limitation,
we're gonna lose that tremendous mind.Yeah, but my point is that when

(27:14):
we learn the process, same thingto the county commission. The county Commission
sets the budget, the mayor implementsthe budget. The county Commission they have
what's called community enhancement grants one hundredplus thousand dollars. Each one has to
give back to the community. Whenyou follow the process and the procedure,
you can apply for that money tocome back into your community to do things

(27:37):
in your community. If you understandthat process. Yes, and then once
the budget is given to the mayor, then the mayor implements the budget according
to what the County Commission and thecity Council will propose. But I think
that's the problem because we don't understandit. We don't understand it. Beverly
Lane Johnson. Last year, agentleman pointed out to me when all these
people were running for judge and friendsare running against had two friends in the

(28:00):
same way. He said, Roby, we are as a people, we
are going to have to become moresophisticated about elections and about how we vote.
Yes, now, in this particularelection, District eight, position three,
we've been played. Understand this.There's no Caucasian running for mayor.
All of their bests are owned thisrace, and they're trying to hope that
we are not smart enough to electsomebody to represent us in our district.

(28:23):
This is our seat. They havethree seats. It was conceived there were
three seats there would be majority ofwhite, and three seats in the district
that would majority of black. Andnow they've placed There's always been interlopers who
come into our community and Sabbo tours, and now they have a Sabato who's
gonna try to steal one of ourseats. And somebody said, well,
y'all got eight and they got five, so they're trying to make get six.

(28:44):
I said, okay, in whatis this percentage of Memphis African America
were sixty four point four percent.I was a multiplier. Sixty six point
six four four times thirteen and you'llget something like eight point three two.
Now, I'm not gonna require thatthat fifth seat be thirty two percent black.
But what I'm saying is this wasconceived to be our seat. There

(29:06):
is an interloper playing us, andthis young man is brilld I hope to
meet him someday. In fact,I let him know that I am one
of the few people in Memphis whoknow all the words the first episode at
Hydington. That's the Elton John's songon the album Elton John. So I'm
gonna seem to someday, brother.But what I'm saying is this, He's
an entertainer and I appreciate that,but we don't need him in this position.

(29:29):
This is a position where we needpeople who count money. This is
mar Tavias Jones seat. And I'mtelling you Memphis right now that Mark Tavias
Jones helped survive the Black Business Associationbecause our budget was inadequate to perform and
help the minority businesses that we do. He and Jim Strickland helped the Black
Business Associate. He Jim Strickland andmy dear friend mister Joe Brown. But

(29:52):
for them BBA might be out ofbusiness. And Ernest Strickland, who succeeded
me, Yeah, is doing suchwonderful work down there. I gotta give
a shout out to me to EarnestStrickland. The president of the Black Business
Association, Willie Gregory said, youknow, Robie willing On, somebody over
here may have a successful succession plan. He was succeeded by Mark Ate.
Happy birthday, Mark Yates. Yeah. And then when TVA come and made
my art market offer, he couldn'trefuse. Yeah, we got Ernest Strickland.

(30:15):
Yeah. From good to better thebest, and and I'm overwhelmed by
it. And so, folks,we got to understand how we vote.
And our people in our community whohave supported this gentleman, I'm not angry
at them. They got played.It's okay. This guy would go around
with a selfie stick and take picturesof himself picking up trash and then take
it to a community and leader.He was smart enough to know who the
community leaders were, and he puttinghold of them. And he has a

(30:37):
nice smile and a shoe shine anda firm handshake. And you'll go out
there, I'm supporting your community.And now I'll bring some gifts to you
for you for this that you're havingand that that you're having. And that's
wonderful and I appreciate it. Butwe don't need to make him our city
councilman. There are other places wherehe can share. We need somebody own
there who can count money and whowill make sure that we get our share
of the path. This is wherewe always miss. Now. I had
to go to the committee that citycouncil every year and ask or a budget

(31:00):
for the Black Business Association, andI would get thirteen votes. Quite prepare.
But but I want people on thatcommittee on the City Council who can
make solid decisions on behalf of thepeople who were represent that that resident black
people. I'm glad you said that. And I want to say this before
we take a break. And doctorGreig and we were gonna have people who
said, I don't think I'm gonnavote, I'm gonna vote. I don't

(31:23):
get people their mindset, Doctor Graysaying that now still saying I'm not gonna
vote from me, I'm not gonnavote if I don't get that. It's
tragic that people think like that andnot knowing the connection. Lobo just talked
about yeah, uh an agency,the Black Business Association being able to connect
but the city Council and get fundingto do what they do to help other

(31:45):
black businesses. Right the connection.A lot a lot of people have lost
the connection. Roby, you wantto shine in on that. Well,
the value, folks, I see, I understand this value. It's not
a constant. You and I havevalue the vote because we came up who
we had to fight to get it. Yes, Meg Ever's valued the vote.

(32:06):
Great man. Yes, he losthis life. My lady, I
loved that. I met, Igot Mama Faanny lou Hammer. I had
the privilege doctor rate to meet herwhen I lived in Jackson's wonderful But but
but Fatty lou Hammer Strong tell aboutspeaking truth to power. Come on,

(32:27):
and you see where we are.Young people don't value the vote and old
people our aids got to stop tellingthem, Hey, people died for the
vote. Yeah, they don't valuethat, don't But you know what they
do value college own college LWN release. Hello, they valued adversity. Hello.
They value the right to choose.And so we've got to reach them
and talk to them about this candidatewill support your right to choose? Why

(32:47):
this Candida gonna make you? Youmake your daughter have a have a baby
to chairman she raped at age ten, and that distinction will make a person
vote. So we have got todo a better job of communicating with our
young people. Called. I don'tknow anybody who's twenty two years old would
not support somebody who will leave collegeloans. Yes, So this is what
we have to do a better jobof communicating, And we have to do
a better job of affecting our youngpeople. And we have got to reach

(33:10):
out to our young people and we'vegot to lead with our ears. When
we talk to our young people,we got to listen. Yes, and
the guy who I hope to winthis, well, I don't want.
Ain't got no money so I can'tpay. But anyway, that's right,
that's right. But we young people, yours is the future. And consider
this, young folk. If y'allguys went out and vote, if y'all,

(33:32):
it's more y'all than all of us. You. I'm a baby boomer.
There are more young people than thereare baby boomers. Now, y'all
could have all of these jobs ify'all, y'all, if you guys were
out and vote, y'all have allthese positions. Yeah, you're right.
We are talking elections today, Yeah, we are. This is a relationship

(33:52):
that we need to hear about.We are going to open up our phone
lines for you all. You mayhave a question and four mister Robie Williams
is here. Doctor Lasimba Gray ishere. Our number nine zero one five
three five nine three four two.That's nine zero one five three five nine

(34:15):
three four two. You're listening tow D I A A Hi. This
is David Porter, and you arelistening to the Queen of Talk, BEV
Johnson. She is the one andonly no one can topple, no one

(34:37):
can stop it, and I'm inlove with her. You're listening to Bev
Johnson at w d I A.Years. WDIA has been the musical fabric

(35:04):
of Memphis. Hello, this isdoctor Michelle Taylor, great granddaughter of Ac
Moon Hall Williams, and I wantto congratulate a. M ten seventy w
d i A on your seventy fifthradio anniversary. Thank you for being the
heart and soul of Memphis. Youwill forever be our goodwill and good time

(35:29):
station. AM ten seventy w di A. We're still your station of
goodwill and good times, celebrating seventyfive years on the radio. Ten seventy
w d i A over the town, working on to bring you days,

(35:50):
never singing for Eve, the befriendo good and Today it is politics and

(36:13):
we are talking about the City ofMemphis municipal elections and also giving you some
education if you don't know how thiscame about. Of no runoffs. My
guest is doctor Ellison, but Grayis here and mister Roby Williams, Guys,
I am going to our phone linesto talk to some of our listeners.

