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“They want us to be there. They don’t want to be mugged. Who would say, ‘Gee, I don’t want the National Guard?’” the president said in the Oval Office.

But Britney Thornton, the commissioner representing Orange Mound, one of the oldest Black neighborhoods in majority-Black Memphis, has a different perspective. She said there’s a “huge disconnect” between the decision-makers deploying the guard and Memphians who know the needs of the community.

Lax state gun laws combined with a lack of access to basics like education and food are the true drivers of crime, said Thornton, who also runs a nonprofit that provides necessities to low-income people in the area.

If the National Guard focuses solely on punitive measures like handing out tickets or increasing traffic stops, she said, it could make problems worse by “putting more pressure on working-class individuals.“

Still, she feels there could be opportunities for the guard to be helpful if deployed in the right way: Specifically, they could help empower organizers to canvass in areas where they might otherwise feel unsafe. Or they could help pick up trash.

“If you’re going to invest those dollars, make it a real investment,” Thornton said.

Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat, has said he didn’t ask for the deployment and doesn’t think it’s the way to reduce crime. But he hopes he can help drive how it will operate.

Supporting, and feeding, the guard

Mortimer’s Restaurant, a well-known bar and grill in East Memphis that opened in 1981, was one of several across the city that took to to offer free or discounted meals for National Guard members. Owner Christopher Jamieson said he wanted to show support for the troops, who he hopes will help address crime.

“I think our local government definitely needs help,” Jamieson said.

These days in Memphis, most people try to avoid staying out past dark out of fear of crime, Jamieson said, and he has made emergency calls on numerous occasions to help people overdosing on drugs. The dampened late-night traffic has led to his kitchen starting to close two hours earlier.

“We’ve all grown up in it, but we’ve never seen anything like this,” Jamieson said.

After posting the offer, Jamieson said he has received support from neighbors, family members of National Guard soldiers and people offering to donate to cover the costs of the free meals. He hopes they will show the troops that “there are a lot of good people here, and a lot of people who want to see our city fixed and see it safer.”

A ‘Band-Aid solution’

Richard Massey, a University of Memphis student and activist, said the city is not where it wants to be in terms of crime but is making progress. While discussing the deployment, both Republican and Democratic officials have noted recent decreases in some crime metrics.

But gun violence issues have been a problem for years. In 2023 the city saw a record of more than 390 homicides.

Massey also said there should be further investments into schools, after-school programs and affordable housing in underserved neighborhoods. Deploying the National Guard is a “Band-Aid solution” rather than a long-term fix, he said, and he doesn’t think eating at restaurants with troops stationed outside will raise morale.

“This is exploiting people’s fears and public safety concerns in Memphis,” Massey said.

The governor’s plans

Specifics about the number of troops, their tasks and their arrival are still being revealed.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee on Tuesday that he did not think there would be many more than 150 National Guard personnel deployed, but he stressed that the number is not final while preparations and planning continue. He said 150 is about the number of Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers assigned to Shelby County. The new operation will involve numerous law enforcement agencies.

He said guard members would arrive “sooner than later,” adding that he would request that they mostly be military police trained in law enforcement. He also prefers them to be troops that the state for Trump’s crackdown there. Lee said he will advocate for local leaders to help determine how they are used to support officers fighting crime.

The early suggestion would be a small fraction of the roughly 2,000 who were deployed to Washington from seven states and the D.C. guard.

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Riddle reported from Montgomery, Alabama.