This Arkansas Town is Falling Apart: West Memphis, Arkansas 4K.

Correction: The murders of the three boys happened in 1993. In the video I say 1994.
West Memphis, Arkansas is going through some tough times. It is economically one of the worst towns in the US. As you can tell from the name, it is a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee, in which it's entire metro area is one of the poorest large markets economically in the country.
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[@FSJPlumcrazy]

So you drove through less than a third of city and created a video of just the lowest class homes and stated: "Well that is West Memphis in a nutshell." How presumptuous of you! That would be like driving around the condemned/demolished blocks of Detroit and using the phrase "This is what all of Detroit looks like." I grew up in West Memphis and while I no longer reside there, it was a good city to escape the high crime of Memphis. But just like every "suburb" of a major city, the criminal element has wormed its way into my hometown. I am not wearing rose-colored glasses. Just want you to know that I have traveled around the world with the military. And in my travels, I cannot count a single place I lived as being crime free or have homes that are full of people that are just getting by. I just ask that if you are going to judge a city, please give the whole view.

[@FelineFe]

@@ChrisHarden i was born and raised in W Memphis and back then alot of people had good jobs in Memphis and lived in W Memphis for the lower taxes, housing, groceries, etc.

[@bamf-gaming805]

Although this is true, and alot of things you said are true but how come you didn't show the west side of town? You took everyone through the east side. "Hood" "other side the track" that's what you showed. You didn't even show the area of the WM3 killings. I live here in West Memphis and live on a much,....prettier side. Loved the video except the part where you left out the whole west side including our college and our small fishing, walking, baseball, softball park.

[@allanboston2963]

Yeah bro you most definitely gotta do another video because you didn’t even show the good side of the city, and being a native I felt offended because although these are facts, this is not a good video to recommend people to visiting to city it actually have very entertaining venues and there are positive things in the city.

[@allanboston2963]

And watching this now what if I showed my friend this video because I wanted to take him to visit my stomping grounds, he wouldn’t wanna come

[@allanboston2963]

I just feel like if you’re gonna make a video about a city show the good side and the bad side if you show the bad first so be it but don’t make the city look like it’s a bad place and it’s not.

[@diycichlidaquarist3645]

I grew up in West Memphis and if you only show one side of the town yea all you’re gonna see is poor neighborhoods. west of Missouri St is actually pretty nice. My mom still lives there And Mayor McClendon is doing great things for West Memphis. This is such a biased slant I am appalled at you. I know negative media sells but can you be unbiased and actually show a total picture of the city instead of trying to push an agenda.

[@ChrisHarden]

Why don’t you live there anymore, DIY?

[@diycichlidaquarist3645]

Nostalgia Tours I moved back to and out of West Memphis many times the first time was because of the military, the second was my ex wife got a job out of town that was better for her career path, the third and final time was I got a transfer to another location to be promoted within the company I was working for. Honestly if My wife would let me move my kids and her down there we probably would be there but she doesn’t want to leave her family.

[@alexandercoffman8319]

@@ChrisHarden -Maybe it is called life, things happen my man.

[@ChrisHarden]

@@alexandercoffman8319 Thanks for the life lesson bub. Have anymore life advice?

[@Dre-fe6mi]

@@ChrisHarden 🤣🤣

[@taronjeroneharris1313]

I'm a lifelong resident of West Memphis, and while I agree that it's not as glamourous as cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Miami, or Dallas, it is home to many good people. No matter where you choose to relocate, there will still be issues. No city is perfect, because nobody is perfect. I work in the school district and earn a fairly decent salary. True enough, I wanted to relocate to the other side of Arkansas when I was younger, but things didn't pan out as I'd hoped. Nevertheless, I am grateful for the life I have here.

[@taronjeroneharris1313]

@@luciajohnson4674 you are so right about that, because the cost of living is relatively low.

[@gg-kq8cy]

Look at my tutor

[@corycarpenter5873]

How did u just put west Memphis in a category with big cities like that? U can't compare that to that. West Memphis has nothing major. No major company headquarters, no downtown area, no mall or nothing. Just flat land with a bunch of gaps and fields. Y'all riding off of Memphis, Tn wave

[@taronjeroneharris1313]

@@corycarpenter5873 considering that you are late to the discussion, I will refrain from a lengthy conversation. However, if you go back and rewatch the video, in addition to rereading my response, you'll be able to gain insight into what I was saying. 🙂

[@tdavis516]

Be it ever so humble,there is no place like home

[@marysorocko5256]

The murder of the 3 boys really hit the town hard and I think it started falling apart after that. The murders took place in May of 1993, not 1994.

