The Tri-State Defender - February 5, 2026

DEFENDER

Memphis’ influence on American music echoes loudly on the Grammy stage

By Brianna Smith-Herman TSD Contributing Writer

When Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell stepped forward to accept his latest Grammy Award at the 2026 Grammys, which aired Sunday, Feb. 1, it was more than a personal victory. It was another reminder that the sound born in South Memphis continues to shape music far beyond the city’s borders.

future. Big shoutout to Memphis, Mississippi and Louisiana — all the blues artists.”

Mitchell then stepped aside to allow Gales to speak.

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Mitchell, who operates the famed Royal Studios, earned his fourth Grammy Award for his work on “Sinners,” which won Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. The honor adds another milestone to a career that has helped define the sound of Memphis music for more than four decades.

Mitchell accepted the Grammy alongside fellow Memphian Eric Gales, who also contributed music to the film. Mitchell served as a music consultant on “Sinners” and produced several songs for the soundtrack, while Gales’ guitar work helped anchor the project’s blues-driven sound.

“Sinners” has been widely praised for its ability to weave traditional Southern blues into a modern cinematic framework — a balance that reflects Mitchell’s signature approach to production and Royal Studios’ long-standing role as a bridge between past and present.

Accepting the award, Mitchell used the moment to acknowledge the collaborators and regions that shaped the project.

“Wow, this is a huge honor,” Mitchell said. “Big shoutout to Ryan Coogler (writer/director) for making this movie, having the idea, the inspiration. Big shoutout to Ludwig Göransson (soundtrack producer) for tying the blues in with the modern music and bringing it forward to the

“I’m just a little old cat from Memphis, Tennessee, mane,” Gales said. “It was a huge honor for Ludwig to call me and say I want you to be a part of this record, and 90% of the guitar playing I did made this record, so I’m so thankful.”

For Memphis, the Grammy win affirms again the city’s lasting musical legacy — one carried forward by artists, producers, and studios that continue to keep the blues alive while pushing its sound into the future. TRI-STATE

Edmund Ford Jr. pleads guilty to tax evasion, tenders resignation

By James Coleman TSD Contributing Writer

Shelby County Commissioner Edmund Ford, Jr. submitted his resignation letter to his fellow board members during the Wednesday, Feb. 4 committee meetings.

The commission will immediately begin a search for a replacement, to finish the remainder of the former District-9 member’s term. Ford’s second term was scheduled to end on Jan. 1, 2027.

The commission issued a statement on Ford’s resignation: “The Shelby County Board of Commissioners acknowledges the recent news regarding Edmund Ford Jr.’s decision to plead guilty in federal court. The Board of Commissioners received a letter of resignation from Edmund Ford Jr., effective Monday, February 2, 2026. In accordance with Shelby County procedures and state law, the Board will take the necessary steps to appoint a new representative to serve the residents of District 9, ensuring continued representation and uninterrupted constituent services. The Board remains committed to upholding the integrity of county government and maintaining transparency and accountability on behalf of Shelby County residents.”

Ford’s resignation was a stipulation of his guilty plea on five counts of tax evasion in federal court on Monday, Feb. 2. He is also barred from running for elected office again.

“After a great deal of prayer, reflection and familial conversations, I have decided to submit my resignation as the District-9 member of the Shelby County Board of Commissions,” wrote Ford.

He was originally charged with seven

“After a great deal of prayer, reflection and familial conversations, I have decided to submit my resignation as the District-9 member of the Shelby County Board of Commissions.”

— Shelby County Commissioner Edmund Ford, Jr.

federal counts, including bribery and tax evasion.

In the letter, the erstwhile commissioner also took a parting shot at his former peers.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker will sentence Ford on June 12. He remains free on a $25,000 bond. However, he faces up to five years in prison for each count. A trial had been scheduled for next month.

Ford’s attorney, Michael Scholl, said the plea followed negotiations with prosecutors. He said he would comment further after sentencing.

Ford Jr. was indicted on a single charge of bribery and kickbacks on Feb. 28 of last year. He faced a total of six counts of tax evasion. At the time, Ford claimed he was innocent of the charges.

According to the indictment, three unnamed nonprofits deposited $250,000 into bank accounts of businesses connected to Ford. In return, the nonprofits received grants from the Memphis City Council and later the Shelby County Commission from 2017 to 2021, the indictment stated.

Prosecutors allege the nonprofits used the grant money to purchase goods and services from Ford’s personal computer business.

“GOOD. Let’s get you/us that money,” read a Jan. 10, 2021, text from Ford to one “individual” listed in the indictment.

Along with his attorney, Ford was joined by his parents, Memphis City

Council member Edmund Ford Sr. and Myra Ford. The latter left the courtroom crying as evidence was read by Asst. U.S. Attorney Lynn Crum.

