Memphis rallies for progressive Democrat after four fatal shootings by taskforce: ‘Fight of our lives’

Justin J Pearson speaks during a campaign rally on 17 July 2026, in Memphis, Tennessee. Photograph: George Walker IV/AP View image in fullscreen Justin J Pearson speaks during a campaign rally on 17 July 2026, in Memphis, Tennessee. Photograph: George Walker IV/AP Memphis rallies for progressive Democrat after four fatal shootings by taskforce: ‘Fight of our lives’ Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley join rally to support Justin Pearson’s bid for a seat in Congress More than a thousand people rallied for Justin Pearson, a Democratic state representative running for Congress, in the wake of four fatal shootings by members of the Memphis Safe Task Force over the last two months. Crowds packed New Direction Christian Church in the city’s Hickory Hill neighborhood in support of Pearson, who is running in the now-fractured ninth congressional district’s Democratic primary. “Today we are in the fight of our lives to make this district, our state, and this nation better for ourselves and for those who will come after us,” Pearson said. “If God be for us, it doesn’t matter if every white supremacist in the Tennessee General Assembly is against us, and that nothing can separate us from the love of God that’s found in Christ Jesus. No matter what they call us, no matter where they redline us, no matter how they try and lynch us, no matter what. Grandmama said, “‘If God be for us, it doesn’t matter who or what is against.’” Progressive US representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Summer Lee of Pennsylvania joined him. “Justin has shown up in the quiet moments for the neighbor in need,” Pressley said. “He shows up in the consequential moments when our rights are on the line. He shows up when the nation is watching Tennessee.” Pearson is one of two legislators who were expelled from the Republican-controlled Tennessee general assembly in April 2023 after protesting the lack of gun control legislation following the Covenant school shooting in Nashville earlier that year. The Shelby county commission subsequently reappointed him to his seat. View image in fullscreen People attend a campaign rally for Justin Pearson. Photograph: George Chidi/The Guardian Tennessee legislators swiftly redrew the state’s congressional districts in May after the blockbuster Callais ruling by the US supreme court which effectively dismantled the Voting Rights Act. The redistricting carved the ninth district, the state’s only Democratic district covering a city that has 400,000 Black residents, into three, none of which has a Democratic voting majority. “Memphis, I hope you know that you’re at the epicenter of a storm that’s brewing all over this country,” Lee said, likening the redistricting to the Jim Crow south. “When I can’t afford gas, I don’t need a white paper on affordability ... We have a lot of people who are just hoping that we can just put our heads down and get back to a normal that did not work for Memphis. That n