MTSU professor and author Sekou Franklin — who has also contributed to the Scene — is a leader in fighting for on-the-ground issues of racial and class discrimination and inequality. A prominent figure in the battle of the relocation of the Metro Police Department’s headquarters to Jefferson Street and a frequent speaker at rallies for justice across Nashville, Franklin is the rare Nashville progressive willing to actually challenge the status quo instead of settling for incrementalism. As the author of the seminal 2010 study “The State of Blacks in Middle Tennessee,” he shocked the smug off the back-patting navel gazers by concluding that, in many ways, things are as bad for African-Americans as they were in the 1960s. His blog offers insight on the implications of events like The Tennessean firing longtime preps sports writers for working-class and minority communities.
