State Senator comes to Memphis to address crime legislation

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – Tennessee State Sen. Brent Taylor, a Republican lawmaker from Eads, Tenn., held his first town hall in Whitehaven on Thursday.

The majority black community is not in Taylor’s district, but he is taking his “Make Memphis Matter” message across the city.

Senator Taylor successfully passed 39 of the 45 bills he sponsored during this legislative session, addressing issues such as low bonds, gun racing and juvenile recidivism.

The Whitehaven Republican Club, which was formed last year, invited him to speak on Thursday night and invited everyone, regardless of party affiliation, to attend. It turned out to be a packed house inside the boardroom at the Whitehaven YMCA as attendees listened to Senator Taylor discuss the bills he successfully passed in this year’s Tennessee General Assembly.

Melanie Mosley, president of the Whitehaven Republican Club, invited Senator Taylor to the group’s monthly meeting because his message resonates with her.

“At the beginning of the year,” Mosley said, “he told us everything he was going to do, all the laws he was planning to pass. And the thing is, he kept his promise. You rarely hear that from many politicians.”

Much of Sen. Taylor’s legislation focused on fighting crime. Pastor Clemmie Livingston Jr., shot in front of a carjacker in his church parking lot in February, told Sen. Taylor that he wants more emphasis to be placed on rehabilitating troubled youths instead of just charging them.

“If they go to prison and spend three, four or five years,” Pastor Livingston said, “when they get out, they’re going to do the same thing again because they don’t know anything else. Prison makes some people worse.”

Senator Taylor has tirelessly brought other lawmakers from across the state to see Memphis in person to understand the city’s challenges and potential.

“We just learned that Memphis is more than a title,” Taylor told Action News 5, “that we are an asset worth investing in.”

The senator’s district includes Arlington, Collierville, Germantown and East Memphis. But he said he wanted to talk to all Memphians, something that appealed to Mosley when he extended the invitation.

“I want us to be united, not based on race or political party,” she said, “but just based on our ideas and ways to come together to solve the problems that affect our community, which the number one problem is crime.”

All questions, including criticism, were welcome.

Several panelists told Senator Taylor that crime cannot be fixed without addressing poverty. He agreed that there is more work to be done to make the Bluff City a better and safer place to live and work.

“Everyone is committed to working with me to help Make Memphis Matter,” Taylor said, “because Tennessee will not succeed if its most famous city slides into chaos.”

Pastor Livingston told Action News 5 that Memphis police told him they had arrested the accused carjacker who shot him, but had no other details.

Action News 5 has reached out to MPD for additional information on the case.

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