Memphis restaurant owner defends denying service to National Guard member

https://www.actionnews5.com/2026/07/15/memphis-restaurant-owner-defends-denying-service-national-guard-members/

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Under state and federal law, it is legal for private businesses to refuse service based on customers’ occupations. The Civil Rights Act does, however, prohibit the refusal of service based on other factors such as race, religion, disability, or age.

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On Saturday night we declined to serve four uniformed members of the Memphis Safe Task Force, and I stand behind that decision completely.

I love this country and I love this city, and that is exactly why I made this call. I want Memphis to be safe. Every business owner does. And the honest truth is that Memphis was already getting safer before this Task Force ever arrived. Crime was at a 25-year low through the first eight months of 2025, according to the Memphis Police Department’s own data, later confirmed by an independent Tennessee Bureau of Investigation audit. That progress was earned by the people of this city. It was not delivered by soldiers.

What the Task Force has actually done is make this city harder to live in. Its own records show that the overwhelming majority of its arrests began with routine traffic stops, not violent crime. Families in this city are now afraid to drive to work, afraid to take their kids to school, afraid to be seen. Our own schools reported that fear drove children to stop showing up to class. And this month a 20-year-old Memphian named Tyrin Johnson was shot and killed by National Guard troops during a foot chase, with no body camera footage and no answers for his family. None of that makes us safer. It makes us less safe, and it does the most damage to the people who were already struggling.

More at link.