Rep. Karen Camper, a Memphis native, is the first African-American woman to lead a caucus in the history of Tennessee’s General Assembly. Leader Camper has served her constituents in the 87th District since 2008. She is taking her leadership experience and running for Mayor for Memphis!
Welcome Leader Camper! Introduce yourself to the Bluff City Magazine family.
Thank you! I currently serve as the House Minority Leader in the Tennessee General Assembly. I am a mother and grandmother. I'm a member of New Beginning All Life Ministries, where I serve as an usher. I am a graduate of South Side High School. I attended UT Knoxville but I got recruited into the Army and I retired as a Chief Warrant Officer (CW3).
Why were you recruited from college to go into the army?
I majored in computer science at UT. I thought I'd work for IBM or Texas Instruments or something like that. I ended up in military intelligence because of my math/computer science background and analytical skills. I didn't know anything about military intelligence but I ended up having an illustrious career. I got to see the world, experience things and meet people that as a young lady from Memphis, Tennessee, didn't even know existed. It broadened my horizons.
I ended my career as a Chief Warrant Officer. I entered the Army at a higher rank and was well on my way to making sergeant major, which was my goal. I made sergeant first class in a record time but realized that becoming a warrant officer would open so many doors. After I was pinned for my sergeant's first-class stripes, I left the next day to attend warrant officer school.
As a resident of Memphis, what do you love so much about our city?
I love the culture of the city! I really love the people of Memphis because they make our community what it is. Memphis is big enough to be a big city, but it retains a small-town feel. You can do all the things you want, like enjoying our theaters, parks, and great restaurants. We have a “can do” spirit here: we are tough and tenacious. We grind. I love coming home. I've traveled the world. I've been to four different continents, fifteen different countries, 47 of the 50 states, but I still love coming home to Memphis.
Memphis is definitely one of a kind. You have represented District 87 in Memphis since 2008. What are some things you've accomplished in that role?
One of the major things I am really proud of is a bill I passed that gave people an opportunity to have a second chance in life. I was the first person to pass the expungement bill in the state of Tennessee, I was told I couldn't do it and it would not happen, but like we just said: I’m from Memphis! I made a point to find a colleague across the aisle whose community was experiencing the same things we were experiencing in our community, where people needed an opportunity to get their life back in order after paying their debt to society. I passed the expungement bill at a time when people didn't want it to happen. But now it's a great thing and people see the value of it. We have more expungement clinics now and I am very proud of that effort. That bill was passed in 2012. Since then, we've added more prior offenses that allow people to get their records expunged.
I also passed a bill that established a certificate of employability. It established a record of someone who had done everything the courts had asked of them to reestablish them in society after serving their sentence. As mayor, I will work closely with stakeholders to reintegrate people back into our society. We have too many citizens who are one step away from being able to contribute to our community and a pool of workers who could help make Memphis even better. The mayor is key in making sure that our citizens have the opportunities to make their lives better. I believe that I have a unique skill set and resume of working to make things happen and bringing together very different groups to get the job done.
I also passed bills to make Rosa Parks Day and Juneteenth state holidays. It’s so very important we recognize and honor the history of those who made our lives possible and fought to establish the rights we enjoy today.
As a legislator, you champion public education, criminal justice reform, and health care issues. What has improved since your advocacy of those matters?
With respect to education, I will say there has been a lot more funding for education. I remember under the old formula, there was always this concern that we were underfunding it, and we were. We were not fully funding the formula. But one of the things that bothered me for a long time was this overemphasis on going to college, which is great. But I also felt like we should have had that same energy for our technical certification type of careers as well. So, we've been able to move the needle on creating other paths for our young people to have rewarding and lucrative careers. I want every Memphian—no matter where they are in life—to have access to educational and career opportunities to better themselves.
With respect to health care, we fought vigorously to expand Medicaid here in the state of Tennessee and it has not happened yet. We are leaving billions of dollars on the table that could help hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans. As mayor, I will work with the legislature and our congressional partners to bring much-needed healthcare funding to our city. Our hospital system is one of the biggest economic drivers in the city.
I fully support funding for research into sickle cell anemia, which is close to my family. I also support St. Jude Children’s Hospital and its expansion downtown. Some of the expansion you see now is because of things we've done at the state level. You can go anywhere in the world and people know St. Jude and its amazing work.
In 2018, you were elected to be the leader of the Tennessee House Democratic Caucus, is that right? You were also the first African American leader in the Tennessee House of Representatives.
Yes! I was the first Black person and the first Black woman.
