I truly did start off writing an op-ed, but somewhere between the truth and the pain, it turned into something else entirely: a plea to those we’ve chosen to lead us.
Our local leaders have allowed outside forces to come into our city to police our people. Many have stood by passive, deferential, or worse, complicit. Memphis is at a crossroads, and what those in leadership do next will define who they really are.
As a young Black man who has lived the realities of America’s criminal justice system, I write not as a critic, but as someone who loves this city and fears for its people.
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Not long ago, the Department of Justice released a report confirming what so many of us have known for years. Beneath the badge, the Memphis Police Department harbors a culture that cost a young man his life. Tyré Nichols was killed in cold blood. His death wasn’t just a tragedy; it was a reflection of a system that failed him, then tried to hide it with the help of those sworn to serve and protect. Even now, the same officers responsible for his death continue to resist accountability, as if justice were negotiable.
This dynamic between the police and vulnerable communities isn’t new. When slavery ended and Jim Crow became law across the South, tens of thousands of white supremacists were deputized as officers of “the law.” Their duty was to control newly freed Black folk, to keep them afraid, demoralized, and “in their place.” Their goal wasn’t justice. It was control.
They saturated Black neighborhoods with police officers, stopped people for any imagined infraction, beat and killed men, women, and children in the streets, and built the foundation for a criminal legal system that still cages us in disproportionate numbers. Black folk make up just 14% of America, but over 40% of its prison population, according to data from the Prison Policy Initiative.
And now, the Memphis Safe Task Force is carrying that torch, following the same playbook, step-by-step. But, here’s the truth: these aggressive policing tactics don’t work if crime reduction is the goal.
A 2024 crime analysis showed that community problem-solving policing, where law enforcement partners with residents and focuses on real problem analysis, reduced crime by roughly 33%, while programs focused on “aggressive order maintenance” had no measurable effect.
Let that sink in: what works is partnership and problem-solving, not fear and harassment.
So why, with all this evidence, do so many who call themselves “community-centered” leaders stay silent or compliant when these tired tactics are re-implemented?
Meanwhile, our neighborhoods pay the price.
Local economies in heavily-policed areas collapse. The Washington Post reported a 31% drop in restaurant reservations a week into the federal crackdown in Washington D.C. The city experienced an 81% fall in foot traffic at retail stores from the previous year, in the week starting August 11, according to CNN.
And, when you consider the economic impacts alongside the human toll of over-policing, the damage multiplies.
Dr. Nazgol Ghandnoosh of The Sentencing Project said police rely on millions of minor traffic stops “as a pretext to investigate drivers for criminal activity,” and target Black and Latinx drivers the most. Those searched are less likely to be found with drugs or weapons than white drivers, she noted. The data prove that these stops are about control, not crime prevention.
So, when we look at the thousands of stops made by the Memphis “Safe Task Force,” with only a fraction of them leading to arrest, we’re not seeing safety. We’re seeing punishment in the form of tickets, fines and car seizures that cost working families money they don’t have.
We keep claiming we want data-driven change, yet the data is ignored, twisted and weaponized as propaganda to defend practices that have already failed us time and time again.
Now, Shelby County officials are filing lawsuits over the state’s occupation of our city, seemingly using the issue to posture for upcoming elections. Press conferences and press releases have become the preferred stage to appear righteous, to say just enough to court votes, but never enough to challenge real power. I believe it was James Baldwin who said, “You can’t win against the enemy if you’re fighting the way the enemy told you you could.”
Still, I’ll give them this. At least some are willing to speak up officially. Even if it’s the bare minimum, it’s more than silence.
But our city’s leadership? Their refusal to stand up to this vicious mix of state and federal overreach speaks volumes. Their silence and pandering are not neutrality; it’s complicity. They’ve lied and looked away while Immigration and Customs Enforcement terrorizes our brown brothers and sisters. The city wasn’t asked to join the lawsuit because it is “too often aligned with the politics of occupation rather than the priorities of the people,” according to Tikeila Rucker of Free the 901 and Memphis For All.
The very leaders who know our struggles and our resource gaps have watched these external forces wage economic and psychological warfare against the same neighborhoods they claim to represent.
The people of Memphis, especially those in our most vulnerable communities, need leadership rooted in courage, not compliance. We need leaders who will read the data, listen to the pain, and act accordingly.
To those in elected office or community positions of power: if you truly serve the people, then your duty is to protect them, not just in words, but with your body, your vote, and your will.
If protecting your constituents means challenging state or federal overreach, do it.
If it means standing up to the Department of Justice or refusing to enforce policies proven to harm your people, do it.
And if it means risking your position, your reputation, or even your freedom to shield your community from tyranny, then that is what true leadership requires.
History will not remember those who played it safe. It will remember those who stood up when standing up was costly.
The people are watching. The data is undeniable. It’s time for Memphis leadership to lead like our lives and our livelihoods depend on it. Because they do.
Rob Brown is owner of Da Sammich Spot restaurant and resource hub in Orange Mound.
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