Ford’s parents have defended their son since his arrest. They were a common sight at commission meetings in the proceeding months, as their son aggressively defended his innocence — along with his seat on the commission — in its chambers.

The second-term commissioner also accused Mayor Lee Harris of attempting to revive a defunct county ethics board in order to remove him from office. Ford also accused Harris, along

with several members of his administration and fellow council members, of ethical breaches.

Ford’s resignation letter cast blame at his fellow members for the toxic environment that grew out of Harris’ effort. It singles out the commission’s leadership, in particular. Chairwoman Shante Avante currently leads the commission.

“Throughout my service on the board, I have become the true outlier in this antagonistic environment which no longer focuses on serving constituents. Consequently, this environment serves to elevate and safeguard unqualified individuals to leadership roles that they cannot manage, hurting the constituents instead.”

Meanwhile, Harris reacted positively after the terms of the plea deal were revealed.

“Thank God,” Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris told The Daily Memphian after Ford’s resignation was announced. Although he said he did not wish criminal conviction on anyone, Harris chided Ford for his treatment of county employees, commission members and the media.

“He has not been very courteous or kind, to say the least,” Harris said.

Ford also held the Memphis City Council’s District 6 seat from 2008 until 2018. He resigned to run for office on the commission.

The Ford family has held multiple elected offices in Memphis and Shelby County over the past several decades. His father, who is the only family member currently holding office, has hinted at retirement when his second term ends Jan. 1, 2028.

Ford Jr. declined to speak with reporters as he left the courthouse.

Demond Wilson, who played Lamont on ‘Sanford and Son,’ dies at 79

Associated Press

Demond Wilson, who found fame in the 1970s playing Lamont on “Sanford and Son” and went on to become a minister, has died. He was 79.

Mark Goldman, a publicist for Wilson, confirmed to The Associated Press that he died following complications from cancer on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026.

“A devoted father, actor, author, and minister, Demond lived a life rooted in faith, service, and compassion. Through his work on screen, his writing, and his ministry, he sought to uplift others and leave a meaningful impact on the communities he served,” Goldman said in an emailed statement.

Wilson was best known as the son of Redd Foxx’s comically cantankerous Fred Sanford character in a sitcom that was among the first to feature a mostly Black cast when it began airing in 1972.

The thoughtful Lamont had to put up with his junkyard owner father’s schemes, bigotry and insults — most

“A devoted father, actor, author, and minister, Demond lived a life rooted in faith, service, and compassion. Through his work on screen, his writing, and his ministry, he sought to uplift others and leave a meaningful impact on the communities he served.”

— Mark Goldman

famously, and repeatedly, “You big dummy!”

The show was a hit for its six seasons on NBC but ended when ABC offered Foxx a variety show.

Wilson was born in Valdosta, Georgia, and grew up in the Harlem section of Manhattan, according to the biography on his website.

He served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and was wounded there, and he returned to New York and acted on stage before heading to Hollywood.

A guest appearance on “All in the Family” in 1971 led to his best-known role. Norman Lear produced both

shows.

Wilson told AP in 2022 that he got the role over comedian Richard Pryor.

“I said, ‘C’mon, you can’t put a comedian with a comedian. You’ve got to have a straight man,’” he said he told the producers.

After “Sanford and Son” ended, Wilson starred in the shorter-lived comedies “Baby I’m Back” and “The New Odd Couple.” He later appeared in four episodes of the show “Girlfriends” in the 2000s, along with a handful of movie roles.

Though he returned to the screen at times, he told the Los Angeles Times

in 1986 that the acting life was not for him: “It wasn’t challenging. And it was emotionally exhausting because I had to make it appear that I was excited about what I was doing.”

Wilson became a minister in the 1980s.

He is survived by his wife, Cicely Wilson, and their six children.

Civil Rights pioneer, Dr. Gloria Wade-Gayles, dies at age 88

Author, educator, activist hailed from Memphis, graduated LeMoyne-Owen College

By Candace A. Gray TSD Contributing Writer

Dr. Gloria Jean Wade-Gayles dedicated her life to fighting for the rights and enlightenment of others. The author, award-winning educator and a trailblazer in social justice, women’s rights and activism, who died Jan. 27, 2026, in Atlanta at age 88, leaves a legacy of shaping the minds and hearts of generations of women and men.

Wade-Gayles will be remembered for her visionary leadership, passion for scholarship, and her unrelenting fight for freedom and justice, which began in Memphis at LeMoyne-Owen College and continued on through the hallowed halls of several HBCUs all around the country.

A life-long proponent of education, Wade-Gayles was born in Memphis in 1937 and enrolled at LeMoyne-Owen College in 1955, the only college Blacks could attend in Memphis at that time. She demonstrated leadership abilities at the college, serving as president of the school’s chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and secretary of the Student Council. She was named Ms. LeMoyne-Owen in 1958 and graduated cum laude in 1959, with a bachelor of arts in English. That was just the beginning for Wade-Gayles.

