The Contributor: May 12, 2021

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| Number 10 | May 12-26, 2021

IN THE ISSUE

Contributor Board

Tom Wills, Chair Cathy Jennings, Bruce Doeg, Demetria Kalodimos, Ann Bourland, Kerry Graham, Peter Macdonald, Amber DuVentre, Jerome Moore, Erik Flynn

LOCALES - POLÍTICA - INMIGRACIÓN - TRABAJOS - SALUD - ESPECTÁCULOS - DEPORTES Y MÁS...

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L a N ticia

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“DONDE OCURREN LOS HECHOS QUE IMPORTAN, SIEMPRE PRIMERO... ANTES”

Año 19 - No. 329

Cómo declarar sus impuestos federales, fecha límite

El IRS comenzó a recibir declaraciones de impuestos a partir del 12 de febrero de 2021. La fecha límite para presentar sus impuestos federales se ha extendido hasta el 17 de mayo de 2021.

Encuentre información sobre cómo presentar una Por Yuri Cunza declaración de Editor in Chief impuestos. @LaNoticiaNews

¿Dónde está mi reembolso?

Demoras en la tramitación de documentos enviados por correo debido al COVID-19 Al IRS le está tomando más tiempo tramitar los documentos enviados por correo, incluyendo: Declaraciones de impuestos en papel y Toda correspondencia relacionada con declaraciones de impuestos.

Se esta tramitando la correspondencia en el orden en que es recibida.

Fecha límite para declarar sus impuestos Para la mayoría de los contribuyentes, la fecha límite para declarar los impuestos federales es el 15 de abril de 2021, sin embargo el IRS ha extendido la fecha de vencimiento para declarar impuestos de 2020 hasta el 17 de mayo de 2021, a menos que haya solicitado una extensión para declarar impuestos.

La fecha límite para declarar impuestos federales y estatales suele ser las misma.

Para asegurarse de presentar la declaración a tiempo, averigüe los plazos de vencimiento en el estado y jurisdicción donde reside.

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“Then it’s time, like my dad told me, ‘it’s time to get your head out of your butt.

It’s time to come back to reality, son.'”

Christopher Nolan's, 'Tenet' is finally streaming on HBO Max, meaning you can watch at home and turn on subtitles.

Si no presenta su declaración y paga sus impuestos a tiempo, se le cobrarán intereses y una multa por pago atrasado.

A los contribuyentes a los que se les debe un reembolso, no se les cobra multa por una declaración atrasada.

Cómo presentar una declaración de impuestos federales El IRS comenzó a recibir declaraciones de impuestos el 12 de febrero de 2021. Para presentar una declaración de impuestos va a necesitar algunas cosas. Primero, debe saber cuánto dinero ganó durante el año del cual presentará la declaración. Luego, debe decidir si realiza la deducción estándar o si prefiere hacer una declaración detallada. Finalmente, deberá presentar su declaración de impuestos y mandar el pago antes del 17 de mayo de 2021.

Contributors This Issue

Hannah Herner • Amanda Haggard • Linda Bailey • Ridley Wills II • Joe Nolan • Yuri Cunza • Mr. Mysterio • Cynthia P. • Jen A. • Tyrone M. • Christopher W.

No presente una segunda declaración de impuestos ni llame al IRS.

Pasos para presentar una declaración de impuestos 1. Reúna los siguientes documentos:

Consulte si reúne los requisitos para la preparación gratuita de declaraciones de impuestos. El IRS ofrece ayuda gratuita con impuestos a personas de bajos recursos, miembros de las Fuerzas Armadas y sus familias, personas con discapacidades, ancianos o contribuyentes con un nivel de inglés limitado.

Lo que necesitará 1. Número de Seguro Social o número de identificación personal del contribuyente (ITIN, por sus siglas en inglés) 2. Su estado civil para efectos de la declaración 3. La cantidad exacta de su reembolso Visite: https://sa.www4.irs.gov/irfof/lang/sp/irfofge tstatus.jsp

La Noticia + The Contributor Un formulario W-2 de cada uno de sus empleadores

Otras declaraciones de ingresos e intereses (formularios 1099 y 1099-INT)

Recibos de donaciones caritativas, gastos médicos y de negocios, si hace una declaración detallada 2. Determine su estado civil (en inglés).

El estado civil se basa en si usted está casado legalmente. El porcentaje que paga de los gastos del hogar también afecta la opción que debe elegir en su declaración.

3. Decida cómo quiere presentar su declaración de impuestos.

El Servicio de Impuestos Internos (IRS, sigla en inglés) recomienda utilizar un software de preparación de impuestos para presentar electrónicamente declaraciones más precisas y de manera más fácil.

4. Determine si le conviene presentar la deducción estándar o una declaración detallada.

5. Si le debe dinero al IRS, sepa cómo pagar sus impuestos y cómo solicitar un plan de pagos.

6. Presente su declaración federal de impuestos antes del 17 de mayo de 2021.

Extensión para presentar su declaración de impuestos

Si no puede presentar su declaración federal de impuestos antes de la fecha de vencimiento, posiblemente pueda obtener una extensión de seis meses del Servicio de Impuestos Internos (IRS, sigla en inglés). Esto no significa que tenga más tiempo para pagar sus impuestos. Para evitar posibles multas, calcule y pague los impuestos que adeuda antes de la fecha límite de impuestos del 17 de mayo de 2021.

¿Cuando hacerlo?

1. 24 horas después de presentar electrónicamente 2. Espere demoras extensas si envió su declaración por correo o si contestó a un aviso del IRS 3. El IRS actualiza la aplicación “Dónde está mi reembolso” diariamente, usualmente durante la noche. ¿Debería llamar usted al IRS? Espere demoras si envió por correo una declaración en papel o si tuvo que responder a una pregunta del IRS sobre su declaración presentada electrónicamente.

Debe llamar solamente si: 1. Han transcurrido 21 días o más desde que presentó su declaración electrónicamente.

2. La herramienta “Dónde está mi reembolso” le indica que se comunique con el IRS. 2. No presente una segunda declaración de impuestos.

Declaración de impuestos en papel con envío por correo regular.

1. Mantenerse callado 2. Sólo dar nombre y apellido 3. No mentir 4. Nunca acepte/lleve documentos falsos 5. No revelar su situación migratoria 6. No llevar documentación de otro país 7. En caso de ser arrestado, mostrarla Tarjeta Miranda (llámenos si necesita una)

Basados en la Quinta Enmienda de la Constitución, los derechos de guardar silencio y contar con un abogado fueron denominados Derechos Miranda luego de la decisión de la Suprema Corte de Justicia de Estados Unidos en el caso Miranda vs. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, de 1966.

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Descargue la aplicación IRS2Go para verificar el estado de su reembolso.

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In this issue, vendors write about transportation, God, gangs, hate crimes, the realm and 'Legislative Terrorism.'

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VENDOR SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOS BY TOM WILLS

A BIG STEP FOR MICHAEL W.

BY HANNAH HERNER “I love it,” says Michael W. about his new apartment.

Michael spoke to The Contributor three nights after moving into housing after he had been camping since 2003.

He lists what he did in those first three days: swept his floor, made his bed, took a shower, went to church, took his trash out, washed his dishes, took another shower. He lists pertinent supplies he received upon move-in: a clothes hamper, a garbage can, a refrigerator, plenty of towels.

For now, it’s the seemingly little things that Michael is enjoying about his new apartment — all those things that he couldn’t do when he was camping.

“It’s about time,” he says.

He dissolves into tears, thinking about how he wishes his parents could see him in his own place.

“I didn’t know my real mom. My stepmom married my dad when I was 10 and she taught me the biggest things in life. Gave me responsibility. Told me what you need to do in life,” Michael says. “All them years you get lazy, washing your clothes and stuff. Then it’s time, like my dad told me, ‘it’s time to get your head out of your butt. It’s time to come back to reality, son.’”

And Michael says that’s what he feels like he’s doing.

For years, he was resistant to going into housing — he was really skilled at surviving in the elements and taking care

of himself. After working with The Contributor housing navigators, he’s now in a unit that’s based on his income, and he’ll have no problem meeting that through the money he makes selling paper.

“I was just getting tired of it,” he says. “There’s a time in your life you get tired of hearing about other people’s this and that. This way when I go in, I can go in, shut my door. I don’t have to put up with people.”

He’s also glad that he doesn’t have to worry about the inevitable “move along” that comes with camping.

“Camping is fun, but there’s a time you gotta give that up and come in,” he says. “I took everything I needed. My tent’s still out there, but I probably won’t

PAGE 4 | May 12-26, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

go back out there to live. I’ll go out there to visit and leave and come home. Now that I have a place to call mine, I’ll go back there every day.”

Michael is clearly taking a lot of pride in his space. He’s trying to achieve a “new apartment smell.” He uses pumpkin spice air freshener every morning all over the unit — in the closet, the bathroom, and even into the air vent. He’s looking forward to having more food options now that he has a refrigerator, like cereal and milk.

“This was a big step ... A big step,” he says. “I’m not scared anymore because I know I can go home, lock my door, leave whatever I want in there, where nobody will come and take it.”

NEWS

A YOUNG HOMELESS MAN WAS SHOT AND KILLED BY POLICE DURING A MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

BY AMANDA HAGGARD The Metro Nashville Police Department shot and killed a man living in a homeless encampment behind Mill Creek Towne Center Shopping Mall near Brentwood.

Jacob Griffin’s mother had called 911 because her son was having a mental health crisis.

Griffin, 23, was shot by an MNPD SWAT officer after police tried to take Griffin into custody. Police say Griffin fired several shots from a pistol before they shot at him.

Griffin was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center on Saturday, May 1, where he died of his wounds. Griffin was a former employee of the Goodwill in the shopping center where several people gathered for a vigil before it was moved online because of severe weather.

At an online vigil for Griffin, street chaplain and co-founder of Open Table Nashville Lindsey Krinks called for better systems for handling mental health and policing.

