Robot Rudd doesn’t know what taxpayer justice or corporate elitism is. He’s just a robot for the corporate elitist University of Memphis Board of Bullies (Trustees). Another systemic racism initiative, just won’t work.
Its sad, but seemingly by design, just about every question in Memphis, divides the taxpaying public along racial lines, while protecting, through ignorance, runaway corporate elitism.
Nothing, other than taxpayer justice, that confronts corporate elitism will work for a majority Black Memphis community in need. Its the very type of corporate elitism that the UofM participates in with $3M local grants for tennis courts while advocating for the taxpayer losing Poplar Plaza abatement award within their university development district.
Another systemic racism initiative, is just another elitist trick bag that has been old hat in Memphis for decades. The new initiative, yet again, boasts of increasing post secondary completion rates just like the Brookings FOCUS plan did a few years back. The failed Brookings Plan was co-chaired by FedEx’s Chief Counsel at the time, Christine Richards.
Prior to the new local Board of Trustees, in the 2015 Spring, Dr. Charles Santo, of the UofM questioned Richards co-chair role at the time, in a paper entitled Economic Development in Memphis. The paper is a diplomatic attempt to ask the question “What in the Hell is Going on with Economic Development?” With regard to Richards, Santo said,
The most concerning component of the power structure is the conflict of interest that results from the plan’s [Brookings FOCUS] intention to lessen our dependence on the logistics industry and having the vice president of FedEx chair the steering committee.
Today, Santo’s 2015 paper, is interesting reading and for the most part, accurately predicts current imbalances as shown in today’s corporate elitist economic development policy outcomes. In the paper, Santo when on to say, regarding the Brookings FOCUS plan:
The plan contains no specific timelines, deadlines, or deliverables and there are no methods for target setting or performance tracking of implementation.
But because of the local news and measurement blackout, of the local public-private complex, carried out in many ways by the UofM’s Institute of Public Service Reporting in partnership with the anonymous donor led Daily Memphian, no one knows the Brookings FOCUS Plan was/is a total failure.
For example, no one knows that 2019 Shelby County post secondary completions dropped by 827 from 11,561 to 10,734, a 7% decrease. That’s not good news, when Shelby County is already at the bottom of the peer group, in post secondary completions, per 1k population.
At the same time, some good news here. Santo is on the systemic racism community engagement, policy and advocacy task force with Daphane McFerran and Elena Delavega. But, its really not advocacy at the UofM. Its “politically correct” wait until you are formally invited to speak about your research in front of local bodies.
In any event, its more of the same faces with another relabeled initiative.
Thought Stagnation: Same People and MWBE
The same people and corporations serve on multiple local boards furthering thought stagnation. For example, the UofM Board of Bullies has 3 Board members with direct connections to FedEx, with the same old crew rounding out most of the remaining board seats in First Horizons, International Paper (IP), Sedgwick, Methodist and Baptist. This is the standard lineup of corporations that serve on multiple public private boards, resulting in local thought and growth stagnation.
Then there is J.W. Gibson and Carolyn Hardy (above), who serve on multiple local boards, participating on the Minority Business task force. For years, Gibson and Hardy have witnessed the local elitist sham of minority women business enterprise (MWBE) programming.
After all, Kathy Buckman Gibson, from one of the wealthiest families in Memphis and owner of KBG Technologies, took down the most EDGE MWBE receipts with $13M from International Paper. Gibson and KBG are the very type that don’t need the help from MWBE.
Further, the overall data shows a trend in long established Memphis businesses and even affluent businesses dominating MWBE receipts. Effectively, the corporate recipients of excessive EDGE PILOTs are trading with those they most likely would trade with in any circumstance.
And as a matter of note, Buckman-Gibson sits on the National Civil Rights Museum Board with IP and IP is part of the University of Memphis Board of Bullies. And the UofM’s Spark’s Memphis Economy project has a formal partnership with EDGE. So why can people not see the connections ? It’s not reported furthering community ignorance !
Here Come’s The Press Sham and More Ignorance
In most cities, the sham of the Memphis press would be a scandal. But its just one of many. As an example and broke by this blog, the recent massive Nike $58M PILOT compliance breech went locally unreported. This nonreporting furthers local corporate elitism making the local press a primary enabler of communitywide ignorance and corporate elitism.
Status quo Quotis Sanford and David Waters are heading up the systemic racism press effort through the UofM Institute of Public Service Reporting (UMIPSR). The UMIPSR partners with the anonymous donor led Daily Memphian (DM) for investigative journalism. And additionally, the DM and UMIPSR are entering into a partnership on UofM radio. This is in addition to the DM’s, Behind the Headlines, that leverages public broadcasting.
Collectively, the UofM and anonymous donor led Daily Memphian are fully leveraging public funding to cost effectively control the local narrative that amplifies systemic racism while muffling any discussion of the very corporate elitism that feeds on a majority Black community in need.
One would think other competitive journalistic outlets would respond with more investigation of the corporate elitist establishment. But not so fast. As much as anything, the non-investigative press enables communitywide ignorance while runaway corporate elitism persists in a Memphis community in need.
Conclusion
The elitist and racially diverse public private complex feels entitled to violate and feed, unchecked, on a Memphis majority Black community in need. Without competitive and transformational checks and balances, the design is set for a trajectory of stagnation and community decline. This is because with persistent runway elitism and without taxpayer justice, there will be no social justice. So much for another systemic racism initiative.
The architects of the former in Fred Smith and Pitt Hyde would never step into the arena to debate the cultural outcomes of their 20 yr public private complex. And this comes after Smith’s favorable talk of Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena”. Nor would they allow their bureaucratic twerps in harm’s way.
This is because, the bullies in Smith and Hyde know, with certainty, that they would be spanked…..