Memphis Local, Sports, Business & Food News | Daily Memphian | Opinion - Guest Columnists

Opinion: Drowning prevention is a matter of public health — and equity

editor@dailymemphian.com (Bruce Randolph) — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 15:06:13 -0500

“Drowning is often viewed as a tragic accident, something rare and unavoidable. In reality, drowning is a leading cause of preventable injury and death, particularly among children and young adults.”

Echols: 'What am I doing to work in tandem with God?'

candaceecholswrites@gmail.com (Candace Echols) — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 09:34:39 -0500

“So much of what I think about and talk about and write about and pray about has to do with the here and now. Who is struggling? What’s on my to-do list? What has happened? What’s up next?”

Opinion: As bus riders suffer, Memphis needs to turn MATA around

editor@dailymemphian.com (Kelsey Hulse) — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 21:16:25 -0500

“Last year’s audit made people believe MATA cannot be redeemed. But it is imperative that we not give up. Memphis should be a world-class city. Quality transit attracts employers and gets people to work on time. It also keeps people from going into debt just to maintain a working vehicle.”

Opinion: What Juneteenth teaches us about the America we’re still building

editor@dailymemphian.com (Russell Wigginton Jr.) — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 04:00:06 -0500

“Millions of Americans across racial and geographic lines are working harder and falling further behind. The basic infrastructure of a stable life is out of reach for far too many families. This is not a partisan talking point. It is the lived arithmetic of American households.”

Opinion: Call it what it is — a tax increase

john.covington@memphispoliceassociation.org (John Covington) — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 04:00:06 -0500

“If county government chooses to collect millions of dollars more than the state-certified revenue-neutral rate allows, taxpayers deserve the honesty of calling it exactly what it is: a tax increase.”

Opinion: 'No wonder we are so desensitized to the slaughter'

editors@dailymemphian.com (Jack Richbourg) — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 14:14:51 -0500

“We are more armed than other countries, and more permissive about how those arms are stored, carried, and used. Memphis knows this reality more intimately than most cities. Gun violence is not an abstraction here; it is a daily presence.”

Opinion: The new Memphis zoning code could drive away the retailers we’re desperate to attract

editor@dailymemphian.com (Shawn Massey) — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 04:00:14 -0500

“A zoning code that makes Memphis harder to understand, more expensive to develop and less compatible with national retail formats is not a neutral document. It is a competitive disadvantage.”

Opinion: James Lawson and how 'the Civil Rights Movement will have to become revolutionary'

agoudszn@memphis.edu (Aram Goudsouzian) — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 04:00:14 -0500

“With an iron-grip commitment to nonviolence, Lawson called for campaigns of civil disobedience that pressed the demands of the larger Black community.”

Opinion: 'The joy doesn't lessen the grief'

rmaxey@dailymemphian.com (Ron Maxey) — Mon, 8 Jun 2026 16:05:54 -0500

“The universe isn’t obligated to make sense to us. There’s no requirement for rhyme and reason. Things just happen, be they good or bad, and the burden is on us to find a way to make it work.”

Echols: Jaylen Wells’ assist that never showed up in the box score

candaceecholswrites@gmail.com (Candace Echols) — Mon, 8 Jun 2026 16:00:33 -0500

Opinion by Candace Echols: “Behind the scenes — when no one is watching — that same man is quietly using his talent and fame to give attention to those who might otherwise be overlooked.”

Opinion: 'Poverty is never just economic'

david.jordan@agapemeanslove.org (David Jordan) — Thu, 4 Jun 2026 06:23:20 -0500

Opinion by David Jordan: “If we align our efforts across sectors and remain rooted in both compassion and accountability, Memphis can become a national model for what human flourishing looks like in practice.”

Opinion: Memphis’ zoning rewrite will reshape development, property rights for a generation

editor@dailymemphian.com (James Maclin) — Wed, 3 Jun 2026 09:59:35 -0500

James Maclin says, “The best version of this rewrite would do two things at once: Modernize Memphis’ land use rules and protect the public’s trust in the process. That means clear notice, clear explanations, clear transition rules, and clear lines of decision-making.”

Opinion: Memphis music depends on people willing to build something larger than themselves

jared@crosstownradiopartnership.org (Jared Boyd) — Tue, 2 Jun 2026 16:01:39 -0500

Carla Thomas and Stan Bell are among the legendary artists who will be honored at the DOWD Awards ceremony Thursday at the National Civil Rights Museum. The event is free to attend with an RSVP at DOWD.WYXR.org.

Opinion: 'A garden is the remedy to the human condition'

rmaxey@dailymemphian.com (Ron Maxey) — Sat, 30 May 2026 22:25:01 -0500

“Gardening is a chance to connect with something basic, even primal. It’s dirty work, literally, but it puts us in touch with the most fundamental elements of nature from which we all came and depend on for sustenance, beauty and sensory pleasure.”

Opinion: People — not dogs — have created our stray problem

editor@dailymemphian.com (Sabine Langer) — Sat, 30 May 2026 22:25:31 -0500

“There is no shelter system, rescue network or group of volunteers large enough to absorb endless human irresponsibility. Memphis cannot rescue its way out of this.”

Opinion: Why is the state's focus on redistricting not matched by equal attention to BlueOval City?

andre@jonesurban.com (Andre Jones) — Mon, 25 May 2026 04:00:14 -0500

“The same people who can summon a special session to redraw congressional maps in service of a national political project have had remarkably little to say about how that same national political project cost thousands of jobs and four years of economic momentum in Tipton, Fayette, Haywood and Shelby counties.”

Echols: Music as a metaphor for God

candaceecholswrites@gmail.com (Candace Echols) — Sun, 24 May 2026 17:30:55 -0500

“The person that invites me to a posture of praise is likely not the same person that brings other people to that place, which is why writers and musicians and artists and creators need to keep doing their thing.”

Opinion: How connections between Memphis and Ireland give us a language for staying

frankblanigan@gmail.com (Frank Lanigan) — Fri, 22 May 2026 08:04:53 -0500

“Ireland being honored in Memphis as part of Memphis in May looks like the usual cultural exchange on the surface. But beneath that is something more interesting: two vastly different places that recognize structure in each other.”

Opinion: Beyond redistricting rhetoric are reality and results

john.covington@memphispoliceassociation.org (John Covington) — Fri, 22 May 2026 08:03:59 -0500

“To hear many Tennessee Democrats tell it, partisan redistricting is some unprecedented assault on democracy itself — a historic political crisis unlike anything the state has ever experienced.”

Opinion: Tennessee law — not federal lawsuits — may stymie redistricting

editors@dailymemphian.com (Jack Richbourg) — Fri, 15 May 2026 04:00:12 -0500

“The speed and confidence with which the legislature acted on redistricting does not guarantee the map’s durability. This time, state courts – not federal courts – may have the final word.”