“This didn’t have to happen,” Krinks said. “Your social status should not be a death sentence.

Your race should not be a death sentence. Your mental health should not be a death sentence.

But so often they are.”

In the video, Krinks says more can be done to ensure it doesn’t get to the point where families have to call the police, where things

might potentially end in a fatality.

“We do not have the proper systems of care,” Krinks said. “True public safety is not the presence of police. It’s creating societies [and] communities where everyone has what they need.”

In a 911 call around 2 p.m. on May 1, Griffin’s mother can be heard telling dispatchers that Griffin was, “schizophrenic and for about the last hour has been texting me messages that he plans to kill me and other people, and I think it’s something that Davidson County needs to address.”

His mother says on the call that he is armed, but adds that he’s never been violent before.

“I really don’t want the police to kill him, but I don’t want him to kill anyone else either,” she said.

Police spokesperson Don Aaron told reporters that Griffin told officers that he had a gun, but would not surrender it. During the police interaction, officers say they deployed a taser before deploying a gun.

MNPD negotiators and SWAT officers were brought to the scene about an hour into police interaction with Griffin, which began around 3 p.m. Mobile Crisis staff from the Mental Health Co-Op came to the scene and signed emergency committal papers for Griffin at around 5:15 p.m. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting,

PHOTO BY LINDA BAILEY which was captured on MNPD bodycam footage.

In the video, SWAT officers can be seen standing behind a ballistic shield while talking with Griffin, who can’t be seen on the video. Police say he was holding a pistol just a few feet away. Police say he shot a round from the pistol around 7:20 p.m. He was shot and killed by police shortly after.

“Jacob was a human being,” Open Table Nashville said in a

statement. “He needed care. Housing. Employment. He and other Goodwill employees had been 'let go' months before because of a change in management at the store. He was hurting, struggling both mentally and emotionally.”

Open Table Nashville says friends who worked with Griffin called him a “teddy bear.”

“MNPD officers went to the camp after his mom asked them to check on him, and instead of

May 12-26, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 5

being treated as a human being in need of care, he was treated as a threat to be neutralized,” they said. “When he refused to come out of his tent after hours of 'negotiating,' the officers devised a plan to extract him by using distraction devices, hard foam rounds, and a police dog that viciously attacked Jacob and pinned him to the ground. In the chaos of this violent ‘extraction,’ shots were fired and Jacob was killed.”

NASHVILLE HISTORY CORNER

As infrastructure improved, Middle Tennessee ferries disappeared as a means of transport

BY RIDLEY WILLS II I have had a life-long interest in Tennessee rivers and ferries. When Tennessee became a state in 1796 , every river, large and small, had a ferry. Early Tennessee immigrants used Clark’s Ferry to cross the Clinch River at Southwest Point. Travellers on the Natchez Trace crossed the Duck River on Gordon’s Ferry. As roads and infrastructure improved, ferries began to disappear and today there are only two operating in the state, both in Middle Tennessee. Here are some of my favorite Cumberland River ferries.

Cumberland City Ferry In 1997, F. H. “Dock” Turnbull, a licensed ferry boat pilot, told Tony Holmes, of Friendsville, Tenn., that the Cumberland City Ferry “had experienced only five days downtime during the past seven years.” The ferry, which still operates today, is owned by the Tennessee Department of Transportation and was operated in 1997 by Two Rivers Excursions, Inc. in nearby Clarksville. In 1997, it operated seven days a week from 5:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Monday through Friday and from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends. Vehicles registered in Stewart, Houston and Montgomery Counties could cross all day for 75 cents and all other vehicles could cross for a dollar. The ferry, which can carry four large cars, connects the village of Cumberland City on the south side of the river with Indian Mound and Woodlawn to the north of the river. It can carry about 100 automobiles a day. Each crossing takes about five to 10 minutes.

Clees Ferry William “Bud” Hulan moved to Davidson Country from North Carolina before the Civil War. A sawmill operator and

carpenter in the Bell’s Bend area, he ran a raft ferry across the Cumberland. It was a crude affair, operated manually. Hulan pulled it across on a cable that stretched from one bank to the other.

In the late 1860s, six Clees brothers moved to Bell’s Bend after living for several years in Mount Starling, Ohio, with their widowed mother. They arrived in Davidson County collectively with $30,000, a large sum in those days. On Feb. 3, 1869, the Clees brothers purchased 1,626 acres in Bell’s Bend. The brothers long wanted to build a better ferry across the river than the raft ferry Nolan operated. They had first to acquire a strip of land on the west side of the river that stretched from the riverbank to Charlotte Pike. They accomplished this in 1881 by purchasing a small wide strip of land from the Shelton family. With this done, they acquired a packet boat, which they named the Mary Clees, which they used as a ferry from 1877 until late 1882 when it was dismantled. That year, the Clees family moved to Pennington Bend, where they went into the soap business.

After the Clees left, the Edgefield operated at Bell’s Bend. In 1906, it or another boat was converted to a gas-powered ferry boat which could carry three cars. During the 1970s and 1980s, I periodically took my sons to ride the Clees Ferry across the Cumberland. It was fun.

When the Briley Parkway Bridge over the Cumberland opened in 1991, the nearby Pennington Bend Ferry closed and the Judge Hickman moved downstream to operate at Clees Ferry. It could carry eight automobiles and served an important function into the 1990s. Today, Clees Ferry Road on the west side of the River is called Old Hickory Boulevard. Although

the ferry is gone, there is a small parking area there that has a beautiful view of the Cumberand Hydes Ferry Across the Cumberland from the Beal Bosley Place in North Nashville were the homes of the Hyde brothers, Richard and Tazwell, “both clever, rich men.” In the early 1840s, the Hydes established a ferry across the river. The ferry was a small, flat boat pulled on a wire by hand. Later, Richard Hyde built a larger ferry boat that carried his name. The Hydes Ferry was where the former Tennessee Central Railroad bridge is today, less than a mile downstream from the Clarksville Highway Bridge across the Cumberland.

Williamson Ferry The Williamson family were large landowners who operated a ferry for years at McGavock Pike, beginning in 1933.

Capable of carrying three cars at a time, it was named the Edgefield for the area west of the river which it serviced. David Lever was one of the first ferrymen who operated the Williamson Ferry. The Edgefield was replaced by the Judge Hickman, built in 1952 or 1953. It could carry a total of eight cars at a time. When the Pennington Bend Bridge was completed on Briley Parkway on Nov. 3, 1965, the Judge Hickman was moved downstream to the Clees Ferry site in Bell’s Bend. It operated there until 1991 when a construction of a bridge upstream made it obsolete.

Pennington’s Ferry This was the first ferry in Pennington Bend. It was only a raft that was propelled across the river by the ferryman pulling on a rope. The ferry was located in the

PAGE 6 | May 12-26, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

northwest part of the bend opposite Haysboro at a place that was shallow enough that a wagon could be driven across the river in dry weather. Pennington’s Ferry was privately owned and not generally used by the public. It was frequented by several families who lived close to the river in today’s Madison. They used it to go to the one-room Methodist Church in the bend. The Craigheads and Donelsons were among the families known to have travelled to the church by this ferry.

Woods Ferry Matthew Rhea’s 1832 map of Tennessee showed at least nine ferries across the Cumberland River in Sumner County. The best known of the Sumner County ferries was Wood’s Ferry, south of Gallatin.

Rome Ferry Rome was a small town in Smith County, situated at the mouth of Round Lick Creek, on the left bank of the Cumberland, eight miles west of Carthage. In 1832, it contained about 200 inhabitants, five stores, two taverns, one grocery, two tailor’s shops, two carpenters, one blacksmith shop, one sadler’s shop, one stone mason, one cabinet shop, one shoemaker’s shop, two warehouses and one doctor.

When Rome was a thriving town, it also had a ferry across the Cumberland River on what became Highway 70. The ferry continued to operate until 1992 when its last pilot died. Recently, while driving through Smith County, historian Bill Kerry did a double take. He pulled over, turned the car around and went back to see if he had imagined what he had seen. “Sure enough, it was an old rusty ferry parked on the south bank of the Cumberland River.”

May 12-26, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 7

COVER STORY

ILLUSTRATIONS BY XAVIER PAYNE

The Homeless Connect, Disconnected A successful service giving free rides to people experiencing homelessness peters out with lack of funding

BY HANNAH HERNER Abdulkadir Mohamed once walked from his home country of Somalia to Kenya. The roughly 1,300-mile journey took three months. He walked all these miles at 13 years old, having to leave his mother and father, who had disabilities, at home.

When he moved to Nashville as a refugee at the age of 17 in 1997, he got a weekend job at a car wash, and would have to walk five miles to a bus stop. A co-worker’s family member took mercy on him and ended up giving him a ride home. Navigating public transit in a new country, with limited weekend service and an unfamiliar language, was a struggle.

Fast forward 23 years to the winter of 2020, and Mohamed was in a position to help those who were disconnected from resources in the same way he once was. He put a new idea into action — give people experiencing homelessness and poverty free rides, on demand. He called it Nashville Homeless Connect. From Dec. 15 until March 15, two dedicated handicap-accessible busses ran a loop around town from 7 a.m. to midnight and offered individual rides on demand.

In all, the service gave 20,800 trips in those 90 days. All of the money to produce the pilot program came out of Mohamed’s own pocket.

He wanted to prove that it could be done before putting together a board or anything, he said.

And it worked. But now the Homeless Connect vans mostly sit vacant.

“I’ve been working in nonprofits since 2000, and I’ve not seen anything like this. It’s incredible. This population is in such need,” said Bobby Daniels, volunteer development director for

Nashville Homeless Connect.

Mohamed maintains that in the hierarchy of needs, first is food, second is shelter, and transportation is number three. It seemed to him that transportation was always missing in the equation when it came to getting people experiencing homelessness the chance to get back on their feet.

It’s always about the shelter. He heard it all the time when he began reaching out to people who lived on the streets.

