WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (Host): A new Shelby County mayor, sheriff, and a host of government officials were sworn in this week. But they start their terms as concerns grow over federal law enforcement here. With us again is political analyst Otis Sanford. Welcome back.
OTIS SANFORD: Thank you, Chris. Good to be with you.
BLANK: Well, first, Otis, we made national news twice in just a few days. Let's start with the autopsy of Tyrin Johnson. This is the man who was killed by a National Guard member in July. The medical examiner says he was shot in the back, which conflicts with the police version of events. In my experience, authorities don't usually sit on evidence that acquits them of wrongdoing, like camera footage. What's the hold up, and what's it doing for our community view of the Guard?
SANFORD: I think the only possible reason for the hold up is that the video does not line up with the narrative, here, that they've been pushing. All we're getting now is confusing double talk, PR spin, or we're getting no comment. That's the problem here. It is time for us to see the video for ourselves because we are not getting correct information here.
BLANK: Right, and reading the Daily Memphian's coverage on this felt almost like reading satire. Each agency referred reporters to some other agency. It really gives the impression that either this task force is hiding something, or it's just in complete chaos and nobody knows what anybody else is doing, and that goes for local government. What are you picking up on here?
SANFORD: Exactly what you just said, Chris. Chaos is the correct word here. Not only are the law enforcement agencies who are involved in this operation not being candid with the public, they're not being candid with each other. They throw out, "Well, we made this number of arrests. We seized these this many guns." That's their answer for every question that is asked about what they are doing here. They think that by just saying that, the public is supposed to accept it, say "good job," and shut up. This is almost akin to Keystone Cops here, instead of an effective task force.
BLANK: Well, the other news story, Otis, was this major ICE raid on a Hispanic restaurant in Memphis. And from what we know, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation had a warrant to search this place for drugs and gambling. Instead, ICE showed up with a couple of buses and then hauled off 121 patrons to far-flung detention centers. Now, from the conservative view that all illegal immigrants are dangerous criminals, this this could be considered a huge success. But that does not seem to be the consensus here ,and especially in local government. Mayor Paul Young called it "unsettling." So, what does he mean by that?
SANFORD: To be charitable here, I think Mayor Young is trying to be diplomatic. But diplomacy is not working here. And it's time for the mayor to not just say more, but to do more against this outrageous abuse of due process here, Chris. The fact that ICE had all of these buses already to go tells me that they were planning to arrest everybody in the place, whether they were guilty of any crime or not. It's cruel, and certainly is not American.
BLANK: And this does raise some questions about what's next here in our community. We know former county mayor Lee Harris was very critical of the task force. On Monday, we got a new county mayor, Mickell Lowery. He didn't talk much about it at his swearing in, but he did mention "respecting the rights and dignity of residents," while at the same time signaling a willingness to work with people on the other side, Republicans. What are voters expecting from him?
SANFORD: Well, it depends on the voters you ask. Some will say that Lowery's correct to try to work with Republicans and the task force. And others will say, you know, he's giving in to authoritarianism. I say it's just not enough to simply throw out some words like "we should respect the rights and dignity of residents," or as Mayor Young said, "unsettling." It's time for our leaders to do something to push back. And they need to do more than just spout some words.
BLANK: The end of this month is the anniversary of the Memphis Save Task Force, and we have seen public opinion vacillate over the past year, especially as the crime rate dropped. As a whole, where are we right now?
SANFORD: We are at an inflection point here. And either we as a community are going to stand up for human rights, for the rule of law, for treating people with some respect and giving them their due process. If we're not going to do that, then we are just knuckling under to authoritarianism, as I mentioned earlier. And we just can't sustain ourselves and look ourselves in the mirror and say, "I can live with myself allowing this kind of behavior to go on in our city and not push back."
