How political narratives drive our laws

Last December, I was sifting through sweaters at T.J. Maxx in Hixson when the woman standing next to me whispered, “They come in here and steal whole armfuls of stuff. Nobody stops them.” I followed her gaze toward an empty clothing rack on the next aisle. Ten feet away, lanyard-wearing employees were moving end-of-season merchandise onto rolling carts. It took me a minute to understand that “they” equaled the hoodie-wearing thieves who’d gone viral on right-wing media for swarming Apple stores in California.

A few days later, in Coolidge Park, Tim and I crossed paths with a young woman taking photos of the Hunter Museum. When Tim complimented her 35mm camera, she said her husband had given it to her for Christmas. She’d driven up from Northwest Georgia to use it. 

“It’s so gorgeous outside,” she said. “I just told him, ‘You know what? I’m doing it. I’m going to Chattanooga.’” Her resolute tone confused me until she explained that her husband hadn’t wanted her coming downtown alone, even in the daytime. He was worried about the crime.

She was clearly worried too. When Tim suggested she could get better pictures from the Walnut Street Bridge, she shook her head. There were rough people up there, she said.

Property crime is a real problem. So is violent crime, particularly in Tennessee. But thanks to local TV news (“If it bleeds, it leads”), and especially to right-wing media and politicians who exploit fear to push an agenda, people’s perception of those problems often doesn’t reflect the reality on the ground. 

Rather than investing in proven crime-prevention strategies—even indirect ones like Medicaid expansion—the Tennessee General Assembly has chosen an ineffective, fear-based response: punish harder. In 2022, for example, it reduced parole opportunities with a “Truth in Sentencing” law. Legal experts have suggested the law will do more harm than good.

Some incarcerated people can’t be rehabilitated or safely paroled. But in Tennessee, that’s not all or even most of them. If the Volunteer State were a country, it would have the ninth-highest incarceration rate in the world. 

What a boon for CoreCivic, Tennessee’s for-profit prison company. It has invested in the political campaigns of most of Hamilton County’s Republican legislators, including my opponent’s.

 If we want a government that solves our real problems, we have to get the fear factor—and corporate money—out of our politics.

If you want compassion and common sense in state government, please join my campaign! Click to donate, volunteer, or get a yard sign.

Allison
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