“The services already exist. Not just creating a new and different service. There’s a lot of [services] that exist, these people just were not connected at all,” he says.

Transportation is a thread that runs deep in Mohamed’s life. While working at that car wash, Mohamed took some classes to learn English, and got a janitorial job at Nashville schools. For 11 years he worked two jobs — the other managing rental cars at the airport. In 2008, he got laid off from both jobs. He became a taxi driver for a few years, and began to gradually buy more vehicles and rent them to the drivers. Remembering his parents whose disabilities stood in the way of getting where they wanted to go, he created On Demand Paratransit, which provides after hours and out-of-county rides for those who have a physical disability in contract with WeGo. Mohamed found that when people used Nashville Homeless Connect, it was almost always for necessities. The average length of travel was just eight miles.

Riders met basic needs, like getting groceries or doing laundry. People rode to get their IDs, drivers

licenses, to job interviews and medical appointments. This transit even brought people experiencing homelessness to the Neighborhood Health clinics for COVID-19 vaccines, and the service was instrumental in getting people to warming shelters on the coldest nights. What would take multiple days on the city’s public transit, with Nashville Homeless Connect, they could do in one.

“I’m not talking about the luxury life, I’m talking about the basic human life,” Mohamed says. “Especially when you live in the United States, it’s more difficult without transportation.”

And the program saw some grow out of using it. Homeless Connect drivers would take people to their job the first week or so, and then once they got paychecks, they were able to pay for WeGo. “In the beginning I was thinking maybe we’re going to have some trouble with the community,” Mohamed says. “They’re going to sleep in the van, they’re going to be drunk — we have had zero incidents in the vehicle with the unhoused community. ” Other homeless service providers loved it.

They didn’t hesitate to put their logos on the side of the van — a move requested by Mohammed and his team to help instill trust in the potential riders. But they didn’t give any financial support.

Daniels calls the 90-day pilot ending without any real plan for the future “tragic” because he saw just how much Nashville stakeholders bought into it — something that doesn’t always happen in the Homeless Service Provider community.

While there was buy-in in spirit, there wasn’t any financially.

PAGE 8 | May 12-26, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

“At the end of the day, one of the things that we've learned with this is that we're probably going to have to have some governmental funding,” he says. “Because this is a community issue. So that's where we are with that. I mean, you'll hear just a little bit of frustration in me because we really needed all those people. I mean, because everybody, all of the stakeholders, totally, totally embraced it. And in doing so, we needed more than them just embracing it. You know, we needed the funding.”

Daniels wrote a grant for MTA that will probably get funded, he says, but they won’t be able to do as much as they did before. They hesitate to start it up again for fear of having to stop again.

They’d like to have a years’ worth of costs to get time to get buy-in from stakeholders to build such a service into their budget. Daniels and Mohamed would like to see area organizations work $5,000 or $10,000 into their grants to support this. If a collection of organizations did this, it could live on, and be sustainable.

It’s no million dollar program, Mohamed says. It’s $29,160 per month to pay for bus drivers, dispatchers, insurance, bus maintenance and fuel. The busses are paid off. “But at the end of the day in all the organizations we all talk about it all the time, you know we have some issues with transportations. We are not addressing it together.” Mohamed says. “I say it's doable, but as community they have to come together, find the resources to keep doing, to continue.” www.nashvillehomelessconnect.org/about-us/

COVER STORY

Q&A: PATHE’s Jacqueline Sims

Longtime housing and transit advocate discusses finding truth

BY HANNAH HERNER After spending 2020 advocating against evictions during the pandemic and other crises, in 2021 the People’s Alliance for Transit, Housing and Employment (PATHE) is in review mode. At the end of March, the organization launched a series of town halls and seminars as part of a “six month search for the Whole Truth, where Hindsight becomes 20/20, Insight comes from the Community, and Foresight guides the PATHE forward.”

Veteran activist and director of PATHE Jacqueline Sims grew up in Philadelphia where public transit was more robust than here in Nashville. She explains that when you’re advocating for opportunities in transit or housing or employment, you’ll need improvement in another.

Can you tell me about why you chose to focus on the truth and reconciliation seminars this year?

I believe that truth is very basic, to getting resolution for many issues, especially for issues centered around what I would call equity and justice issues. It took me to get to my 50s to really understand a little bit of truth about some difficult issues. But I was way on the other side of 50, before I'd get to really have truth speak to me. So I made it my mission to choose not to remain ignorant, and to go digging for truth.

That's why it's so important to me to shape a campaign around housing. And for me, housing and transportation go hand in hand, learning that you shouldn’t be having discussions about

housing absent transportation, because transportation is about more than congestion. It's about quality of life for people who are transit dependent first, then you can do all the other nice things you want to do, all the bells and whistles and shiny objects around transportation. But first we must provide options, good options for people who need it every day to sustain their lives.

What would you say is the biggest focus now when it comes to making changes in the transportation system?

We need as many routes as we can possibly have. We don't need to be cutting any routes, we need to be increasing routes. And we need to increase routes in the rural part of Davidson County, because the core is becoming less and less affordable and people are being displaced out in the outskirts of the county where there's just not adequate transit or other resources.

A lot of our work has been centered in the housing crisis, and the city doesn't seem to understand what a crisis means. But the inadequacy of really good transportation, also is pretty critical in Davidson County.

I know that you've done some work with outreach for people experiencing homelessness. How do you see transportation playing into them trying to get out of living on the streets?

The first thing that comes to my mind is where is more affordable housing going to be for

our unhoused residents? And it's unfortunate that many of them need the services that are available in the urban core. But imagine a place to dwell, that is even remotely affordable. At the rate that real estate is appreciating in Davidson County, it's going to be in the outer regions. The real estate in the urban cores, the price tags on it are just ridiculous, and they're not going to get lower, I think they're just going to continue to get higher as the demand increases.

So we're going to have to look for more resources in the outskirts, as well as more dwellings and probably concentrated dwellings.

An issue that PATHE brings up is the possibility of people losing their jobs because of transportation, too.

I have the luxury of a car and plenty of family members who also have cars. So transportation is not an issue for me. But if I had to go to a place, I live right off of Charlotte, I can just walk for half a block and the bus will be there.

But if I had to walk many blocks, that would be very difficult for me. And it may require that I, I might not be able to work anymore. If a bus isn't able to return me home after work, I might not be able to work anymore, because either they may have decreased the level of services and the bus doesn't run that late, or it just doesn't run in proximity to where I live.

And if you're a low wage worker, you can't afford to be Ubering and Lyfting yourself, you know, around on a daily basis. That's not affordable. That's not sustainable. I couldn't do it. I

May 12-26, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 9

make a decent living. That would really eat a hole in my budget if I had to do that.

What do you think it’ll take to make the changes PATHE works toward?

The first thing it's going to take is having people who make decisions who give a damn.

That's the first thing it's going to take. We see people who are unhoused, but we don't see them. They become almost invisible to far too many people who live in Nashville, and I don't think a lot of the people who make decisions see them as viable human beings, who it's important that we care for them. The Bible says that poor people will always be with us. So they're not going away. So it's up to us to make decisions about what are we going to do about that?

Because we live in a cheap consumer, material-driven society where it's far too much self absorption, preoccupation with one's own happiness and personal satisfactions that we're not inclined to care for our neighbor the way we should. And that's truly an indictment on our humanity.

Anything else that you want to add?

I hope as an organization, that PATHE can build enough of an infrastructure and provide those who want to know the truth, who want to understand why we're in the thick of it that we're in. I hope that we can uncover enough people who really do care about who is our neighbor to make those who make decisions in this city a little uncomfortable.

COVER STORY

Unhoused people make up disproportionate number of pedestrian deaths

BY A M ANDA HAGGARD In 2020, more people were killed by vehicles in Nashville while walking than in any other year. And people experiencing homeless are disproportionately affected in these accidents, according to a report from Walk Bike Nashville, a group that advocates for transportation initiatives around walkability, bikeability and safety.

The number of people who died after being struck by a vehicle while walking climbed to 39 in 2020, up from 32 in 2019. That’s with drivers being off the roads more than usual during the pandemic. The number has been steadily rising since 2007, when 12 deaths happened while people were walking in the city. Walk Bike Nashville started collecting data in 2016.

The report also says at least 248 people were injured in traffic crashes while walking on top of the 39 deaths.

At least 30 percent of the people killed by vehicles while walking were homeless.

Contributor vendor Julio Gutierrez, who was 52 years old at his time of death, died after he was hit by a car while crossing Buena Vista Pike near Cliff Drive last year. When Gutierrez was hit, it was near 10 p.m. at night — most pedestrian deaths in the city, 70 percent of them, happen at night.

“As in previous years, most crashes occur in neighborhoods that are more likely to have a lower average income and majority percentage of people of color,” where properly lighting the streets at night is often not a priority, the report from Walk Bike Nashville reads.

More than 70 percent of fatalities happened on roads with four or more lanes like Dickerson Pike and Murfreesboro Pike — these roads often don’t have many crosswalks or sidewalks.

Another 16 percent of the deaths happened

on interstates.

Until more money flows into infrastructure, Walk Bike Nashville outlines a few things drivers can consider when they’re driving on high-speed state arterials.

“People were killed throughout the year and between the hours of 6-9 p.m. are the most dangerous hours for pedestrians,” Walk Bike Nashville says in its report. “Remember

between 6-9 p.m. and share with your friends and family. Drive slower, don’t speed, be on the lookout for people. When traveling on the Pikes such as Dickerson and Murfreesboro, remember these are dangerous conditions.”

Walk Bike Nashville also notes that the Pikes in Nashville are often walked heavily because they are integral to WeGo, the city’s bus system.

“These streets serve as the backbone of the city's WeGo Public Transit system,” Walk Bike reports. “As Nashville continues to grow, connecting our pikes to quality transit that is safe and accessible will continue to be an issue for our residents.”

The city is working on a plan to fix the problem. The Vision Zero Plan will work toward ensuring zero pedestrian deaths in Nashville — a tough feat when deaths have steadily grown over the past 15 years.

