June 5, 2026 • 41 mins
Souls to the Polls with Dr. Bill Atkins and Dr. Jason Turner on The Bev Johnson Show on WDIA Radio.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Memphis probably presents the Beam Johnson Show.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Let me say, Bath, I've got.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
First.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
Let me you say She's gone emphistop gain.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
No matter of the problem she can have so all
the phone and the normans on your mind.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
She ji me in the hair by chilling you to
just keep the fast.
Speaker 5 (00:48):
When a wrangle a pegging out fishing show goes, well,
I've got this nothing happening here every day, U d.
Speaker 6 (01:02):
Well bell got me a missed talking yay, good morning,
(01:49):
good morning, good morning, and welcome into w d i
A The BEB Johnson Show.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I'm bev, it is in did a pleasure.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
I have you with us once again on this Friday,
as we say around here, Friday, June fifth, twenty twenty six,
enjoy this fabulous day to day as on a Fridays,
It's relationship Day, where we talk about relationships to help
make yours healthy, happy, wholesome, wonderful, and most of all
(02:18):
loving between consenting adults.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
We will be doing that with our expert, our.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
Behavioral relationship consultant Dot Dorothy Jeffries. We'll be talking with
us and also we'll talk about another kind of relationship.
We'll talk about souls to the polls, what's that about?
Will stick and stay when it's your turn to talk,
you know you can. All you need to do is
dial these numbers nine zero, one, five, three, five, nine,
(02:49):
three four two nine, zero one five three five nine
three four two eight hundred five zero three nine three
four two eight one hundred five zero three nine three
four two eight three three five three five nine three
four two eight three three five three five nine three
(03:13):
four two.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Will get you in to me.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
And if this day, this this here day, Friday June fifth,
twenty twenty six, is your birthday.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Happy birthday to each and every.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
One of y'all out there who may be celebrating a
birthday on this day, June fifth, Saturday, June sixth, Sunday
June seventh as well, Happy birthday y'all. Go out and
celebrate your life. You bephtime youveptime. When I come back,
we'll talk some souls to the polls. Next with me
(03:53):
Bev Johnson on BEV Johnson Show. Undouble you d I
A Welcome back to WDI A The Bev Johnson Show.
(04:53):
It is a Friday, June fifth, twenty twenty six. Enjoy
this fabulous day to day well, let me introduce you
to my guest. They don't need any introduction, but I
will introduce them.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
We have a legend a w d I, A legend
in the house. Yeah, doctor Bill Atkins is here. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
That a legend of w D I. A I can
go back with Bill and steal. You're showing your age
when you do that, you know what? Okay, I know
I'm showing your age. Yeah, your mind.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Mind.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
And also doctor Pastor Jason Turner, how are you, brother,
I'm doing great. Good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning,
good morning. You looking fabulous. I'm trying to you brothers
looking fabulous.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Oh bless you were coming to see you. Oh okay, good,
good good.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
Before we start talking about souls to the polls. And
I wanted to say doctor Bill that you know, life
has all kinds of twists and turns and and and
Pastor Turner. When I came to Memphis in radio, I
took Bill Atkins place at w.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
L o K.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
Do you remember that, well, yeah, you were in the
news depart remember, And I came and you were working
with C. J.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Morgan in the morning. Pastor Turner.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
I was coming from Jackson, Mississippi. I was hired by
w l o K, and I took Bill's place at
w l o K in the news department.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Chuck Scruggs stole me from w l Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
Yeah, because I said, what said, Bill Atkins is going
to w d I A, and and and and and
and and and Bill. The how I got to w
d I A, Pastor Turner. I was hired by a
guy named John Pittman, who I replaced in the news
(07:06):
department at w j M I OKJ and Jackson, Mississippi.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
He hired me at w d I A.
Speaker 7 (07:15):
I replaced him in Jackson, took Bill's place over there,
and I think about Lord, the Lord has has been
with me and blessed me.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
Oh yes, all these years.
Speaker 5 (07:30):
Past Turner, and I think about that, and people don't
know I took at w Yeah. You came over, Yeah,
missus Scrubbs. Yeah, he's getting everybody.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
And you're about to celebrate fifty years in radio, yes, sir,
my goodness, fifty years.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Fifty years.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
I can't believe it. Wow, Doctor Bill, I cannot believe it.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
Because when I was hired at w d I A,
and during that time, past Turner, Black Radio, you didn't
stay there long digit, Bill, you moved, You moved if
you moved where the money or people wanted you. But
I didn't know I was going to be here this long,
and wd I a now forty three years and then
(08:14):
in August I'll be so my official date in August,
I'll be celebrating fifty.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Years in radio period. Amazing. I said, thank you, Lord.
I wanted to tell that that's a little history, a
little history. So and I think about that. I said,
I replaced Bill because they were bad Bill and Stell
steal in Bill. They were some bad brothers.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
They were, they were, they were, they were. But I'm
so glad to have you fell us here today because
we want to talk about souls to the polls and
doctor Bill Atkins. What is that all about?
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Well, it's about getting them people to votewering the theme
from the Civil rights era of the big rallies in
the days of getting souls to the polls, meaning get
our people to go vote. We're in a critical situation
right now where voting has been so low until we
feel we've got to exercise every method we can to
encourage our people to vote.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
And so when we well, let me go back, because
that You've been an activist in this community with all
kinds of things. What's happening with our folks that they
don't want to go vote? Some of it's not understanding
what's going on.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Gerry Mandering is a term that we don't just use
in our verbiage every day, but it's happening now. The
Supreme Court, an unfair Supreme Court sixty three voted to
strip gut out the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty five,
which guaranteed us the right to vote, but it also
guaranteed congressional lines that we would not be able to
(10:00):
fixed lines where people would not be able to represent
their own communities. But of course you know that happened.
President Trump apparently called Bishop Lee and told him to
change District nine, and in that we lost our representation
here in Memphis, in Shelby County, the whole much of
western Tennessee as a matter of fact, because of that ruling,
(10:23):
which in fact was a very what we consider a
racist blow, because now we are coupled with people in
communities that we have no commonality with them at all.
We have no commonality with people on the Kentucky border
up here Dyesburg, Tennessee.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Places like that.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
We have nothing in common with them, So how can
we effectively be serviced by this kind of broad area.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
So we need to get our tails up and out.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Yes, and that's where doctor Turner comes in.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Yeah, that's Turny.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Yeah, a young man, come on, doctor turn to talk
to us about what's really going on.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
We are at an inflection point.
Speaker 8 (11:03):
And really, as I piggyback off to doctor Atkins, we
have a generation now that does not appreciate the blood,
the sweat, the people who sacrifice their lives so that
we could have a voting Rights Act of nineteen sixty five.
And it's really out of point now where the last
(11:23):
election May fifth, only sixteen percent of registered voters turned
out in Shelby County.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
That's sad, that's shameful and sad, very sad.
Speaker 8 (11:33):
And so it's incumbent upon I believe the most free
institution in the African American community, the Black church, to
work together to coalesce and not only turn out our congregations.
There are people in our communities that don't come to
our churches that we want to reach out to and
deliver to the polls in August and November.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
So their souls to the polls. What are you doing?
What's happening with that?
