Trenary’s death an act of despair
“I have never had the courage to believe in nothing.” -- Miguel de Cervantes
The brazen shooting death of Greater Memphis Chamber CEO Phil Trenary last week was a tragedy of immeasurable proportions on many levels, one of which is the demographic of the cohort of individuals charged with his murder: Three young black Memphians -- a 22-year-old man, an 18-yearold man, and a 16-year-old girl.
And one of the things that breaks my heart is that I would have been surprised if they had not been black. We as a city have been cultivating this crop for more than a decade, dating back to the abandonment of systematic discipline of students in our public schools.
The dreadful harvest became a sure thing when first the city school board, then the City Council, then the voters of Memphis surrendered the charter of our school system, forcing 100,000 mostly black and poor children into a system structured to handle half that many.
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The chaos, fear, and ineptitude that followed, along with the very reasonable and wise pull-out by concerned parents living in the suburbs, ensured that public schools in Memphis would produce – either through graduation or dropout rate – generations of poorly educated and hopeless young people; people like the three suspects in the Trenary case.
Phil and I had one face-to-face meeting that stands out in my mind. The Chamber and I had worked closely previously on our initiative to strengthen black-owned businesses, so I knew Phil’s heart for Memphis. I was trying to convince him to get behind my efforts to persuade City Council to introduce a referendum to allow voters to create a Memphis municipal school system.
Although he agreed with the concept, he felt the Chamber couldn’t afford to lead a political movement tied to anything but business. My argument was they couldn’t afford not to.
I recalled that meeting with Phil as I read Chamber Chairman Richard Smith’s letter in this space Thursday. He challenged Memphians to “honor Phil’s legacy, a legacy of a vibrant and investable Memphis filled with a sense of pride in the community we share.”
Now is a good time to revisit the question of whether education should take on a definitive profile in that legacy. It is common knowledge that corporate citizens looking to relocate look for good public schools in the cities they’re scouting. News about the declining graduation rate in Memphis schools is just the latest data that suggests our schools are anything but good.
I agree that we should create an “investable” Memphis, but it’s a wasted investment if the young people we produce don’t invest in themselves. The shooting of Phil Trenary was an act not so much of cowardice as despair, which is the fruit of hopelessness.
Let’s create a brighter future for our children by taking ownership of our schools. On his corporate recruiting trips, I believe Phil would have loved nothing more than to pitch a school system named Memphis.
Rev. Dr. Kenneth T. Whalum Jr. is senior pastor of the New Olivet Worship Center and a former city school board member.
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