The mayor's office outlined the following strategies for its plan: • Building and sustaining leadership, collaboration and accountability — especially among a diverse group of stakeholders to include transportation professionals, policymakers, public health officials, police and community members.

• Collecting, analyzing and using data to understand trends and potential disproportionate impacts of traffic deaths on certain populations.

• Prioritizing equity and community engagement.

• Managing speed to safe levels.

• Setting a timeline to achieve zero traffic deaths and serious injuries, which brings urgency and accountability, and ensuring transparency on progress and challenges.

Walk Bike Nashville lauded the effort, but also said they felt the plan needed more urgency.

“Waiting another year to make improvements could inevitably mean more loss of life due to unsafe speeds and inhumane street design — tragic impacts to communities and families that can and should be prevented,” they said.

Nashville fills holes in bus service and builds a new de facto department of transportation in budget proposal

BY A M ANDA HAGGARD In Mayor John Cooper’s recent budget unveiling, he announced the city would allocate $25.5 million to restore funding for WeGo bus service, which was only kept alive last year through one-time federal subsidies.

In the announcement, Metro Councilmember Burkey Allen says the budget “should reflect our commitment to improving all modes of transportation and increasing pedestrian and vehicular safety.”

In the transit advocacy group Moving Forward’s 2021 report, the group noted that “2020 was challenging for transit due to COVID-19 and a resulting shift to telecommuting,” but notes that transit disparities will only grow if a comprehensive transit plan doesn’t come to fruition.

It seems the city is always filling holes when it comes to transit.

“Mobility and transit are crucial to an equitable economic recovery — mobility and

transit link Middle Tennesseans to education, jobs, food, health care and other basic needs,” the report says. “Investment in transit and transportation now to provide access for all Middle Tennesseans will help the region, its residents, and our economy grow stronger as we recover.”

The restoration of WeGo services is important, but a small portion of what the city needs.

The city will also invest $3.5 million into a plan to turn Metro Public Works into a de facto Department of Transportation. It’s a sort of “if you build it they will come” mentality. The city is hoping by creating the department, it will attract a leader in transit to lead it.

“We want to recruit a superstar who goes to work every day and their job is to make our commuter's life easier," Cooper said when he initially made the announcement.

Metro Public Works will hand off its trash pickup services to the water department —

something that’s not been done in the city before and is uncommon, if not unheard of, in other similar-sized cities. Councilmember Freddie O’Connell, among others, have concerns about it working, but are willing to try it in the interim.

Moving Forward’s report notes that while they found “multiple models of regional [transit] coordination, all of the peer regions offering higher-order transit have funding streams dedicated solely to transit. The Middle Tennessee region does not possess dedicated funding for transit.”

For now, the city won’t change the department’s name to NDOT; it would take a Metro Charter amendment change during the 2022 election cycle to make it official.

The departments will start making changes July 1 to transition Metro Water into providing solid waste services and Metro Public Works into a transit agency.

For now, Cooper’s Senior Transportation

PAGE 10 | May 12-26, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

Advisor, Faye DiMassimo will help launch the DOT. “To solve a persistent frustration in Nashville, Faye and her team will improve sidewalk construction times by 50 percent and reduce costs by 20 percent within 12 months – as we work to build and repair 75 miles of sidewalks,” Cooper said in his State of Metro address on April 29.

He says the de facto department will manage a Traffic Management Center to help with congestion and says the move will double the capacity for traffic calming, bike lanes and capital projects.

“Most of our transportation funding comes from the capital budget and federal and state grants. But this budget funds 42 new positions to allow our DOT to effectively seek and administer the new spending,” he said. “They will help us get a big job done. More than a rebranding, our DOT will have the capacity to make major improvements.”

COVER STORY

Opinion: Yearlong bus passes for people experiencing homelessness difficult to manage

BY SUSAN ADCOCK , OUTRE ACH WORKER FOR OPEN TABLE NA SHVILLE I remember, as an outreach worker, being thrilled. Thrilled when I learned that soon I’d be able fill out a simple request for my clients to get a yearlong bus card.

All of them were experiencing literal homelessness at the time, meaning they were sleeping outside, and they too, basically jumped for joy when they heard. They told their friends.

And their friends told their friends.

The thing I never saw coming, was that this arrangement, which I perceived at the time as a gift, would transform over time into something very different.

The request process involved me putting the person into Coordinated Entry on my laptop, I had to make myself their housing navigator, declare them disabled, give them a questionnaire to measure their level of vulnerability, make a photo of them for the card, and get them to sign and upload a form I like to call the “I promise not to be an asshole on the bus” form.

It reminds grown men and women that they should not make trouble on the bus, as if they haven’t (most of them) been riding the bus their entire lives. It felt a little insulting, but I let it go because hey, people need transportation, and it would give them something precious to hold onto. There seems to be few things more important to a person experiencing homelessness than a way to get around town (to have access to food, showers, laundry, work).

Twenty people a week were calling to see how they could get one.

On the front end, navigators were told we’d have to make a note in HMIS every two weeks

about how people were using the free bus card.

HMIS is a database for tracking outcomes in housing and homelessness in Nashville. HMIS serves cities across the country that are tracking HUD funded activity including housing and various programs set up to alleviate homelessness.

Everyone reading this is smart enough to know that more bus cards meant more notes.

The number of notes grew exponentially. At one point I had an alarm on my phone to remind me whose note I needed to update and sometimes there were seven in a day.

It took about a year for me to realize that the Connector Card wasn’t exactly a gift. It was more like a carrot, posing as a gift. People begged for the card. I became their Navigator and started hunting for housing that didn’t exist. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t, the one constant being that the card got turned off.

Here are the basics: If things go well and the person gets housed, the card turns off. If they lose the card more than once, the card turns off.

If their housing navigator doesn’t look up from the daily dumpster fire, and spend 10 minutes online twice a month, bullshitting about what that person may or may not be using the card for, the card turns off.

And my phone rings: “Miss Susan, my bus card stopped working.”

“I know, I’m sorry; it only lasts a certain period of time.”

“Can you get me a new one?”

“No, you can only get one. Then you have

to buy your own.”

“Oh, like even if I’m using it to: [fill in the blank]? Go see my probation officer? Go to the Suboxone clinic? get to the grocery? Go to work? visit my kids?”

“Yep.” Meanwhile, a man in Antioch, who never had a card or a navigator, three days into his new job at Taco Bell, gives up because starting a job for him means he has to panhandle bus fare every day for the next two weeks.

The Connector Card was (and is) a brilliant idea but nothing will change until we stop trying to incentivize people in ways that require us to monitor and evaluate their worthiness and our success. Let’s be clear. People with transportation thrive and those without it, don’t. It’s not our business what people are using the card for. It’s oxygen.

A good policy advisor might suggest that we afford all people experiencing homelessness a bus card; that we go to the table and map out our generosity as a city, without factoring in what’s in it for us.

Because what’s in it for us is a healthy, exuberant city of diverse, housed, well-fed neighbors that have the care they need if and when they need it.

That’s the goal. Right?

Homeless Impact Division says bus cards part of bigger strategy Director of the Metro Homeless Impact Division, which provides these passes, Judith Tackett, points out that the connector card

May 12-26, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 11

system is part of a bigger strategy.

“Transportation is a big need for underserved populations including people experiencing homelessness. A few years ago, I approached WeGo with an idea to create a transportation opportunity for people experiencing long-term homelessness with disabling conditions. Together we established a partnership for annual bus passes available to agencies who work on housing with this highly vulnerable population.

If we as a community want to serve people effectively, we need to 1. stay in touch with the people we serve on a regular basis, and 2. coordinate our efforts to be more efficient in our service delivery. Consistent service, communication and coordination are the principles that the Drive to End Chronic Homelessness partnership with WeGo is based on. This program includes regular data entry to ensure that our provider community coordinates their efforts with each other.

The Homeless Impact Division continues to seek feedback from participating agencies with the goal to improve services while we create a system that ensures we measure the effectiveness of programs. In particular, the Homeless Impact Division held a community meeting with street outreach providers a few weeks ago to seek input from them about this program and balance that input with an outcomes-driven effort that leads to a more housing-focused and person-centered approach. I continue to stand behind this program with the limited resources that we have available right now because it is solutions-oriented.”

COVER STORY

Vendors for The Contributor talk about their commutes Keith’s commute lengthens When the WeGo 96 express route to Murfreesboro stopped running on April 11, it added a total of eight miles of walking to Keith’s commute into The Contributor office. He also had to cut down the number of papers he could buy. Being hit as a pedestrian in the past also injured his shoulder and he can’t carry as much weight as he used to.

To me it's why are you cutting, cutting, cutting? You know what’s gonna happen when everything opens up. Traffic is going to get worse. I have to walk four and a half miles to get to the nearest bus, then I have to walk four and a half miles back. That route that they cut out let me off 100 yards from my house. It cost a little more, it was an express route, but it was convenient. I didn’t have to worry about walking in the rain or heavy carrying. My arms are not as good as they used to be.

That route ran for [at least] 12 years. Other routes had been deleted or streamlined. When they streamline it, say they picked up at 40 places, now they pick up at 14 places. Whoever is on any of those routes, they’re inconvenienced because now they have to walk further to get to the bus.

Everyone’s complaining about traffic, this and that, but then they keep cutting the bus routes and all that. Any other city this size has 24-hour bus service. You don’t get bus service here from midnight to six at all.

They should first have 24 hour service, and extend existing routes and bring back any that have been deleted. What if the state workers go back to work? A lot of people won’t have a way.

When the state workers were on that route, it was a packed bus.

Sometimes, and I'm not exaggerating, sometimes I can walk faster than the traffic. Say I leave my spot at 5:30 in the afternoon, about a mile of my walk home, I'm keeping up with the cars because they're just stop, go. And of course, as they're cutting the bus routes, there's enough apartments within a mile of me that's gonna add 5,000 more people. That’s like 5,000 more people, probably each one with a car.