(36:34):
Thank y'all for waiting. Pooty Tang, Hey Bear, how are you
doing. I'm doing well, PootyTang, how are you bear? You
have two of them are good friends, and there mister Gray and oh Robie
Williams. All right talk after doingto all three of you, old,
I take thank you. This electionis very serious, very serious as far

(37:01):
as the mayor and as far asthe city councils. You sity have issues
and I don't really. I'm reallyrespect because you have two of my good
friends up there, two of'emthat I respect highly. But both of

(37:22):
them men know where I'm coming from. And bel I can be number of
respected in the city belt. Youunderstand, Bell, I'm a highly rare
respected black businessman in the city belt, and I fight hard for my people.
And I go to city council andmeeting Belle, and I hear foolish

(37:46):
numbers. Don't lie to meet Baith. I see black men that's educated,
educated, that's going against their ownpeople. You hear me, Bail,
you're my black sister. I'm listeningto you, and let me tell my

(38:08):
let me tell my Greek family outhere something. And I mean this.
I see where doctor King was assassinated. In this great city of Memphis,
Tennessee. It don't take much forus to sell one another out. This

(38:32):
election is very serious. Take alook around at Memphis, take a look
look at your city. People.We've been it's kicked off from ac Warden
and rebold back from mass quickling people. We gotta wake up. Stop accepting

(38:53):
every smile that face that come tous. Look at the dollars. W
I take so much for us towake up? Why that's a good question.
I hesion my black people. Theytake an advantage of our people in

(39:16):
this city. And God don't likeit. I'm gonna see one more thing,
and I'm all bail okay, andmister Gray yes, and Ruby,
God don't like ugly. And howmuch longer you think God is gonna put

(39:37):
up with this foolish and Memphis.He can't accept people that are using their
own people. My mom sent meto school to get education and say do

(39:57):
the best you can do. Butwhen you get out of it, it's
the help help your people. Icame him up the projects, Bill and
Robbie and mister Gray. I cameout from projects. I was the only
black man in this city. Thathad a contract and when it comes to
helping my folks, I can helpmy people when you have contracts. Right,

(40:23):
do you have a city that isin poverty and we gotta to start
keeping it one hundred with each other, the powers that be. We gotta
stop being so greedy. White andblack must come together in this city.

(40:45):
That's not all the black things andso white and black things. Until we
come together, Yes, it won'tbe no happiness in this city. It's
not white and it's it's white andblack. All right. We we we
have a good take. Man.Thank you. We feel your we feel

(41:08):
your passion. Brother, Yes,yes, hang on in there. Hi,
Ron, Good morning love. Howare you? Good morning Ron?
I'm doing well in yourself, brother, not bad for an old dude.
Good morning, gentlemen. Morning Ron. You got a great voice morning.
Yes he does, he does,Yes, yes he does. I appreciate

(41:35):
Ben. Here's here's my question toyou. With everything that's going on and
the black vote being basically ignored andtried to be eliminated, I would agree
that that the young folks are us, But what do you do the good
black folks back to the polls whenthey feel like vote doesn't matter that they've

(41:58):
been disinfranchised, and you see allof the redlining and things that are going
on to screw black folks out ofa vote. What do you do to
get those elderly black votes back tothe to the to the polls because we
have historically we have an abysmal recordof voting and I would love to see
that change. Now, how doyou do now you know you're asking impossible

(42:22):
questions, the question that's impossible toask. What we must do? What
we have are a lot of whatsome people call low information voters, and
they're being played because it candidate thinkshe can just buy his way onto somebody's
ballot and they'll give that ballot tosomebody on the day of the election,

(42:42):
and somebody to go in there andsay, I'm a vote who's on this
ballot? I don't know that thathis work since nineteen eighty two. But
when that was the first forward ballotthat got you the Jullian debat Ma Nerva
Johnathan, that was nineteen eighty two. The forward value the Ford ballot had
real value then. But I don'tknow about all these other ballots that are
going on to day. But whatwe must do is understand in democracy,
the well informed voter is the personwho can save the day. It's it's

(43:07):
incumbent upon each of us to bewell informed. There is a concept called
we love man about that. Butwe have got to get out and vote.
And even if you don't care foranybody who's running, vote anyway.
I used to vote in the Republicanprimaries in the early nineteen nineties. Uh,
I ain't running for nuns, soy'all can hold that against me.
But I go in there and writein the name of the journal truth,
Harriet tub Bro. But you didthat. I surely did well. You

(43:31):
know. Let me take another takeanother perspective on that. At this junction.
We need every vote we can get. Every vote should be cashed with
a purpose. And uh we weget lost in the emotions of this thing,
and you can lose the power ofthe city. The city has the
power to transform. We're fighting twentyfive percent in poverty. We can change

(43:53):
that with one man with the visionto do that. We got crime in
this city, we can change that. The mayor who has the has the
uh the unction to appoint a policedirector who would be effective connected in this
community. You bring somebody here fromout of town, and it takes some
five years to get to know thetown. But get somebody who knows the
town, somebody who would go inand and and fight crime. And you

(44:15):
know, for Tyree Nichols to diein this town is an embarrassment. I
don't care who who's in charge.But here's the other point. The mayor
appoints the MLG in w CEO,we can't get uh, the the infrastructure
for the utilities in this town street. Every time it storms, we our

(44:35):
power goes off. That's ridiculous.I end up calling Robert, Robert,
you got power down there, Roberts. Now I ain't got none down here.
But the point of it is,that's ridiculous in these modern and modern
times with technology to have advanced theway it has. But so the mayor's
position is very, very key interms of what we do. Uh.
Let me say something historical. Uh, when Mayor Harrington is elected that a

(45:00):
lot of folk thought Memphis would rolloff into the river. It did not.
Did happen. Memphis became one ofthe best managed cities in America.
True story. Under doctor Harrington.I mean, the point of it was,
we bring to the table a geniusand an expertise and a willingness that
the many ethnic groups don't have becauseof the crucible that we've come out of.

(45:23):
And doctor Harrington did a fantastic jobthe first three terms that he was
in office. The point of itis it can happen again. You got
people who have been trained now todo these jobs. You've got young engineers,
you got city planners, you gotindividual businesspeople, entrepreneurs who know how
to grow businesses. That's what it'sgonna take. And so when you go

(45:44):
to the poll, Gold, whatare you gonna do to change the crime
in this city? To improve theutility deliverance in this city? And who's
gonna fight the the housing? Uh, the inadequate housing is a major problem
in now city. How are yougonna what you're gonna do fight those things?
And let's be real with him andhold him accountable. That's the other
piece. I love speak, man, What do you say, ron I

(46:07):
say? I love hearing him speakbecause he's speaking truth and he's addressing the
issues that faced us today. Yousee what's happening here? Is I hear
when people run for office, folks, everybody's anti crime and everybody is pro
education across the board. Now whatwe have to do is say, okay,
help me to understand what your plansare to address the crime the crime

(46:30):
issue. Help me to understand whatyour plans are to improve the test scores
in education. It see, it'seasy to give up, give up align
anti crime. And oh, bythe way, everybody listen. If you
will on your smart TV say sayhit your microphone and say YouTube poet Black