[@HundoxBando]

One of those boys stepdad did that to those boys everybody here knows the truth and for the record there’s no dark cloud over this city West Memphis is growing new businesses and restaurants popping up all over also more house are being built along with apartments and renovations to other areas the Mayor before Mr McClendon didn’t care about all sides of the city only “Rich” side that’s why they roads are bad on the North south and Eastside

[@neuvatierra4324]

Why else would he deny not seeing his stepson the day they went missing.

[@tempest9137]

Where's the rest of WM?? This ain't all of it. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@fonzworthbentley7455]

He didn't want to die

[@CowboyBob531]

You got the year wrong when the three little boys were murdered. That incident happened in 1993, I remember because it was just a couple months after my grandmother passed away.

[@ussielvega2728]

Aye homie how abt next time you drive through colonial or Richland school instead of the heart of the hood

[@koko4kosh960]

He is lucky he made it away from Wonder.

[@FelineFe]

i was thinking the same thing!!

[@tdavis516]

I went to Richland School and lived on S.Roselawn pretty nice area.

[@CherishCobbins]

Wow, I didn't think this would be so biased! I mean I understand showing the crappy part of town, but why only show that? Why not show the growth that is also happening everywhere in town, including literally on the street youre driving on? You drove by West Memphis' first medical dispensary, a new library being built... No mention of the new schools that are being built, businesses coming like Chick fil A and Carvana and the 2 other medical dispensaries... Do your thang homie, but damn.

[@ChrisHarden]

Hopefully those new businesses, medical dispensaries and new school buildings do well. If West Memphis can make a comeback, reverse the trend of population loss and solve its crime problem, I’ll come back and do a new video.

[@MsTinkerbelle87]

The grief lingered in that town, it never recovered.

[@Rebelqueen89]

Fantastic Video !! I like your channel very much !

[@rickeyclaiborne5521]

My mom grew up in West Memphis, and yeah. It’s not really what you think it is when you visit there. When she was growing up, most of the blacks lived on one side of town and the whites lived on the other side of town. To me, that’s discrimination of race and yeah, I don’t like that. And there is also high crime rates in the town too, like the WM3. We sometimes go there to visit other family members and yeah, that’s pretty much it.

[@Jeff-gq8sx]

At 11:42 just before you turn left onto Barton you can see the houses that two of the victims of the 1993 triple child murder lived in at the time. Chris Byers lived in the house on the right with the fence around it, and Michael Moore lived in the two story house on the left that you turn towards with the pickup truck in the driveway (11:46). They both went to Weaver Elementary School that you mention and drive by, along with the third victim Stevie Branch. Thanks for the tour.

[@DWhoGames]

My dad was police officer at the time and actually knew I think two of the killers or at least he knew their parents and where they lived

[@thematriarchy2075]

@@DWhoGames He knew the innocent "killers"?

[@joeydrip]

Would I be able to use any of this footage for a project?

[@gl6996]

Back in the day, West Memphis was a great blues music hub. B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Ike Turner all lived here at one time. Elvis did his first radio interview here. And Jerry "the King" Lawler had his first match at the old Avon Theater on Broadway where Sonic is now. I lived here for years, went to college with and played basketball with A LOT of guys here. Graduated from Hughes, though. Big up to West Town!!! 👍🏽😎

[@corycarpenter5873]

Ain't nobody famous from no dam west Memphis

[@gl6996]

@@corycarpenter5873 Hush.

[@corycarpenter5873]

Due all of those ppl are Memphis TN. West Memphis is a little village in Arkansas that's known for nothing but fields and gaps between houses. It look so boring and ugly over there. Nothing looks inspiring. Everybody so poor and act so savage like they ain't used to having nothing. Then y'all so behind on styles and trends. Ain't nobody thinking about no dam Arkansas nowhere in America

[@gl6996]

@@corycarpenter5873 Why are you disobedient? Now hush!!

[@corycarpenter5873]

Lol

[@OLDHEADfromdaSOUF]

You only rode on da Souf side

[@asperbergers7136]

I lived here 10 years ago.. It was an okay city but it was definitely a Memphis metro town.

[@okcontent149]

used to live here. its shitty, but not as shitty as shown here

[@jessicapazo7718]

At the 11th minute, was that the Byers house and the Moores house directly across the street? From all the years of following the story and kind of having a decent photographic memory, from what I saw, it was the 2 houses...it has to be because they were right across from eachother.

[@pigvomit4730]

11:42 Moore left, Byers right - the houses that are adjacent from the angle of this video.