Lifelong bus rider “Pops” looks for rides Gary E., also known as “Pops” has been riding the bus in Nashville since he was a kid. He normally walks from his apartment to his selling spot, and the high-rise he lives in does monthly grocery trips.

Most of the time, however, he hitches rides with friends or walks to where he needs to go.

By the time the bus comes, sometimes it’s on time, sometimes it’s not. I can call a ride and have already went and done what I had to do. I hate riding the bus. For one, they’re trying to stop the homeless so they tore down all the shelters. So I would just be standing out in the weather. Some of them got a little bitty small heater in the top.

There’s nothing to stop the wind, the air.

I don’t like riding the bus, but I will if I have to. I used to ride with my parents. My dad worked downtown, my mom worked at Vanderbilt. They used to give us tokens, not real money to ride the bus. Now you have to pay cash and have a card.

The last vehicle I had, I tried to help someone get a boost. Somebody took the cable off and put it on the wrong cable and burned out the fuse in the box. The cheapest place I could

find to fix it was $800. I could buy a car for $800! That was in the 90s.

Some of the busses are on an hourly schedule. But usually I can walk there in about 20 or 25 minutes. A lot of busses don’t run regularly unless it’s early in the morning or late in the evening. I ain’t getting no younger! I’m past half a century now. I got two bad knees, a bad back.

They need to get somebody different in there to do the public transportation. A lot of them, they sit in the office, leave when they’re ready, go home when they’re ready. Without the public you wouldn’t have no bus. The public is what keeps busses going.

Paul looks for equal access The bus stop is a block and a half away. He depends on a walker, that he lifts up and down the steps. With his sight impairment, he depends on hearing the stops and the talking street signs to let him know if it’s safe to get there. He heads to Walmart once a month, an hour trip and usually someone goes with him.

The first time I rode the bus I got lost. I was trying to get over to 12th and Broadway over at McDonalds. That’s when they had the free busses. I got screwed up and got on the wrong bus twice. So I was like, OK this is a learning experience. I was a little mad about it.

There’s been other times that I missed a spot, but that’s alright. I figure it out. Because they didn’t have it on so I could hear the stop.

The bus drivers choose if they leave it on. And it shouldn’t be that way. That should be automatic.

It’s better down here than it is up [in Michigan] because they don’t have the sound to call the stops. Sometimes it’s a pain to have a walker on here. Unless you got a wheelchair they won’t put the ramp out. That’s alright though.

I manage. I’ve lived around the city a lot so I get used to it. I hate taking busses because it’s such a pain but it’s alright.

These sidewalks are uneven. Doesn’t work too well for somebody in a walker, or someone in a wheelchair.

Manners are important to Sharon It takes Sharon one hour to get to her selling spot, an hour and half on Saturdays, sometimes longer if the bus doesn’t show up.

I actually think that they need to be retrained on how to drive these buses. Because they slam on the brakes. They put the brakes on and throws people. Now I understand that if there's someone in front of them. That's understandable. But every time you turn around, they're slamming the brakes and everybody just falls. I don't know how many times I've practically fallen on the floor.

Some of these new drivers are really rude, too. They are really rude. You get on and try to say you know, 'good morning how you doing?'

And they won't say anything, they will not.

You're trying to be polite.

I've been taking the bus for over 11 years. And I've gotten to know quite a few of the bus drivers, and we're good friends. But they have even said some of these newer ones are not fit for this job.

Because this job is a people person. If you're not a people person, then this job isn't for you.

Norma appreciates AccessRide When I first moved to the Hermitage area one of the most appealing things for me was access to affordable transportation in and around Davidson county. I don’t drive. In fact, I’ve never driven. (I often say, “The world is a much safer place because I don’t drive.” And, “The only driving I do is driving people crazy. I hear I’m really good at that!”)

Either way, I’ve always been dependent on others to take me to my various appointments or anywhere else I wanted or needed to go for that matter.

I came from Sumner County where they didn’t offer anything like the public transportation here. I mean, we had Mid-Cumberland, but it was primarily limited to medical appointments, which had to be called in several days in advance.

There was one taxi service available in Gallatin, but it closed at 5 or 6 p.m. If you had anything to do later than that, you were out of luck. And if you were on a tight budget (and I’ve always been on a tight budget) multiple trips were not really an option. (This was all before Uber and Lyft.)

Then I heard about AccessRide in Nashville for people with disabilities. It was established in the mid 90’s, and currently serves approximately 6,452 active clients in Davidson County.

Of course, there is some paperwork you and your doctor have to complete, but it’s pretty straightforward. There’s also an interview pro-

PAGE 12 | May 12-26, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

cess (they pay your way to and from the interview), so it takes some time, but they’ll let you know if you’re approved usually within 21 days.

In my case, I interviewed on August 4, 2014 and I was approved on August 12, 2014.

In the meantime, you can get a Special Services Card from MTA. It’s a photo ID that entitles the user to a significantly discounted fare (about 50% off), but it has to be renewed yearly.

Unlike the standard MTA bus, AccessRide uses multiple vendors to provide this service.

It may be an MTA bus, a taxi, or some other company under contract with MTA. When I first started riding with MTA’s AccessRide in 2014, the fare was $3.40 each way. It went up to a whopping $3.70 each way in 2020, but it is door to door service anywhere within the confines of Davidson County, which is quite different from the standard MTA bus.

You can’t beat the price (although believe it or not, I have heard a few complaints).

On weekdays, the service is available from 4:45 a.m. until 11:30 p.m.; on Saturday from 5 a.m. - 10:30 p.m.; and on Sunday from 5 a.m.

- 9:30 p.m. You must set up your trips by 4:30 on Monday-Friday the day before you wish to travel, and by 2:30 p.m. on Saturday or Sunday or Holidays to travel the following day. You can schedule your trips up to 1 week in advance.

Something else to be mindful of when making a reservation, Accessride has a 30 minute arrival time window. If you want to be picked up no later than 9 a.m. for an appointment, you would set your pickup time from 8:30-9 a.m.

Also you need to be ready at your scheduled time, because Accessride only has to wait 5 minutes for you, then they can and often will leave.

I know because I’ve had it happen to me MANY times! (Just because the drivers have a 30 minute window doesn’t mean that we the riders do.)

You’re allowed to have a Personal Care Assistant (PCA) ride with you free of charge if needed, but you must let them know when booking your trip if anyone will be traveling with you. You may also have an escort ride with you in addition to your PCA, but they have to pay a fare of $3.70 each way.

In addition to the traditional AccessRide program MTA recently introduced a new program called Access on Demand that allows you to get same day service. The base fare starts at $7 each way, but can increase based on mileage. But in my experience this rate is far more reasonable than Lyft, Uber, or a regular taxi.

This program allows you to choose who picks you up, but the service requires a 2-hour window for pickup, and the service is only available Monday-Friday from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. No weekend service is available, which is strange because doesn’t everyone enjoy going out on the weekend? Maybe it’s just me.

Ultimately it’s a good program, and if you have a disability it’s definitely worth the time and effort to check it out to see if it’s right for you.

Occasionally there are issues, but if you call in and talk with MTA, they will usually try to work to find a solution to the problem—it just may not be as quick as you’d like. (I speak from experience.)

If you think you might qualify for the program or if you know someone who would benefit from this service, give them a call at 615-880-3970 and press option #5.

MOVING PICTURES

Effectively Heartless 'TENET' IS FINALLY STREAMING ON THIS TIMELINE

BY JOE NOLAN, FILM CRITIC Christopher Nolan’s Tenet is emblematic of the tent-pole films — like Mulan and Dune — which rode massive rolling waves of movie fan anticipation during their productions, only to land right in the middle of a global pandemic.

Dennis Villeneuve’s Dune made a very smart — if excruciating for me and Dune stans — move to delay their Dec. 18, 2020 release until Oct. 1, 2021.

Tenet — like its relentless protagonist — determinedly pushed-through three delays before the film opened in theaters in the U.K. on Aug. 26, 2020, and in the U.S. on Sept. 5. Tenet was the first highly anticipated, presumed

blockbuster to open in a theater after the spread of the pandemic, but despite that distinction, the dearth of theater-goers meant the movie didn’t even meet its budget at the box office.

The last time Christopher Nolan directed a mind-bending thriller he brought us Inception (2010) — a contemporary classic of the kind. Tenet stars John David Washington who got high marks for his performance in Spike Lee’s Oscar Nominated — and my top film of 2018 — Black KKKlansman.

The gravitas of Tenet’s production and marketing budgets might have funded the building of an actual time machine, but even the biggest movies weren’t able

to breakthrough on big screens in 2020.

Tenet was re-released in theaters back in March, and after an on demand run, the movies is finally streaming on HBO MAX, where even this blockbuster film with a celebrated director and star will be seen by most viewers for the very first time.

Tenet opens with a crowd streaming into a massive opera house to the dissonant strains of an orchestral string section tuning-up. In 2020, I’m not sure if the violent action that breaks out at the beginning of the symphony was scarier than the sight of thousands of people packed elbow-to-elbow in endless tiers of seats. Tenet’s unnamed CIA agent protagonist (Washington) proves his trustworthy character during a rescue raid gone wrong. He’s recruited to stop the doomsday threat of a secret international cold — “cold as ice” — war. The agent is given only a single hand gesture and a code word: tenet.

Tenet’s time-bending special effects will appeal to fans of Inception and the film was practically a lock when it won an Academy Award for Best Production Design. Tenet has the trappings of a James Bond film: globetrotting locations, daring and dangerous spies, immaculate fashion, sophisticated gadgets. But, the Tenet universe trades the

May 12-26, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 13

campier bits of a 007 romp for a cold nihilism that penetrates the rarefied air found in free port art storage vaults, massive yachts, cliff side mansions and all the places where extreme power and limitless wealth play at ruling the world.

Some critics have panned Tenet’s lack of humanity, but I think Nolan would argue that that’s precisely his point.