Speaker 8 (12:00):
So it begins as a rally on this coming Sunday evening,
June seventh, six pm at Mississippi Bulevard Christian Church, seventy
North Bellevue Boulevard, five pm. You can come and will
help you identify what congressional district you're now in, will
help you to understand your voter status. And as well,
if you're a church leader, possibly you have a social
(12:21):
justice ministry, We're going to help you to unpack a
tool kit that we have that will help you employ
the members of your church and get them out in
the community to turn out our communities to vote. There
will be a number of speakers. Doctor Atkins is our
opening speaker on Sunday evening. I believe he's going to
set the tone to help us to understand the immense
(12:43):
weight and gravity of this moment and to set it
in historical context.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
He was part of SNICK.
Speaker 8 (12:50):
They were on the ground fighting towards getting the Civil
Rights Actor of nineteen sixty four, fighting to get the
Voting Rights Act of nineteen sixty five, and so it
is important for us to hear from one who was
in the streets marching, who was demonstrating, who was fighting
for the rights that we now have lost because we
didn't understand that elections have consequences. They'll be singing, There'll
(13:14):
be other speakers who will come along, and then we'll
give a call to action that will summons all of
us to do our part to turn out the vote
for a turnaround in Shelby County.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
Doctor Turner also is the souls to the polls. You're
kind of doing a faith base trying to get those churches,
those pastors to get their congregation to come over because.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
This is so important.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
And like you said, some people may not know their district,
they don't understand what's happening.
Speaker 8 (13:47):
The African American church has a unique opportunity. Every week,
African Americans still frequent our churches, and so what better
place to be the place where not only voter registration happens,
voter empowerment.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Want people to be educated not just where they vote,
but what are the.
Speaker 8 (14:03):
Issues that are at stake when we vote and who
are the candidates that reflect the most important issues to
our community. And so we are leaning on the leadership
of not just pastors, but those who make up the
layity of congregations to join us in this effort over
the next number of months. This is not just an
(14:25):
event for the sake of an event. This is the
kickoff to a series of activities that will be deployed
from June seventh all the way through to November when
we vote in the federal election.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
And Doctor Bill and boy, when Doctor Turner said about Snick, well,
that goes way back to those civil rights organizations.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
That got votes up and got them registered and they
went through.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Hell oh yeah, yeah, yeah, those days.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
I united with Snake in Nashville, Tennessee as a freshman
at Tennessee State Universal. I went down the fisk and
heard a beautiful lady talk about Snick and I was
in love with her, so I joined Snick. That's how
it actually started. But no, Snick has been very important
in my life and getting me involved in the movement itself.
But what we're facing right now bev is voting has
(15:19):
been by choice before for us, Now it's it's survival
voting for us.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
It's now survival.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
We're to the point now where we're facing an administration
that's doing everything in their power to weaken our abilities
to have the rights that we have fought for. We
know that what they've done with the Jeri Mandarin is
probably the tip of the iceberg, because there are other
agendas on the plate that they're going to eventually try
to get to which would challenge other things. But right now, presently,
(15:49):
we've got to get people to vote in August, and
we've got to get people to vote in November. This
is the paramount right now. We've got to vote. Sixteen percent.
They say five hundred and seventy seven thousand registered voters
did not vote, five hundred and seventy seven thousand rich vote.
I was asked a question the other day, doctor Turner
about registering new voters. I see, we always want to
registered voters. But if we can just get those who
(16:10):
are registered now to vote, vote, you know that that's
the that's the real job right now, to get people
to understand the seriousness of what's going on and why
they must vote, and understand that that voting is our
greatest tool in our toolbox right now to protect ourselves.
So we've got to vote, and we're trying to stretch
(16:30):
that through the churches, through what we've been trying to
organize and getting organized through asters. And one thing I'm
so proud of, doctor Turney is that, for the first
time being a Memphian, I have never seen BEV every
branch and facet of Black churchdom and dominations are together
in Memphis. I mean, from Progressive Baptist to National Baptists
(16:55):
to Full Gospel Baptists to A and Me to CEME,
the Church of God in Christ, to Disciples of Christ
to independence. We're all there together, uh, through the collaborative
and pulling this thing together for this coming Sunday night.
And we haven't seen that kind.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Of kind of community. Yeah in a long while, Okay,
in a long while. So we're very proud of that. Wow. Wow.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Let me someone wants to talk to you. Let me
go to our phone lines. W D I a high caller.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Good morning there, good morning.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
I just want to know.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Good morning, young man, mister actor. How are you doing, sir? Well?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Thank you for young man.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
I appreciate that. Good morning.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
I just called him like I see him, you know.
That's all.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
And you and we have doctor doctor Turner in here.
Don't forget him.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Oh doctor Turner, good morning sir to you. How you
doing good.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Mornings are doing well?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Yeah, I have a question this morning. Okay, I often
sit back and take a look at things, how things
go in life, kind of life, you know, trying to
be a renal goods I could say. But my question
this morning is I believe that women outnumber men voting
(18:18):
like six to one. The reason I say that is
because me, I have I know a lot of guys,
and I know that these guys have been inconcerated before.
In order to get your voting device with stores, you
have to you just can't do your time and expect
to get your voting right with store. If there are
any lingering court costs in the system, those have to
(18:42):
be paid as well. My question to you, for both
of you guys, is that any tight? I mean, what
can we do as far as the legal systems that
it takes downtown to the store voting rights? How why
it's so hard? Anything that we could do to lessen
(19:03):
that so more men can vote? Well, I want to
hang out in vote.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Well, I'm sure we all have expungement clinics. We have
expungement workshops and expungement workshops for people to come in
with crimes that that can be expunged. We often run
into the case of some people with serious felonies in
their past that cannot be expunged, but those that have
a lot of non violent crimes can be expunged.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
And to get those people to come, we've had teams,
and I know doctor Turner's had history, and a lot
of us in churches have done that. We've had these
clinics for people to come just to get expunged.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Yeah, I think that I had a friend, I'm gonna
be honest with you guys, had a friend. He tried
to get his rightful stored. He went through everything and
once he found out that's his court posting fives after
he did. His time was twelve thousand dollars. He had
(20:02):
to pay that before he actually got well reinstated to vote.
And I think that's real hard today. I think we
could go just call it, you know, man, I'm trying
to ramble. I just want to hang up the list.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
I just want to know.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Doctor Turner.
Speaker 8 (20:21):
Yeah, No, I think Doctor Atkins has stated that there
have been a number of spongement clinics that have taken
place in churches and other places in the community that
work to exponge charges from records and help many cases
they have persons prepared to register them to vote once
their record is exponged. I don't know how to really
(20:44):
answer the question of fees that can pile up. You know,
that's something that definitely should be looked at because it
will create an impediment to someone having their voting rights restored.
But you know, I think in the next number of
months there will be some expongement clinics that will take
(21:05):
place that we hope those who haven't been voted or
registered to vote will come out to and see if
there's an opportunity to get their records expunged and then
get their voting rights restored.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
And one of the things that sold to the polls
that's happening on Sunday, You all will have all kinds
of information, doctor Turner, won't you?
Speaker 4 (21:25):
That is correct?