[@cashed-out2192]

Have you done for Marion, yet? I would like to see what that is all about.

[@1Keba]

West Memphis definitely isn’t falling apart!! My father is from there. You passed the house my family grew up in on 17th st. He graduated from Wonder High school. Went to the Navy then moved to Detroit.I have so many family members still there, they love it there. I’m in the process of buying land there now. And I’m going to buy 2 houses. He owns 4 there. West Memphis is gold, don’t sleep on that place. It’s on the come up ❤️

[@mauricemoton1069]

Really? Didn’t know that a town of 25,000 people was on the come up.

[@lifeisgood5162]

Borrow me $40k to buy a house I will pay you at 1.5 interested rate

[@MsTinkerbelle87]

It’s corrupt.

[@alexandercoffman8319]

@@mauricemoton1069 - YES THAT IS POSSIBLE RIGHT? And population is not thee only determining factor on a come-up.

[@mauricemoton1069]

@@alexandercoffman8319 What else determines whether a town is on the come up, Alexander?

[@Unlitedsoul]

Lived in West Memphis as a kid for roughly 3 years. We were well below the poverty line at that time, living in a trailer park located on S. Avalon by an old rundown convenience store/neighborhood grocery and across from Front Street. The place was a rat trap. Apparently it's not there anymore, but the old store is with a new fuel island that wasn't there before. Walked home from school every afternoon, Lillian T Faulk Elementary and half a year at Wonder Junior High. During football season, walked back to a church just a couple of blocks down from Faulk to practice in the big field next to it. Saturdays we played at a football field next to the Christian school on Missouri near the old Pizza Hut. There used to be a Godfather's Pizza near there too, if I recall correctly. The VFW had a public pool that my sister and I frequented during the summers. At least when I played football at Wonder, I didn't have to walk home as practices ran from 3 PM to 6 PM, and my dad was able to pick me up. We moved to the Raleigh area of Memphis around November of 1988, almost a year after West Memphis was hit by a tornado that wrecked about 1/4 of the town just before the winter break was to start, a flood the following week due to heavy rain fall and most of the drainage systems being overloaded with debris, and then a foot of snow the first couple of days of January. We were out of school for about a solid month. From what I see here, the south-side is pretty much exactly as I remember it some 35 years ago. I see a lot of people talking about the east side and rich side of town. The homes directly around Faulk were nice at that time. But I didn't see much of the city north of Broadway unless we were driving by to get to WalMart. Or on the trips to the Church of God whenever the bus came by to pick us up for Bible School. Haven't really been back there, other than travel baseball games back in the early to mid 90s.

[@brandi5730]

Damn it doesn’t look that bad lol I can show you some shit areas of Cincinnati

[@R0BiN0.]

Do a tour of marion 😎

[@ChrisHarden]

Next time I'm down that way I plan on doing so.

[@skeleguns10oooooo10]

West Memphis is part of the Memphis Tennessee metropolitan area. Apparently West Memphis has a similar food desert issue as the city of Memphis south side

[@gg-kq8cy]

That’s crazy now I see people from the outside it’s not as bad as you think I didn’t know we are that poor that’s crazy.

[@cashed-out2192]

WM has an ugly topography

[@cashed-out2192]

WM is the East St. Louis of Illinois.

[@alexandercoffman8319]

Again, Very Much True..

[@cashed-out2192]

@@alexandercoffman8319 🤣🤣💛💛

[@kourtneyswindler8394]

This is my hometown, lived there 20 years. It’ll always be home but the quality of life is poverty level. Sucked having to drive to Memphis for literally everything but the people are full of southern hospitality and I have the best memories growing up!

[@tdavis516]

Were you related to John Swindler?

[@koko4kosh960]

Left when I was 18 only been back once. Greatest decision in my life

[@augustcheney3505]

i hate the way you made my city look. why didn’t you show all the beautiful houses right behind the highschool? disappointing. didn’t even try to show the good parts.

[@ChrisHarden]

Was the neighborhood at the end not a good part?

[@augustcheney3505]

Nostalgia Tours it wasn’t an awful part of town! but there are better looking parts of town for sure.

[@gl6996]

@@ChrisHarden Go down Rice Rd or Clement. Barton and by the college. Or check out the homes at Meadowbrook by the golf course.

[@Livingmydreammm]

My dad died here at a mobile park on Broadway have. The park starts with tge letter L. I want to see this park. He died this past Jan. 😢. Just found out today. They did him wrong. Cremated him stoled all his stuff and never notified his family😢. I won't ever get him or his belongings back. I want to see were he lived. I live in PA. The only memory I would have is were he lived. I hooe your in tge area❤️❤️

[@ChrisHarden]

Sorry to hear that. No I’m not in the area.