(46:51):
Ice the poem. Imagine, lookat that, and then I'll have some
ideas about how we should address thiscrime issue, because I believe at the
foundation of the crime issue are youngpeople who don't have interests and who haven't
been provided choices. I believe this. Pee Kirkland said this years ago.
A child who has a choice hasa chance, but a child without choices
will take chances. Now, ourchildren are not aware of what the good

(47:14):
choices are. How can you,in another word, say, when you
have a guy, a kid whowants to do right but who does not
want to do wrong, but there'sa lock on the right door, what's
he do? And this is whatis happening. When they told me they
had a thirteen year old with thear fifteen. I said, Okay,
what other choices did he have?I mean, what did you choose not
to do to pick up the airfifteen? See years ago? He could

(47:37):
have been playing w DiiA baseball.Where that that When I was a child,
it was a WA B w dI a baseball team in every community,
every community, where are they seekids who playing in WDIA baseball.
Don't run around breaking folks houses?Hello? Hello? What we give our
children something positive to do? Whenin some aspirations to live For some when

(47:58):
gyms are opening in young boys playingshorts, oh hardwood courts, hoping the
inspired to be a great doctor jor a great Michael Jordan or a great
Steph Curry. That gives them somethinginspired to And at the same time a
community see a guy like Osan Lucasaid, pull up your pants, let
me see your report card. That'sputting them in the right direction. And
this is what we need more ofoutside on meright that is going We need

(48:21):
me need more of The solutions arein our in our hands. All we
have to do is work the ron. You want to add anything else?
I do? I want to knowwhere do you go for the truth?
Because as we as We well knowa lot of the media sources that Wudi
expluded. We'll give you a floweryversion of it, and usually it's tainted

(48:45):
as far as as black folks areconcerned. So where do black folks go
to learn the real truth? DoctorGray? Well, there are several places
you can really go. Lemon InCollege is one of those places. In
your church is where you have propheticministers involved. You can learn the truth
and the truth is not filtered.And when you come to a church like

(49:07):
Mount Pisgo you get the full gospel, You get the whole gospel. Church
is like a new starlist Baptist churchwhere a new Dale Harrington, this pastor
Benjamin lost some hooks. Those daysare gone, but the church still perpetuates
the truth and you can get itand you can also discern it when you
go and listen, so they Ipray. But lament On College is probably

(49:29):
one of the most overlooked resources inthe sea of members when it comes to
the empowerment of African American people andthe enhancement of us as the people.
Thank you wrong, good question,thank you man. It's my pleasure bad
thank you, And I truly atthis point after everybody has said anything and
everything that I've heard as far asthe crime and Memphis, I've sworn off

(49:52):
coming home, which breaks my heartbecause, as I've said again and again,
I love members, but the ladygeneration of it I can't. And
well, so I we hope thesefolks will get it in order and reclaim
that beautiful city by the river.You're right, Ron, I'm with you,
Ron, Thank you for thank youRon. Be safe, brother,

(50:14):
and keep hope a lying. Yeah, you're a good man. Yeah,
thank you, Ron. W DI A Hi Luther, Hey, good,
good morning, good morning. Firstthing I wanted to say to Roby
and my condolence about class. Thankyou. I just found out about a
week ago. Thank you, brother, thank you, and we all we're

(50:36):
all was over there on Maxim andwe played baseball together. And what's his
name? Girl? He caught thecollege quite up on here. Who's taught
us had a bit left handed.Uh. He got a name on the
radio that he uses, but hecalls thing all the time. We had
some times then we had childhoods.Yeah, yeah, people who need But
my biggest thing is this organ isa see what the need to be a

(51:01):
REXA is that group called m lG n W. I have gotten screwed
this month alone for utility to buildLuca seven Luca. I don't know that
we're gonna be able to do anythingto address m l G ANDW today.
Now, yeah, right, sono, no, no, no,

(51:22):
no, no, no, no, I'm talking about I don't hear none
of these politicians saying nothing about that. Oh that's myself black talk. Okay,
who is that I here is gonnaaddress the things with m l G
and W. Well, you knowthat tons of I think it's some of
some of the debates they've they've askedthe question about that Luther, about MLG

(51:43):
and W. Well, if thatwasn't Lutheran. You know this that the
mail points the CEO of MLG andW. It also appoints the board,
so the the next man will havesome opportunities to get some things done from
the top to the bottom. Yeah. But listen, my water bill jumped
from nineteen dollars a month to threehundred two eight and nine four hundred,

(52:07):
and they said I had a waterleak. I watch people out here say
sign nothing unacceptable. Luther is unacceptable. You have to challenge it. The
first thing they tell you gotta leakat your house while all of a sudden
you got to have a leak.It's unacceptable that it's not being accurately counted
and monitor so year you have togo and challenge it. I'll blame talk

(52:30):
about that, right. I hopesomebody to file a suit against that.
Now that's what we need. Hey, well you you eligible? You eligible?
That's right, So start with you. Thank you, luth I will
right you say, say, oh, yeah, he can start. Yeah,
he go about going back. Iknow that's right. I know that's

(52:52):
right. W D I a princeof the Charles Hey Bell, that's how
you doing to day? I'm doingwell printing yourself. I'm on the top
shop and I want to say helloto your distinguished guests. How are you
doing with the Roby? I can'tcomplain, my brother, I can't complain.

(53:12):
And mister Gray, how you doingwell? Thank you, sir.
I'm it's great to hear both ofyour voices. Now my question is,
I know yesterday we also talked aboutthis subject and and listen, I'm the
type of person I don't care ifI rubbed the person the wrong way.
I'm going to get my point overat least express myself and then this election

(53:34):
that we have this year, andlisten and Robin, I have discussed this
here a matter of fact the otherday, but I'm going to bring it
out on the line. We gotso many candidates of running for our different
offices, especially dealing with the mayor. I think we got with seventeen thirteen
different people run it right now,And I was like, I'm saying yesterday,
I may not even vote because Ihear the same rhetoric that I hear

(53:55):
every single time when it comes toelection. We're going to clear crime,
hope, pray, this and that. But when the people that you vote
for, or the people are electedat the office on that platform that they
run for, they never keep theirpromises. And me personally, I pay
attention to what people say. It'snot what you say, it's what you
do. And a lot of time, let's look, let's look at the

(54:16):
big picture. Robe you said thatwe mentioned this together. A lot of
people just say what they want tosay in order to get elected, and
after that that's the end of it. I can't really picture in my mind
right now a candidate that's running formayor that's actually going to do what they
say, and if I just hadto throw my hands up, I would

(54:37):
just it's like throwing a dot ata blow. Hopefully I edit. But
mister Roby and mister Gray in youropinion, have you read it to this
type of rhetoric? And I knowyou had to see it that people just
make a false claim but never reallykeep their promises. Well, and I
don't want to vote for a personthat's just saying something but they're not doing.

