Mason, Tennessee is Fighting for its Future
The Takeaway
English - April 21, 2022 16:00 - 28.1 MB - ★★★★ - 711 ratingsDaily News News Politics news politics radio national takeaway wnyc Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Mason, Tennessee is a small, predominantly Black town of approximately 1,300 residents situated about 40 miles northeast of Memphis in West Tennessee. The city has struggled with financial mismanagement in the past, but is expected to benefit from a major new economic investment, an electric vehicle plant being built by Ford Motor Company just a few miles away. Recently the Tennessee Comptroller, Jason Mumpower, tried to forcibly take control over the town's finances. We explore the fight Mason is taking on for its financial autonomy.
We speak with:
Virginia Rivers, Vice-Mayor of Mason, Tennessee
Gloria Sweet-Love, President of the Tennessee State Conference NAACP
John Marshall, judicial magistrate in Memphis, Tennessee, amateur historian, and sixth generation Mason native
Otis Sanford, political columnist for The Daily Memphian and a journalism professor at the University of Memphis
Music from this episode by:
The Memphis Jug Band
Milton Ruiz, J. Cowit (https://jcowit.bandcamp.com/),
I Think Like Midnight (http://www.ithinklikemidnight.com/)
Hannis Brown (https://www.hannisbrown.com/)
The Sometime Boys (https://www.thesometimeboys.com/)
Mason, Tennessee is a small, predominantly Black town of approximately 1,300 residents situated about 40 miles northeast of Memphis in West Tennessee. The city has struggled with financial mismanagement in the past, but is expected to benefit from a major new economic investment, an electric vehicle plant being built by Ford Motor Company just a few miles away. Recently the Tennessee Comptroller, Jason Mumpower, tried to forcibly take control over the town's finances. We explore the fight Mason is taking on for its financial autonomy.
We speak with:
Virginia Rivers, Vice-Mayor of Mason, Tennessee
Gloria Sweet-Love, President of the Tennessee State Conference NAACP
John Marshall, judicial magistrate in Memphis, Tennessee, amateur historian, and sixth generation Mason native
Otis Sanford, political columnist for The Daily Memphian and a journalism professor at the University of Memphis
Music from this episode by:
The Memphis Jug Band
Milton Ruiz, J. Cowit (https://jcowit.bandcamp.com/),
I Think Like Midnight (http://www.ithinklikemidnight.com/)
Hannis Brown (https://www.hannisbrown.com/)
The Sometime Boys (https://www.thesometimeboys.com/)