5 vie to represent Shelby County’s District 7
Where and what is District 7?
District 7 encompasses Midtown, Frayser, Overton and North Memphis and is home to more than 69,000 people. The district stretches east to Harrison Creek, west to I-40, north to the Loosahatchie River Drainage Canal and south to Poplar Ave. Current District 7 Commissioner Tami Sawyer, who has held the position since 2018, is not running for reelection.
The winner of this primary will likely face Shirelle-dakota Brown, an independent candidate seeking the Shelby County Commission seat representing District 7.
Who are the candidates? What are their platforms?
Cartavius Black is a teacher, born and raised in Memphis. He has never held public office, but he said he uses his career as a teacher to hone his leadership skills.
“As a 29-year-old professional, my youthful exuberance and fresh ideas are precisely what our county's government needs to propel us into the future.
“I'm interested in serving on the commission primarily for two reasons. One, to provide hope to Memphians of all walks of life that our shared future is bright, and two, to bridge the gaps between demographics in our city. Essentially, I got tired of seeing the inequity that negatively affects the children and families I serve go unchecked. For far too long, decisions have been made that impact all, but seemingly disregard the needs of children and young adults. With a position in our local government, I'll have a seat at the table to advocate for the needs of those that will shape this city, state, and nation's future.”
Henri E. Brooks has served as a Tennessee House Representative for 14 years. In 2006, Brooks was elected to the Shelby County Board of Commissioners to represent District 2 and served for eight years. During her time in office, Brooks filed a complaint to the Supreme Court based on the constitutional rights violations of black children in juvenile court. Now retired, Brooks hopes to come back to politics to institute accountability and equity in District 7.
“I'm committed to accountability, transparency and equity, and that could be applicable to applicable countywide,” she said. “I'm wanting to be a part of the solutions that are needed to make it better . ... When I was on the county commission, I found that there was no oversight of the performance results of county-funded agencies and divisions, and they just were not performing. We didn't know how they work, because there was no oversight. And I think that's really important because we are giving them taxpayers dollars.
“As a county commissioner. I will continue my town hall meetings. I will continue my forums, seminars to educate and to inform my constituents. We've found that in the community there is not equity in community and economic development. We take a look at the core city and that shows you that there's an imbalance there. We need to have equitable access to county services and funding. That's very evident in the core city. We need to have equity in employment practices, that's very evident in county government. We need to have culturally competent community engagement on projects that impact the lives of the people we're supposed to serve, and I haven't seen that. to tell you the truth, and I don't want to be one that complains. I'm not going to complain: I want to be a part of the solution.”
Althea E. Greene is a lifelong Memphian currently serving as vice chair of the Shelby County School Board. Green has spent 32 years as an educator at Memphis Shelby County Schools and is now retired. She believes that her experience in education on the administrative and ground-level qualify her to prioritize education and youth gun violence.
“The reason why I'm running for District 7 Shelby County Commissioner is because I realized we were losing five valuable commissioners who have all been very supportive of education in Memphis, Shelby County. I understand the budget process. I understand what we need as a school district in order to maintain, in order to reimagine 901.
With the experience that I've gotten from the last three years, I thought that I needed to move up from the Shelby County School Board and serve as the Shelby County Commissioner to make sure that education would remain a priority and make sure that funding would be there for Shelby County Schools. My second [priority] was just being concerned about crime and gun control, and having more programs to do wraparound services for young people.”
Kathy Temple is a sixth-generation resident of the Douglass community in North Memphis. She serves as executive director of The Time is Now Douglass Redevelopment Corp. and lead community corrector for the Center for Transforming Communities, Temple also organized a volunteer blight crew, which hires residents in the Douglass community to address blight and overgrown lots.
Temple said she is running because District 7 is “not getting the attention it needs from the State or County; pollution, poverty, addiction, and crime are increasing, and it's not getting better. We need new ways to solve these old problems. Nothing is working. We need to try working side by side with the community members and hear from people that have been in this community forever and are directly affected by these issues. We need more community advocacy and fewer politics as usual in our district.”
Orrden Williams is from Whitehaven. He had previously run for Tennessee House of Representatives District 88 in 2016 and 2020.
Williams' goals for the position vary by neighborhood. For Midtown, his priority focus on decreasing the number of overdose deaths. For Frayser and North Memphis, he intends to focus on drag racing and illegal dumping.
“This my platform, trying to bring an order back to those parts,” Williams said. “They want Memphis, the county to get serious about picking up trash around here. They want Fraser to look like they used to look. They're tired of being neglected. They're not just overlooked. They want somebody who's going to get up there and fuss for them. And so that's why I'm their champion right now.