(54:58):
I need action behind your words.Wait, see if you hold them
accountable. I used to be athing called a report card. You go
to city council and you go tokind of commission meeting. You go to
mayor's office and you hold the reportcard and the promises that were made.
You greet them on whether or notthey kept those promises. And sometimes that's
work, but it takes work tomake changes take place. I concur with

(55:21):
you on that, but once again, an office I have now tied.
We we have no more control overthat politician at what they say or what
they do. And the reason whyI say that I live in the downtown
area. We had Mayor Strickland,who's been there for nearly eight years,
has done very little, in myhumble opinion, to rectify things that has

(55:42):
taken place, not just in downtownbut throughout the city. I have been
complained about street work. I can'ttell you how many time, mister Rogan,
mister Grahambeth Sap, I have toremy literally tore my car up on
potholes. Dealing with the city.Nothing has come about that though, that
that asphalt out there, and that'sto be the extent of it. But
we need, we need a candidate. We need a mayor or person who

(56:05):
say what they do and do whatthey say. And I'm yet to find
out one that's going to do.But you have to. You have to.
But let me say this, Prince, you have to. And when
you have a mayor, a mayorhas different divisions, and they have people
who run those divisions. You havesomebody who overlooks the potholes and this and

(56:27):
that you have they have people inthose divisions, and we have eight.
They have a center that complains.I don't know how many are are are
dealt with, because I'm sure theyhave a lot of complaints that come in.
Yes they do. But when wesay the whole the mayor accountable,
I I we we have to holdhim and have his staff who he puts

(56:51):
in these positions to do those things. Am I right? Rob? Am
I right? Exactly right? Andsee the point of it is, we
will we will hit a pothole.We won't call and report it, right
I'm saying, we say, weknow you were generally speaking what happened.
People will not report it. Andso when you start reporting it, you
know, make make your voice heard, yes, call, leave a message,

(57:15):
text a message to make sure.And then when the person answers asking
what's your name? So I cansay I talked to you? Right,
I can verified that I talked.I spoke exactly. So that's holding them
accountable. And I understand the frustration. But you have to keep handling away
at the and Prince Trials appreciate this. There are processes to ignore you and

(57:36):
keep you frustrated. I had aque forty. I had a que forty
five years ago, and I gofrom an all change. They give me
a new car, give me acar to ride in while they chid me.
You said five dollars ail change,when the motor, when the launch,
you know whatever, it could runout? Well, can I bark?
There's no provision for us to helpthat you have a card if they
have processes that will keep you frustratedand and we'll make you go away.

(58:00):
They're set up that way. Whenyou call somebody to get something done,
when you call it exfinity, theyhave you all these prompt and that's this
thing that's the frustrate you. Yeah, okay, I totally agree with you.
But listen to me, and Ileave you with this. Tore Beth
and mister Roby and mister Great asmayor of the city. The bucks stops
with him. It starts. Itstops with him, regardless what I complain

(58:23):
or anybody else complain about. Itstarts and stop. We need a person
in there who's going And the lasttime I ever noticed anybody that did what
they say and saying what they didwas doctor Herriton. We hadn't had anyone
system to fulfill the obligations to thecitizens. They have confilled. They have
con tweeted their fulfillment to other organizations, but to the citizens of the people

(58:46):
to put them there. No,And that's why I was I was talking
talking to Beth. If you cansay that, I don't know if you
can you can't say that I can'tsay that, but what I have seen
it question. But Zach Robey,is it accurate? And that's what I'm
saying, you, Prince, youcan say that previous mayors, I'm sure

(59:07):
they've done. They have done somethings. We may not unlike the things
that they've done, but they didsome things. So we have to say
that. So okay, I understandit after you have to say about it.
In my opinion, what I haveseen, what I had to go
through, it's not been culture.And that's why I said yesterday, and
I'm saying to mister Roby and misterand doctor Gray, I may not decide

(59:30):
to even cast a vote. Andif I do, I'll do like what
Robe just said, I might gojust make up a fictitious name and put
it on the ballot. Now putit into the journal truth. Well,
at least you voteles vote right isa journal truth? At least you say
you voted. Thank you, friends, Yeah, yeah, w D I

(59:52):
a high caller, Hey, crashso much French? You just crying a
little bit. I only got onething. Okay. Now, a lot
of these tolls, they're the votingpolls have changed and they usually have a
list of early voting tolls out there, and I hadn't seen That's it.

(01:00:13):
I found out where I polled thevote has changed. But it's that hast
be some kind of trigger that they'retrying to keep team from early voting or
something. No, no, wheredid you use that? No? But
listen, Clyde, you go vote, you where you see signs now out
you can vote any place on election. On election Day you have to go

(01:00:36):
to the polling place that you wereassigned to. Now today, Clyde,
if you go vote, you cango vote anywhere. You see all those
signs. I said vote here,you can go there. And and keeping
keep in mind, when Linda wason Linda Phillips was on this one,
she said they did change one votingplace. I think she said it wasn't.

(01:00:58):
I don't know if it's a BlackClaire or some where, but she
said it was changed because the peoplewho bought the building didn't want voting there,
so they took it to another place. But you can call to the
Shelby County Election Commission to see whereyour district is and where you need to
vote. But right now, Clyde, you can go anywhere to vote and
don't hang up, Clyde. Iguess I'm want to share with it.
First all, I voted this morning. I voted down at the Election Commission.

(01:01:22):
I always try to vote on thefirst day. There's a club of
us UH and I got there atnine thirty. I thought it was late
to miss myself. It with GilJones, Carson. Gill, you the
best dollar and I love you,and I want to share this with you.
I understand it. I understand you'rea Trumpeter. And I want you
to google or get a copy ofof Presidential Executive Order number one three nine

(01:01:45):
five zero. It was issued onSeptember twenty seven, twenty twenty. That
was the executive order that forty threedays forty two days before the election,
Trump signed an executive order eliminating Diversityand Inclusion from the federal government, eliminating
affirmative action in any such thing asthat from contracting with the federal government.

(01:02:07):
On forty two days before the election, he issued that executive order. Then
I want you to google Executive Ordernumber one three nine eight five that will
sign on done on January twenty two, twenty one. That's by Joe Biden,
where he eliminates Executive Order number onethree nine five. Oh, there

(01:02:27):
is no clearer presentation of who supportsblack people than these two executive orders.
He and Joe Biden and his executiveorders said black folks have experienced all kinds
of discrimination over the years. Iam resending what he did on September twenty
seven. Now, September twenty seven, that's what the two days before the
election, you know what he decided, something decided. The brothers who know
who supported me, They too stupidto know what I'm doing here. So

(01:02:51):
I'm doing this for the written Theyquite folks who gonna vote for me.
I'm eliminating the script. I'm eliminatingaffirmative action. Now. Who you think
he's caring waterfall when he does that? Now? Never mand you want to
figure it out, but you needto know these things. Google those two
executive wards and change your mind andgrow up. Goodbye backlash. We are
talking the Memphis municipal elections. Todayis the first day of early voting.