When I came into the legislature, I was appointed as an assistant Democratic whip. A whip is a person who has to know the history of all the bills and assist fellow caucus members with their votes. I was an assistant when I first came in and I learned quickly. From that, I really got interested in understanding how things work. I eventually just ran for different positions, such as treasurer and floor leader; I wasn't thinking about being a caucus leader at the time. I happened to be at an event, accepting an award on behalf of the Honorable Lois DeBerry, who was one of my mentors. She taught me so much about how to be an effective representative and was so generous with her time and advice. She broke so many ceilings for me and established a seat at the table for Black women. While accepting that award I thought about her legacy and asked myself what she would do. I had established relationships and developed the necessary skills to lead my caucus and had that ambition so I went for it. It was tough but my members blessed me with the vote.
You’ve announced your candidacy for Mayor. For those that may not be familiar with your background and resume, let's talk about your experience on the local, state, and federal levels so people get a feel of why they should vote for you as Mayor.
Well, I started out when I retired and came home from the army. I was part of my neighborhood association. I was working in my neighborhood, trying to get things done, trying to keep our community clean, trying to make sure that the city was cutting trees or whatever they needed to do in my very small neighborhood. Then I was also involved in my local party as a volunteer. I would see a role open and then fill it. My mother says I volunteer too much. She said I always volunteered as a kid when I was in high school. I was always raising my hand, and I guess I still am.
I was also a substitute teacher for seven years. In substituting, I could see the things that our kids were dealing with, some of the concerns that they had about their community and their futures. But it gave me insights into our system and into what our children were dealing with and experiencing.
In my nonprofit, Humble Hearts Foundation, we focused on youth who wanted to be in the performing arts. We taught them the business behind the business of the entertainment industry. They came because they wanted to rap, write, sing, and perform. When we got them there, we were teaching them what it meant to be in this business—everything from copywriting to management, and financial planning. We worked with a lot of young people and it was very successful. Many community centers had a lot of programs for sports, which is great. But a lot of kids weren't into sports, so this was a home for them. When they came, everything had to be on a positive note.
There were times when you had different gang members in the same room, but they were writing music, they were making music, and they checked it at the door. It was no problem. But once you get them, then you can mentor them, you can talk to them, you can move them, you can educate them.
I was volunteering for Congressman Harold Ford Jr. as he ran for the United States Senate. I worked at the polls and spent a lot of time interacting with voters. Something just said, Karen, you got to run for office. That's what made me decide to run for city council. The first time I ran for office, I didn't win. But people are always watching. They see your integrity, they see how hard you work, they see the energy you put into your campaign, and they see how well you work with people. When Rep. Gary Rowe passed in the seat I hold now, they were looking for someone for the appointment and I was selected. People were saying, we need somebody with your integrity, your experience in the State House. I got the appointment and to God be the glory, I'm still serving. As with every other new opportunity in life, I threw myself into my office and worked hard to learn the job. At every level I have made sure that I will not be outworked by anyone. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll find it and I will complete the mission.
As it relates to your candidacy for mayor, what is your platform and what are you looking to implement and change for the betterment of our city?
One of the things that I'm most concerned about is public safety. A lot of times we hear people talk about crime reduction, and that's true, we need to reduce crime. But public safety takes on a much broader meaning. You have to intervene and prevent things like we did with the Humble Hearts program so that our young people are not going down this path. We've got to come together with a comprehensive public safety plan and strategy that looks at the entire ecosystem. We’ve got to look at law enforcement. We’ve got to look at a partnership with the DA's office, the courts, nonprofits, churches, with every single element within our community so that everybody is brought into it and we're all working in unison to change. And it is very important to cover the basics: filling potholes, picking up the trash, etc. Our infrastructure needs investment and we have to do the basics well.
People want a clean and well-run Memphis. This is our city: we own it, and we need to have pride in ownership. We need to invest in our infrastructure and in our neighborhoods. We have a lot of inner-city neighborhoods that have not been invested in for a very long time. We have got to change that because those residents want the same thing any other community has. They want their neighborhood to be just as nice, vibrant, and accessible, with grocery stores, banks, and access to health care.
I believe Memphis and Shelby County will be transformed with Ford and SK Battery, also known as Blue Oval City. We have to prepare our people for those jobs, but we also have to get them to those jobs. There was a complete transport transportation study done and I was responsible for getting funding in the budget to make sure that that study was done.
If you live on Third and Stateline, how are you going to get to that job up there? Once you get that job, you still want to come home to a vibrant community. We've got to make those communities and neighborhoods a place where people want to stay and their children can stay. That's going to help us rebuild our tax base.
When people leave Memphis, it erodes our tax base. If we were to keep the same level of service, then we'd end up having to raise our taxes. How do we prevent that? We need to bring people back home to Memphis, but it has to be a neighborhood that they want to be proud of and also have good corporate partners who are just as invested and involved as our citizens in the success of Memphis. That is how we become that great city on the river that we know that we are.
