Memphis mayoral forum at Hope Church focuses on crime — and Christianity

Thursday’s mayoral forum held at Hope Church was focused on crime, but the first few minutes turned instead into a comparison of Christian credentials.

The six candidates tailored their responses (some more than others) to the audience, a group of people gathered from churches that are members of the Memphis Christian Pastors Network.

Downtown Memphis Commission President Paul Young, during his introductory remarks, described how he grew up as a “PK” — “Preacher’s Kid” — and how a sermon by his mother changed the trajectory of his life when she preached that “God’s purpose for your life will always be about someone else.”

Memphis-Shelby County School Board Member Michelle McKissack spoke about how her children inspired her to start an arts program due to disinvestment in schools and later to run for school board. While describing her family, she dropped in a biblical note: “My sons are Peter, James and John,” she said with a laugh.

Then, James Harvey, a former Shelby County Commissioner, spoke about his own upbringing and how he was the seventh child in his family.

People in the audience might know of the biblical significance of the number seven, Harvey said. The significance is that it symbolizes completion or wholeness.

“I am that number seven,” Harvey said.

Then Reggie Hall, who runs a trucking company, amped up the rhetoric, telling the audience, “I’m the only Christian conservative in this race and I’m proud of it. … We know this is not a political battle going on in our country. This is a spiritual battle. … It’s like I’m David with the slingshot. I’m going up against this giant. I’m going up against bureaucracy, what’s already in place.”

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Immediately after Hall finished his remarks, businessman JW Gibson started his own introductory statement, a wry look on his face, “First, giving honor to God who is the head of my life,” Gibson said to laughter in the room. “It’s always a pleasure to be in the house of the Lord.”

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner had the closing note before the group delved into questions about crime: “My name is Floyd Bonner, and yes, I am a Christian, too,” he said with a chuckle.

Poverty, lack of male role models roots of crime, candidates and audience say

The forum, which brought those six candidates, included a chance for the audience to answer a real-time survey on their phones. Candidates were asked to respond to some of those responses.

“This is a one-issue forum related to how do we stem the rise of violent crime in our city and what we can do about it,” said the Rev. Rufus Smith, pastor at Hope and chairman of the Memphis Christian Pastors Network. “We believe government is not the answer by themselves, so we all have a part to play in this.”

Questions asked whether respondents had ever been the victim of a violent crime or had a close relative or friend who had been the victim of a violent crime.

The other questions asked respondents to choose which of three reasons they believe most contribute to the violent crime rate in Memphis.

The top responses were “lackluster” MSCS, lack of parental oversight, poverty and the lack of positive father figures.

Candidates largely agreed that poverty and lack of parental involvement are major contributors to Memphis’ crime rate, and offered a variety of ideas on how to tackle the problem as mayor.

McKissack spoke about the importance of addressing crime before it happens, and even before problems start to surface in high school. She told how when she first became a mother, she was able to rely on her own mother and books to learn about parenting, something many young mothers don’t have.

“We’ve got to do more with supporting our young mothers,” she said. “Generations of neglect have got us to where we are right now.”

If elected as mayor, McKissack said she would seek to reallocate the city budget to include more funding for afterschool programs and keeping community centers open late, offering opportunities for children and families to have “hope” and alternatives to crime.

Young said that if he were elected as mayor, he would work to connect people to opportunities. The lack of male role models for young men is an important one, he said, and much of the city’s crime goes back to the trauma communities endure every day.

“Can you imagine being a 10-year-old kid, you leave school, nobody cares if you make it home…you have uncles who’ve been shot and killed, you have 15-year-olds you know from the neighborhood that got shot stealing a car. These are real experiences that our young people have every day,” Young said.

Most violent crime occurs with adults, Young said, because they “have been on this trajectory for far too long.”

The city should invest in activities for youth and also opportunities for people to have a steady income, Young said, telling the story of a young man who spoke up at a panel to say he liked stealing cars because he was bored and needed money.

“Well, you have two problems that he’s given us right there,” Young said. “He gave us two solutions.”

Bonner emphasized the importance of more police officers, also saying parents must be held accountable for their children’s actions.

If elected, he would use his relationships with state leadership to seek tougher sentencing laws and to bring more funds to Memphis, he said. And, he’d try to bring together different groups in the city to work with young people.

“Everyone has to be involved, the churches, community centers, colleges, pastors, even you as citizens,” Bonner said.

Hall repeatedly stressed the importance of the nuclear family and Christianity, also saying the “welfare system has destroyed America.”

“We have to bring back faith, we have to bring back God and we have to go back to guiding young people to being whole again,” Hall said. “Marriage. Marriage is important.”

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Harvey also said that family is “the key to turning the ship around” and that as mayor, he would seek to align families with services led by churches and nonprofits.

Gibson said that if elected, he would create an office of nonprofit coordination to bring about groups already doing good work in the city with others. He also stressed the importance of bringing living wage jobs to the city and of doing workforce training to ensure people have the skills needed to fill those jobs.

“Workforce development’s gonna be the key to answering a lot of our issues,” Gibson said.Katherine Burgess covers government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis mayoral forum at Hope Church was about crime — and Christianity