(01:03:15):
Hold on callers, we'll get youin. Hey, I'm like you,
Roby. I us like to goto first or second day, So get
it over with. Five three fivenine, three four two is our number.
Five, three, five, nine, three four two will get you
in to us. We're going tothe other side of the BEB Johnson Show

(01:03:36):
right here on w d IA.Whether you're in Arkansas, Tennessee, or
Mississippi on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, thank you for listening to the BEV

(01:04:00):
Johnson Show on w d i AMemphis. Let's go that show them to

(01:05:13):
time Memphis talking and home away.How you go, you go so can
read in time to show the show. Let's go there dozing. Well,
make your day right here on youryour d Listen to what today you know

(01:05:42):
it's time of the Belt to FishShow, Time of the Belt of Show.
Let's go. We are rocking androlling. On this Friday, September
fifteen, twenty twenty three, weare talking about the City of Memphis municipal
elections. Today is the first dayof early voting, so go out and
vote. Let me say a bighappy birthday to my sister, Miss Lisa

(01:06:04):
Washington. What's up, Lisa,Happy birthday, Lisa Washington. That's from
all of us here at w dI A and your girl Lady D and
JT want to say happy birthday toLisa Washington, the sister of mister James
Washington, a proud sponsor of theBEV Johnson Show. Fellas, we're going

(01:06:26):
back to our phone lines to talkto some of our listeners. With me
today is doctor l Lissim Gray ishere and Robie Williams, and we're going
to the phone lines. Thank youfor waiting. Hi, Chaplain Commons,
Hello, Billy, how are youtoday? Oh? This great kind of
dismayed is some of the things aregoing on. Okay, I'm Chaplain of

(01:06:47):
the County of the Veran about thirtysix thousand veterans, combat terans and all
of that. But one of thething that when doctor I just met the
doctor Harrison was running from mayor.We mobilized van cause we went to all
the fire places and hard to getthrough places to get people to the vote,

(01:07:13):
to the polls, and we wewere just it's committed to that we
had a military retiree at just aboutevery pole as a pole watcher in the
county. It continu to concerning missusand we were we were ready and we
were now kind of just made it. What's going on? We really want

(01:07:36):
to see my my good friend,uh doctor Grey's pen the predecessor uh Reverend
Gray and new Siders. He tellme, tell me coming, you don't
leave missus now we need you herebecause I was getting ready to go back
to see I'm an engineered and you'refrom announcers. Of course you know I'm

(01:07:57):
on the Great twos in twenty years. But what I'm concerned, aboudy is
is the polished level and the jobthey were here when I came. All
of them left five Stone and theywere building Locke a plane pods in it
as the harvest to close even thegreat furnishire back to the head who was

(01:08:18):
shipping furnish child and poverty. Crimewill follow poverty where they want to or
not. Sometimes people just can't bejust doing some things. So I'm just
pushing to see more economic development.Even even closed and they was based I
understand. I see the call itbecause it reopened that I'm not sure it
was an accurate or not. That'swhat else I was told. So those

(01:08:42):
are jobs. We need a job, the technological I'm just concerned with the
literacy rate. But our children.I can't believe a child third grade.
I can't believe a child can't couldn'tread a time they answered the first grade
it's so when I came to so, I'm just wont one about that.
I just appreciated your gentlemen, whatyou're doing to keep a larning the people.

(01:09:04):
I'm doing the same thing. Andwe we really have some great program
with st of people concerned out theylisten, we're retiring minutes, they were
retiring everything and everything and so,and we don't We've been considering a lot
a lot of people, trying tojust get a good handle on what's thing
going. We don't mind doing whatwe're doing it, but we just want

(01:09:24):
to see miss prosper and growth.And I know it's one thing very somebody
mentioned on the music and members arenow six percent Latino six percent. Man,
people will understand that we Latinos nowmake up eighteen percent of the population
of the United States. We don'tmake a thirteen percent, and they're pouring

(01:09:45):
across. I'm not knocking in oneway or another. I'm just able to
let them know that there is spentthe numbers that were so you know what
we're talking about. Now we havethe numbers in the right place though.
That's the thing we want to do. I I thought I was I thanke
youre for you what everything you're doing. And uh, my goodness, you're
like a young man. Replace yourcreative there, doctor Gray. Or he's

(01:10:08):
doing an outstanding job. Listen,Daryl Harrington, and let me say a
word to you, my brother.Don't you quit. Yes, we need
you. You keep doing what you'redoing. See, we work at all
various levels, but all levels haveto be worked on, and you keep
doing what you're doing. Yes,because we're doing our best. Thank you,
doctor, Thank you, Thank you. Chaplin Cummings, Bye bye,

(01:10:30):
mister James High Hello, Hello,how you're doing, doctor Gray, Mister
Williams, are you guys doing great? Great? Uh? I just want
to say to Prince Charles, that'swhy we have term limits. We keep
voting, We keep voting until weget it right. And I'm I'm pretty
much new to this, to thiscity, and you guys are going way

(01:10:51):
way back. But I from whatI hear, you got it right with
doctor Harrington. But when I livedin midtown, uh ramishan Auchbury, she
was my representative, and uh,doctor Warren, uh he was voted her

(01:11:12):
mother. I'm sorry, that's Remissbury. She was my representative and I was
very satisfied with her Uh. Ivoted for doctor Warren because I said that
he was going to be different forthat area. And I'm following him because
I'm no longer in midtown. Ijust moved out recently, but I'm still
keeping track of him because i wantto see what he's going to be about.

(01:11:32):
And that's what we have to doas voters. We have to keep
track of these people and see whatthey stand for, see what they say,
see what they do. But uhwhat what what poster Potty Tame said
about black people selling us out?Which is true? I mean black people
are selling out their own black people. And when you gentlemen mentioned there are

(01:11:55):
no white candidates owned that that's runningfor mayor, now you're own. You
got white candidas up there, butthey're just in black faces. So you
just don't, you know, there'sdon't don't don't put that out there like
that, that there are no uhwhite candidates run another up there. We
know white money up behind a lotof those those candidas. And I'm gonna
be honest with you until we untilwe have the nerves to say black Memphis

(01:12:20):
and white Memphis, who are youfor? Black Memphis and white Memphis?
Memphis is not gonna get anywhere else. Nerphis is gonna continue to be confused
because people need to know, areyou for black people in this city.
It's okay to be for white people, but you gotta be for black people
in that city. So if youif you're not for for black people in

(01:12:40):
this city, then then you wouldwouldn't You shouldn't even be up there.
And I remember, uh, DirectorRollins when he came out and said,
gun violets is destroying this city.Nobody was mentioning gun violets. They were
just in violence, violence, violence. Well, we got to start saying
black Memphis, Black Memphis, blackmen. We gotta be for for black

(01:13:01):
Memphis and whoever the mirror is.And I'm i'm I'm, I'm I'm voting
for doctor Harrington. Uh. Ihope our school system get get taken back
by emphasis. I will sit andneed to get that school system back.
Teach political science in that school,in that school system so our young people
can know what politics and voting it'sall about. And I'm glad you guys

(01:13:25):
explained that super district because I triedGoogle and super district and I couldn't get
no understanding of it. And youguys gave me a little understanding of it.
So uh, thank thank devily forbringing in the information. We need
the information. And uh, thankyou guys so much to continue to get
out the information. I'm gonna lesssomebody that's getting in and just listen and
thank you so much, thank you, thank you, mister James w D.

(01:13:49):
I a hi, brother Omar,thank you you getting me on the
back burn. And how much timedo I have? You have a few
few minutes, brother Omar, southsober. Look, I appreciate you taking
that call, and you have thethings gets uh that I like both of
them, but one a little bitcloser than the other. That's Robie Williams.

