TENNESSEE, USA — It's been a war of words and personal attacks between Republican Senator Brent Taylor and social justice groups like Decarcerate Memphis.
“I think there’s been a mention that these new bills are to help to reduce crime in Memphis or help to increase safety in Memphis; I think that’s a little misleading," Joshua Adams from Decarcerate Memphis said Monday.
Groups like Decarcerate Memphis are taking issue with Senator Taylor's proposals to reverse action by the Memphis City Council that banned minor traffic stops and several other actions reported on by ABC24 over the last couple of months.
The group posted real estate listings of Taylor’s $1.8 million home, saying he owns a funeral home, that he “profits off violence and death" and that he’s out of touch with the “average Memphian."
Taylor denies these claims.
“When people don’t have the ability to get legislation passed and don’t have the facts and public opinion on their side, [they] resort to personal attacks," Taylor said. "Everything from me owning a funeral home and wanting death and violence so I can profit from it...I no longer own my funeral homes; I sold them about two years ago.”
Taylor maintains his proposals will help make Memphis and Shelby County safer.
But Decarcerate Memphis disagrees.
"Senator Brent Taylor has used inflammatory language and deliberately used his platform to put residents of Memphis in real harm's way," they said in a statement.
Taylor's pretextual traffic stop bill is one of many proposals lawmakers are considering. He expects most of them to be voted on in the coming weeks.