Pithy slogans and hashtags are just part of the fabric of political dialogue in today’s America, but for those who love Memphis, the nearly 3-year #makememphismatter campaign launched by State Senator Brent Taylor is a Big River Crossing too far. Besides promoting his future political aspirations, the core of the effort seems to be to convince powerful legislators from other parts that Memphis has value to the state, and therefore, they should support Taylor’s tough-on-crime agenda.
Taylor paraded Republican senators across the city two summers ago touting the potential of our sleepy little river town and lined their campaign pockets with roughly $20,000 a piece from local donors –a savvy strategy to be sure. Subsequently, the Senator introduced and passed a slate of anti-crime legislation purported to make Memphis safer, though a direct correlation remains elusive.
What Taylor gets right is that for decades when the legislature was controlled by rural Democrats, Memphis was always considered a “problem.” The homogenous, sparsely populated nature of the districts of the legislative leadership was starkly different from the gritty, diverse, urban community that is the Bluff City.
And yet, not once in history is it recorded that state government ever returned our sales tax remittance, excise and franchise tax payments, or tourism dollars. That’s because to the state of Tennessee, Memphis has always mattered whether they want us to or not.
Tax Revenue
Still the most populous county in Tennessee, Shelby County collects nearly $2 billion in taxes annually excluding franchise and excise taxes paid by businesses directly to the state. This is second only to Metro Nashville, and no other county in the state comes close.
Tourism
In 2025, Memphis set a record for direct spending by tourists totaling $4.3 billion. This was second in the state behind Nashville. State government benefits to the tune of $263 million annually. A hunk-a-hunk of that monetary love comes from the more than half million people who visit Graceland every year. More than 300,000 people visit the National Civil Rights Museum annually. In 2023 when crime numbers peaked, more than 5 million people still visited historic Beale Street.
Economic Investment
In 2024, Memphis secured a record $14 billion in economic investment. Of course, we are the home of Fortune 500 company, FedEx, which is also the state’s second largest employer behind Walmart. Memphis is home to a 5 Class I railroads, the 3rd busiest trucking corridors in the nation, the 5th largest inland port in the U.S., and the number 1 busiest cargo airport in the nation and number 2 in the world. More than 70 million tons of raw commodities move through our city annually.
Innovation
Throughout our history, Memphis has been a hub for innovation. Of course, overnight delivery from FedEx may be best known, but the self-service grocery store began here when Clarence Saunder opened the first Piggly Wiggly. The modern hotel chain emerged from our hometown when Kemmons Wilson launched Holiday Inn. St. Jude Children’s Hospital has raised cancer survival among children from 20% to 80%.
But What About Crime?
Crime is a problem. There is no denying that. But it is also a concern in every other major city in America.
Law enforcement will tell you that most crimes in the community are committed by a small percentage of people. That doesn’t make a victim of crime feel any better about their situation, but it does mean crime is manageable.
Memphis has experienced nine consecutive quarters of declining crime rates. That means the drop began before the Memphis Safe Task Force and the National Guard were on the scene. There is no arguing that the additional law enforcement resources have helped, especially in the area of serving backlogged fugitive warrants. But it is also true that Memphis has the resources and expertise to address our crime problem when this experiment ends.
Defined by More
In his book Just Mercy, Bryan Stephenson says, “Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”
The same is true for cities. Memphis has always been so much more than our crime rate, but the constant drum beat by those who say we need saving often gets stuck in our heads like an annoying song. After a while, that song’s lyrics seem to be the only ones we know. But the positive attributes of Memphis are more than the number of times our city is mentioned in song (more times than any other city in the world). Choosing to sing a different song doesn’t mean ignoring the problems of our city. It means in spite of those problems, we matter anyway.