(01:14:11):
That's my baseball buddy. We hadteams all over South Memphis, uh,
thanks to the w DA, andkept a lot of children out of
trouble everywhere. And they called methe South Memphis slugger. I hit a
lot of home runs. I usedto try to get him in the bad
left hands. We did little,you know, We even played court.
We hit some I can hit thatcock on my little side. I can

(01:14:33):
see the ball better. I cansee it better. Right. We had
We had a lot of fun.But see a lot of young guys now
they want to be uh a basketballand football physically a large afternoon. But
every person, every side person likeOgis Smith cause Joel margin of me could
do pretty well in baseball. Plusthey make a lot more money than some

(01:14:56):
of us. You know what I'msaying, Robe, and they play a
lot of more years. Yeah,I used it Omar on the air.
But this is brother Brook and Iknow you are. You gotta tell me
how to bad left handed? Innineteen sixty two? Hey, did you
hear Luke Charles you got a lotof cheap home wrong at Commons Park?
Right? Let me ask you this? Did you hear he called it?
We mentioned you live rob all right, brother Omar B, thank you,

(01:15:24):
Brother Omar w D. I ahi, common man. Hey, how
are you doing? I'm doing wellin yourself? Alright, alright? How
are you doing? Mster Gray?And I might have to say muster all
right, sorry about that. Andi'might have to say mister Williams to Robe.
I like to call it Robin,but I recognize that Roby is uh

(01:15:45):
what I would call my senior.So how you doing, mister Williams?
Williams? I don't know what misterWilliams, I'm Robin. You get the
name like Roban. Okay, Iloved it. I loved it. I
loved it. Okay, how youdoing, Rope? I'm doing Hey?
Look okay. Uh. I heardy'all earlier speaking about uh that that that
lawsuit that asked the runoff, andI think that was a great thing.

(01:16:09):
That was really really really really reallyreally really important. Uh huh, because
I believe in Majoritia win. Whoevercome out with the top vote, I
believe that person should win. Andto me, that's why every vote counts.
Every vote is important. So youknow, when I hear people say
they're not going to vote, Idon't think they recognize how powerful that one

(01:16:29):
particular vote can be. You know. Also, uh yesterday be up.
Uh well, let me ask youall this also Robe and mus Gray,
how do y'all do you y'all feellike age should play any role or be
inter factor in someone contestant for aposition during the election. What do you

(01:16:50):
I'm understand, what are you askingabout? What are you asking? Right?
Right? Do you all feel likethat should be any any you know,
problem with a person's age limit?Because because they're even talking about that
with President Biden that he's too old. So he think about age limit.

(01:17:10):
That's great in your age in runningfor an office, you know, age
has to be considered within the contextof the individual mind, physical condition,
what have you. And I thinkyou have to give there are some exceptions
to if you say seventy five,that's some seventy five year old people in
better shape than forty five year oldpeople. Yet in context, right,

(01:17:34):
And so that's what I feel.I feel if a person has sound man
sound health, then age shouldn't evenbe relevant, you know. Yeah.
And lastly, Bill, they youknow, uh, I lived to some
of the callers and and a lotof people come down hard on uh mayor
heads form mayor heads. And acouple of things I noted to myself.

(01:17:57):
A lot of people points out whatthey didn't like about Mayor Harriton or whoever
it may may have been, butthey never speak about the good things that
they did. Number two, Ithink it was a rob that counterpointed to
blame that doctor Harrison for the conditionsof Hickory here after the housing projects were
torn down. Now, Robert,you all help me with this. If

(01:18:18):
the kids, if I'm not mistaken, the housing projects. It's something that's
ran by the state. And Idon't know if they come from funders from
the federal government or not. Butthat wasn't a call of doctor Harrison's.
If I'm not if I'm if I'mcorrect, Well I don't think. Yeah,
yeah, I told everybody to watchthat poem by Black Ice called Imagine

(01:18:40):
h take a look at it ifyou can. He addresses they told it
out of piles and projects and anduh and didn't replace them with community centers.
And that's such the eggs. Soanyway, but what happened out in
Hickory here when they began reducing that, taking inventory from the housing project,
destroying them and they placed people indifferent communities. Uh. Now I recall

(01:19:01):
when Jack Kemp was the directive ofHUD he come in, how I try
to get him speak for the biddingawards and he said it was a great
idea, And he came and applaudedRobert Liston for the work he was doing,
displacing people from the housing projects andputting him into a Liverpool community.
So so the idea is a greatidea, but how it's implemented and how

(01:19:23):
it actually comes out, how peoplemove into the communities and don't go there
standing the enighbors lawnmower. Sometimes theycan be problematic. So it was a
great idea. It has to beexecuted better, that's all right. So
so the point that I want topoint this is about it. It's not
doctor Harriton's fault. No no,no, no, no, no no
no, my children, no,well my you know fair enough. You're

(01:19:44):
right, it is not fault.You understand what I'm saying. I understand
what you're saying. And we wantto absolve him for any responsibility of anything
go wrong with somebody and hear that'sright, all right, that's right,
all right then, and thank you, thank you common man Wu d i
a hig Nita. Good afternoon,mab and hood afternoon, Doctor Gray.
And I want to know if thatisn't chance in the history of that could

(01:20:09):
be a mayor and a vice mayorin the city of Manis. And I
would like to tell the people thatare having trouble with the powhole the best
way you can do is when youcall three one one, they don't respond,
called ABC twenty four CB, allright you because they will they will

(01:20:33):
put it on the tumble vision,right, get it done. But Jo's
personal number, she's still doing it. Yeah, but she but she asked
about a mayor and a vice mayor. Well, we have the mayor selects
a Chief Administrative Officer CEO, andout of did she haven't man electing a
vice mayor. If you did that, you would uther cut the responsibility in

(01:20:53):
the authority of the mayor. SoI don't know how that would work.
Currently, we have the mayor ASIGNE, a chief administer rative officer, and
that pretty works pretty well right now. And the Chamber of the City Council
serves in the event that the Americannot serve in the incapacity of the of
the mayor. So you got yougot a system of succession to preserve the

(01:21:15):
integrity of the administration. And thankyou for the question. Yeah, w
d I a high caller. Uh, yes, you're on the air.
Oh okay, look, I loveDoc understand, But I am given Barner
a chance. He's been a policewhatever, he is down that police SUPs.

(01:21:40):
He needs a chance. He's theship here. Okay, I feel
like that, you know that territoryhere. He's great, you know,
but uh, what I said,I'm old through Barner. But I don't
know who to vote my councilman,I don't. I thought I was in
District nine, but they've got twodistricts down. I guess that district.

(01:22:03):
Yeah, oh, anyway, bothfootball and I buy no question okay,
no questions, but see. Butbut also Robie, she just said,
like we said, the super Districtnine, Well it's three of'em.
So is that confusing, because that'swhat she needs to do. Uh.
You see, you ever tell yousomething, if you go online to see

(01:22:26):
how you can vote, they canconfuse you. What they did. I
did this several days ago, tryand find out what they're doing in super
District nine, and they asked mefor my name in my zip code.
I put in three on one hthree, and they only showed me the
people who I can vote for.So I have to go back in and
answer the entire city of Memphis.And that's when I learned that they're all
of their guys are District nine,are all incumbent and all pretty much unopposed.
And we have two people who arerunning for an open seat. And

(01:22:49):
in each of those races we gotsix people. In the one and eight
three we have seven people, withone person who doesn't look like us.
And that's the stealth. That isa stealth deal that they're doing on us
and what we're doing. We aresentinels in the community. I understand this,
both doctor Gray and I understand this. When all the facts are clear,

(01:23:10):
the good decisions jump out at you. When all the facts are clear,
and we're just hearing this morning withyou or this afternoon with you,
some facts about what's going on inthe race. And when you look at
the people in District three eight,District eighth, position three, and look
at their credentials, look what they'vedone in the community, it'll be easy
to decide for you, for youto decide who to vote for. Who
I voted for. I vote forthe guy with with master and business administration.

(01:23:32):
Hello, here count my money.Okay, okay, we are talking.
Hold on, y'all. Hold on, we are taking a break.
Get back. This is good conversationtoday. I like it. We're talking
about the City of Memphis municipal elections. Early voting starts today. Rubber your

(01:23:53):
friend Gail Jones Carson, she sentme all the information on on voting today.
We already as a clue the firstday voting clue, I know the
first day, give me that andtake the sales with people. People look,
yeah, well, thank you,gayl. What Gail says early voting
starts today, y'all. It startstoday and waiting minm get this information and

(01:24:16):
it ends September thirtieth. Election dayis October five. Yeah, so you
have time. You're listening to theBEB Johnson Show on w d i A.

