Memphis Mayor Paul Young revealed on Wednesday that met with a number of gang leaders with the goal of brokering a ceasefire between them to lower crime in the city in early February.
The meeting occurred months after Young promised to unveil a sophisticated crime plan within 100 days after taking office that would address the surge in criminality the Tennessee city experienced last year.
Young revealed his meeting with gang leaders during a Community Foundation of Greater Memphis (CFGM) in late February. He explained the criminal leaders expressed a willingness to declare a ceasefire, but expressed concerns about their opponents failing to adhere to its terms and whether young gang members could find legal opportunities to advance their lives.
“Get them in a room and just let me talk to him,” Young said, explaining his desire to arrange the meeting. Action News 5, which broadcast video of the mayor’s remarks, reported that Young claimed the gang members told him they “want good paying jobs and the education needed to get those jobs”
The mayor told the audience that his goal for the conversation was “a seven-day ceasefire,” and emphasized it would mean “seven days where there’s no shooting, no killing” due to gang activity.
“And they said, ‘Yeah, we would be willing to do that,’ and they gave me a couple of caveats,” Young told the CFGM audience.
Young said the gang members expressed skepticism about the ability of their criminal adversaries to uphold the terms of the seven-day ceasefire, but that opportunity for young gang members was also vital to a long-term solution, according to the outlet.
“The other thing they said was, well you know, our young guys, they need money,” said Young. “They need money in their pockets. That’s the way you can change it.”
Young further elaborated the gang leaders told him the lack of “programs at our community centers” leaves young people in Memphis with few options other than criminality.
Recollecting his conversation with the criminals, Young explained they told him, “We don’t have things to do, so we go out, we steal cars, and we ride around with our friends.”
News that Young met with Memphis gang leaders comes less than six months after he promised “a hard-hitting crime plan” within his first 100 days in office following the murder of St. Jude research doctor Alexander Bulakhov in November.
In remarks made to the press at the time, Young promised “a multi-pronged, hard hitting, and focused effort” to “combat” the city’s “lawlessness” within 100 days of taking office.
The promise came as Memphis experienced a crime surge, emphasized by a January report which found Memphis had the highest murder rate in a comparison of 10 cities identified as “homicide hubs,” with the Home of the Blues seeing the most killings per capita, including when compared to cities like Chicago, New Orleans and Baltimore.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Memphis Mayor Paul Young” by Mayor Paul Young.
