Wendi C. Thomas founded MLK50: Justice Through Journalism in 2017 as a one-year project that grew into a nonprofit newsroom focusing on poverty, power, and public policy in Memphis. Previously, Thomas was metro columnist and assistant managing editor at The Commercial Appeal, The Charlotte Observer, The Tennessean, and The Indianapolis Star. A 2016 fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, she was also a member of ProPublica’s 2019 & 2020 Local Reporting Network.
For Just Bluffin’, Campfire Collective talked to Wendi Thomas about MLK50’s journey from a one-year project to an award-winning nonprofit digital news site in its sixth (now 8th) year of reporting.
MLK50: Justice Through Journalism launched on April 4, 2017, in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination.
“We wanted to force the Memphis community to think about what we've done since Dr. King's sacrifice,”
Wendi said of the initial 2017 project. MLK50’s reporting asked whether the issues that brought him to Memphis fifty years earlier – specifically underpaid workers working in dangerous conditions – had been solved or fixed in the decades following his death.
In many ways, the answer was no, Thomas said:
“Workers were still struggling. There were sanitation workers who were on the job in 1968 who hadn't been able to retire because they didn't earn enough. So the community really connected with that content.”
Although MLK50 was conceived as a one-year project, after receiving substantial funding, the project continued. In 2019 MLK50 partnered with ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative newsroom, to report on the debt collection policies of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare. As a result of that investigation, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare zeroed out the balances owed by more than 5,300 patients and curtailed its lawsuits. On Just Bluffin’, Thomas identified this story – and its outcome – as one of her proudest moments.
Thomas said,
“We want to make a measurable, tangible difference in the lives of the community's most vulnerable people. That's just one way that we measure success.”
Recently, much of MLK50’s reporting has focused on the affordable housing crisis, with coverage led by Jacob Steimer, who has reported on predatory housing schemes, lead poisoning, neglectful landlords, bankruptcy, and more. In response to his reporting, local officials agreed to restart an emergency rental assistance program.
MLK50 is set apart from other news outlets because they don’t cover news as it breaks. Instead, Thomas says, the team responds.
“Since we are not on a 24-hour news cycle, we can take a moment to pause and think about the story that only MLK50 could do.”
Thomas is a force to be reckoned with, and Memphis is lucky to have her and MLK50 advocating for workers and shedding light on systems that make it hard for workers to thrive. “The more someone says no,” Thomas said, “the more determined I am to dig.”
When asked about her favorite Memphis memory, Thomas said the first thing that came to her mind was attending Memphis Grizzlies games with her father:
“We go to the game, park in the same lot, go in the same door. My dad is frugal. We don't buy any concessions –we go straight to our seats. We stand when the team is announced. My dad's 82 years old. It’s my daddy-daughter time.”
During the pandemic, Thomas wondered if they’d ever make it back to another Grizzlies game. She’s glad to be back.
“That’s been our thing.”
To listen to our full conversation with Wendi C. Thomas, click here. And don’t miss any of our future conversations with Memphis leaders! Subscribe to Just Bluffin’ wherever you get your podcasts, and learn more about the team behind the mic at buildacampfire.com.
This blog was written by the Campfire Collective
Campfire Collective is a Memphis-based marketing and communications agency focused on igniting creativity for community focused organizations. Learn more at at buildacampfire.com.