Speaker 8 (21:26):
So when people show up, we've got volunteers who are
going to be there who can take your name, take
your address, and help you first identify what your new
district is. Right, people need to know what district they're
in so they'll know who are the candidates and that's
particular district. The second thing is this we are at
a state where many people have not voted for a
(21:50):
number of elections. They are at risk of being purged
from the voting rule, and so we want persons to
come to engage with our volunteers. We're going to help
you to understand if you are an active voter, and
if not, we're going to help you find a pathway
to get back registered so that you can participate in
the upcoming elections. The third thing is this, We've been
(22:14):
partnering with Civity in the Black Clergic Collaborate from Memphis
and working towards a number of tools that churches can
employ to know who in their community is unregistered, infrequent,
or possibly inactive when it comes to voting, and arming
those churches with those addresses and individuals and going out
(22:35):
helping them to go out to the community, knock on doors,
to engage those voters one on one to find out
why is it that they're not participating, and then help
them discover a voting plan. We want everybody who comes
on Sunday night to develop a voting plan. Where will
I vote? When will I vote? And also I want
to know who you're gonna bring with you. Many of
(22:57):
the churches will set up during an early vote a
day where we're gathered as congregations at the polls. We're
gonna pray that we're gonna get in line, and we're
gonna cast our votes together. Imagine if every church YEA
in this city and in this county set aside a
day during early voting where we're gonna meet up at
a certain time and go to the polls and vote.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
What a massive impact that would have on voter turnout.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
And I always Doctor Bill that tell our listeners, Doc Turner,
go early vote because you can go to any location.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Right because the see this.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
Last voting we were talking and on that day it rained,
and you know, some of us we don't want to
get out in the rain. They waited for election day.
Come on, y'all, you can go early voting. You can
go anywhere to vote.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
You know.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Be of one of the strategies of the Republican Party
is to in the future to to discontinue early voting.
Oh wow, that's one of their strategies. And also to
shorten the amount of hours in the day that you vote.
For instance, will people in line if the voting posts
close at seven o'clock if people in line, will they
still be able to vote. Yes, it's so many kinds
(24:07):
of things that that they're going to be tried against
us in voting. As reason why we've got to early
vote now, and and and as I agree with doctor Turner,
if every church in Memphis just had an early voting day,
get your church together, We're going to go to this
particular poll all together at one time, a great one,
(24:28):
and we go. We go, set up some stands, cook
some hot dogs, hamburgers, drink stuff, and I'm voting with
your yeah, yeah, right, Well, if all of us got
to go to church, we may come to you right right,
right right, We're going to gather together and voting. If
we could get every church to do something similar, we
can increase that voting percentage way above fifty percent easily.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
In August. I love it.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I love it.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
Quote our phone lines w D I a high caller. Yes,
hey Marcus, how are you today?
Speaker 9 (25:01):
I'm doing great dev and greetings to your guests. So
I want to ask this question here, and it may
not be in reference to expongement. What it involves the church, because.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
We know that they really the only real.
Speaker 10 (25:21):
Organization we have left knowing all as a last result
is the church.
Speaker 9 (25:27):
That's where everybody at the church is either the club
or the church.
Speaker 10 (25:33):
So what is the church's rule in economics? Because we
know what you know, we don't economics. You know you
could vote up and down early. It's really economics that
run politics. And know we have the quotus say no,
it's politics Roman economics. No economics run politics because.
Speaker 9 (25:56):
If you need to ruin a candidate, you have to
have money. You need money to feel a.
Speaker 10 (26:02):
Candidate, you see. And we don't have economic control of
our community. We need economic control of our community if
we are going to progress, and will see this administration
what they are doing. So what is the church's rule in.
Speaker 11 (26:21):
Having us control our economics and preventing people from karting
all the money on a dally basis out of our community,
leaving us poorer. So if the.
Speaker 10 (26:37):
Esking guests can conduct a little bit, I would really
appreciate it.
Speaker 9 (26:42):
Thank you very much better.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
Thank you Marcus.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Yeah, doctor Tourney, Marcus, thank you for that question.
Speaker 8 (26:47):
I think first we have to acknowledge that the church
has been the social safety net in our communities, and
so we're making your rents are paid you, no hungry,
people are fed, unhealthed, have shelter. I have since been
in Memphis and churches galvanized around concrete ideas that can
(27:09):
help change the economic reality in our community. A number
of years ago, in collaboration with our chamber, we worked
around how can we upscale our workforce? How can people
who are in a certain field but who want to
go to the next level have an opportunity to do so?
And so we've worked in order to provide them job training,
(27:30):
We've reviewed resumes, We've held job fairs so that they
will have opportunities to elevate their lives and their careers
in the places where they can have a greater income.
When it comes to more large scale economic development in Memphis,
we must acknowledge this that we suffer from disinvestment. There's
not been a lot of investment in our communities, and
(27:53):
I think that it's.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Going to take.
Speaker 8 (27:57):
More partnership, more collaboration, just like we're doing, we're voting
in order to make that happen. I know our church
is in the midst of a mixed use redevelopment of
our Midtown campus. Midtown is not particularly an African American community, However,
we are an African American church and we're hoping to
build a community that will help increase the population density,
(28:22):
will also create opportunities for people to find housing that
is affordable in that area, right alongside workforce housing and
market rate housing. Also creating opportunities for locally owned small
businesses to have their shops within out the community that
(28:42):
we're building. And so it's going to take more collaboration.
Collaboration not just between the church, We're gonna need the
business community to work with us to think through a
larger solution to create more investment in African American communities
in Memphis.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
We've also had what we called financial literacy seminars, helping
people to understand how to manage their home finances, budgets,
how to get bank accounts, checking accounts, doing the things
that need to be done. That that some things that
are not necessarily being taught in our schools, but things
that we can help people improve the condition of their
lives when they learn how to manage their money is
(29:19):
better and get their bills paid on time, building their
credit ratings, things that are essential right now to well
being in this economy we live in today. That credit
rating can be devastating to you one way or the other,
and certainly we want our people to understand how they
can improve that credit rating and how they can improve
their their lifestyle in general, just by better financial literacy.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Good I get this call WD.
Speaker 9 (29:43):
I a I caller, Good morning. How are you today?
Speaker 7 (29:49):
Doing well?
Speaker 9 (29:50):
Carl and you I am okay? First of all, realmand actors.
I spoke to you briefly yesterday, so before so before
I begin, let me slow down because sometimes I stuck.
We need to do about this situation that we're about
to face in this few months. We have to do
(30:10):
four urs. First off, we need to repeat, repeat what's
going on daily like those Republicans do. We got to
be repetition in our in if we're out, because some
people think, well, it's gonna be all right. No, we
have to be pounding in their head daily.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Two.
Speaker 9 (30:32):
I mean it's the second r is we need to
be ruthless. But legally we have to go about and
get people to residue the vote. We have to go
through the different counties that we about to be in
the district and find out what they need. We got
to be ruthless about this. We got to tipe whoever.
Republican nominees are wrapped Trump around their net like an
(30:55):
abacross because sometimes Democrats can't to be nice. We can't
be nice. Now we could be ruthless, but polite with
ruthless and legally do it. The third are well all
these different counties that in the new district. Now we
got to relate to these different counties. Some of those
counties who got to deal With'll say, like Wayne County,
those people are farmers. What can we do to convince
(31:18):
them to vote the Democratic way? Because they need something.
We need to remind them how your fertilized are coming
with the situation over there. I ran how you lect
your gas prices? A lot in you diesel gas. Have
to remind them what we are going to do this for.
You got to convince them to come this way and
laugh not least we need to use the are of recall.
(31:42):
We need to remind the people in this city that
those Republicans and these new districts did not want funding
to come to Saint jud won our pride and joy
because Elon must want to cut council research for children.
We need to remind them of death. Then we all
need to remind them of the school board situation. And
(32:03):
one of those people running for District nine will instamentally
try and get which allows the state to take over
the Messais and Chelby County school system. So why we're
gonna allow them to represent Memsris where they trying to
cut away to our pride and Jody, our children from
school in Saint Jude Hospital. We have to go on
the attack constantly. Now I know that may come across
(32:25):
as being two rude, but we can't be nice anymore.