Do you think that your military background can help with public safety prevention?
The military gave me an education and structure that it unique among all the candidates for mayor. It is a unique resume and base of experience. It gives you the leadership you need to buy into your strategy, where everybody is a part of the mission, and that mission is keeping the people of Memphis safe. Then you recognize in that mission who has the strengths, knowledge, expertise, and subject matter expertise, to get it done. I'm sure that my military background is definitely going to help me to that end because when I presented plans options to generals; you need to have your stuff together. My team and I had to present three courses of action. If that first course of action doesn't work, you still have a fallback position to accomplish the mission. I will always focus on the mission of making Memphis the best city it can be.
In an article in the commercial appeal, you quoted that our police department is understaffed and underpaid. How can that be improved?
We know it is understaffed from studies that have shown if we had X amount of police officers, we could reduce crime by X amount. We need more officers but we also need more community policing, where officers are part of the community and not just patrolling it. This gives citizens a feeling of credibility with their police department. People know who they are.
This goes back to creating a tax base to be able to fund what we need for our police officers. With low staffing and the tremendous amount of work and long hours that's put on our police, morale could get low. People begin to leave and go to other law enforcement agencies because of the nature of the job here in Memphis. So we've got to be able to invest in our communities, bring people back into the city, where we can afford to not only train but also retain our law enforcement officers. This also goes for our firefighters and EMS personnel.
People would tell you, they come to Memphis, they get trained because they know the training is superb, and then they eventually go somewhere else. We have one of the best crime-solving rates in the country. Most people don't know that about our police force here. But we've got to keep them here because they want to do the work. We have to apply for and implement those grants offered at the state and federal levels for law enforcement and first responders. I will say the governor put in the budget this year for grant funding to the police department to be able to do some intervention and preventive type of measures.
And the next mayor will come into office with the Department of Justice looking into our police department and the practices that need to be reformed. It will take a unique leader to work with all the stakeholders involved. I believe I am that leader.
There are a total of 20 candidates running for Mayor. How do you feel about that?
We have a lot of good people who want to be mayor. I'm not going to presuppose I have every answer because the people on the ground are the people that know what Memphis needs. I want to hear from them and be their voice in City Hall. What is going to make your Memphis a great Memphis? And how can we all come together to make sure that these things happen for our great Memphis? As a career soldier and officer and a leader in the statehouse, I have a track record for bringing together those with differing ideas to form a consensus. I can create a plan and get ‘buy-in’ from the stakeholders to implement a successful plan. After I retired from the military I could have gone anywhere but I wanted to come back to where it all started for me. I wanted to be in Memphis and I will be here for the rest of my life. I love this city and I want it to be a place for generations to come to thrive.
Is it unusual for a female to enter the race at such a crucial time in our city?
No, it's not. Well, back in 1987, if my memory serves me correctly, Minerva Johnican ran, and she was an outstanding candidate. As a woman then, that was a bold move to make.
If you go over to the women's suffrage trail, she's there. She is there and she mentored and trained many of us coming up. As a matter of fact, she, Lois DeBerry, and Maxine Smith, all three of them are over there at that monument. All three of them were trailblazing women and inspirations to me.
But I do feel that my sense of what I'm hearing in the community is it's time for a woman. It's time. I'm that woman because I have the experience, the leadership, and the background in the military. I have been serving at the State House for 15 years. I understand how government works. I think leadership matters. I think experience matters a lot when you're talking about leading a city forward. That's why I feel like I have what it takes. I have what it takes to move this city forward.
I got this idea from a gentleman; his name is Ty Cobb. Ty had this vision and actually put it into place for a while. It was running over at the Kroc Center. It's called Vo Tech zone. The kids come to have fun. When you get them, they're learning. There are 22 different careers in there. Here's an example, let's say you want to be a culinary artist. Well, it's set up like the CHOPPED TV Show. That's fun. You're competing, but you're preparing food for the venue, and you’ve got the whole TV little production crew coming over and filming them. They're learning culinary arts, but they're learning TV and film production. That's two different careers right there. Ideas like this from our citizens are what make our community unique.
Is there a Republican in the race at this moment?
It is a non-partisan race.
Do you have a motto or slogan for your campaign?
Ready4Camper.
My motto—which I have lived by since the early 80s—is if you know, teach. If you don't know, learn. I don't mind teaching and educating people. Once I learn something, I want to share it with you because I think it'll help. If I don't know, I will find the answer. I'm going to learn about that so that it helps build me as a person. When I'm making very key decisions in difficult moments, I can use my own motto. If I don't know about it, I'm going to learn about it so that I can make a very informed decision and make the best decisions for Memphis. My life experience and my career experience come down to one word: tenacity. I promise the voters of our city that I will never quit on them. We will work until we succeed together.
