Our state lawmakers keep saying we need to Make Memphis Matter.

It’s a divisive attack that takes your eye off the truth: what happens in Nashville matters in Memphis.

We like to think of ourselves as separate from the rest of Tennessee, and for good reason — we’re a cultural powerhouse and we like to do our own thing.

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But sometimes that pride means we miss what’s happening in our state Capitol and how it affects us.

Tennessee has a Republican supermajority. They have banned all abortion, and 75 out of 99 state lawmakers in the state House have voted against exceptions for minors, for rape, for incest and to save a patient’s life.

They have opposed all gun safety measures, despite the violent crime in Memphis. They have imposed a voucher plan that takes money away from public schools to help a handful of kids attend private schools.

That’s what Memphis gets from Nashville now. That won’t change until we change our lawmakers. There are no moderates on the Republican side when they have total control and vote in lockstep. MAGA extremists win out every time until something changes.

This moment feels to me like 2014. At Planned Parenthood we sounded the alarm then over Amendment 1, which said the right to privacy in our state constitution does not apply to abortion.

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Republicans sold the Amendment as a way to put “reasonable restrictions on abortion.” People didn’t believe us then when we said this would one day result in a total ban. The amendment narrowly passed, and here we are.

We don’t have to dwell on the past, but I hope you will believe us now: it can get worse. When 10,500 women travel out of state for an abortion — regardless of the reason — we know we’re less free.

When we can’t go to the store without fearing gun violence, we are less free. When we can’t educate our children and give them what they need to stand on their own, they are less free.

I understand why civic leaders in our community want to maintain strong relationships with people in both parties and work in a bipartisan fashion. But the extremism and attacks on Memphis from elected officials will not stop.

The “Make Memphis Matter” crowd threatened to take $78 million away from our city because we dare hold a vote on gun safety. In the simplest terms, they are power-drunk bullies.

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This isn’t hopeless. We know how to deal with bullies. When you hit back, they stop. It’s time to take on the supermajority.

That’s what we’re doing at Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood to restore balance on the abortion issue, but taking them on matters for Memphis in bigger ways. We will matter more in Nashville when this Republican supermajority sees that we won’t be pushed around.

We’ve learned this lesson in our fight for abortion rights. Once the supermajority set itself on banning all abortion, the old ways of engaging lawmakers ceased to matter.

We’ve facilitated thousands of civil conversations between state lawmakers and real people who needed abortions to survive. None of it mattered.

So we’ve turned away from legislative advocacy and we’re doubling down on voter education. That’s how democracy is supposed to work. If you don’t listen, we come for your seats.

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We’re investing more in elections than we have since 2014, nearly $1 million dollars engaging voters in the closest State House seats, including House District 97 in east Shelby County. Some still consider John Gillespie a moderate, but we’ve endorsed his opponent because Gillespie has voted to ban all abortion, no matter what constituents say in a district where the majority supports reproductive rights.

If Memphis causes a member of the supermajority to lose a seat, the rest will think twice.

If you were like a lot of people in 2014, and never thought Tennessee would become this extreme at the state level, I’m asking you to join us now.

What Nashville does matters in Memphis, and it’s time we fight back.

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