The plot of Tenet is byzantine to say the least, but at just over two-and-ahalf hours I didn’t find myself nodding off or rewinding. The audacity of the action and the sleek look of the film do a lot of heavy lifting, but I think Tenet would skid off the runway if it weren’t for the excellent performances of its cast. Washington shoulders nearly every scene of the film without wavering and Robert Pattinson is great as his hard-to-trust ally. Kenneth Brannagh does an understated send-up of a Bond villain, and Michael Caine gives great Michael Caine in a fun cameo that features some of the only hints of humor in this effectively heartless film.

Tenet is streaming on HBO MAX April 16.

Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.

LA NOTICIA “The Contributor” está trabajando con uno de los principales periódicos en español La Noticia para llevar contenido a más lectores en Middle Tennessee. Nuestros vendedores de periódicos han pedido durante mucho tiempo que nuestra publicación incluya contenido que apele al interés de residentes de habla hispana en nuestra comunidad.

“The Contributor” is working with one of the leading Spanish-language newspapers La Noticia to bring content to more readers in Middle Tennessee. Our newspaper vendors have long requested that our publication include content that appeals to the interest of Spanish-speaking residents in our community.

LOCALES - POLÍTICA - INMIGRACIÓN - TRABAJOS - SALUD - ESPECTÁCULOS - DEPORTES Y MÁS...

L a N ticia 2021

GRATIS

Mayo

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“DONDE OCURREN LOS HECHOS QUE IMPORTAN, SIEMPRE PRIMERO... ANTES”

Año 19 - No. 329

Nashville, Tennessee

Cómo declarar sus impuestos federales, fecha límite

¿Dónde está mi reembolso?

El IRS comenzó a recibir declaraciones de impuestos a partir del 12 de febrero de 2021. La fecha límite para presentar sus impuestos federales se ha extendido hasta el 17 de mayo de 2021.

Encuentre información sobre cómo presentar una Por Yuri Cunza declaración de Editor in Chief impuestos. @LaNoticiaNews

Demoras en la tramitación de documentos enviados por correo debido al COVID-19 Al IRS le está tomando más tiempo tramitar los documentos enviados por correo, incluyendo: Declaraciones de impuestos en papel y Toda correspondencia relacionada con declaraciones de impuestos.

Se esta tramitando la correspondencia en el orden en que es recibida.

Fecha límite para declarar sus impuestos Para la mayoría de los contribuyentes, la fecha límite para declarar los impuestos federales es el 15 de abril de 2021, sin embargo el IRS ha extendido la fecha de vencimiento para declarar impuestos de 2020 hasta el 17 de mayo de 2021, a menos que haya solicitado una extensión para declarar impuestos.

La fecha límite para declarar impuestos federales y estatales suele ser las misma.

Para asegurarse de presentar la declaración a tiempo, averigüe los plazos de vencimiento en el estado y jurisdicción donde reside.

Si no presenta su declaración y paga sus impuestos a tiempo, se le cobrarán intereses y una multa por pago atrasado.

A los contribuyentes a los que se les debe un reembolso, no se les cobra multa por una declaración atrasada.

Cómo presentar una declaración de impuestos federales El IRS comenzó a recibir declaraciones de impuestos el 12 de febrero de 2021. Para presentar una declaración de impuestos va a necesitar algunas cosas. Primero, debe saber cuánto dinero ganó durante el año del cual presentará la declaración. Luego, debe decidir si realiza la deducción estándar o si prefiere hacer una declaración detallada. Finalmente, deberá presentar su declaración de impuestos y mandar el pago antes del 17 de mayo de 2021.

No presente una segunda declaración de impuestos ni llame al IRS.

Pasos para presentar una declaración de impuestos 1. Reúna los siguientes documentos: Un formulario W-2 de cada uno de sus empleadores Otras declaraciones de ingresos e intereses (formularios 1099 y 1099-INT) Recibos de donaciones caritativas, gastos médicos y de negocios, si hace una declaración detallada 2. Determine su estado civil (en inglés).

El estado civil se basa en si usted está casado legalmente. El porcentaje que paga de los gastos del hogar también afecta la opción que debe elegir en su declaración.

3. Decida cómo quiere presentar su declaración de impuestos.

El Servicio de Impuestos Internos (IRS, sigla en inglés) recomienda utilizar un software de preparación de impuestos para presentar electrónicamente declaraciones más precisas y de manera más fácil.

Declaración de impuestos en papel con envío por correo regular.

Consulte si reúne los requisitos para la preparación gratuita de declaraciones de impuestos. El IRS ofrece ayuda gratuita con impuestos a personas de bajos recursos, miembros de las Fuerzas Armadas y sus familias, personas con discapacidades, ancianos o contribuyentes con un nivel de inglés limitado.

4. Determine si le conviene presentar la deducción estándar o una declaración detallada.

5. Si le debe dinero al IRS, sepa cómo pagar sus impuestos y cómo solicitar un plan de pagos.

6. Presente su declaración federal de impuestos antes del 17 de mayo de 2021.

Extensión para presentar su declaración de impuestos Si no puede presentar su declaración federal de impuestos antes de la fecha de vencimiento, posiblemente pueda obtener una extensión de seis meses del Servicio de Impuestos Internos (IRS, sigla en inglés). Esto no significa que tenga más tiempo para pagar sus impuestos. Para evitar posibles multas, calcule y pague los impuestos que adeuda antes de la fecha límite de impuestos del 17 de mayo de 2021.

Conoce tus derechos: ¿Que hacer en caso de una redada?

1. Mantenerse callado 2. Sólo dar nombre y apellido 3. No mentir 4. Nunca acepte/lleve documentos falsos 5. No revelar su situación migratoria 6. No llevar documentación de otro país 7. En caso de ser arrestado, mostrarla Tarjeta Miranda (llámenos si necesita una)

por

Basados en la Quinta Enmienda de la Constitución, los derechos de guardar silencio y contar con un abogado fueron denominados Derechos Miranda luego de la decisión de la Suprema Corte de Justicia de Estados Unidos en el caso Miranda vs. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, de 1966.

www.juanese.com juaneseUSA@gmail.com

PAGE 14 | May 12-26, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

Lo que necesitará 1. Número de Seguro Social o número de identificación personal del contribuyente (ITIN, por sus siglas en inglés) 2. Su estado civil para efectos de la declaración 3. La cantidad exacta de su reembolso Visite: https://sa.www4.irs.gov/irfof/lang/sp/irfofge tstatus.jsp ¿Cuando hacerlo?

1. 24 horas después de presentar electrónicamente 2. Espere demoras extensas si envió su declaración por correo o si contestó a un aviso del IRS 3. El IRS actualiza la aplicación “Dónde está mi reembolso” diariamente, usualmente durante la noche. ¿Debería llamar usted al IRS? Espere demoras si envió por correo una declaración en papel o si tuvo que responder a una pregunta del IRS sobre su declaración presentada electrónicamente.

Debe llamar solamente si: 1. Han transcurrido 21 días o más desde que presentó su declaración electrónicamente.

2. La herramienta “Dónde está mi reembolso” le indica que se comunique con el IRS. 2. No presente una segunda declaración de impuestos. ¿Va a usar un equipo móvil?

Descargue la aplicación IRS2Go para verificar el estado de su reembolso.

Envíenos sus sugerencias por e-mail: news@hispanicpaper.com

The New Christian Year Selected by Charles Williams

Charles Walter Stansby Williams (1886–1945), the editor of the following selections, is today probably the third most famous of the famous Inklings literary group of Oxford, England, which existed in the middle of the 20th century, and which included among its ranks the better-known and longer-lived Oxford Dons J.R.R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. First published in 1941, this series of profound quotations, encompassing all walks of life, follows the sequence of the themes and Bible readings anciently appointed for contemplation throughout the church's year. It is hoped that the readings reproduced here will prove beneficial for any who read them, whatever their place in life's journey. — Matthew Carver

6th Wednesday after Easter

Monday after Ascension Day

2nd Saturday after Ascension Day

THE nobler things are, the commoner they are. Love is noble, because it is universal.

Tauler: Sermons.

WHATSOEVER hath its being for God's sake endureth and abideth for ever with those who are true.

The Paradise of the Fathers.

IF we are to have the nature of Christ regenerated in us, as the life of Adam is born in us; if we are to be like Him in nature as we are like Adam in nature; if we are to be the heavenly sons of the one as we are the earthly sons of the other, then there is an absolute necessity that that which was done and born in the Virgin Mary be also by the same power of the Holy Ghost done and born in us, by a seed of life derived into us from Christ our regenerator.

William Law: Answer to Dr Trapp.

I KNOW the power obedience has of making things easy which seem impossible.

St Teresa: The Interior Castle.

Ascension Day THIS Ascension Day is properly the most solemn feast of our Lord Jesus: for this day first in his manhood he began to sit on the Father's right hand in bliss and took full rest of all his pilgrimage before. Also this is properly the feast of all the blessed spirits in heaven: for this day they had a new joy of their lord whom they saw never before there in his manhood. And also for that day began first to be restored the falling down of their fellows, and that in so great multitude and number of blessed souls of patriarchs and prophets and all those holy souls that this day first entered into that blessed City of heavenly Jerusalem, their kind heritage above.

Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ, (tr. by Nicholas Love).

THE Church is an excellent state, when it is sustained by God only.

Pascal: Pensées.

Friday after Ascension Day BUT what does this mean, what have I to do, or what sort of effort is it that can be said to seek or pursue the Kingdom of God? Shall I try to get a job suitable to my talents and powers in order thereby to exert an influence?

No, thou shalt first seek God's kingdom. Shall I then give all my fortune to the poor? No, thou shalt first seek God's kingdom. Then shall I then go out to proclaim this teaching to the world? No, thou shalt first seek God's kingdom. But then in a certain sense it is nothing I shall do. Yes, certainly, in a certain sense it is nothing; thou shalt in the deepest sense make thyself nothing, become nothing before God, learn to keep silent; in this silence is the beginning, which is, first to seek God's kingdom.