[@JbWrld392]

I wonder if west Memphis act like Memphis

[@gl6996]

On a smaller scale...

[@johnellis5820]

Grew up there. Went to Weaver and East Jr High. Rd dirt bikes and built forts at Robin Hood

[@garethadams9441]

Home of Sycho Sid👊

[@cordedrobanks6595]

No sir sid was born and raised in marion i went to school with his son

[@FelineFe]

@@cordedrobanks6595 my best friends mom was friends with him, saw him all the time back in da day!

[@joshjoiner354]

@Cordedro Banks Sid went to Weaver Elementary in West Memphis. My grandma taught him. Born in raised in West Memphis. Gunner is raised in Marion lol

[@fourtywater77]

Its north side and south side. North of Broadway and south of Broadway.

[@songanddancegirl]

The Byers & Moore houses are shown at 11:42 ☹️

[@goosecurne7485]

AT LEASE SHOW THE GOOD HOUSES AN GOOD NEIGHBORHOODS THATS NOT COOL IVE BEEN LIVING HERE MY WHOLE LIFE THATS A PORTION OF WEST MEMPHIS. ALSO SHOWING TAGS ON PPL CARS AN NOT BLOCKING ANYTHING OUT IS ILLEGAL IM QUITE SURE 🙃 SO DONT BASH ANYTHING YOU DONT KNOW anything about just saying 🤔 show us video were you live

[@tdavis516]

I grew up in West Memphis,where the high school is,is the better part of the city.

[@withoutartitwouldallfallap3628]

There's a lot of cheap houses in Arkansas I had saw advertised.

[@abmkane7029]

Lol I see a lot of people I know and you can tell you not from there by the way you driving lol the pd don’t play that

[@cinichols901]

You should come back now

[@FFG_Grandpappy]

Search BlockBabyJay if ur Curious Of How Our Artist Sound And Look🙏🏽

[@robertathomas7723]

West memphis is not good place to stay cause where i stay at walker people in my busy

[@nnmmjjkk53]

He said the misery of WM 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@ernestinalinares3591]

Why did you show one side of west memphis and not the other? We have beautiful homes and parks.

[@user-hc8rh6zxrt1h]

И это Америка?..... На улицах ни одного человека не видно!..... Где дедушки, бабушки, гуляющие с маленькими детьми!?...... Где хоть одна лавочка возле дома!?..... Тоска зелёная ваша Америка!....... Эх!......

[@corycarpenter5873]

West Memphis is not a part of Memphis Tn period. Memphis is in Shelby county. We have the Shelby county jail here. So any city in Shelby county is considered a part of Memphis. Memphis the seat of Shelby county. West Memphis Arkansas is in Crittenden county over there with nothing else. But they stay tryna claim Memphis. They love riding our wave

[@hitek9too255]

It's part of the metro area. That's like saying Wilmington Delaware isn't part of Philadelphia. Just the Philly metro area, so I get it.

[@corycarpenter5873]

@@hitek9too255 it dont matter man. South haven Mississippi is also a a part of the Memphis metro area and its closer to Memphis than West Memphis Arkansas is. But south haven is not memphis. They have their own laws too. Shelby county is all memphis. Thats our jurisdiction. We have no say so on what happens in Arkansas

[@hitek9too255]

@@corycarpenter5873 I get it. It's like Providence, Rhode Island and Manchester, New Hampshire is part of greater Boston metro but they're both a whole hour away from Boston. Massachusetts is a commonwealth, they have their own laws from Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire. Kill Devil Hills, NC is part of the Norfolk, VA metro but it's over a hour and 30 minutes apart. Gary, Indiana is part of the Chicago metro but they have completely different laws and jurisdiction and are two completely different counties. Pennsylvania is part of the NYC metro which is weird. It's funny because a lot of people in Compton, Long Beach, and Inglewood rep LA.

[@hitek9too255]

@@corycarpenter5873 Trust me I get it! No one is going to Camden or Atlantic City, NJ and saying they went to Philadelphia even though they're part of the Philly metro. That wouldn't make sense. It would be foolish for someone from Marion, Arkansas to say they're from Memphis.

[@maribethpoole2621]

I will admit that West Memphis has declined but there are very nice areas that you didn't show. If you're going a paint a picture, paint the whole picture.

[@pwhittyp5365]

Lol I'm from chicago this dont look like anything