On Monday, President Trump signed an order to dispatch the reserve military force into Tennessee's second largest city to combat a crime rate that he says is higher than the national average.
With Governor Bill Lee (R) and other Republican state leaders in the Oval Office, Trump said troops would be deployed and join a special task force comprised of officials from various federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
"This task force will be a replica of our extraordinarily successful efforts here," the president said of the District of Columbia. "You'll see it's a lot of the same thing."
Bishop Vincent Mathews, an ambassador with the Project 21 Black Leadership Network who leads the Global Kingdom Network in the Memphis area, calls it "a complicated move."
"It is clear to everyone in this area that the crime in Memphis is beyond the pale," he accounts. "It is inexcusable, and something has to be done. The state police has been here. FBI has been here. I just pray that this can help."
With the dispute between the city and the police and fire department unions, he says many people are just concerned about what happens systemically beyond the National Guard's stay.
Regardless, Mathews says the Church must be a big part of the solution.
"We're as a Church … seeking to build families and bring back biblical values and a Christian worldview," the bishop relays. "One thing is for sure: the Church can't go anywhere. We can't retreat. We gotta push forward."
"Prayerfully, after this, we can continue to circle the wagons and really rebuild our community, and Memphis can be a shining hope and not a blight on the nation," he adds.
While acknowledging the city remains high on too many "bad lists," Democratic Mayor Paul Young (pictured above) has pushed back on the announcement, telling a news conference Friday, "I did not ask for the National Guard, and I don’t think it's the way to drive down crime."
Trump's presidential memorandum did not include details on when troops would be deployed or exactly what his promised surge in law enforcement efforts would look like, though it specified that some out-of-state help might be available, including state police in Memphis-bordering Mississippi and Arkansas and National Guard members from other states as necessary.
Chicago is expected to be the National Guard's next stop.
