"Say Their Names" Event Is Tomorrow

News & Updates

MEMPHIS'S NONPROFIT NEWSROOM

Donate

A letter from our Civil Wrongs Coordinator

June 20, 2025

Dear Reader,

Juneteenth isn’t over. The commemorations continue this weekend, including the “Say Their Names Monuments” event I shared with you three weeks ago.

Collaborators include the descendants of Phillip Hatley, who was killed by Memphis police in 1939 and is the focus of the upcoming season 6 of Civil Wrongs, and Ashley McKenzie Smith, whose son was killed by Memphis police in 2022 and was featured in our coverage then.

Laura Kebede-Twumasi

We hope to see you anytime between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday (tomorrow!) at the Harriet Performing Arts Center, 2788 Lamar Avenue.

There will be food trucks, music, and miniature monuments memorializing several people killed by police in Tennessee spanning 1939 to present. There will also be space to reflect on what you see and send your thoughts to policymakers on how to make everyone safer.

As part of our preparations, other event organizers and I met with some of the families whose loved ones will be represented with monuments. Their stories spanned 80 years:

Tiara Hatley spreads herbs on the grave of her great-grandfather, Phillip Hatley. (by Ariel Cobbert)

· 1939: Phillip Hatley was shot and killed at his home by a drunken Memphis police officer, leaving behind his wife and three young children.

· 1974: Edward Garner was 15 when a Memphis police officer shot him as he was fleeing a house that police believed he had burgled. Police found $10 and a pendant watch on Garner. His death resulted in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that officers could not shoot at a fleeing suspect unless they believed they were a threat to others.

· 2019: Brandon Webber was 20 years old when U.S. Marshals killed him in his mother’s driveway. Authorities say he rammed his car into them and pulled out a gun.

A lawsuit filed by the family said it was the officers who rammed him, adding his injuries in the autopsy report refute the official narrative.

I was moved listening to their stories — none of them had met before — and the similar, enduring themes of trauma and loss that crossed generations. They all agreed there’s more to be done to reduce violent encounters with police.

You’ll be able to meet them and hear their stories, too. You can register for this free event here .

Laura Kebede-Twumasi

Some of our latest stories

Judge's Ruling Turns Spotlight On Tennessee's Worn, Torn Safety Net

MPD's Arrest Practices Pose Troubling Questions Following Nichols Death

Bitcoin Mines Coming To Memphis and Tennessee

UofM's Proud Legacy of Student Activism Takes a Downturn

Who We Are

We believe in the Fourth Estate's vital role in democracy.

We value the journalist's duty to impartially "explore and explain” complex issues that impact metropolitan Memphis and its citizens.

We believe quality local journalism leads to an informed electorate and is among the highest forms of public service.

We are duty bound to prepare the next generation of journalists in support of this essential mission.

The Institute is led by director Marc Perrusquia, who worked nearly 30 years as an investigative reporter at The Commercial Appeal. He’s the author of the 2018 book “A Spy In Canaan,’’ which exposed civil rights photographer Ernest Withers’ secret life as an FBI informant and inspired the 10-part podcast “Ernie’s Secret” and the documentary film “The Picture Taker,’’ to be released on PBS in January.

The Institute’s associate director, David Waters, worked more than 30 years at The Commercial Appeal and another four at The Washington Post. He is revered as Memphis’s best news writer and is beloved for his work exploring faith, child poverty and education.

Laura Kebede-Twumasi is a Report for America corps member. She recently hosted and wrote WKNO public television’s special “History, Justice and the Journalists” on unresolved civil rights crimes in the Memphis area. She previously covered education inequities for Chalkbeat Tennessee and local government and religion for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Micaela A. Watts has worked as a journalist in Memphis since 2015. She is dedicated to issues of resource access, government accountability, healthcare and housing, and criminal justice. For over five years, she covered breaking news and issues tied to access and equity at The Commercial Appeal. In 2023, she worked as the lead reporter and on-screen host of “The Tyre Nichols Beating: What Went Wrong in Memphis”, a documentary from USA TODAY’s States of America. She has previously reported for the Memphis Flyer, Chalkbeat Tennessee AND MLK50: Justice through Journalism.

CONNECT WITH US!