#Memphis

Rob Bellingerrbellinger
2025-12-07

Retracing and mapping my last (2019) visit to and I can’t wait to go back

#Memphis #PoliceState

"In Memphis, volunteers document Task Force arrests and provide aid to those left behind

MEMPHIS — The alert went out to volunteers at about 8 p.m. on a Friday: a woman hiding in a closet with her twin toddlers was on the phone to a community hotline unsure what to do as dozens of federal and local law enforcement officers converged outside, demanding entry.

Yuleiny Escobar, a volunteer for Vecindarios 901, which operates the hotline, hustled over to the woman’s home, located in the same heavily Latino Berclair neighborhood as her own.

A tow truck driver blocked the road leading to the house at the request of law enforcement, blaring the pro-police anthem, 'Bad Boys.' By the time Escobar reached the home, a Border Patrol officer and a U.S. Marshal each held a toddler in one arm as their mother was placed inside an unmarked SUV. Holes in the home’s windows marked entry points for chemical agents that had been thrown inside to force the family out, neighbors told Escobar.

Escobar pulled out her phone and began recording.

'These are scenes people need to see, as a reflection of our state and our country right now,' Escobar said.

Thousands of Memphians now rely on the videos, photos and eyewitness reports by volunteers with Vencendarios 901 — V901 for short — to chronicle the activities of the Memphis Safe Task Force, the multi-agency law enforcement force launched Sept. 15 by President Donald Trump.

V901 was established as a rapid response network to report on Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities during the first Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. In Trump’s second term, the all-volunteer V901 has kicked into high gear.

Seven years ago, V901 received three to five calls per day from Memphis residents reporting immigration enforcement activities to its hotline, said Hunter Demster, a longtime local activist who co-founded the effort seven years ago with Maria Oceja, a community organizer.

'Now we’re getting up to 140 calls a day,' he said. 'The vast majority of calls are people scared to leave their houses or pulled over. But we’ve also pushed this number out at community events and, now, the average person sees something and calls us.'"

blknewsnow.com/in-memphis-volu

Liam O'Mara IV, PhDLiamOMaraIV
2025-12-04

The came together on in 1956, at the in , . Early rock giants , , , and came together for a , The full recording is available on a four-disc set.

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