We got to go about and do it. And I
plan to vote, I plan tell for a friend to vote,
and I don't do everything in my power legally to
make sure that we can get District five nine eight
to become Democrats. Why because Meal is still the largest
(32:45):
city in those three districts that divide us up. We
are still the largest city. So we need to get
out and vote and get those people those small counties
who need help that we're gonna take care of them
as well. And we got to get the right candidate,
somebody from Paris and there if not for Memphis, somebody
from Waynesboro, if not for Memphis, or somebody for Columbia.
(33:06):
If not for Memphis, we got to go on the
attack and we got to make sure we all the
Republicans around Trump policy and all the things they voted for.
Thank you for allowing me to talk, and I appreciate it.
You all have a good day.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
Thank you, Kyle. Kyle said doctor. He certainly did.
Speaker 8 (33:25):
And I think he expresses the sentiment of a lot
of people in the former District nine. Yeah, I'm here
in Tennessee, but with the reality that we've been forced
to live into, I think he makes a very salient point.
We've got to find a way to connect the issues
that are hurting Memphis to those who are in these
counties that are in rural West Tennessee. Even some of
(33:46):
these districts stretch all the way to Williamson County. I
was born and raised in Nashville, my mom's family. We
still have home and have a land in Arrington, Tennessee, Okay,
And it's our that that land and Aeron Coon, Tennessee,
is in the same district as I am in here
in Memphis.
Speaker 4 (34:07):
What amazing, Right, We're talking about two hundred miles of mark. Yeah,
two different realities. Memphis.
Speaker 8 (34:15):
One of the poorest cities in the nation. Wiimson County
is the ninth richest county in the country. Wow, So
we have to do some work to help people who
live in other counties to understand although we're mostly urban
in Memphis, although they're rural, we're all in the same boat.
And we've got to figure out a way to get
(34:36):
out of the storm that we're in and have been
in the past couple of years.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
You know, it's difficult to understand, bev why rural white
farmers in general have not rebounded against the Trump administration
because this administration has not been very friendly to farmers.
I mean, the tariffs have literally stripped them of income
and money is that they have depended on for years.
And we do have some commonalities, but the question is,
(35:01):
well they react to those commonalities that we both share
with each other, And that's the question. Can we get
them to move with us in a sweeping movement to
change the things in this country because we do have
these similar problems.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
Good, So we are telling our listeners Doctor Turner about
Sunday Souls to the poll.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
What is happening on.
Speaker 8 (35:28):
Sunday Sunday, June the seventh, seven in North Bellevue Boulevard,
Memphis and the se Mississipipile of our Christian church churches
from around this city, pastors from around the city and
across the county are coming together first to express our
collective witness as people of faith and as inheritors of
(35:49):
the legacy of the Black church in this country, which
has been on the cusps and on the vanguard of
the civil rights movement in this country. We're coming together
because we want to make sure our voters are empowered.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
We want our churches to deploy its members.
Speaker 8 (36:05):
In order to get the turnout that we need in
August and in November, and so when people show up
on that day, we're going to inspire you. We're also
going to inform you. Yes, we want you to go
out and take part. And I just don't want people
to have individual voting plans. Want me to think deeply
about who else can I bring with me to the polls.
(36:27):
That's the kind of action that we want to inspire
from our time together. On Sunday, beginning at five PM,
we'll open the doors. You can come and engage with
our volunteers who'll be helping you to get the information.
At six We're going to kick off for a great
evening that's going to leave you inspired and ready to
go to work.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Sounds good and be if we expect every person that
attends that rally to leave that rally as active participants
in workers and the effort to get our people to vote.
I mean, we got to go to our families, our neighborhoods,
our work sites. We've got to encourage our people to
vote and give them the reason why. And we're going
to share that information. We're going to share talking points
and things that that maybe some people don't know that
(37:05):
they need to know as to why we're motivating this movement.
It is desperate for us right now. I can't say
it any stronger than that. It's desperate for us right now.
And if people don't realize that, they may find out
too late. But we're ahead of the ball now. Instead
of being reactive, we want to be proactive and it's
desperate times for us.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
So we've got to vote, and and you need to
be there on Sunday.
Speaker 5 (37:30):
Doctor Turner sols the polls so you can get the information,
so you can be informed.
Speaker 8 (37:37):
That is definitely why we want people to come together.
You need to have your phase in the place. We
can't sit this one out now if we know all
that we've endured no DEI high gas prices, affordability crisis.
I mean, you can just keep going on on the
numerous black women who are federal workers who no longer
employ Yeah, the list goes on and on on and on.
(38:00):
If any of that gets up under your skin, we
need to see you Sunday evening because it's time.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
For you to go to work. That's right.
Speaker 5 (38:07):
And doctor Bill and doctor Turner that this is not
going to be the only one you all will be doing. So,
so the poll you're going to be continuing doing up
until August and November.
Speaker 4 (38:21):
Yes, this is the kickoff. This was the kickoff.
Speaker 8 (38:24):
I want you to think about nineteen sixty four, all right, summer, Yes,
that's right, summer two point zero.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
Yeah, here in Memphis, Tennessee.
Speaker 8 (38:33):
This is the kickoff forward and we're going there'll be events,
there also be actions. Okay, we want people to get
involved in to take part in. Every fourth Saturday we
have a postcarding party, but we send mail to people.
Speaker 4 (38:46):
Who haven't been voting.
Speaker 8 (38:47):
Yeah, and say hey, check your record and here are
the upcomingy lectures. We needed to show up for it, right.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
They're back in the old days when Harold full was
running for Congress and Yes in nineteen seventy four against
Dan kirkandall. We found out areas that, particularly precincts that
people didn't vote. We went to those areas door to door,
knocked on doors and asking them. We didn't say why
you didn't vote. We just encouraged them to vote.
Speaker 4 (39:11):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
We let them know that this area had been voting
low and we want to make sure that you're ready
to vote when voting time comes.
Speaker 4 (39:18):
And we did that.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
Well, we need to go back to that. That's our
that's our that's our template right now for what we
need to do right now. We need to get back
to our areas where we're not voting at all. Our demographics.
We got to work on our demographics because in that
last election, the majority of people voting were over fifty
five years of age. Oh wow, we've got to work
down to that eighteen group and older to get them
(39:39):
to vote. We've got to work find means by which
we can encourage them to get active and engaged. So
we've got a lot of work to do, but it
starts now. This is just the beginning Sunday. That's why
we want everybody to be there Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday,
Sunday Sunday, six pm, Mississippi Boulevard, be there with us.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
I love it.
Speaker 5 (39:57):
I thank you all for coming in and talk with
me and sharing with our listeners. And I know and
I will remind them, yeah today before I go off again,
that that that they be there. And it's good having
you your brothers here and and uh one of the
w d i A Lesends, thank you, Reben, doctor Bill Atkins, rebind,
(40:20):
doctor Jason.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
Turner, thank you all for being here us and I appreciate.
Speaker 5 (40:26):
Y'all, so we'll get those souls to the polls coming
up on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (40:34):
Thank you, Thank you fellas, Thank you Ben. You're welcome.
Speaker 5 (40:38):
When we come back, we will talk with our relationship
behavioral consultant, doctor Dorothy Jeffries.