In a statement on Facebook, LeMoyne Owen shared that WadeGayles was “A Civil Rights activist who planned demonstrations and registered voters, (and) embodied the inseparable bond between scholarship and justice … Her choice to dedicate her life to HBCUs was a gift to generations of students. LeMoyne-Owen College is forever honored to have been the foun-

dation of her remarkable journey.”

The educator turned activist earned a master of arts from Boston University and joined the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), an organization founded in 1942 and rooted in non-violent action. CORE was instrumental in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 60s and Wade-Gayles was said to have been arrested several times due to her participation in peaceful protests.

Wade-Gayles’ work would later take her to Atlanta in 1963 to teach at Spelman College, although she was accused of being too radical and her level and style of activism wasn’t welcome at the time. She returned home to Memphis and taught during the “Freedom Summer” voter registration drives before moving to Washington, D.C. to teach at Howard University. In Chocolate City, she met her late husband, Joseph Nathan Gayles. The pair soon moved back to Atlanta to raise their children, and Wade-Gayles continued her educational pursuit by earning a Ph.D. in American Studies from Emory University in 1981.

Talladega College welcomed Wade-Gayles with open arms, as did other HBCUs. However, the prestige of a top-rated HBCU would call her back and she resumed a faculty position at Spelman in 1983 in the English Department, and later taught in the college’s Psychology Department.

Spelman shared a statement about Wade-Gayles in memoriam: “A scholar, poet, mentor, and activist, Dr. Wade-Gayles was more than a professor; she was a foundational pillar of the Spelman sisterhood. For decades, her voice resonated through our halls,

“Her choice to dedicate her life to HBCUs was a gift to generations of students. LeMoyneOwen College is forever honored to have been the foundation of her remarkable journey.”

— LeMoyne Owen College statement

urging our students to find their own ‘pushed back to strength’ moments and to ‘claim our space’.”

One of Wade-Gayles’ many contributions to the college is the Spelman Independent Scholars (SIS) program, designed to sharpen students’ critical thinking and writing skills. Through the year-long program, students have one-on-one research opportunities with instructors, which include oral history research in Accra, Ghana; Benin, West Africa; and Kingston, Jamaica. She also founded RESONANCE, a choral performance group. She became known as the “Queen Mother” of Spelman College.

During her tenure, Wade-Gayles wrote and published her second book in 1995, entitled Pushed Back to Strength: A Black Woman’s Journey Home. In the hugely biographical work, she explored the plight of growing up in Foote Holmes in Memphis’ segregated South, interracial friendships, the teachings of the women who raised her in strength and faith, and the pain of loving and losing those closest to her. She would go on to write seven works focusing on blackness, overcoming and women’s empowerment.

Charles McKinney, Ph.D., professor of History and Africana Studies at Rhodes College, who knew Wade-Gay-

les both personally and professionally, reflected on the impact of her life and work.

“I never took a class with her but I got to spend time with her in seminars and developed a personal relationship with her,” said McKinney, a 1989 Morehouse College graduate. “She came to Memphis a few years ago to do an oral history project and interviewed my wife Natalie, who is a Spelman grad. It was great to see her, discuss the state of the world and watch her pour into the Spelman students she brought with her,” added McKinney.

“She changed the course of history. For decades, she poured into her students at Spelman and others, like me, in her network, with her unrepentant brilliance and bottomless love, and challenged us to contend with the lives and words of Black women. She pushed her mentees to be our very best selves, inside the classroom and beyond. She was a master teacher, a mentor and a loving mother to her children and countless others who rested in her wisdom and grew from her encouragement. We will miss her mightily,” McKinney continued.

Wade-Gayles is survived by her daughter, Monica Gayles Dorsey (Spelman, 1991), a writer and PR guru; son, Jonathan Gayles (Morehouse, 1991), chair and a professor of African American Studies at Georgia State University, and granddaughter, currently enrolled in Spelman, Tyler Kate Dorsey (class of 2026).

Seven days of ice and isolation

Predominately Black Mississippi community weathers a week of outages and unequal aid as a brutal winter storm exposed systemic gaps

By Germany Kent Special to the Tri-State Defender

PANOLA COUNTY, Miss. — “Seven whole days and not a word from you.”

For many residents in Sardis, that lyric became less a love-song lament and more a summary of survival during a week marked by silence — from government agencies, from major nonprofits, and from the systems they believed were supposed to aid them.

North Mississippi has been locked under ice since Sunday, January 25. Temperatures hovered near 18 degrees, wind gusts reached 30 mph, and rural roads froze into sheets of glass. Power lines sagged, trees toppled, and entire neighborhoods were cut off from heat, food and transportation. What was forecast as a passing winter storm hardened into a prolonged emergency that exposed longstanding disparities in how aid reaches — or fails to reach — majority-Black communities.

