Angela Rye, a national political strategist and commentator, gave a heated talk to more than 1,000 attendees at one of the first MLK 50 commemorative events this year, touching on issues of poverty and race in Memphis.
Rye discussed the unfair treatment to local activists, particularly those associated with the Black Lives Matter Memphis chapter, and the city’s increasing poverty rate, especially for children. Rye’s message was clear to the city on how to fix poverty issues: donate and challenge each other to do better.
"I think it's good to be challenged ... to do better," Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said.
Since her appearance, the city has taken the first step by increasing hourly wages for every employee for the Shelby County School District to $15 an hour. Rye returned to Memphis on April 4 to offer the youth of Oakhaven Middle fresh food from C-3 Land Cooperative, and free bank accounts from the Tri-State Bank.
“My response is simple: Will the city match my donations?” Rye said.
Rye was compensated at least $10,000 for speaking Feb. 24 to the city of Memphis, and vowed to donate $5,000 to C-3 Land Cooperative, an organization dedicated to providing access to fresh produce to lower income families. Rye also vowed to donate another $5,000 to the official Memphis chapter of Black Lives Matter, which focuses on equality and better treatment for people of color.
Since her appearance, the city has taken the first step by increasing hourly wages for every employee for the Shelby County School District to $15 an hour. Rye returned to Memphis on April 4 to offer the youth of Oakhaven Middle fresh food from C-3 Land Cooperative, and free bank accounts from the Tri-State Bank.
“There’s a bunch of reasons that contribute to the poverty rate here: lack of quality education, lack of community resources focusing on getting families out of poverty, and lack of job opportunities,” said Kenya Sparks, an active member of the Grizzlies TEAM Mentor Program.
For instance, many under-served workers struggle with depending on temporary jobs that offer minimum pay of $7.25 an hour and no benefits.
Memphis has the highest poverty rate in the country, according to an annual study conducted by the University of Memphis’ Elena Delavega that puts the overall poverty rate in Memphis at 26.9 percent. Additionally, the rate almost doubles the average poverty rate in the United States, which is 14 percent overall.
Memphis also has a high rate of children living in poverty. The rate for child poverty in the city of Memphis is 44.7 percent, the highest child poverty rate in the nation. One of the key factors of the poverty rate is the income of families in Memphis.
“We have established ourselves as the distribution capital of the US, which in itself is not a bad thing,” said Shelby County School Board candidate Rhonnie Brewer. “However, establishing warehouse jobs as 'low wage' jobs is. We have too many people working for less than $10 per hour.”
Low wage jobs for primary care givers means young people need to contribute to the household income, Brewer said.
“This lessens the number of youth who are able to go on to secondary education and even complete primary education,” Brewer said.
Additionally, only 10 percent of teenagers in the Memphis area are college-ready by the time they graduate from high school, Brewer said.
“They are not able to compete for the jobs paying higher wages,” Brewer said.
