The fight over the National Guard in Memphis boils down to a single contradiction: the tension between what the city asked for and was denied — and what it didn’t ask for but got anyway.
City and county leaders wanted to keep a TBI crime lab in Memphis. It was moved to Jackson, Tennessee.
They asked for continued federal violence-prevention funding. It was slashed.
Voters emphatically passed a referendum for tighter gun laws. The majority GOP Tennessee State Assembly hasn’t budged on permitless carry.
But now, when President Trump calls, Gov. Bill Lee sends in the troops — a move that violates both the U.S. Constitution and Tennessee state law, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said in a Monday press conference, just days after suing Lee for deploying the Tennessee National Guard.
“We’ve asked for resources to make our city safer,” Harris said during the briefing at the Shelby County Administration Building. “Instead, we’re getting a military deployment.”
Deployment is ‘overreach,’ leaders say
In essence, the lawsuit filed by Harris and a coalition of city, county and state elected officials asserts that very specific things would need to happen to legally deploy the Guard. For one, local officials need to request support. Alternately, if there were an uprising or rebellion, the Tennessee militia could be deployed. But even then, state law requires a vote from the Tennessee General Assembly.
None of these things have happened.
“The militia shall not be called into service except in case of rebellion or invasion,” State Rep. G.A. Hardaway said, quoting from Article III of the Tennessee Constitution. “And then only when the General Assembly shall declare by law that the public safety requires it.
“This whole operation with the National Guard is unconstitutional on its face,” Hardaway said.
Memphis City Councilman J.B. Smiley Jr. — also a candidate for Shelby County Mayor in 2026 — called the deployment political “overreach,” arguing that state and federal leaders ignored Memphis’ repeated requests for tangible support until it suited their agenda.
“They want to pretend like they care about us,” Smiley said. “We’ve been clear about what we need — resources, not militarization.”
Harris went further, saying that Lee’s decision violates the very laws he claims to uphold.
“You can’t defend the law while breaking it,” Harris said. “No governor in a free state like Tennessee can just, of his own will, send military personnel into any community and execute laws at his discretion.”
Community leaders: ‘You have to be close to see’ impacts of occupation
For Harris, Monday’s press conference wasn’t only about legal arguments — it was about proximity. “We need to make room and make space for those closest to the people most impacted,” he said, before turning the podium over to residents now living with the Guard’s presence on their streets.
Tikeila Rucker, executive director of Memphis For All and a partner in the Free The 901 coalition, emotionally shared what she saw Sunday night on Lamar Avenue.
“I saw a car pulled over — unmarked cars, MPD cars, so many different agents I couldn’t even identify who was there,” Rucker said, as she got choked up. “But who I could identify? Young Black men in handcuffs face down on the ground.”
Rucker said media reports don’t always match what neighbors witness, which is why a network of “watchers” has formed to dispatch witnesses to where Task Force activities are occurring. They’re witnessing and often recording encounters, Rucker said.
“There are discrepancies … what we see versus what’s being reported publicly is inaccurate,” she said. “We need detailed reports outlining this information.”
The Rev. Keith Caldwell, president of MICAH and pastor of Centenary United Methodist Church, described the fear spreading among immigrant and working-class families.
“We’ve seen families afraid to go to work or to church,” he said. “We don’t ask immigration status; we just feed people. We don’t want someone to be arrested from our parking lot for coming to get help.”
County Commissioner Henri Brooks was a child when troops came to Memphis in 1968. She said she’s still traumatized by the action and fears for the children of Memphis and their mental health.
“I have memories of 1968 every other day,” she said. “The trauma they’re going to experience seeing National Guard men and women carrying long guns, in military clothing, seeing big vehicles going up and down the street, tearing up the streets as they go to school, church, the grocery store.
“Those children are going to relive it over and over,” she said. “I am concerned about the trauma.”
A lawsuit narrowly drawn
While Monday’s event featured some of the same plaintiffs suing over the Guard deployment, Harris stressed that the lawsuit is narrowly focused on the state’s use of military forces, not on the wider mix of federal and state agencies operating under the task force banner.
“Our lawsuit is about the National Guard and deployment of military personnel,” Harris said. “It is not about the Memphis Safe Task Force.”
In the public eye, that may be a distinction without a difference. Media reports commonly refer to the Memphis Safe Task Force and National Guard deployment interchangeably, which Harris said can cause confusion and mask accountability.
“If everything gets thrown into one bucket called a crime-reduction effort, people don’t know who’s responsible for what,” Harris said. “No one wants armored vehicles on their street corners, but that’s what happens when we blur the lines.”
City of Memphis ‘not invited’ to participate in lawsuit
One topic Harris and others moved quickly to clarify Monday was the role — or absence — of the City of Memphis in the litigation.
“The City of Memphis wasn’t invited to participate,” Harris said, correcting earlier reporting by The Daily Memphian. “There was just an error in the reporting to suggest that the city had declined. That was never a live issue.”
Rucker said the omission was intentional.
“The City of Memphis administration was not invited to participate in this filing,” Rucker said. “That was a deliberate decision based on the orientation we’ve consistently observed from city leadership — one that has too often aligned with the politics of occupation rather than the priorities of the people.”
Trending on social media: ‘Thanks, Trump’
In recent days, social media clips have surfaced showing Memphians thanking President Trump for “making the streets safer.” For some residents, the distinction between the National Guard deployment and the broader influx of law enforcement agencies — from state troopers to federal task forces — doesn’t matter.
What matters to them is that they feel safer. They like kids playing in the street without fear of gunfire. But Harris painted a different picture for citizens by asking a different question.
“If you tell people the Guard is here to reduce crime, they’ll be in favor,” he said. “But if you ask, ‘Do you want a military-style helicopter circling your block? Do you want to vote on Election Day surrounded by armed troops?’ — you’d get a different answer.
“No one wants an armored vehicle on their street corner,” he added. “No one wants a man in fatigues with a semi-automatic weapon knocking on their door. Everybody reacts the same (when that happens) — they stay inside.”
Smiley was more blunt, challenging Lee and any others suddenly concerned for Memphis’ safety to come see what the problems are for themselves.
“If you really want to know what we need in this community, go to the theaters, go to the churches, go to the playgrounds, go to the community and just talk to people.
“Knock on some doors — if you’re not scared.”