Speaker 4 (40:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
As we go to the other side of the Bev
Johnson Show on double you d i A
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Whether you're in Arkansas, Tennessee, or Mississippi on Facebook, Twitter,
or Instagram, thank you for listening to the Bev Johnson
Show on w d I a Memphis
Memphis probably presents the Beam Johnson Show.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Let me say, Bath, I've got.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
First.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
Let me you say She's gone emphistop gain.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
No matter of the problem she can have so all
the phone and the normans on your mind.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
She ji me in the hair by chilling you to
just keep the fast.
Speaker 5 (00:48):
When a wrangle a pegging out fishing show goes, well,
I've got this nothing happening here every day, U d.
Speaker 6 (01:02):
Well bell got me a missed talking yay, good morning,
(01:49):
good morning, good morning, and welcome into w d i
A The BEB Johnson Show.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I'm bev, it is in did a pleasure.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
I have you with us once again on this Friday,
as we say around here, Friday, June fifth, twenty twenty six,
enjoy this fabulous day to day as on a Fridays,
It's relationship Day, where we talk about relationships to help
make yours healthy, happy, wholesome, wonderful, and most of all
(02:18):
loving between consenting adults.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
We will be doing that with our expert, our.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
Behavioral relationship consultant Dot Dorothy Jeffries. We'll be talking with
us and also we'll talk about another kind of relationship.
We'll talk about souls to the polls, what's that about?
Will stick and stay when it's your turn to talk,
you know you can. All you need to do is
dial these numbers nine zero, one, five, three, five, nine,
(02:49):
three four two nine, zero one five three five nine
three four two eight hundred five zero three nine three
four two eight one hundred five zero three nine three
four two eight three three five three five nine three
four two eight three three five three five nine three
(03:13):
four two.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Will get you in to me.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
And if this day, this this here day, Friday June fifth,
twenty twenty six, is your birthday.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Happy birthday to each and every.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
One of y'all out there who may be celebrating a
birthday on this day, June fifth, Saturday, June sixth, Sunday
June seventh as well, Happy birthday y'all. Go out and
celebrate your life. You bephtime youveptime. When I come back,
we'll talk some souls to the polls. Next with me
(03:53):
Bev Johnson on BEV Johnson Show. Undouble you d I
A Welcome back to WDI A The Bev Johnson Show.
(04:53):
It is a Friday, June fifth, twenty twenty six. Enjoy
this fabulous day to day well, let me introduce you
to my guest. They don't need any introduction, but I
will introduce them.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
We have a legend a w d I, A legend
in the house. Yeah, doctor Bill Atkins is here. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
That a legend of w D I. A I can
go back with Bill and steal. You're showing your age
when you do that, you know what? Okay, I know
I'm showing your age. Yeah, your mind.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Mind.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
And also doctor Pastor Jason Turner, how are you, brother,
I'm doing great. Good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning,
good morning. You looking fabulous. I'm trying to you brothers
looking fabulous.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Oh bless you were coming to see you. Oh okay, good,
good good.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
Before we start talking about souls to the polls. And
I wanted to say doctor Bill that you know, life
has all kinds of twists and turns and and and
Pastor Turner. When I came to Memphis in radio, I
took Bill Atkins place at w.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
L o K.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
Do you remember that, well, yeah, you were in the
news depart remember, And I came and you were working
with C. J.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Morgan in the morning. Pastor Turner.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
I was coming from Jackson, Mississippi. I was hired by
w l o K, and I took Bill's place at
w l o K in the news department.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Chuck Scruggs stole me from w l Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
Yeah, because I said, what said, Bill Atkins is going
to w d I A, and and and and and
and and and Bill. The how I got to w
d I A, Pastor Turner. I was hired by a
guy named John Pittman, who I replaced in the news
(07:06):
department at w j M I OKJ and Jackson, Mississippi.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
He hired me at w d I A.
Speaker 7 (07:15):
I replaced him in Jackson, took Bill's place over there,
and I think about Lord, the Lord has has been
with me and blessed me.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
Oh yes, all these years.
Speaker 5 (07:30):
Past Turner, and I think about that, and people don't
know I took at w Yeah. You came over, Yeah,
missus Scrubbs. Yeah, he's getting everybody.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
And you're about to celebrate fifty years in radio, yes, sir,
my goodness, fifty years.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Fifty years.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
I can't believe it. Wow, Doctor Bill, I cannot believe it.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
Because when I was hired at w d I A,
and during that time, past Turner, Black Radio, you didn't
stay there long digit, Bill, you moved, You moved if
you moved where the money or people wanted you. But
I didn't know I was going to be here this long,
and wd I a now forty three years and then
(08:14):
in August I'll be so my official date in August,
I'll be celebrating fifty.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Years in radio period. Amazing. I said, thank you, Lord.
I wanted to tell that that's a little history, a
little history. So and I think about that. I said,
I replaced Bill because they were bad Bill and Stell
steal in Bill. They were some bad brothers.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
They were, they were, they were, they were. But I'm
so glad to have you fell us here today because
we want to talk about souls to the polls and
doctor Bill Atkins. What is that all about?
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Well, it's about getting them people to votewering the theme
from the Civil rights era of the big rallies in
the days of getting souls to the polls, meaning get
our people to go vote. We're in a critical situation
right now where voting has been so low until we
feel we've got to exercise every method we can to
encourage our people to vote.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
And so when we well, let me go back, because
that You've been an activist in this community with all
kinds of things. What's happening with our folks that they
don't want to go vote? Some of it's not understanding
what's going on.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Gerry Mandering is a term that we don't just use
in our verbiage every day, but it's happening now. The
Supreme Court, an unfair Supreme Court sixty three voted to
strip gut out the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty five,
which guaranteed us the right to vote, but it also
guaranteed congressional lines that we would not be able to
(10:00):
fixed lines where people would not be able to represent
their own communities. But of course you know that happened.
President Trump apparently called Bishop Lee and told him to
change District nine, and in that we lost our representation
here in Memphis, in Shelby County, the whole much of
western Tennessee as a matter of fact, because of that ruling,
(10:23):
which in fact was a very what we consider a
racist blow, because now we are coupled with people in
communities that we have no commonality with them at all.
We have no commonality with people on the Kentucky border
up here Dyesburg, Tennessee.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Places like that.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
We have nothing in common with them, So how can
we effectively be serviced by this kind of broad area.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
So we need to get our tails up and out.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Yes, and that's where doctor Turner comes in.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Yeah, that's Turny.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Yeah, a young man, come on, doctor turn to talk
to us about what's really going on.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
We are at an inflection point.
Speaker 8 (11:03):
And really, as I piggyback off to doctor Atkins, we
have a generation now that does not appreciate the blood,
the sweat, the people who sacrifice their lives so that
we could have a voting Rights Act of nineteen sixty five.
And it's really out of point now where the last
(11:23):
election May fifth, only sixteen percent of registered voters turned
out in Shelby County.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
That's sad, that's shameful and sad, very sad.
Speaker 8 (11:33):
And so it's incumbent upon I believe the most free
institution in the African American community, the Black church, to
work together to coalesce and not only turn out our congregations.
There are people in our communities that don't come to
our churches that we want to reach out to and
deliver to the polls in August and November.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
So their souls to the polls. What are you doing?
What's happening with that?
Speaker 8 (12:00):
So it begins as a rally on this coming Sunday evening,
June seventh, six pm at Mississippi Bulevard Christian Church, seventy
North Bellevue Boulevard, five pm. You can come and will
help you identify what congressional district you're now in, will
help you to understand your voter status. And as well,
if you're a church leader, possibly you have a social
(12:21):
justice ministry, We're going to help you to unpack a
tool kit that we have that will help you employ
the members of your church and get them out in
the community to turn out our communities to vote. There
will be a number of speakers. Doctor Atkins is our
opening speaker on Sunday evening. I believe he's going to
set the tone to help us to understand the immense
(12:43):
weight and gravity of this moment and to set it
in historical context.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
He was part of SNICK.
