Do Americans Really Want to Live in a Militarized City?

Despite protests nationwide, a California district court order, and politician complaints, President Trump with the blessing of Governor Bill Lee is expected tosend troops any day now to Memphis. Growing up in my hometown, I can’t imagine seeing National Guard troops patrolling the streets of Elvis Presley Blvd or walking down my old neighborhood in Whitehaven.

I am a product of the Memphis City Public School System and remember the countless of free youth employment programs to help keep kids off the streets. Those summer enrichment programs led me to an international development career with the U.S. Agency for International Development, which was sadly dismantled. During my family’s assignments in Honduras, Nigeria and Rwanda, I saw first hand the human and political toll that countries face using their militaries as local law enforcement. I am heartbroken that my hometown has fallen victim to a disorganized Trump policy similar to the abrupt closure of USAID. I am also shocked by how casual Americans debate over using the National Guard to solve America’s crime problems in mainstream and social media. But do Americans really want to live in a militarized city?

Avoiding Narcos in Honduras

The thought of the National Guard running checkpoints near Beale Street, brought back triggering images of living overseas with USAID. During my family’s first USAID assignment in Honduras in 2010, the country was battling with narco violence and corruption. The violence and stress of living in the capital of Tegucigalpa hit home for me when my daughter’s kindergarten classmate was almost killed in the middle of a crossfire between narco cartels and the Honduran police. Fast forward twelve years later, Honduras is still unstable and unsafe even with their new 2022 national emergency declaration mandate to send military and police to address crime.

Policing in Mexico

Earlier in my diplomatic career, my family and I moved to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico in 2008 where women were brutally murdered on a daily basis. Mexican police and military were outgunned and outnumbered by narco cartels. Tragically, news broke out one day at my job that one of my American colleagues was brutally murdered inside her car with her American husband. The couple were leaving a consulate party and were chased down by a suspected drug hitman before they were brutally killed near the US-Mexico border. However, their baby girl survived. BBC reported that due to the former President Felipe Calderon’s aggressive crackdown on cartel violence, over 30,000 people were murdered across the country from 2006 to 2010.

Dealing with checkpoints in Nigeria

When I moved thousands of miles to work at the USAID mission in Nigeria, my family in Memphis were worried for my safety. Nigeria faced issues of high crime, terrorist attacks in the north, and kidnappings. In Nigeria, the security challenges were so great that President Tinubu deployed the military and police to patrol the streets. Going to a restaurant at night and passing through a military checkpoint was common. Unfortunately, the increased presence of the military on streets across Nigeria has not been effective in reducing crime and armed robberies.

As President Trump bulldozes his way to enforce his anti-crime agenda, American cities are slowly becoming under military rule. We are losing our human rights and democracy. I have seen this story before. Militarizing US cities is not a permanent solution to reduce crime. Policy makers should push for poverty reduction programs, ending homelessness and creating more jobs for youth to address the root causes of crime.