Kierkegaard: Christian Discourses.

Saturday after Ascension Day WHAT is God? No less the punishment of the perverse than the glory of the humble. We may say He is reason and sweet reasonableness directing itself with fixed unchanging aim, and everywhere operative. Any perversity in collision with that must of necessity be confounded.

Of course, all swelling pride and unseemliness which dashes itself against that must be broken to shivers.

St Bernard: On Consideration.

Sunday after Ascension Day CHRIST humbled himself: not—was humbled. Oh, the infinite sublimity of whom it may be said with categorical necessity: neither in heaven, nor upon earth, nor in the abyss is there any one who could humble him—he humbled himself.

There we see Christ's infinite qualitative difference from every other man: that he must unconditionally give his consent and approbation to every humiliation he suffers, his willingness to submit to the humiliation. That is the infinite superiority to suffering, but at the same time the more intense suffering.

Kierkegaard: Journals.

HE who has the fire of love in this world need not fear the fire of the sword in the other.

St Ambrose: On Psalm cxviii.

Tuesday after Ascension Day "WHO hates his neighbour has not the rights of a child."

And not only has he no rights of a child, he has no "father." God is not my father in particular, or any man's father (horrible presumption and madness!), no, he is only father in the sense of father of all, and consequently only my father in so far as he is the father of all. When I hate someone or deny that God is his father—it is not he who loses, but me: for I then have no father.

Kierkegaard: Journals.

Wednesday after Ascension Day

THE Work is not of persuasive eloquence, but Christianity is a thing of might whenever it is hated by the world.

St Ignatius: Epistle to the Romans.

NOT only do we know God by Jesus Christ alone, but we know ourselves only by Jesus Christ. We know life and death only through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ, we do no know what is our life, nor our death, nor God, nor ourselves.

Pascal: Pensées.

I THOUGHT I should have thee, O God, as a help in loving men. Thou didst understand it differently, Thou didst use men against me to help me to love Thee.

Kierkegaard.

Thursday after Ascension Day TWO things make our delight pure. One is turning of sensuality to the skill [intelligence]; for when any is turning to delight of his five wits [senses], all soon uncleanness enters into his soul. Another is, that the skill meekly be used in ghostly things, as in meditations and orisons, and looking in holy books. Therefore the delight that was naught of unordained stirring, and meekly has stirring in Christ, and in which sensuality is turned to skill, all set and used to God, makes a man's soul in rest and secureness and aye to dwell in good hope, and to be paid with all God's gifts, without grumbling or heaviness of thought.

Richard Rolle: Desire and Delight.

2nd Friday after Ascension Day LET me love Thee so that the honour, riches and pleasures of the world may seem unworthy even of hatred,— may be not even encumbrances.

Patmore: Life.

THE righteous man has already done in heaven and in earth all that he has willed to do and therein he is like God. Eckhart: The Book of Benedictus.

Sponsored by Matthew Carver, publisher

May 12-26, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 15

Whit-Sunday; Day of Pentecost UNITY is in the Father, equality in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost is the concord of equality and unity.

St Augustine: De Doctrina Christiana.

THE Holy Ghost is He whereby the Begotten is loved by the One begetting and love His Begetter.

St Augustine: De Trinitate.

HE loves Himself and every creature by the Holy Ghost, inasmuch as the Holy Ghost proceeds as the love of the primal goodness whereby the Father loves Himself and every creature.

Aquinas: Summa Theologica.

A GIFT is properly an unreturnable giving . . . hence it is manifest that love has the nature of a first gift, through which all free gifts are given. So since the Holy Ghost proceeds as Love, He proceeds as the first gift. Gift . . . is the proper name of the Holy Ghost.

Aquinas: Summa Theologica.

Whitsun-Week Monday NEITHER is that city, the heavenly Jerusalem, watered by the channel of any earthly river, but that Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Fount of Life, with but a short drought of Whom we are satiated, seems to flow more abundantly among those celestial Thrones, Dominions, and Powers, Angels and Archangels, rushing in the full course of the seven virtues of the Spirit. For if a river rising above its banks overflows, how much more does the Spirit, rising above every creature, when He touches the as it were low-lying fields of our minds, makes glad that heavenly nature of the creatures with the larger fertility of His sanctification.

St Ambrose: On the Holy Spirit.

THE Father was pleased to breathe into his body [of man] in the creation; the Son was pleased to assume this body in the redemption; the Holy Ghost is pleased to consecrate this body by his sanctification. The consultation of the whole Trinity is exercised upon the dignifying of man's body.

Donne: Sermons.

Whitsun-Week Tuesday GOD begins in the soul, his Word, and the soul conceiving it passes it on to her powers in varied guise, now as desire, now as good intent, now as charity, now as gratitude, or as it may take thee: It is his, not thine at all.

What is thus wrought by God take thou as his and not thine own, as it is written, "The Holy Ghost asketh in us with unutterable yearnings." He prays in us, not we ourselves. St. Paul says, "No one is able to say, Lord Jesus Christ, except in the Holy Ghost."

Eckhart: Sermons and Collations.

FUN

HOBOSCOPES TAURUS

During the Late Cretaceous period, when the Tyrannosaurus was king of the dinosaurs, the earth spun faster than it does now. A day lasted about 23½ hours and there were 372 days in a year. That means a Tyrannosaurus had to wait an extra seven days between birthdays. I would guess that this severely limited the birthday cake consumption of most dinosaurs.

Maybe that’s why they became extinct, Taurus. We’ll never know for sure, but I would recommend that you get all the birthday cake you can just in case.

GEMINI

They say the early bird gets the worm, Gemini. They say that because they want you to feel like there aren’t enough worms to go around. And they want you to feel like you’re in a competition with all the other birds. And they think that will keep you so busy and preoccupied that you’ll never even wonder who they are or what they get out of all us birds waking up so early just to get another worm. What would happen if you set your alarm clock for a little later? What if you didn’t set it at all?

CANCER

Over the past several thousand years, humanity has come up with a lot of ideas about what happens to the human soul after death. You’ve got various heavens and all sorts of hells but my favorite one lately is purgatory.

It’s that in-between place where souls go to wait. The thing I like about purgatory is that it’s so much like how we live our lives already. As though we’re just in an in-between place, waiting for something else to happen. If you’re feeling stuck this week, Cancer, there’s an easy way out of purgatory. Just make a decision. Just move forward.

LEO

There’s a big shiny spider spinning a web outside my back window. She’ll probably do pretty well up there under the porch light right above the compost bin. Lots of little bugs flying around up there. It almost seems unfair. But sometimes, Leo, you just find yourself in the right place for success. If that’s where you’re at today, under the porch light right above the compost bin, go ahead and get into position. Maybe you deserve the good things that are flying your way.

VIRGO

I’ve got a 17-year-old cat, a 13-yearold dog, and a 9 year-old-goldfish so I spend a lot of time feeling like something is about to go terribly wrong. Sometimes life stretches out in the same way for a long time.

Sometimes things can change very quickly. Try not to be too afraid of either of those things, Virgo.

You can’t control what happens next, but you can stay on the ride.

LIBRA

Imagine a town with a wall around it. Inside the wall there’s parks and schools and movie theaters and carwashes. Outside the wall there’s not much of anything. The people outside the wall know it. They feel it all the time. They’ve got no access and no resources. But the people inside the wall hardly think about it at all. Which one are you, Libra? If you’re an insider, it may be time for you to start talking about the wall. If you’re an outsider, it may be time to make a bit more noise.

SCORPIO

You realize you can time travel, right Scorpio? It’s pretty simple. You can go anywhere in the past that you’ve ever been, you just have to keep your eyes closed the whole time. Try it. Just close your eyes and think about the time you played Marco Polo in the pool with your cousins from breakfast till dinner. Keep your eyes closed. Maybe you’re really there. Isn’t that better than scrolling through feeds on your phone? When do you want to go to next?

SAGITTA R IUS

For a while, it was just so nice to be going back inside your favorite places again. But now you might find some other old habits coming back. Like this morning, when you waited in line too long at the donut shop and the person in front of you was taking way too long with his order and the staff was being too chatty with the other customers and they didn’t get to you for at least 10 minutes and you started feeling like you deserved better. Those are the moments when you need to take a deep breath in and a deep breath out and try to find that gratitude you had such easy access to a few weeks ago.

CAPRICORN

People used to talk about how you should drink eight glasses of water every day.

But now nobody drinks out of glasses. We’ve all got plastic cups or metal water flasks or wooden canteens.

How many of those are you supposed to drink a day, Capricorn? I guess sometimes the medium changes but the message stays the same. If your audience doesn’t understand glasses anymore, learn to talk in liters.

AQUA RIUS

I used to walk around afraid of dying all the time. I mean, there are so many different things that could kill a person.

But one day I realized that out of all those things, only one of them is gonna get me. Why should I be so afraid of the rest? I’ll probably never be eaten by a lion. I’ll probably never be dropped out of a helicopter into an active volcano. I’ll probably never get my shoelace caught in the porthole of a descending submarine. So why be afraid of those things? Why would you waste perfectly good fear on something that’s never even going to happen? And since you can’t know what’s going to happen, why fear at all?

PISCES

Where can you get a good burger around here, Pisces? Honestly, if the fries are good enough, the burger doesn’t even have to be that great. Come to think of it, if there’s enough ketchup, the fries don’t even have to be that great. Where can I get some good ketchup around here, Pisces? It’s important to figure out what you’re really looking for.

ARIES

One time when I was in junior high we had a school assembly with all the 7th and 8th graders in the auditorium.

They brought out a guy called Juggling Jim who, you guessed it, juggled. But while he juggled he told us stories about how we should stay off drugs and pay attention in class and listen to our teachers. I don’t know if his message got through, but after the assembly Mrs. Bridges had to send four kids to the principal’s office because they wouldn’t stop trying to juggle things during class. Sometimes, Aries, people pay more attention to how you say something than to what you’re saying. If you can make those two things line up, you’ll have a winning act.