Speaker 8 (12:50):
They were on the ground fighting towards getting the Civil
Rights Actor of nineteen sixty four, fighting to get the
Voting Rights Act of nineteen sixty five, and so it
is important for us to hear from one who was
in the streets marching, who was demonstrating, who was fighting
for the rights that we now have lost because we
didn't understand that elections have consequences. They'll be singing, There'll
(13:14):
be other speakers who will come along, and then we'll
give a call to action that will summons all of
us to do our part to turn out the vote
for a turnaround in Shelby County.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
Doctor Turner also is the souls to the polls. You're
kind of doing a faith base trying to get those churches,
those pastors to get their congregation to come over because.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
This is so important.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
And like you said, some people may not know their district,
they don't understand what's happening.
Speaker 8 (13:47):
The African American church has a unique opportunity. Every week,
African Americans still frequent our churches, and so what better
place to be the place where not only voter registration happens,
voter empowerment.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Want people to be educated not just where they vote,
but what are the.
Speaker 8 (14:03):
Issues that are at stake when we vote and who
are the candidates that reflect the most important issues to
our community. And so we are leaning on the leadership
of not just pastors, but those who make up the
layity of congregations to join us in this effort over
the next number of months. This is not just an
(14:25):
event for the sake of an event. This is the
kickoff to a series of activities that will be deployed
from June seventh all the way through to November when
we vote in the federal election.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
And Doctor Bill and boy, when Doctor Turner said about Snick, well,
that goes way back to those civil rights organizations.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
That got votes up and got them registered and they
went through.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Hell oh yeah, yeah, yeah, those days.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
I united with Snake in Nashville, Tennessee as a freshman
at Tennessee State Universal. I went down the fisk and
heard a beautiful lady talk about Snick and I was
in love with her, so I joined Snick. That's how
it actually started. But no, Snick has been very important
in my life and getting me involved in the movement itself.
But what we're facing right now bev is voting has
(15:19):
been by choice before for us, Now it's it's survival
voting for us.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
It's now survival.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
We're to the point now where we're facing an administration
that's doing everything in their power to weaken our abilities
to have the rights that we have fought for. We
know that what they've done with the Jeri Mandarin is
probably the tip of the iceberg, because there are other
agendas on the plate that they're going to eventually try
to get to which would challenge other things. But right now, presently,
(15:49):
we've got to get people to vote in August, and
we've got to get people to vote in November. This
is the paramount right now. We've got to vote. Sixteen percent.
They say five hundred and seventy seven thousand registered voters
did not vote, five hundred and seventy seven thousand rich vote.
I was asked a question the other day, doctor Turner
about registering new voters. I see, we always want to
registered voters. But if we can just get those who
(16:10):
are registered now to vote, vote, you know that that's
the that's the real job right now, to get people
to understand the seriousness of what's going on and why
they must vote, and understand that that voting is our
greatest tool in our toolbox right now to protect ourselves.
So we've got to vote, and we're trying to stretch
(16:30):
that through the churches, through what we've been trying to
organize and getting organized through asters. And one thing I'm
so proud of, doctor Turney is that, for the first
time being a Memphian, I have never seen BEV every
branch and facet of Black churchdom and dominations are together
in Memphis. I mean, from Progressive Baptist to National Baptists
(16:55):
to Full Gospel Baptists to A and Me to CEME,
the Church of God in Christ, to Disciples of Christ
to independence. We're all there together, uh, through the collaborative
and pulling this thing together for this coming Sunday night.
And we haven't seen that kind.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Of kind of community. Yeah in a long while, Okay,
in a long while. So we're very proud of that. Wow. Wow.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Let me someone wants to talk to you. Let me
go to our phone lines. W D I a high caller.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Good morning there, good morning.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
I just want to know.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Good morning, young man, mister actor. How are you doing, sir? Well?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Thank you for young man.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
I appreciate that. Good morning.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
I just called him like I see him, you know.
That's all.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
And you and we have doctor doctor Turner in here.
Don't forget him.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Oh doctor Turner, good morning sir to you. How you
doing good.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Mornings are doing well?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Yeah, I have a question this morning. Okay, I often
sit back and take a look at things, how things
go in life, kind of life, you know, trying to
be a renal goods I could say. But my question
this morning is I believe that women outnumber men voting
(18:18):
like six to one. The reason I say that is
because me, I have I know a lot of guys,
and I know that these guys have been inconcerated before.
In order to get your voting device with stores, you
have to you just can't do your time and expect
to get your voting right with store. If there are
any lingering court costs in the system, those have to
(18:42):
be paid as well. My question to you, for both
of you guys, is that any tight? I mean, what
can we do as far as the legal systems that
it takes downtown to the store voting rights? How why
it's so hard? Anything that we could do to lessen
(19:03):
that so more men can vote? Well, I want to
hang out in vote.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Well, I'm sure we all have expungement clinics. We have
expungement workshops and expungement workshops for people to come in
with crimes that that can be expunged. We often run
into the case of some people with serious felonies in
their past that cannot be expunged, but those that have
a lot of non violent crimes can be expunged.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
And to get those people to come, we've had teams,
and I know doctor Turner's had history, and a lot
of us in churches have done that. We've had these
clinics for people to come just to get expunged.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Yeah, I think that I had a friend, I'm gonna
be honest with you guys, had a friend. He tried
to get his rightful stored. He went through everything and
once he found out that's his court posting fives after
he did. His time was twelve thousand dollars. He had
(20:02):
to pay that before he actually got well reinstated to vote.
And I think that's real hard today. I think we
could go just call it, you know, man, I'm trying
to ramble. I just want to hang up the list.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
I just want to know.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Doctor Turner.
Speaker 8 (20:21):
Yeah, No, I think Doctor Atkins has stated that there
have been a number of spongement clinics that have taken
place in churches and other places in the community that
work to exponge charges from records and help many cases
they have persons prepared to register them to vote once
their record is exponged. I don't know how to really
(20:44):
answer the question of fees that can pile up. You know,
that's something that definitely should be looked at because it
will create an impediment to someone having their voting rights restored.
But you know, I think in the next number of
months there will be some expongement clinics that will take
(21:05):
place that we hope those who haven't been voted or
registered to vote will come out to and see if
there's an opportunity to get their records expunged and then
get their voting rights restored.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
And one of the things that sold to the polls
that's happening on Sunday, You all will have all kinds
of information, doctor Turner, won't you?
Speaker 4 (21:25):
That is correct?
