Crime is down. But do Memphians feel the difference?
Members of the Memphis Safe Task Force, led by the U.S. Marshals, arrest a fugitive with a warrant in South Memphis Nov. 26, 2025. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)
Mario Pugh stood solemnly in the freezing cold with hundreds of others to march the roughly 2-mile stretch near the National Civil Rights Museum in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.
He gripped a cardboard sign with gloved hands that read “Silence is complicity.”
Pugh participates in the annual march on Martin Luther King Jr. Day every year with New Direction Christian Church, where he attends. But this year felt different, he said. The march route ran from Colonial Park in Uptown to Navy Park.
“It just feels like we’re living a repeat of what was going on back in the day. … I just don’t understand why they’re doing that. Hard-working people come here to work, come to this country for a better life and end up getting treated the way they’ve been treated. That’s why we’re here today. We’re still fighting.”
The status of the country served as a backdrop for the march, with people wondering if times are regressing or in opposition to the atmosphere around the country.
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Topics
Martin Luther King Jr. Day The National Civil Rights Museum Memphis Safe Task Force Renee Good Stephanie Creasy Subscriber OnlyThank you for being a subscriber to The Daily Memphian. Your support is critical.
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Aarron Fleming
Aarron Fleming covers public safety for The Daily Memphian, focusing on crime and the local court system. He earned his bachelor’s in journalism and strategic media from the University of Memphis.
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