Rick was charging his phone at an outdoor power outlet near the Renasant Convention Center downtown recently when two public security officers approached him. They told him he had to move — and that if he didn’t, they would call the police.
“I ain’t even did nothing. I was just charging my phone,” he told MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, adding that the officers didn’t instruct him on where to go or offer him any resources. But Rick has a clean criminal record and is eager to keep it that way. So he gathered his things and moved along.
Rick, who did not provide his last name, is just one of the many unhoused people who stay in and around downtown Memphis. In recent weeks, he says he has noticed an uptick in police and security officers approaching and relocating unhoused people in the area…