Speaker 8 (21:26):
So when people show up, we've got volunteers who are
going to be there who can take your name, take
your address, and help you first identify what your new
district is. Right, people need to know what district they're
in so they'll know who are the candidates and that's
particular district. The second thing is this we are at
a state where many people have not voted for a
(21:50):
number of elections. They are at risk of being purged
from the voting rule, and so we want persons to
come to engage with our volunteers. We're going to help
you to understand if you are an active voter, and
if not, we're going to help you find a pathway
to get back registered so that you can participate in
the upcoming elections. The third thing is this, We've been
(22:14):
partnering with Civity in the Black Clergic Collaborate from Memphis
and working towards a number of tools that churches can
employ to know who in their community is unregistered, infrequent,
or possibly inactive when it comes to voting, and arming
those churches with those addresses and individuals and going out
(22:35):
helping them to go out to the community, knock on doors,
to engage those voters one on one to find out
why is it that they're not participating, and then help
them discover a voting plan. We want everybody who comes
on Sunday night to develop a voting plan. Where will
I vote? When will I vote? And also I want
to know who you're gonna bring with you. Many of
(22:57):
the churches will set up during an early vote a
day where we're gathered as congregations at the polls. We're
gonna pray that we're gonna get in line, and we're
gonna cast our votes together. Imagine if every church YEA
in this city and in this county set aside a
day during early voting where we're gonna meet up at
a certain time and go to the polls and vote.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
What a massive impact that would have on voter turnout.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
And I always Doctor Bill that tell our listeners, Doc Turner,
go early vote because you can go to any location.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Right because the see this.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
Last voting we were talking and on that day it rained,
and you know, some of us we don't want to
get out in the rain. They waited for election day.
Come on, y'all, you can go early voting. You can
go anywhere to vote.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
You know.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Be of one of the strategies of the Republican Party
is to in the future to to discontinue early voting.
Oh wow, that's one of their strategies. And also to
shorten the amount of hours in the day that you vote.
For instance, will people in line if the voting posts
close at seven o'clock if people in line, will they
still be able to vote. Yes, it's so many kinds
(24:07):
of things that that they're going to be tried against
us in voting. As reason why we've got to early
vote now, and and and as I agree with doctor Turner,
if every church in Memphis just had an early voting day,
get your church together, We're going to go to this
particular poll all together at one time, a great one,
(24:28):
and we go. We go, set up some stands, cook
some hot dogs, hamburgers, drink stuff, and I'm voting with
your yeah, yeah, right, Well, if all of us got
to go to church, we may come to you right right,
right right, We're going to gather together and voting. If
we could get every church to do something similar, we
can increase that voting percentage way above fifty percent easily.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
In August. I love it.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I love it.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
Quote our phone lines w D I a high caller. Yes,
hey Marcus, how are you today?
Speaker 9 (25:01):
I'm doing great dev and greetings to your guests. So
I want to ask this question here, and it may
not be in reference to expongement. What it involves the church, because.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
We know that they really the only real.
Speaker 10 (25:21):
Organization we have left knowing all as a last result
is the church.
Speaker 9 (25:27):
That's where everybody at the church is either the club
or the church.
Speaker 10 (25:33):
So what is the church's rule in economics? Because we
know what you know, we don't economics. You know you
could vote up and down early. It's really economics that
run politics. And know we have the quotus say no,
it's politics Roman economics. No economics run politics because.
Speaker 9 (25:56):
If you need to ruin a candidate, you have to
have money. You need money to feel a.
Speaker 10 (26:02):
Candidate, you see. And we don't have economic control of
our community. We need economic control of our community if
we are going to progress, and will see this administration
what they are doing. So what is the church's rule in.
Speaker 11 (26:21):
Having us control our economics and preventing people from karting
all the money on a dally basis out of our community,
leaving us poorer. So if the.
Speaker 10 (26:37):
Esking guests can conduct a little bit, I would really
appreciate it.
Speaker 9 (26:42):
Thank you very much better.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
Thank you Marcus.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Yeah, doctor Tourney, Marcus, thank you for that question.
Speaker 8 (26:47):
I think first we have to acknowledge that the church
has been the social safety net in our communities, and
so we're making your rents are paid you, no hungry,
people are fed, unhealthed, have shelter. I have since been
in Memphis and churches galvanized around concrete ideas that can
(27:09):
help change the economic reality in our community. A number
of years ago, in collaboration with our chamber, we worked
around how can we upscale our workforce? How can people
who are in a certain field but who want to
go to the next level have an opportunity to do so?
And so we've worked in order to provide them job training,
(27:30):
We've reviewed resumes, We've held job fairs so that they
will have opportunities to elevate their lives and their careers
in the places where they can have a greater income.
When it comes to more large scale economic development in Memphis,
we must acknowledge this that we suffer from disinvestment. There's
not been a lot of investment in our communities, and
(27:53):
I think that it's.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Going to take.
Speaker 8 (27:57):
More partnership, more collaboration, just like we're doing, we're voting
in order to make that happen. I know our church
is in the midst of a mixed use redevelopment of
our Midtown campus. Midtown is not particularly an African American community, However,
we are an African American church and we're hoping to
build a community that will help increase the population density,
(28:22):
will also create opportunities for people to find housing that
is affordable in that area, right alongside workforce housing and
market rate housing. Also creating opportunities for locally owned small
businesses to have their shops within out the community that
(28:42):
we're building. And so it's going to take more collaboration.
Collaboration not just between the church, We're gonna need the
business community to work with us to think through a
larger solution to create more investment in African American communities
in Memphis.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
We've also had what we called financial literacy seminars, helping
people to understand how to manage their home finances, budgets,
how to get bank accounts, checking accounts, doing the things
that need to be done. That that some things that
are not necessarily being taught in our schools, but things
that we can help people improve the condition of their
lives when they learn how to manage their money is
(29:19):
better and get their bills paid on time, building their
credit ratings, things that are essential right now to well
being in this economy we live in today. That credit
rating can be devastating to you one way or the other,
and certainly we want our people to understand how they
can improve that credit rating and how they can improve
their their lifestyle in general, just by better financial literacy.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Good I get this call WD.
Speaker 9 (29:43):
I a I caller, Good morning. How are you today?
Speaker 7 (29:49):
Doing well?
Speaker 9 (29:50):
Carl and you I am okay? First of all, realmand actors.
I spoke to you briefly yesterday, so before so before
I begin, let me slow down because sometimes I stuck.
We need to do about this situation that we're about
to face in this few months. We have to do
(30:10):
four urs. First off, we need to repeat, repeat what's
going on daily like those Republicans do. We got to
be repetition in our in if we're out, because some
people think, well, it's gonna be all right. No, we
have to be pounding in their head daily.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Two.
Speaker 9 (30:32):
I mean it's the second r is we need to
be ruthless. But legally we have to go about and
get people to residue the vote. We have to go
through the different counties that we about to be in
the district and find out what they need. We got
to be ruthless about this. We got to tipe whoever.
Republican nominees are wrapped Trump around their net like an
(30:55):
abacross because sometimes Democrats can't to be nice. We can't
be nice. Now we could be ruthless, but polite with
ruthless and legally do it. The third are well all
these different counties that in the new district. Now we
got to relate to these different counties. Some of those
counties who got to deal With'll say, like Wayne County,
those people are farmers. What can we do to convince
(31:18):
them to vote the Democratic way? Because they need something.
We need to remind them how your fertilized are coming
with the situation over there. I ran how you lect
your gas prices? A lot in you diesel gas. Have
to remind them what we are going to do this for.
You got to convince them to come this way and
laugh not least we need to use the are of recall.
(31:42):
We need to remind the people in this city that
those Republicans and these new districts did not want funding
to come to Saint jud won our pride and joy
because Elon must want to cut council research for children.
We need to remind them of death. Then we all
need to remind them of the school board situation. And
(32:03):
one of those people running for District nine will instamentally
try and get which allows the state to take over
the Messais and Chelby County school system. So why we're
gonna allow them to represent Memsris where they trying to
cut away to our pride and Jody, our children from
school in Saint Jude Hospital. We have to go on
the attack constantly. Now I know that may come across
(32:25):
as being two rude, but we can't be nice anymore.
