As with the rest of the country, guns are the No. 1 cause of death for Tennessee children.

With the 12th highest rate of gun violence in the country, nearly 1,400 children and adults in Tennessee are killed by guns each year. About one in five Americans have a family member who has died from gun violence, and one in six who have witnessed gun violence. There are at least 400 million civilian-owned guns in America and more mass shootings than there are days in a year.

We are at a critical inflection point. Gun violence should not be the norm in our lives, but it is. With the power of the people beside me, I will work to advance such common sense gun legislation as safe storage and red flag laws and outright bans on assault weapons of war so that everyone can feel safer in our communities.

According to a recent Voices for a Safer Tennessee poll, large majorities of Tennesseans across the aisle– including gun owners and 63 to 84 percent of Trump voters – support safe storage laws, a 72-hour waiting period for purchase, reporting lost and stolen guns, closing universal background check loopholes, and implementing “extreme risk protection orders.”

By the time of the Covenant School massacre in Nashville on March 27, 2023, Memphis had experienced nearly 100 gun deaths in 2023. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2021, the most recent year for which statistics are available, nearly 1,600 Tennesseans lost their lives to firearms.

The Second Amendment right to bear arms does not replace or supersede the right to life. Since its inception, America has had thousands of gun laws, regulating everything from sale, purchase, use, and outright bans. These regulations are evidence that this is a problem that can be solved with the right legislation that places the lives of our children, loved ones and neighbors above the interests of gun lobbyists.

District 86 has more polluters than any other district in Western Tennessee. Our District has an “F” in Air Quality. We deserve clean air, clean water, and clean soil. As winters and summers worsen, our communities will feel the effects the most. The pipeline company called our community the “path of least resistance” because they wanted to risk poisoning us for their own profits. We need a Representative who cares about our lives and who will fight for legislation that protects our community from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation down to the Shelby County Health Department.

Everybody has a right to affordable housing. Over 1,000 residents of Memphis are unhoused. Many who are housed are facing sky-rocketing rents and are being priced out of communities where they have been for years. Younger people and older people on fixed incomes are being hurt the most. This is wrong. We need legislation that protects communities in District 86, especially for our older residents and veterans from these housing trends which are being catalyzed by out of town investors.

Our elders have contributed their lives and livelihoods into building up our schools, our churches, and our communities. Too many of our older residents and elderly loved ones are not receiving the proper care to live their lives to the best of their ability due to financial constraints or familial hurdles. Aging neighbors deserve more than they have received and we need committed funding for our older residents to have places to gather and congregate, as well as, gain skills for the modern day workforce if they are returning to work. It’s important to recognize that elders are raising children and supporting households and the legislature must make sure our aging neighbors get what they need to care for themselves and their loved ones.

We need good, family-sustaining wages for the young and the under-employed adults in our community. Minimum wage jobs are wage robbery. Justin J. Pearson has worked in training and workforce development for years and understands the needs of corporations and the demands of the market. Our community needs a leader who understands how to create pathways to opportunity for the Opportunity Youth in our District and support upskilling for workers here and across the state who are suffering because of economic hardship.

There are more voting rights restrictions in our county and state than there were in the 1960s. People in positions of power are continuing to make it more difficult for people in our community to vote and to engage civically and meaningfully. In Tennessee, 21% of Black Americans cannot vote. This is not accidental. This is done legislatively and we need a champion for justice to help change this.

Students must have the necessary skills to be successful in schools or we will not have adults in our community who help to lead us and move forward a vision of community unity. By lifting up our teachers, we enhance the futures of our students.Teachers deserve a raise and to be adequately resourced. They should never have to fund their classroom expenses from their own salaries. Teachers also deserve the support from the Tennessee Department of Education to have stronger curriculums that align to student needs. Every community deserves good quality schools and the necessary resources to treat each student equitably.

Healthcare is a human right. Tennessee has refused to expand medicaid which has left many people vulnerable and one accident away from being further entrenched into poverty. No medical emergency should lead to poverty. Our legislature and leaders must be dedicated to protecting the health of children and the elderly most especially. It is also important that we protect Reproductive Rights. Right now, the Tennessee legislature has some of the most restrictive laws on reproductive health. This must be changed to allow for women, especially those who are victims of sexual violence, to be protected.

Over 30% of the children in Memphis are living in poverty. In our community, we are facing some of the highest rates of poverty and instability caused by unaffordable housing, lack of transportation, community violence, and illness in the state. While many leaders speak about poverty, few have pushed to dedicate millions of dollars of resources for impoverished communities to deal with the underlying root causes. This campaign is dedicated to making sure that poorer communities are prioritized in every piece of funding legislation passed in Nashville. Memphis provides a significant portion of the State of Tennessee’s annual budget. We need to see that investment back in our community.

In Nashville, I vow to advocate for safer streets, a fairer criminal legal system, and social supports such as education and employment opportunities to help prevent and reduce crime in our city. Memphians should not have to choose between public safety and equitable treatment from the criminal legal system. While crime has plagued our city, Shelby’s County investment in policing (38% of our 2023 budget) is among the highest rates for cities of our size. Black Tennesseans make up 17% of our state’s population, yet 44% of Tennensee’s prison population. I pledge to advocate for a different approach. Instead of investing in punitive measures to incarcerate people, as State Representative, I will call for investments in proven methods, such as alternatives to incarceration for low level offenses and diversion programs, to curb recidivism and to reduce the number of Memphians incarcerated. Black and Brown people are incarcerated and policed at a disproportionate rate, and these injustices have a long lasting impact. For example, 1 in 5 system-impacted Black people in Tennessee have lost the right to vote. In Nashville, I will advocate for policies that will ensure that victims are heard during the criminal justice process. I will also advocate for diversion and restorative justice programming that will give people who commit offenses a chance to take responsibility and be held accountable for their actions. There isn’t one way to prevent crime and reduce incarceration in Memphis—we must invest in a variety of comprehensive strategies to ensure we are addressing the root of the problem.

Our community needs millions of dollars of investment to improve our transportation system and get access to jobs and economic opportunity. Billions of dollars are coming into our state for infrastructure. We have a lot of areas in the district that need improvements which will provide high quality jobs for local businesses, as well as make it easier for people to get to the jobs that pay higher wages. We will prioritize making sure the money reaches District 86 and include the people into the process.