(01:24:41):
It's the Queen of tamp your girlfriendand mine. Bev Johnson on w
d i A is here and it'stime to wind it up. Get ready
for our eighth annual Adam and EveWine on the River. Join us with
our iHeart family of stations for aclassy evening Saturday, October seventh, from
five to a nine p m atour new location, tom Lee Park.

(01:25:01):
Receive your souvenir cub as you gothroughout the evening, sampling various wine beverages.
A portion of the proceeds will benefitDoor of Hope. It's a grown
folks affair. Just to impress atour eighth annual Adam and Eve Wine on
the River, Saturday, October seventh, from five to nine pm at tom
Lee Park. Tickets on sale nowat my WDIA dot com. You're listening

(01:25:48):
to the Bev Johnson Show. Here'sBev Johnson and we're going back to our
phone lines to get these callers in. Hi, K Hi, how you
doing. I'm doing well in yourself. I don't blass Robie. Yes,
my last name is Proby, solet me inform you. Uh. They

(01:26:09):
were asking about doctor Harrison, right, and he wasn't. He was respondful
for these house and projects being replacedwere actually hope dying. He was hopeful
over them with Hope six right,Hope six problems. And that's came under
the unspices of doctor Harrison. AndI think Memphis was the second city in
line. I think he'd be Google. I don't know if they don't take

(01:26:30):
that movement. But in the meantime, yes, he is respons for college
parks or foot parts for all thoseparts, but all the projects was and
then and the fact that he didnot invent crimes, he didn't create it.
Right, So the fact that everybodywants to go to people here,
but the Party of Conquence said,contain them, keep them, get him

(01:26:54):
a house and project, give hima movie theater, give him a shopping
mall, keep him there in theexpressway takes from these melon knife in essence.
But other than that, so onceyou put everybody, get everybody loose,
and you don't have to set upwhere you got a program designed to
teach them how to cut their yard, or they don't have the SUSI sussibility
to alarm more or the one whogat it ain't fulen, nobody have it,

(01:27:16):
you know what I'm saying. WhatI'm saying, of course the mentality
of Hickory him. But other thanthat, doctor Harrington did that a lot
of programs. In fact, hecombined the district with your school system when
he was superintendent. Everything he didnot his head. It was my naturally
stable when he uh stopped. Now, other that, Paul Young, my

(01:27:36):
boy, Paul. You know,I love you. You know Diane,
I love him. You know Ilove all of them. But in the
meantime, doctor Harrington would be agreat He's a fore runner. And if
he continued it and the fact didcome about, he's own. He's not
fouling and sumbling, and I ain'tseeing him nowhere, which I don't infrequently

(01:27:56):
see him. But if I'm somany eating done, I may see him,
and uh, he definitely not aracist, you know, but what
you supposed to say? Hey,y'all, what's going on? Suppa to
say that? All there? Youcannot focus on your business and being everybody
else business? Right? All right? Okay, okay, I thank you,
enjoy the rest of your day.Bye bye, w d I A

(01:28:18):
hi Jewel, Hey Bill, partyou. I'm doing well in you Jewel.
I'm fine. I'm fine now I'mgonna change that. I'm bad tasted
all right, Hello, mister Robertand mister Grayheart. Are you? I'm

(01:28:39):
good. I told you I'm bandtasted. So I'm on top of the
world for right now, and I'mgonna see if I long, I'm gonna
stay there. I enjoyed the conversationBell Bell Bill, some of the stuff
mister Robert said. I agree withpractice everything you see because it ain't nothing
but the truth. They just getour money and once they do what they

(01:29:01):
do, whatever they want to do, and then when they come back,
it seems like, don't nobody havean explanation like what happened? Okay,
ain't nobody sure about nothing? Ain'tway with the politicians. They tell us
that they are gonna do their job, but then when it's that time.
Only time would tell, and thenyou would know they wasn't the right one

(01:29:24):
for the stuff. Okay, Idon't know. It takes money to deal
with that too, And that's whatit's been all about. I don't understand
it, but I'm getting to getthere to know it is. They play
a party and everything that's right.You'll understand that. Jul, All right,
Jul, thank you, Jack,you too, Bye bye, lady

(01:29:45):
p Hey, hey, it ain'tone one, it ain't one. Hey,
hey, what's on all Robins?You know? You know Robert,
don't you remember me me over thereat the other autover the place about you?
No, no, no, noenterprise, I think covering the place
and you that you were packing.I'm always have yeah, yeah, I'll

(01:30:10):
have them always packed. I keepsaving these people out here in necessity.
Don't see you, beauty, youhave one of your back pocket and your
shoe and everywhere else. Think aboutit is it's so sad. You don't
have to be like that, youknow. It's it's really almost all over
the world, not just here andthis this is almost over the world.
I'm so glad you got to theirbell. You know, you got the
p y t Ben. You know, you got the best job in the
world. You know, they getyou get a cast man, you get

(01:30:34):
a cast to bring all these intelligentmen and I may intelligence there. I'm
so glad and I'm serious, youknow, kind of bottom of heart because
these guys, to me, Ithink they gonna try to influence a lot
of people. May need to keepcontinue to bring them in until till the
voting things over with, because maybeyou know, we can give a lot
of people, young people to openup, you know, and and go

(01:30:56):
and vote, you know, becausewe need this. This is very important.
This boat that's come. I'ming upour marror and everything. It's so
important, Bell, and I'm I'mgonna get out. I'm ready because I
know this Friday, Bell, Iknow you're ready to go home, and
I'm running after you. Guys.I want to just be careful, please
going home on the weekend. Havea great, safe weekend, make it
back to Monday morning, Bill safely. And let me say happy happy birthday

(01:31:16):
least to Watchington. I love youso much and you and giants Washington.
I hope you all everybody have agreat deal, great weekend. Bell,
Thanks for talking talking to you andthanks for taking my call and rub it
or robber. Y'all. Y'all becareful going home and watch you back now.
Okay, bye, lady pee thatlady p get to talk it w
D I a hi caller. Goodafternoon, Beverly Lane Johnson. That's you

(01:31:42):
Bell, Hey, miss Anne?How are you? I'm doing it And
it's good afternoon to those two moviesand shakers that you got up there with
you today. Good afternoon, andgood afternoon to you. You guys took
me back to the time when peoplereally keep it. I wish bab had
brought you all on here before today, but we hear you to day,

(01:32:04):
and you're full of that information andthat truth. And I loved it.
You brought us some history on whenyou were telling them about back in the
day. How how you guys gottogether and make sure try to make sure
that we would get the right tendidatein there and help us get the right
tendidate in there. And I reallyappreciate it. I just came back from

(01:32:26):
exercise and my civics duty. Somebodycalled and told me to get on in
there because it wasn't They walked rightin and came right out and I just
went and exercise my civics duty andI voted for who I feel like gonna
get this city back to moving andshake it. I don't care see two
hundreds and on that note, they'llhave a good day. God bless you

(01:32:51):
five there where we're you doing.I don't know, Father, well everybody
guilt to your just an opportunity toget better. Now, Bell, I'd
like to start this had out talkingabout uh the prescriptions of the mayor for
to h prescribe for the city toget the city better even uh no crime,