We got to go about and do it. And I
plan to vote, I plan tell for a friend to vote,
and I don't do everything in my power legally to
make sure that we can get District five nine eight
to become Democrats. Why because Meal is still the largest
(32:45):
city in those three districts that divide us up. We
are still the largest city. So we need to get
out and vote and get those people those small counties
who need help that we're gonna take care of them
as well. And we got to get the right candidate,
somebody from Paris and there if not for Memphis, somebody
from Waynesboro, if not for Memphis, or somebody for Columbia.
(33:06):
If not for Memphis, we got to go on the
attack and we got to make sure we all the
Republicans around Trump policy and all the things they voted for.
Thank you for allowing me to talk, and I appreciate it.
You all have a good day.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
Thank you, Kyle. Kyle said doctor. He certainly did.
Speaker 8 (33:25):
And I think he expresses the sentiment of a lot
of people in the former District nine. Yeah, I'm here
in Tennessee, but with the reality that we've been forced
to live into, I think he makes a very salient point.
We've got to find a way to connect the issues
that are hurting Memphis to those who are in these
counties that are in rural West Tennessee. Even some of
(33:46):
these districts stretch all the way to Williamson County. I
was born and raised in Nashville, my mom's family. We
still have home and have a land in Arrington, Tennessee, Okay,
And it's our that that land and Aeron Coon, Tennessee,
is in the same district as I am in here
in Memphis.
Speaker 4 (34:07):
What amazing, Right, We're talking about two hundred miles of mark. Yeah,
two different realities. Memphis.
Speaker 8 (34:15):
One of the poorest cities in the nation. Wiimson County
is the ninth richest county in the country. Wow, So
we have to do some work to help people who
live in other counties to understand although we're mostly urban
in Memphis, although they're rural, we're all in the same boat.
And we've got to figure out a way to get
(34:36):
out of the storm that we're in and have been
in the past couple of years.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
You know, it's difficult to understand, bev why rural white
farmers in general have not rebounded against the Trump administration
because this administration has not been very friendly to farmers.
I mean, the tariffs have literally stripped them of income
and money is that they have depended on for years.
And we do have some commonalities, but the question is,
(35:01):
well they react to those commonalities that we both share
with each other, And that's the question. Can we get
them to move with us in a sweeping movement to
change the things in this country because we do have
these similar problems.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
Good, So we are telling our listeners Doctor Turner about
Sunday Souls to the poll.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
What is happening on.
Speaker 8 (35:28):
Sunday Sunday, June the seventh, seven in North Bellevue Boulevard,
Memphis and the se Mississipipile of our Christian church churches
from around this city, pastors from around the city and
across the county are coming together first to express our
collective witness as people of faith and as inheritors of
(35:49):
the legacy of the Black church in this country, which
has been on the cusps and on the vanguard of
the civil rights movement in this country. We're coming together
because we want to make sure our voters are empowered.
Speaker 4 (36:00):
We want our churches to deploy its members.
Speaker 8 (36:05):
In order to get the turnout that we need in
August and in November, and so when people show up
on that day, we're going to inspire you. We're also
going to inform you. Yes, we want you to go
out and take part. And I just don't want people
to have individual voting plans. Want me to think deeply
about who else can I bring with me to the polls.
(36:27):
That's the kind of action that we want to inspire
from our time together. On Sunday, beginning at five PM,
we'll open the doors. You can come and engage with
our volunteers who'll be helping you to get the information.
At six We're going to kick off for a great
evening that's going to leave you inspired and ready to
go to work.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Sounds good and be if we expect every person that
attends that rally to leave that rally as active participants
in workers and the effort to get our people to vote.
I mean, we got to go to our families, our neighborhoods,
our work sites. We've got to encourage our people to
vote and give them the reason why. And we're going
to share that information. We're going to share talking points
and things that that maybe some people don't know that
(37:05):
they need to know as to why we're motivating this movement.
It is desperate for us right now. I can't say
it any stronger than that. It's desperate for us right now.
And if people don't realize that, they may find out
too late. But we're ahead of the ball now. Instead
of being reactive, we want to be proactive and it's
desperate times for us.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
So we've got to vote, and and you need to
be there on Sunday.
Speaker 5 (37:30):
Doctor Turner sols the polls so you can get the information,
so you can be informed.
Speaker 8 (37:37):
That is definitely why we want people to come together.
You need to have your phase in the place. We
can't sit this one out now if we know all
that we've endured no DEI high gas prices, affordability crisis.
I mean, you can just keep going on on the
numerous black women who are federal workers who no longer
employ Yeah, the list goes on and on on and on.
(38:00):
If any of that gets up under your skin, we
need to see you Sunday evening because it's time.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
For you to go to work. That's right.
Speaker 5 (38:07):
And doctor Bill and doctor Turner that this is not
going to be the only one you all will be doing. So,
so the poll you're going to be continuing doing up
until August and November.
Speaker 4 (38:21):
Yes, this is the kickoff. This was the kickoff.
Speaker 8 (38:24):
I want you to think about nineteen sixty four, all right, summer, Yes,
that's right, summer two point zero.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
Yeah, here in Memphis, Tennessee.
Speaker 8 (38:33):
This is the kickoff forward and we're going there'll be events,
there also be actions. Okay, we want people to get
involved in to take part in. Every fourth Saturday we
have a postcarding party, but we send mail to people.
Speaker 4 (38:46):
Who haven't been voting.
Speaker 8 (38:47):
Yeah, and say hey, check your record and here are
the upcomingy lectures. We needed to show up for it, right.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
They're back in the old days when Harold full was
running for Congress and Yes in nineteen seventy four against
Dan kirkandall. We found out areas that, particularly precincts that
people didn't vote. We went to those areas door to door,
knocked on doors and asking them. We didn't say why
you didn't vote. We just encouraged them to vote.
Speaker 4 (39:11):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
We let them know that this area had been voting
low and we want to make sure that you're ready
to vote when voting time comes.
Speaker 4 (39:18):
And we did that.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
Well, we need to go back to that. That's our
that's our that's our template right now for what we
need to do right now. We need to get back
to our areas where we're not voting at all. Our demographics.
We got to work on our demographics because in that
last election, the majority of people voting were over fifty
five years of age. Oh wow, we've got to work
down to that eighteen group and older to get them
(39:39):
to vote. We've got to work find means by which
we can encourage them to get active and engaged. So
we've got a lot of work to do, but it
starts now. This is just the beginning Sunday. That's why
we want everybody to be there Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday,
Sunday Sunday, six pm, Mississippi Boulevard, be there with us.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
I love it.
Speaker 5 (39:57):
I thank you all for coming in and talk with
me and sharing with our listeners. And I know and
I will remind them, yeah today before I go off again,
that that that they be there. And it's good having
you your brothers here and and uh one of the
w d i A Lesends, thank you, Reben, doctor Bill Atkins, rebind,
(40:20):
doctor Jason.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
Turner, thank you all for being here us and I appreciate.
Speaker 5 (40:26):
Y'all, so we'll get those souls to the polls coming
up on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (40:34):
Thank you, Thank you fellas, Thank you Ben. You're welcome.
Speaker 5 (40:38):
When we come back, we will talk with our relationship
behavioral consultant, doctor Dorothy Jeffries.
Speaker 4 (40:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
As we go to the other side of the Bev
Johnson Show on double you d i A
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Whether you're in Arkansas, Tennessee, or Mississippi on Facebook, Twitter,
or Instagram, thank you for listening to the Bev Johnson
Show on w d I a Memphis
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