MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A deadly night in the City of Memphis led to calls for more peace. Three separate shootings Wednesday evening led to several people dead and at least eight others injured. One of those shootings took place outside Prive Club. It is the second club shooting this week.
Two Memphis pastors who are on the ground, in communities and are working to address issues first-hand said the problem in Memphis isn’t simply crime, it’s poverty.
“All of us have some blood on our hands,” said Earle Fisher, Abyssinian Baptist Church Pastor.
That accountability, responsibility and change are what many Memphis residents say the City of Memphis lacks.
“As a pastor, I understand the value and the power of prayer,” said Dr. Kevin Andre Brooks, Providence AME Church Pastor. “Prayer must lead to policies and action that will assure a level of safety for all Tennesseans.”
Dr. Brooks said when it comes to violence, Memphis has a subpar approach.
“What you see in Memphis is policies that have been disenfranchising within the school systems. School systems are funded adequately. Housing, the GDP is not at a rate that will foster real sharing prosperity in this economy,” said Dr. Brooks.
Both Brooks and Fisher said that is why we are seeing an increase in crime.
“Violence is only a biproduct of some unmet need. The basic need in any community is food, clothing, and shelter,” said Dr. Brooks.
Violence spilled over Wednesday night into Thursday from a Hickory Hill club to a Whitehaven apartment complex killing several people and injuring even more.
“There is a part of me that is beginning to feel more and more numb because it’s so frequent,” said Fisher.
He has been in the communities helping to educate residents on issues, policies, and government.
“If there’s anything we can agree on collectively no matter what side of the aisle you’re on, we should be able to agree that in Memphis and Shelby County for the last several years, what we’ve been doing is not working,” said Fisher.
Both pastors said there are disparities on various levels that lead to the violence we see.
“It is easier to get access to guns and drugs in most of our Black communities than it is to get access to a livable wage, job or make a career or to access to an equitable, especially a cultural competent, education,” said Fisher.
The way he said to combat that is to make intentional changes. “That is redirecting some of these fiscal and economic resources to places that they need to go,” said Fisher. He said there needs to be a balance of public safety and personal liberty which Fisher said our city has yet to successfully accomplish.