Mr. Mysterio is not a licensed astrologer, a registered juggler, or an active volcano. Mr. Mysterio is, however, a budding intermediate podcaster! Check out The Mr. Mysterio Podcast. Season 2 is now playing at mrmysterio.com. Got a question, just give Mr. M a call at 707-VHS-TAN1

PAGE 16 | May 12-26, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

VENDOR WRITING

THEME: FICTIONA L MOTHER S

THE VISIONARIES ARE COMING! THE VISIONARIES ARE COMING!

BY JEN A.

In this land of broken promise Our leaders are cryptozoologists Who send their followers In futile search for sasquatch And the illusory chupacabra By mandating strict Confirmation bias

ACROSS 1. Build a collection 6. Economic measure acronym 9. *Beverly Goldberg's schmoopie 13. Use an ÈpÈe 14. Neither here ____ there 15. Tall ancient monument 16. Daisy-like bloom 17. Much of it about nothing?

18. Commotions 19. *She's 'Bow' to Dre in TV sitcom "Blackish" 21. *Mother to Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth March in novel and movie 23. Before tac 24. Ripped

25. Part of Super Bowl entertainment, pl.

28. Homesteader's measure 30. *"Game of Thrones" Lannister and mother to Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen 35. Douses 37. Adjutant 39. Article of faith 40. Genuflecting joint 41. *TV mother to Alexis and David, "friend" to Jocelyn Schitt 43. "Will be," as sung by Doris Day 44. Perform in a play 46. Load sixteen tons, e.g.

47. Peacock's pride 48. *Mowgli's adoptive mother

Attitude polarization Belief perseverance

50. Apartment 52. Skeleton in a lock 53. Part of a jousting outfit 55. Spelling competition 57. *Mother to Carlton in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" 60. "Well, I'm a-standin' on a corner in ___, Arizona," from the Eagles "Take it Easy" 64. Country's LeAnn ____ 65. Hoover's agency acronym 67. Piano practice piece, e.g.

68. Church song 69. What Usain Bolt did 70. Poisonous substance 71. *Wife to Papa, mother to Baby 72. Sum it up 73. Go on a buying spree DOWN 1. Way, way off 2. ____ Verde National Park 3. Naysayer's favorite prefix?

4. What bloodhound is after 5. Croatia's neighbor 6. Nibble away 7. Affirmative action 8. Movie trailer, e.g.

9. Elementary particle 10. *Claire Dunphy and Mitchell Pritchett's mother 11. Soothing lotion ingredient

And yet, the visionaries come With their carpet bags To sell their souls To our all too real devils

May 12-26, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 17

12. Bell and Barker, e.g.

15. Christopher Kimball's "Milk ____" 20. ____'s razor 22. Part of a circle 24. Tiresome 25. Questioner 26. *"Mamma Mia!" mamma 27. Do this or forever hold your peace 29. '80s band "Quiet ____" 31. Catch one's breath 32. ____ a peak 33. Bone-chilling 34. Europe's "boot" 36. Short for seconds 38. *She played Ricky Schroder's stepmom on "Silver Spoons" 42. Defendant's excuse 45. Religious belief 49. ____ Khan 51. Plural of #39 Across 54. Below, prefix 56. Impede 57. "Everywhere you want to be" credit card 58. Muslim holy man 59. Plural of velum 60. *Ellen, Scarlett's mother in "Gone with the ____" 61. Like the best accommodations 62. War god in Norse mythology 63. Make one's way 64. Dashboard acronym 66. *Kunis, Hahn and Bell as "____ Moms"

VENDOR WRITING

Legislative Terrorism

THE NEW GANG (AND THEIR COLORS ARE DEATH)

BY TYRONE M.

BY JEN A. They are the dirty Blue And they’re coming for me/you If you’re Black Ain’t no goin’ to jail anymore They’re shootin’ us in the cars in the streets in the house Damn no relief!

Is it because we are Black?

Shootin’ us in the head Shootin’ us in the back

A racist posing as a law enforcement officer needs to be fired and tried The new gang — racist polices and the colors — death When they are killing us, the reason why, I don’t know.

I said a life for a life No bail, no special nothing!

Put them in the prison in regular population.

(Justice Dept.) What are y’all going to do?

Shootin’ us in the alleys Shootin’ us at home Does anybody care?

Or are we all alone?

Just shootin’ like racist fools on the run In reality they not even cops. They’re Neo-Nazis, The Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, the skin heads, the patriots of the revolution, the KKK, and many, many more. They are infiltrating our law enforcement department in this nation.

It’s a modern day lynching happening all over this nation.

They’re killing everybody, including the babies.

Let’s start screening these idiots before they even get to the academy, and then we can weed them out.

I want justice!

Not Just us!

If you know a racist cop or work with one/if you don’t say anything, you are just as guilty as they are by not saying nothing about these (Bigots) Like Marvin Gaye said 50 years ago — trigger happy

THE REALM

On Nov. 10, 2020, four days after our presidential election, the Tennessee Senate Republican Caucus, who hold a supermajority in our state Senate, sent a letter with their individual signatures in support of Trump's big lie; that there had been "irregularities" of vote counts in key states and that the ultimate result of the election remained uncertain.

On Jan. 6, 2021, citizens of Tennessee, with at least the tacit approval of our state leaders were among the murderous horde that besieged our nation's capitol: the hallowed seat of our democracy. They were encouraged to believe they had the right, if not the duty, to do it by our Republican legislators.

So far, 11 Tennesseans have been apprehended by the FBI for their part in the insurrection. I wonder if they now realize they were duped pawns in the Republican's diabolical game.

Time in jail may sober them to that reality. But, unfazed, the members of the Tennessee General Assembly have just sloughed off their outer layer of skin and continue their reign

of terror against the citizens of our state.

The 112th Tennessee legislative session started off with a bang. A bill to allow Tennesseans to carry guns throughout the state without the need for a permit quickly moved through the legislature to the governor's desk. The legislation, vigorously promoted by Gov. Bill Lee, should strike terror in the hearts of every citizen of Tennessee.

It seems as though every day there is another news report about someone entering a business, or a school, or driving down the highway killing innocent people with a gun.

For the legislature to promote further mayhem in our state is unconscionable. We need more hurdles to gun ownership in Tennessee — not fewer.

Not everyone has the maturity or the mental stability to roam the streets of our communities with a gun. It's time we called for an end to our legislature's reign of terror. They obviously do not care to protect our lives, the lives of our children, or the safety of our communities.

BY CHRISTOPHER W.

Let me take you down thru there

Hate crime (Targeting Asian Americans)

Then you can pull out your hair

BY T YRONE M.

I'm at the helm I’m in your head I’m in your mind No you’re not dead And yes I’m kind My mother is in heaven My father is in Bedlam

The realm is a kingdom owned by a God And he says he made us out of sod You get one shot in this realm And you get to be at the helm Cause when you do you will pay And that could be any day

Asian Americans since last March have been the target of and victims of more than 3,500 crimes in their country. These are Americans and why are they being targeted? Because Trump’s racist rhetoric about Asian Americans.

Some people think the Asians are responsible for this terrible virus.

Asian citizens are being beaten, sprayed, stabbed and cut. And the children of the American citizens are being assaulted, on playgrounds, on the streets, and in shopping malls. This virus COVID-19 could have possibly started in Wuhan, China. Tell me how in the hell can

polices PAGE 18 | May 12-26, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

these Asian citizens over here in the United States are responsible? Don’t make no sense to me, or nobody else.

Then comes this racist guy going in to these spas and killing eight people. Then, after getting arrested, he had the nerve to tell the arresting officer, “I was just having a bad day.”

The crimes against Black Americans have been going on for hundreds of years against my Black brothers and sisters. No one person or race should be subject to this kind of hate, agony, pain and assault. I’m so damn glad they passed that law.

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Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium was built in 1892 to bring forth the Gospel message of new life in Christ. The Salvation Army had come to Nashville just two years earlier in 1890. The year after the Ryman was built the American Economic Association awarded and published a paper, “How to House the Poor.” It is one of my favorite documents because the plan includes designs of micro-living units and recognized the need for housing to reduce other social ills.

affordable when protected, market-driven, and policy encouraged.

It is amazing how we view policy when it comes to housing and business. You probably would not be surprised at how many times I have sat

I carry the pendulum as a reminder that while we are all here for a moment of time, we are not alone in time. From the housing policies that rose up out of the tenement housing and slums of NYC in the late 1800s, we have the knowledge of individual budgeting based on income, square footage allotments per family size, and the benefits of affordable housing to community quality of life. However, while we have the knowledge we still have the problem.

The problem remains the same. Affordable housing is primarily a policy issue. When policies have not been effective then a significant amount of public funds may be necessary to spark affordable housing. When policies are most effective then market solutions rise up to meet the demands.

Affordable housing is most

good are reasonable for both the condo owner and the affordable housing renter. It is simply difficult to have a discussion with both simultaneously.

Communities around the country do figure out how to maximize market solutions through shallow rent subsidies, zoning variances, and public land transfers to non-profit housing agencies sparking affordable housing solutions.

Market-based, policy-encouraged solutions bring forth the greatest housing return on investments. However, urgency also prompts affordable housing for our most vulnerable neighbors. What is the right mix? There is a science for that.

So I carry a pendulum. It reminds me that for some cities it takes decades to act on what they know.

But I am responsible for my moments. During this post-pandemic season of 2021, I want my pendulum to swing in reflection of the 1890s for shows at the Ryman, the Gospel of Christ, and the effort of “How to House the Poor.”

in a condo meeting with persons concerned about their neighbors without housing and judged them for receiving public funds. Most people are oblivious to the public funds that incentivized in order to make their housing available. Incentives for housing for the public

Will you join us? Let’s get a cup of coffee.

Major Ethan Frizzell Area Commander The Salvation Army 615-933-9305

SalvationArmyNashville.org

May 12-26, 2021 | The Contributor | NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE | PAGE 19