(01:33:15):
you know what I mean. Butfirst let's go with this high crime
and getting the folks who got allthese ridiculous contracts that they're ripping to sit
it out. If people don't knowno better pay I don't even ridiculous prices.
It's like if if if it's worthone hundred dollars, they cut your
yard. But I charged what nowwith the city contract? I started que
one hundred four to six eighteen cent? You know what I mean. Let's
go crazy, and that's what's goingon, and they're taking let's make it

(01:33:39):
out tactics high. And another thingI was gonna say is about the U
proscrip for us how to get thiscrime down cause y'all don't know how cram
limitate. You said something much betterthan everybody. What you need to do.
We need a fifteen minute stegment likethey used to had with rough hards
back in the day. And therewould be suspectious on that, even including
myself, to tell up people tocancel the kids. Just want the parents

(01:34:03):
what kids to watch it though?To how to quick being so stupid this
slice of cram and tell them whatit equals up to, you know,
so they'll stop, you know,messing up their life and run up in
shance rates knocking all these glasses outand stuff. And another thing, bill
up is up. We can't letthis get this one get away. We
can't let pral evil Walker get awayfrom District three. We need to vote

(01:34:26):
her in because she's a person upand take it. She will get in
there and take that zero pound fishinghand up, pup your head hand off,
pup your head off, top yourhead. You get some all the
bill? Okay, what we gotyour candidate? Who you want? So?
All right? Thank you from Iwant everybody came out of me now
both the way I do when you'lldo better. Okay, Well, I

(01:34:48):
have a good weekend. Father thefuture I got and and a person Willbi
loves little Daddy, Hey love daddy. Hey there your job. Man didn't
come to me yesterday, but thisis what it is. Come on,
good Bill. Uh. I wantto say this, but not both really

(01:35:09):
don't camp camp cause simple fact theystill got the same dunes that running the
running this office stuff. I'm tiredof boating and then I don't get nothing
out of out of the boat.They need some young heads and they're just
they gonna take care of the business. And this time for a challenge.
I don't understand why we have tovote, and they ask the boat our

(01:35:30):
boat we get if you want tochange, you have to vote. I
understand that. Bill. You knowI've been around. Let me say,
hey, Robert, what's going on? Man? You the man little at
it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what. I got a
lot of hated to Robers. Okay, I miss h I understand there.

(01:35:53):
Uh huh, I stand yeah.Always rushing me and sometimes you left me
talk, but she'll always takes totake a tax. Well, well look,
little daddy, you hung up yesterday, but but call me back next
week because I am running out oftown and I'm going to let you talk.
Okay, yeah, I'm gonna letyou go, but I want to
say it is I won't get mymeaning to meaning a bland that loved me

(01:36:15):
and I can definitely got guess whoelse got me? You gonna use the
band who is that? May wantto have a Google bell? You too,
looks as this has been a greatday to day. I wanted to
before we get out of here,and I'll start with Doctor Gray. Last
words, Doctor Gray, you wantto say to our listeners and especially about
this City of Memphis municipal municipal election. I can't think of a more important

(01:36:42):
election than this one. Get outand vote, remember our history and plan
for our future. Get out andvote. I love it. Robbie Williams,
get on what he said about voting, Folks. When all the facts
are clear, the good decisions jumpout at you. Look and see who's
running, and look and see whatthey represent, and look and see where

(01:37:02):
they're coming from. Now I wantto say this, and I say this
in solid earnest. I was Iwas spoken to speak to stand Bill last
week and today is the first dayof early voting. And I told Stan
could you get possibly get a littlesimbo grade and said, well, Robe,
you know mine is morning Drive,high energy entertainment. You might alwa

(01:37:23):
try to get on Bell's show.And I say, okay u And I
called Bills just this week h andshe made it happen. I want to
thank Tracy. But they stand Bill, and most importantly Bill jumps the decision
making units that had us on thisstation on the first day of earlier voting.
This is d w d I Aradio station. Folks, our our

(01:37:45):
good wheel radio station. We'll talkrelationships next Friday, but this is the
first day of earlier voting and thiselection is so very very important. And
they and we want to Doctor Greyon here because not everybody recognizes that his
lawsuit. And I want to thankthem, gentlemen, Doctor Gray, doctor
Atkins, Art Gilliam, Randy Wade, missneed Am I overlooking Ernie Jackson and

(01:38:09):
Bell Uh. Ernie Jackson funded thisthing w d and from his position as
general manager of w d i A, he funded that lawsuit. After the
simile were gonna tell you that ohyeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah.
So what I'm saying to you thisthis radio station, this particular radio
station has been the heartbeat of thiscommunity since nineteen forty eight. And the

(01:38:30):
persons who was hosting this show.I first heard of her in nineteen eighty
seven. I began selling radio advertisingover here and in Jenison, m standing
all my first day sending me outto see mister mister Chisholm. Uh,
mister Ernest Chisholm. I'm out thereis in his room where people, a
whole lot of folks are trying tosend up advertising. And it was a
Caucasian lady. My first day onthe job. A Caucasian lady said,

(01:38:55):
say who you Sam Robe. I'mwith wa oh the Bell Johnson Show.
And I didn't know what it was. I got right in the she has
a pleasant voice. That's the mostcourteous person I ever here in the radio.
I love you Bill Johnson. Hey, David pot I got something for
you. Brother. You ain't theonly one these ques in love with the
two. She was there, right, Dad would be in ecstasy. Ds

(01:39:17):
qusaire dst grow in. That's right, that's right. And you know I
wanted to say that, doctor Grayand Row. And I've always said this,
and I've told people of all thegeneral managers and vice president's work.
Ernie Jackson was my favorite. Hewas my favorite. And I'm so glad,

(01:39:41):
doctor Gray. On our fiftieth anniverse, not fifty seventy seventy. I
called Ernie. He was living inHouston, right, I said, we're
celebrating. I said, Ernie,you have to be here because you were
the second black general manager before.First of all, it's check scrub and
and he said, because you calledme, I'm coming. And Ernie drove

(01:40:03):
to Memphis to be with us onour seventh anniversary. And lord, we
didn't know two years later he wouldbe gone. I didn't know he was
paid head. He's gone, Yeah, he said, big loss. James
Johnson had to community at heart.Yes, DA has had for seventy five
years. Yes, always the communityat heart. Yeah. Well, thank

(01:40:26):
you, fellas Than, Thank you, my friends, Thank you Memphis.
Get out and vote. Voting matters. If you want, if you want
Rob Wade reinstated, vote if youwant affirmative action again, vote, if
you want an opportunity to have yourcollege loans forgiven. Vote young people.
Vote. You said it, yousaid it, you said it all right,
thank you, thank you, thankyou, doctor Gray. And let

(01:40:50):
me say, I the Delta folks, my Delta folks, I won't be
with them, Doctor Gray, TomorrownGreenville, Mississippi. Yeah, at the
Delta Heritage and Blues Festival, wegot Keen George, and we got Bobby
Rush and with Sweet Angel, wegot it. We got a good show
coming up tomorrow. Yeah, we'regonna roll, We're gonna put rolls.

(01:41:10):
So I'll see y'all down in theDelta tomorrow. So until tomorrow, please
be safe, keep a cool ahead, y'all. Don't let anyone steal your
joy. Until tomorrow. I'm BevJohnson, and y'all keep the faith.
Mant Baker, take me home,boyfrid. The views and opinions discussed on

(01:41:34):
the Bev Johnson Show are that ofthe hosts and callers, and not those
of the staff and sponsors of WDIA.