For seven days, residents in Sardis, Batesville, Courtland, and rural Panola County waited for help. Many say it never came.

A storm that became a crisis

Since last Sunday, ice accumulation across Panola, Lafayette, Tate, Coahoma, Quitman, Bolivar, and surrounding counties has paralyzed daily life. Interstate 55 was littered with wreckage and was shut down by the Mississippi Department of Transportation on multiple days. Ice refroze and blackened each night, erasing progress made during daylight hours. Emergency vehicles crawled through debris-choked roads. The National Guard arrived midweek. A day later, a major ice-related collision on a secondary state thoroughfare, Highway 51 North, delayed traffic and left a line of 18-wheelers at a standstill for four hours.

By Friday evening, Gov. Tate Reeves confirmed four additional storm-related deaths — one in Panola County — bringing the statewide total to 14. On Sunday, two more deaths were reported in Panola County. The statewide total now stands at 25. MEMA reported more than 200 homes damaged or destroyed and more than 100,000 power outages statewide at the storm’s peak.

But in Sardis, the numbers felt abstract.

THE COVER: Sardis

Residents knew only that their lights had been off for a week.

“No power… Day 7,” said Jamie Melton of Cold Springs Road, who posted the update publicly on social media as temperatures plunged again.

“It’s been terrible not having any lights. Rough days. Rough nights too,” said Charlie Cauthun, who added that he believed “the county could have done better.”

Residents say warnings were late, communication sparse

Interviews across Panola County revealed a consistent theme: Residents felt unprepared not because they ignored warnings, but because they never

received clear ones.

Several said they did not understand how dangerous prolonged ice accumulation could be compared with snow. Others said response plans were not communicated quickly enough as conditions worsened.

“I feel like they could have been more prepared,” Sardis resident Yasmine Vicks said Saturday. “Me and my kids been without power since Saturday. No food, no lights. I’ve run out of a lot of money trying to keep us warm and fed.”

Families burned through savings on propane, firewood, hotel rooms and takeout meals — if they could make it out of their driveways, with services like Uber Eats suspended across the region. Children missed a

week of school and for many parents that meant missing work too — compounding the financial strain of an already grueling week.

The storm revealed how fragile daily life becomes when basic utilities fail — and how quickly vulnerable communities fall through the cracks.

A visible gap in aid

While state officials highlighted National Guard deployments, warming centers, and supply drops across the state, many Sardis residents said they saw little of it.

A notable exception was World Central Kitchen, an international relief agency, which catered evening meals to Sardis residents. But in this town of roughly 1,700 — predominantly Black — residents said they saw no other major national nonprofits all week. That stood in stark contrast to nearby Lafayette County, home to the University of Mississippi, where multiple aid agencies had been deployed.

Michael Cage, an Ole Miss student, showed photos of damage to his property. “Yeah, it’s bad over there,” he said of Oxford. “They have everybody over there helping out.” His tone shifted when the conversation turned to Panola County. Cage, who had offered up his 4x4 to help the city deliver supplies, added: “Not the same here.”

That perception — that aid was more visible in whiter, more resourced counties — surfaced repeatedly.

Local leaders step in where larger systems did not

By Saturday afternoon, frustration had reached a tipping point. Local officials began making more visible, hands-on efforts to reach residents still without heat, power, and basic necessities.

Sardis Mayor Mancini Arnold, Alderman-at-Large Michael Price, and District 2 Supervisor Earl Burdette spent the afternoon in Greenhill — an unincorporated community adjacent to Sardis but politically outside its city limits — distributing propane, blankets and food.

Though Greenhill is home to Green Hill Intermediate School, located within the Sardis ZIP code and part of the North Panola School District, the area remains outside municipal representation. Residents and advocates say that political boundary has long diluted Black voting power and contributed to disparities in services, visibility and response.

County official Dorothy Kerney, a Como resident and Panola County Elections Commissioner, said the situation exposed a long-standing jurisdictional divide.

“They really (are) not supposed to do anything over there,” Kerney said. “If they do anything over there, it

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is through the goodness of their hearts. They can’t use city funds. They are not supposed to use city funds to take care of outside the city limits.”

Kerney, who previously served on the Como Board of Aldermen, said many residents may not realize they technically live in the county rather than the city. “A lot of the people that’s over there probably don’t know that they live in the county,” she said. Still, she acknowledged that leaders often step beyond formal boundaries in moments of need.

For Burdette, the priority was ensuring that residents in his supervisory district were not overlooked.

“Sometimes you have to do things yourself to make sure they get done,” said Burdette, as he delivered propane to Greenhill residents. “That’s what they elected me for — to take care of them and make sure they are not overlooked. I don’t want my people overlooked for anything. If I’m out on the front lines myself, I make sure. That’s where I belong and what they elected me for.”

