Photo: Tennessee Rep. Antonio Parkinson
By Susan Adler Thorp
It’s déjà vu all over again when it comes to the vision of Tennessee state Rep. Antonio Parkinson who again is suggesting that Memphis secede from the State of Tennessee.
To put it mildly, Parkinson is upset that the Tennessee legislature split Memphis’ single 9th Congressional District into three separate districts favoring Republican voters.
Parkinson isn’t alone in his anger. It’s fair to say that a large majority of Memphis residents are angry, too. This politically charged split recklessly carves the former 9th District out from under popular U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat. If Cohen runs again for the 9th congressional seat he has comfortably held for nearly 20 years, he’s likely to go up against another popular elected official, state Sen. Brent Taylor, who’s apt to have the influential support of leading Republicans from here to Mountain City.
Though Parkinson isn’t alone in his anger, he is alone in his suggestion that Memphis secede from Tennessee. If Memphis cuts ties with the state, where does he think we’re going? I can assure you that Mississippi doesn’t want a Democratic stronghold on its northern border. And he can forget about Arkansas since the Mississippi River takes care of that. Maybe New York? California? Canada sounds good to me.
Parkinson has made this ridiculous suggestion before. Eight years ago, when the state legislature cut $250,000 in funding for Memphis in retaliation for removing the Nathan Bedford Forest and Jefferson Davis statues, Parkinson suggested that Memphis secede from Tennessee and form its own state.
That suggestion obviously went nowhere, so now he’s resurrecting the idea, either because this 15-year lawmaker doesn’t know the law or he’s just spouting off for media attention.
According to Tennessee law, a county must be at least 775 square miles before a new county can be spun off from it. The new county must leave at least 500 square miles in the county it is leaving. Shelby County currently has about 785 square miles and Memphis has about 302 square miles. So, if Memphis seceded from Shelby County, that would leave the old county with only 475 miles – about 100 square miles short.
Rep. Parkinson’s suggestion to secede isn’t unique to him nor to Shelby County. Even though the notion of secession faded among most southerners when the Confederacy surrendered 160 years ago, the idea resurfaced in 1990 when a group of well-intentioned citizens proposed combining the city and county school systems.
At the time, Memphis City Schools were mostly black, and Shelby County Schools were mostly white. Suburban politicians were furious with the idea of school consolidation. At the time, Germantown mayor Charles Salvaggio (the father of today’s would-be Germantown mayor Tony Salvaggio) said he’d “fight to the death” before he would accept a combined school system.
As a result, Salvaggio and five other suburban mayors announced plans to secede from Shelby County and form their own county. They even had a name for it: Neshoba County, the same name of the county in Mississippi where three civil rights workers were murdered in 1964. Local history tells us how that ill-conceived threat turned out.
Tennessee officials don’t seem too worried this time about Parkinson’s threat to secede even though Memphis taxpayers contribute a large chunk to the state’s tax base. Parkinson’s idea is good for a sound bite, but otherwise it’s worthless.
Parkinson, a retired firefighter and former Marine, has been a visible and effective representative since 2011 for his constituents who live in Frayser, Raleigh, and Bartlett. Rather than floating silly ideas, he should consider removing his fancy chapeaus and don the idiomatic thinking cap. Serious times and serious issues call for serious and smart people to guide a bewildered and angry constituency through what could arguably be one of the most difficult times for Memphis in the last 150 years.
The voice of the people here is threatened and likely to be seriously diminished in Congress, especially when it comes to the distribution of federal dollars for much-needed local projects — something that Cohen has been successful at doing. Memphis already is treated like a second-class citizen in Nashville. The problem will be compounded unless our political leadership figures a way out of this redistricting mess.
Meanwhile, Cohen knows that elections are a numbers game. If the lawsuits filed in state and federal courts go nowhere, Cohen has a decision to make. (Cohen has announced he will not run.) He can run for the 5th congressional district, the 9th congressional district, or he can retire after a career full of outstanding public service. But Cohen has the juice and interest for at least one more term in Congress and he’s angry enough to bring some powerful and impressive Democrats to Memphis to help him turn out the vote.
And where does this leave Parkinson’s legislative colleague, state Rep. Justin Pearson who’s itching to go to Washington?
At this point, two things seem almost certain. There won’t be a Democratic primary for Congress that pits two strong Democrats like Cohen and Pearson against each other. If I were U.S. Rep. David Kustoff, I’d have someone in the 8th congressional district watch my flank just in case Pearson sneaks up behind him.
And Memphis won’t secede from Shelby County regardless of how hot the topic might be. Shelby County will remain intact with Memphis as its economic anchor for centuries, or maybe longer.
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Susan Adler Thorp is a veteran Memphis journalist. She was former City Hall reporter and political columnist for The Commercial Appeal and is a regular panelist on ABC24’s This Week. She is the owner of Susan Adler Thorp Communications, which advises clients on communication strategies and effective media coverage.
