A Photo Shoot and Reenactment with a Purpose: The Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike
Local & National News | October 24, 2025 | 2:30 p.m. CDT

Edited: October 27, 2025 | 2:15 p.m. CDT

Written by: Gilbert Barnes Carter III

The final event out of the festivities during the recent 30th Annual Prestigious Stone Awards weekend was the exclusive photo shoot and reenactment of the watershed Memphis Sanitation Workers' strike that took place in 1968. It was held at the W.C. Handy Park pavilion on Sunday, October 19. Participants included some of the legendary "Foot Soldiers" and Stone Awards honorees from Selma, Alabama who served during "Bloody Sunday" on May 7, 1965: Mr. Joseph Smitherman, Mr. Kirk Carrington, Mr. Tommy Jones, Ms. Ruth Anthony Brown, Selma City Councilman Michael Johnson, and City Councilman Samuel Randolph; and Mr. Joe Calhoun, a prominent local historian and operations director at the Withers Collection Museum and Gallery.

The production was organized and produced by Mr. Cam Mtenzi. Mr. Mtenzi utilizes his innate creativity as a gifted playwright, producer, and visual artist to give reverence to Black Elders who made indelible impacts as civil rights and social justice champions from Little Rock, Arkansas, Memphis, Selma, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. The leadership group of the Ma' and 9 Mustard Seeds Charitable Foundation leaders hosted the "Stones-In-Selma" Awards Gala in Selma on Sunday, July 6. That ceremony is another sterling example of how they have injected much social good and impact across eight states from Memphis.    

Mr. Mtenzi is always undergirded by the phenomenal support that he receives from the House of Mtenzi Museum committee team: DJ Kia'rys Slayers, Khunsu Ra, Mr. Gary Whitlow, Mr. Tony Franklin, Ms. Cecelia Woods, Ms. Michelle Britteneum, Ms. Ressa Wallace, and Ms. Tina Byrd; Mr. Bobby Eaton, Jr., Mr. Charles Harper, and Mr. Damali Wilson, philanthropists and relatives of Black Elders who defended the historic Greenwood community in Tulsa during the Tulsa massacre from May 31 to June 1, 1921; Mr. John B. Smith, co-founder of the Invaders, and his nephews, Mr. Darryl Buford and Mr. Terryl Buford, the founders of the Call to Men Organization; the Ma' and 9 Civil Rights songstress, Ms. "Empress" Joyce Howard, the Prestigious Stone Awards ambassador, Mr. Emmett "SuperStar" Brown, the Prestigious Stone Awards announcer, Ms. Aisha "NOLADarling" Raison, and the Prestigious Stone Awards Stone Awards host, Mr. Drew McCraven III. They are only some of the fine individuals who faithfully provide him with such support.

A photo shoot and reenactment for the past and present. . .

It is no coincidence that the event took place just two days before members of all thirteen local organized labor unions gathered in front of Memphis City Hall ahead of the regularly scheduled Memphis City Council meeting on Tuesday, October 21. They stood with resolve and solidarity in direct opposition to the current refusal of Memphis Mayor Paul Young to activate exactly what has been outlined in memorandums of understanding (MOUs) through collective bargaining between Memphis City officials and labor union representatives. Tennessee National Guard troops were deployed to Memphis in 1978 to provide additional ground support after chaos ensued when firefighters and police officers left their posts during massive strikes. It is important to always remember that other federal deployments of troops were authorized here after the assassination of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968 and during widespread Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.

The previous correlations are clear. The significant amounts of unrest around social justice here in 1968, 1978, and 2020 were met with federal deployments of troops. And although the "Memphis Safe Task Force" has been allegedly initiated here to increase public safety, their presence here has never been commensurate with good will. 

An encouraging takeaway from the photo shoot and reenactment production is that onlookers and participants alike have another reminder of how upstanding Black people who are civil rights and social justice champions, and proud Americans, will never allow for Black history to be omitted regardless of any administration that is in place in Washington, D.C. The beauty of "Black privilege" in America is that it is based exclusively on empowerment and not entitlement. The content of my following statement is undeniable.

"We do have the collective responsibilities of imparting our historical knowledge and telling the stories of our ancestors and forefathers across our Diaspora."

There is a cycle of ominous circumstances yet again here in Memphis. Another encouraging takeaway from the production is how we can extract additional emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual strength from such a display of our cultural pride. We will need copious amounts of those to continue to be suited to move forward to earn more social justice victories in our city for the most vulnerable among us.

Photo Credits:

Header Photo by: Mr. Cam Mtenzi / Mr. Stanley Campbell

Body Photo (1) by: Mr. Cam Mtenzi / Mr. Stanley Campbell

Body Photo (2) by: Mr. Cam Mtenzi / Mr. Stanley Campbell

Body Photo (3) by: Mr. Cam Mtenzi / Mr. Stanley Campbell

Body Photo (4) by: Mr. Cam Mtenzi / Mr. Stanley Campbell

Body Photo (5) by: Mr. Cam Mtenzi / Mr. Stanley Campbell

Gilbert Barnes Carter III is a Memphis-based author, child welfare advocate, community organizer, emerging farmer, gardener, journalist, and social justice advocate. He began his social justice advocacy and work by serving as a Shelby County Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) Board volunteer in 2005. He has worked since then to effectuate change for low-wage, immigrant, and migrant workers as a Temporary Workers Campaign Manager with Workers Interfaith Network; an advocate for Teamsters Local 667 sanitation workers; and a community / field organizer to uphold blight reduction, efficient public mass transit, environmental justice, food access, food justice, food security, narrative change, and public safety.