He added, “I’m going to be out there until every person has a light.”

Residents met him with both gratitude and questions about why help had taken so long.

“We sure appreciate the propane because we don’t know how much we got in our tank. Ain’t no gas company been coming out,” said Greenhill resident Terry Hubbard.

Nearby, Arnold stood beside a pallet of propane tanks as local teenagers — many of whom he had recruited that morning — worked in the biting cold, distributing supplies and checking on neighbors.

“This week has been hard on everybody,” Arnold said. “But it’s also shown what kind of community we are. We’re here for you. We want everybody to know that you’re not facing this recovery alone.”

The temperature hovered at 16 degrees — the kind of cold that makes breath visible and fingertips ache.

Arnold and the teens moved briskly through the wind, loading propane tanks into truck beds and back seats. For residents without reliable heat, the gesture meant more than fuel. It meant relief. It meant someone remembered them.

Not everyone agreed with how resources were distributed.

“The city isn’t supposed to do anything on the other side of Greenhill because that’s the county,” Kerney said. “The city can’t serve the county, and it’s not really the mayor’s problem.”

She noted that some residents have previously resisted efforts to annex the area into the city.

“Some citizens have tried to get that area annexed into the city, but it never happened. People would have to pay double taxes and didn’t want to do that. But they need to vote to annex if they want city services. I bet the next time they have a chance to vote on annexing, they will.”

Kerney also said residents had time to prepare. “They told us about the storm two weeks ahead of time, so people had time to prepare,” she said. But she noted the rarity of such severe weather in the region.“They don’t have weather down here like this. This hasn’t happened in more than 10 years. The last time was in 1994.”

Kerney said utility crews explained why power restoration was slow. “It takes like three or four hours to put a pole up, then they have to get the transformer on top of that. That’s why it’s so slow,” she said. “Different states are coming in now helping them with the light poles. A lot of poles have broken. They have to bring poles in if they don’t already have them.”

Nonetheless, the tension underscored limited resources, uneven recovery and blurred lines between city and county responsibility — leaving residents caught in the middle of both geography and governance.

Uneven restoration, uneven relief

By Saturday evening, Panola County Democratic Party Chair Lourine Robinson said she and her neighbors in West Batesville remained without electricity.

“We are still without power. I just got a generator today,” she said. Robinson noted that homes on a nearby county road had already had their lights restored — a detail that underscored the uneven pace of recovery.

Greenhill is a patchwork of mobile homes and rows of Section 8 housing — a geography of vulnerability that made the cold even more punishing. One woman emerged from a neighbor’s house, arms crossed against the wind, and asked the mayor directly: “Can

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I get one of those propane tanks?”

Her neighbor Hubbard, standing nearby, pointed toward the back of the property. “She stay in the back, in that trailer back there,” he said. “You can drop it here on my porch and I’ll take it back there for her.”

In Greenhill, even the delivery of heat had become a neighbor-to-neighbor operation.

On the ground Saturday in Greenhill, no mobile kitchens could be seen, no long-term aid stations, no emergency response vehicles offering sustained support — a striking absence in a 24/7 crisis affecting elders, children and families without gas ovens or reliable heat. There also were no utility trucks in sight — anywhere.

Neighbors

filling the gaps

In the absence of consistent institutional aid, residents relied on one another.

Displaced Batesville resident Michael Stanford, bunking with his sister in Sardis, spent the week helping stranded motorists and checking on neighbors.

“We’re supposed to help our neighbors. That’s what you do,” he said.

Meanwhile, Nikki Sisco of Sardis offered snow rides to residents stranded in their driveways. “We were blessed to get our car out,” she posted on Facebook. “$25 round trip depending on stops. Payment not due till ride is complete.” With rideshare services suspended across the region, her offer filled a critical gap for those without access to transportation.

Montreal Pegues, owner of FresherWorld Barbershop, opened his doors to stranded residents. The local VFW followed suit, offering warmth and shelter to those with nowhere else to go.

“Another successful delivery operation,” said volunteer Chris Fondren as he carefully navigated an icy driveway, arms full of water for residents waiting on their porch.

These weren’t isolated acts of kindness — they were part of a broader pattern. Across Greenhill and beyond, grassroots resilience and informal networks rose up when formal systems faltered.

A week that exposed more than ice

By day seven, the novelty of snow had long faded. What remained was exhaustion — and a growing sense of inequity.

Residents were tired of wearing coats indoors. Tired of boiling water. Tired of waiting for answers. Tired of watching nearby counties receive aid they never saw.

“We want to make sure we get them some propane. It’s cold. They need heat, and we’re bringing it,” said

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Arnold, describing a community-led relief effort that had residents, despite being down on their luck, dancing in the snow and asking how they could help.

