A group of Memphis City Council members have drafted a resolution formally asking Gov. Bill Lee to reject President Trump’s planned National Guard deployment to the city. The resolution is expected to be introduced at the next City Council meeting where it will be presented publicly and, if adopted, serve as an official expression of the council’s opposition to the deployment..
Council members are not alone rolling up the welcome mat extended to the Guard. Both the Memphis Chapter of the NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund have added their voices to the opposition.
“The Trump Administration is disgracefully using our servicemen and women as pawns in his political game set to breed chaos and fear throughout the Black community,” said NAACP Memphis President Kermit Moore. “Make no mistake, we deeply respect the National Guard and the men and women who serve in our country’s armed services. But the military should not be weaponized against the American people they swore to defend.”
Jin Hee Lee, Legal Defense Fund director of strategic initiatives, condemned “this continued attack on Black communities … and the misuse of military resources for the administration’s own improper ends.”
“History has shown that aggressive law enforcement strategies, like saturating neighborhoods with officers or employing militarized tactics and resources, do not improve public safety but instead create an atmosphere of fear, especially among Black residents,” the LDF said in a statement.
The specifics of the Guard deployment remain unclear — how many troops, what duties and for how long. Mayor Paul Young has emphasized that he did not request the Guard, but said his goal is “to make sure that as they come, I have an opportunity to work with them to strategize on how they engage in this community.”
Meanwhile, Memphians are already noticing more and more motorists detained by State Troopers on the I-240 loop. And while the National Guard deployment gets the headlines, federal agencies like the FBI and DEA are all increasing their presence alongside the Memphis Police Department.
Leaders speak out on social media
Councilman JB Smiley Jr. offered some of the sharpest words. In a Facebook video statement on Sept. 12, he declared:
“Hate has no place in Memphis. Not from an out-of-touch president, an absent governor, or from troops occupying our streets,” said Smiley, also a candidate for Shelby County Mayor. “Occupations don’t make us safer. They lock us inside, isolate us from our neighbors, strain our economy and keep us living in fear. That’s not safety — that’s intimidation.” Listen to more here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=24620306374324564/
Councilmembers J. Ford Canale and Jana Swearengen-Washington struck a more measured tone in their joint Instagram statement on Sept. 16, acknowledging painful memories of the 1968 National Guard presence in Memphis but pledging to hold federal and state partners accountable.
“For many Memphians, the very mention of the National Guard recalls painful memories from 1968,” they said. “We will do everything possible to ensure this deployment is focused on what Memphis truly needs — long-term solutions built on trust, fairness and respect.”
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) called the deployment not only misguided but racially motivated.
“It’s a racist move,” Cohen said flatly. “This is a Black city, it’s a Black mayor, and it’s a white president who likes to cater to white people who like to send powerful troops or law enforcement officers after Black people. And it’s been a curse of this country for decades, centuries.”
Sawyer: ‘Dual-authorized National Guard’ will strain a broken system
On Sept. 15, Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk Tami Sawyer warned that the Guard’s presence could overwhelm a justice system already stretched beyond its limits.
“Imagine when a dual-authorized National Guard, meaning they have the right to arrest under the authority of Governor Bill Lee, strains our already strained resources,” Sawyer said.
Tuesday, she described the situation inside 201 Poplar, where more than 200 detainees were recently packed into an intake room built for 40 to 50 people. “The sheriff himself has told you all that the jail is strained, intake is strained. His staff can’t take it, my staff can’t take it,” she said.
Sawyer said that in less than a week of Tennessee Highway Patrol enforcement, “they have added thousands of tickets a day to our docket” and “dozens of arrests.” And, she added, conditions inside the jail were deteriorating.
“I woke up at 6:30 this morning to a text message because the air conditioning is out in the jail … since Saturday, the detainees and the staff have been without air,” Sawyer said. “We are now heading into 95-degree heat. Intake is overflowing, the jail is strained and our courts are overwhelmed. Adding the National Guard to that mix will break this system.” Listen here:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1717658095606592
Gov. Bill Lee: ‘Thank You to President Trump’
Not surprisingly, many GOP leaders seem giddy about the move.
“The first thing I want to say is thank you to President Trump,” said Gov. Bill Lee in a statement posted at Whitehouse.gov. “We’ve been working with the Trump Administration for months on a strategy for Memphis… We now will have resources to finally address an issue that has really dragged on for way too long.”
Sen. Bill Hagerty thanked Trump for engineering an “extraordinary display of federal, state and local governments coming together and setting partisan politics aside to do what’s in the best interest of Americans and keep their communities safe.”
“While Democrats refuse the help, I’m grateful for President Trump’s willingness to send federal resources to Memphis,” said State Sen. Brent Taylor on X. “We don’t have to live this way. Safe and clean streets are in our future, and I appreciate all who partner with us to make our community a better place to raise a family.”
Brace for impact
Even as Memphis pushes back, leader after leader expresses a desire to figure out how to make the deployment work in benefit to the city.
“We want to make sure that whatever resources are provided, they reinforce the strategies that we know are working in Memphis,” Mayor Young said previously when verifying that the Guard would indeed come to Memphis. “My commitment is to make sure that we work strategically to ensure that this happens in a way that truly benefits and strengthens our community.”
Police Chief CJ Davis wants no doubt about which agency is responsible for policing Memphis.
“We want to make sure that our community members understand that the Memphis Police Department is the primary public safety agency in the city of Memphis,” Davis said on Sept. 12. “Ideally, we’ll have a memorandum of understanding so we’re all on the same page about who’s doing what.”
State Rep. Antonio Parkinson, a Marine veteran, noted that in other cities where Trump has sent troops, it has generally amounted to a lot of flash but very little bang.
“The president wants a picture — ‘We’re sending troops into Memphis!’,” Parkinson said. “But on the ground, you might see (troops) picking up trash. I just don’t think it warrants the hysteria some are trying to create.”
If that is the case — if troops are going to have large blocks of unassigned time — Parkinson wants to take advantage of it.
“They’re not all infantry. Some are military police, some are in accounting, some in medicine,” he said. “Let’s get an inventory of who’s coming, what jobs they do, and then backfill where we’re short. That frees up our own resources to do more in our community with the people they know and love.”
