Memphis mayoral candidates to discuss crime at meet and greet in Whitehaven Saturday
Multiple candidates from the packed field of people vying to be the next Memphis mayor will be in Whitehaven at the Southland Mall Saturday afternoon to speak with residents about crime and public safety.
The event, the Memphis People's Convention's fifth meet and greet, has confirmed Van Turner, president of the Memphis NAACP branch; Paul Young, president and CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission; and State Rep. Karen Camper will be present Saturday.
The event will take place from 11 a.m. through 1 p.m. Saturday, and will be located in front of City Gear inside the mall.
The Rev. Earle Fisher, founder of UpTheVote901 and co-founder of the Memphis People's Convention, said the event being hosted at the Southland Mall was intentional, and showed "the effect of disinvestment."
"I think this is an opportunity for some of the candidates to maybe lean into conversations with community members about where those sectors, poverty and crime, overlap," Fisher said. "It's also a place where there has been some well documented criminal activity. So that's one of the reasons why we picked that location to discuss crime and safety."
Fisher said these events have offered people a chance to meet with candidates they have not spoken to before, and hear where they stand on crime.
"It gives people the chance to hear a short presentation about where [candidates] stand on the issue of crime, but also give a community member, that might be going through the mall, the opportunity to meet with some of those candidates who maybe they haven't met," he said.
In conversations with community members, Fisher said he has heard that people are looking for a candidate that understands the nuances of crime in Memphis, and want to hear innovative approaches from each candidate.
"Ultimately, to get that office, the candidate has to understand the complex and comprehensive nature of what has become the violence and crime epidemic in the city, in the county and in the country," he said. "I don't think people are looking for oversimplified answers. At the same time, I feel like most of us have not heard anything novel, or nuanced, or innovative about how people will respond to crime. What I think the collective gripe in the community is, is that what we have been doing up to this point is not working, and I think people are longing to hear something new."
Who else might attend the meet and greet
Fisher said the organization has been corresponding with Joe Brown's campaign, though has not confirmed Brown's appearance.
J.W. Gibson, a Memphis businessman, has been at each of the prior meet and greets, but has not confirmed he will be there Saturday. Michelle McKissack, a member of the Memphis Shelby County School board, will not be present due to a "bereavement in her family," though she was at several of the last events, according to Fisher.
The organization is still waiting to hear back from Memphis City Councilman Frank Colvett and Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner. Both Bonner and former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton have not been at any of the events hosted by the Memphis People's Convention, Fisher said.
Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis election: Mayor candidates to discuss crime at Southland Mall