The scene was celebratory, but the subtext was sobering: in the absence of timely institutional aid, it was neighbors — not agencies — who mobilized. The moment captured both the joy of solidarity and the quiet indictment of a system that left vulnerable communities to fend for themselves.

“A lot of times, the county is slow to respond over here in Greenhill — whether it’s police presence, crime, or whatever,” said Alderman-at-Large Michael Price. “ … But through the leadership of Mayor Arnold, we’re pushing to make it part of the city, and to keep serving our people.”

As he prepared to distribute food with other volunteers, Alderman-at-Large Michael Price pointed to the ongoing needs. “Some folks still don’t have lights. Some probably don’t have gas. But thanks to the city’s maintenance department, we’ve still got city water and sewer out here. That’s something. That’s relief.”

A community surviving together Reeves urged Misssippi residents to “continue

checking on family, friends, and neighbors.” In Panola County, that instruction had already become a survival strategy.

Still, some questioned why the crisis spiraled so quickly.

“This happened Sunday — Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday — people have torn up cars and ended up in ditches because y’all didn’t do your job,” said Michael Stanford, who works in Memphis but is currently staying with his sister in Sardis due to no power at his Batesville home. “We’ve got tractors and trailers — why can’t we scrape the ice off the roads so people can move around?”

For seven days, survival hinged not on plows or electricity, nor on an uneven official response, but on neighbors stepping up to meet the moment.

As the ice begins to loosen its grip, residents say they will remember not just the cold, but the silence — and the community that refused to let one another face it alone.

In North Mississippi, especially in Black communities, resilience is not a choice. It is a requirement.

And when the systems built to help fail, the people rise.

■■ COMMUNITY

‘Vision Experience’ helps women map paths to realizing goals

By Brianna Smith-Herman TSD Contributing Writer

The coming of a new year finds many people thinking about what their next twelve months should look like. It’s a time of setting intentions, prioritizing wellness and seeking clarity. Yet, actually fulfilling said desires and goals is a lot harder than making plans. A recent gathering in Memphis created a space aimed at helping women realize their visions through more focused living. A group of women of all ages filled a room at Bridges, with additional participants joining virtually via Zoom, for a hybrid empowerment event, dubbed the Vision Experience, hosted by Clarissa Joi, centered on wellness, vision and intentional preparation for 2026.

Joi is the founder of Dedicated365 LLC, a personal and professional development company whose goal is to empower, support and connect women year-round. With more than 22 years of corporate experience in strategy, planning and execution, combined with nearly a decade of entrepreneurship, Joi is known for helping women align intention with action. She is also a motivational speaker, author and nonprofit founder whose work focuses on helping women move from vision to execution through use of practical tools, accountability and community.

Attendees came with a shared sense of anticipation, eager to engage in conversations and activities focused on building a more fulfilling year ahead.

“I wanted women to walk away not just motivated, but clear about their vision and confident about the steps they need to take moving forward.”

— Clarissa Joi

Joi brought along a lineup of speakers with credentials in wellness, education, leadership and community service.

April Carter Wilson, a fitness coach, emphasized the importance of physical health and consistency as part of overall well-being. Lydia Whitt Rosencrants, dean of the business school at Christian Brothers University, shared insight on purpose, leadership and long-term planning. Pauletta Gayle Geeter, an area coordinator with the YMCA of Middle Tennessee, spoke on resilience, community engagement and personal growth. Joi tied each theme together through the lens of intentional living.

“I wanted women to walk away not just motivated, but clear about their vision and confident about the steps they need to take moving forward,” Joi said. A short fitness segment was incorporated into the program to highlight the importance of physical wellness as part of holistic self-care. The movement-based activity reinforced the message that caring for one’s health is foundational to achieving long-term goals.

One of the event’s key moments was

a guided 2026 vision board session, where participants created visual representations of their aspirations and intentions for the coming year. The interactive exercise encouraged reflection, clarity and accountability.

“When women can see their vision in front of them, it becomes more tangible,” Joi said. “It helps turn ideas into action.”

In-person attendees also enjoyed lunch, vendor offerings and prize giveaways, and opportunities for connection and community-building. Vendors showcased products and services aligned with wellness, entrepreneurship and lifestyle enrichment.

“Being in the room with so many

women focused on purpose and growth was powerful,” said Yazmine Long, an attendee. “It gave me clarity and motivation for what I want my 2026 to look like.”

Joi said offering both an in-person and virtual option was to ensure accessibility.

“We wanted to meet women where they are,” she said. “Whether they joined us at Bridges or online, the goal was to create an experience that felt inclusive and impactful.”

Organizers described the gathering as part of a broader effort to create spaces where women, teens and girls can be encouraged, equipped and supported as they prepare for the future.

Atoka twin brothers take cybersecurity idea to top five in Ohio college’s ‘Shark Tank’-style competition

John and Josiah Hardaway pitch business concept to help churches, nonprofits protect sensitive digital information

By Judith Black Moore TSD Contributing Writer

John and Josiah Hardaway have always moved through life side by side.

Now college seniors, the Hardaways are among five finalists in Cedarville University’s “Shark Tank”-style competition, The Pitch, presenting Twin Sentries Security, their cybersecurity startup concept designed to help churches and nonprofits protect their digital assets. Cedarville University is an evangelical Christian institution located in southwest Ohio.

The twin brothers from Atoka, Tenn., have shared the same classrooms, the same curiosity and now the same mission — helping vulnerable community institutions defend themselves in an increasingly dangerous digital world.

“We are twin brothers with a passion for tech and serving others,” John Hardaway said. “Our business idea is an affordable information security solution for churches, smaller private schools and small businesses and nonprofits.”

The Pitch will bring together five finalist teams presenting faith-driven business ideas to a panel of judges on Friday, Feb. 6. The winning team will receive $1,000 to help launch its concept, with additional prizes awarded to second- and third-place finishers.

For the Hardaways, the competition is a milestone, but the vision began long before the spotlight.

Their interest in cybersecurity took shape through a collegiate cyber competition and a course they took during the same semester.

“We saw cybersecurity as a great way to pursue this passion in our careers,” Joshiah Hardaway said.

While many young entrepreneurs

gravitate toward apps or consumer technology, the Hardaways chose a less visible but increasingly urgent challenge — digital protection for churches and nonprofits.

“These organizations matter to us because they often store sensitive donor and member information,” John said. “They don’t have a dedicated IT or cybersecurity team to educate staff and ensure that information is being handled properly.”

Their concept became real when they discovered that a church they had attended was using an insecure protocol for its website.

That discovery sparked deeper research.

“Approximately 43% of cyberattacks target ministries and nonprofits,” said Josiah. “We knew that we could use the knowledge and training we have gained to better equip churches and organizations.”

Twin Sentries Security is rooted not only in technology but also in faith and stewardship.

For the Hardaway’s, cybersecurity is not just about systems. It is about people, trust and responsibility.

“This means that we would do our best to prioritize people and relationships,” John said. “We would also strive to treat our clients’ systems as if they were our own.”

That mindset, they say, comes directly from the way they were raised.

The brothers are two of seven siblings born to Christopher and LaCreasia Hardaway, parents they describe as faithful examples of biblical principles and integrity.

“Our parents were the ones who played a major part in shaping us into who we are today,” Josiah said. “They didn’t just teach it. They lived it out.”

Building a business concept together as twin brothers comes with rare advantages.

“We have always been very like-minded,” Josiah stated. “We think and understand each other better than most partners in a business.”

The only challenge, they added with humor, is that people still struggle to tell them apart. “So much so that even our grandparents may not always tell us apart,” he said.

The Hardaways believe cybersecurity should matter to everyday church members, not just corporate executives.

“They should care because it is their information that is at risk of compromise,” John said. “Threat actors are no longer targeting ‘that company’ but everyday people.”

They emphasize that many cyberattacks are not sophisticated Hollywood-style hacks, but social engineering attempts such as suspicious emails, fake refund calls or messages that appear to come from trusted sources.

“When a security breach happens and personal information is compromised, trust in that organization is also compromised,” John said.

The consequences can be devastating with identities stolen, donor data leaked or ransomware attacks that lock an organization out of its own records unless a costly ransom is paid.

“Sensitive member and staff data can be stolen,” Josiah said. “Ransomware attacks can also be the result of online targeting.”

Understanding the financial limitations of nonprofits, Twin Sentries Security is structured as an affordable subscription-based service with three pricing tiers designed to meet organizations where they are.

“We have designed our services to be an affordable subscription-based model,” John explained. “We hope to offer more complete services as the company scales.”

While Cedarville is the current stage, Tennessee is the long-term focus.

“Whether we win the competition or not, we plan to continue developing our business,” Josiah said.

The brothers say they plan to begin by serving organizations they already know in Memphis and surrounding communities.

“Absolutely,” Josiah said. “Tennessee, our home state, is where we plan on starting.”

Their startup concept reflects a belief that entrepreneurship can be both mission-driven and sustainable, offering real protection to organizations that cannot afford to be vulnerable.

“It is very rewarding knowing that we are able to play a part in protecting the vulnerable,” Josiah said. “Ultimately, we seek to provide others with the knowledge and tools needed to better steward their resources and prevent harm from cyberattacks.”

And to young people back in Tennessee with an idea but uncertainty about whether it can become real, John offers simple advice:

“Go for it,” he said. “However, first validate the need.”

Memphis trades Jaren Jackson Jr. to Jazz in eight-player deal, launches rebuild

By James Coleman TSD Contributing Writer

Memphis Grizzlies brass have shipped franchise cornerstone Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz as the centerpiece of an eight-player trade deadline transaction Tuesday, Feb. 3. The rebuilding Grizzlies will receive three first-round picks, along with rookie point guard Walter Clayton Jr. and second-year power forward Taylor Hendricks. Forward Kyle Anderson and guard Georges Niang are also part of the deal. It is Anderson’s second stint with the Grizzlies after spending 2018 to 2022 with the squad.

In addition to 30-year-old reserve big man Jock Landale, Memphis also surrenders guards Vince Williams Jr. and John Konchar in the swap. However, Jackson is clearly the prize for the Jazz. The former Defensive Player of the Year in 2023 has been a model of consistency during his career. The former Michigan State Spartan has averaged 18.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in his eight seasons with the team.

Jackson is also a two-time Western Conference All-Star reserve after receiving invites from coaches in 2023 and 2025.

This season, the 6-foot-10 rim protector is averaging 19.2 points per game. Point guard — and fellow trade candidate — Ja Morant leads the squad with 19.5 points per game. The Grizzlies have not had as much luck finding any takers for the backcourt star. The trade also clears the remaining four years of Jackson’s five-year, $239

million contract off the Grizzlies’ payroll. The pact included a player option for the 2029-30 season. With the roster additions, Memphis is currently committed to $153.8 million in salaries this season, just under the salary cap of $154.6 million.

The Grizzlies also created significant financial flexibility with the trade. They now hold a record-setting $28.8 million trade exception. The financial tool allows teams over the salary cap to acquire players without matching salary. The Grizzlies could use it to help other teams complete trades in exchange for further draft capital. It will expire in one year.

Memphis began its rebuild in the summer, when it traded starting guard Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic for four first-round draft picks and veteran players. With the trade with the Jazz, the Grizzlies will acquire the most favorable 2027 first-round pick from either the Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves or Utah. Memphis also nabs a top-four protected pick from the Los Angeles Lakers next year and picked up the Phoenix Suns’ firstround pick in 2031.

The Grizzlies now own a massive war chest that includes 13 first-round draft picks over the next seven years.

Utah, meanwhile, appears intent on ending its years-long rebuild. Jackson will join Finnish seven-footer Lauri Markkanen to form an imposing and potentially high-scoring frontcourt.

The Grizzlies are currently in 11th place in the Western Conference standings with a 19-29 record, while the Jazz are two spots behind at 15-35.

Books about Black life for young readers

Book review

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Everybody in your family has stories to share.

Your parents have told you some, no doubt. Your grandparents have offered a few, too, and aunties and uncles have spun some good tales. But there’s so much more to know, so grab one of these great books and learn about Black History and Black life… For the youngest reader, “As You Are: A Hope for Black Sons” by Kimberly A. Gordon Biddle, illustrated by David Wilkerson (Magination Press, $18.99) is a book for boys and for their mothers. It’s a hope inside a prayer that the world treats a child gently, and it could make a great baby shower gift. If someone said you couldn’t do something that you were clearly able to do, would you fight to do it anyhow? In the new book, “Remember Her Name! Debbie Allen’s Rise to Fame” by Tami Charles, illustrated by Meredith Lucius (Charlesbridge, $17.99), a young girl in the Jim Crow South is told that she can’t dance professionally because of the color of her skin. She didn’t listen, though, and neither did her mother, who took her daughter to Mexico, where the girl soared! This is an inspiration for any 5-7-year-old; be sure to check out the back-of-the-

book information, if you’re an adult fan.

Do you often hear your elders say things that sound like lessons? They might be. “Where There is Love: A Story of African Proverbs” by Shauntay Grant, illustrated by Leticia Moreno (Penguin Workshop, $18.99) is a book you may like. It’s a quick-toread collection of short proverbs that you can say every day. Kids ages 4-to6 will easily remember what they find in this book; again, look in the back for more information.

Surely, you love your neighborhood, which is why the tale inside “Main Street: A Community Story about Redlining” by Britt Hawthorne and Tiffany Jewell, illustrated by David Wilkerson (Penguin Kokila, $18.99) is a book for you.

Olivia’s neighborhood is having a block party, but she’s sad when no one shows up. That’s when she learns that “the government” is discriminating against the people and businesses near where she lives. So what can she and her neighbors do? The answer might inspire 6-8-year-old kids to stand up to wrongs they see and to help make their neighborhoods stronger and safer.

And finally, if a kid wants a book, where can they go to find it? In “I’m

So Happy You’re Here: A Celebration of Library Joy” by Mychal Threets,

illustrated by Lorraine Nam (Random House, $18.99) is a good introduction to the best of what a library has to offer. The freedom to walk into a library and borrow a book is the theme here, as is the sheer happiness of being welcomed, no matter who you are. This is an easy book for kids as young as 2 and as old as 5 to enjoy.

On that note, if you want more, head to that library, or a nearby bookstore. They’ll be glad to see you. They’ve got stories to share.