Oppose renaming Memphis International Airport after Fred Smith
Oppose renaming Memphis International Airport after Fred Smith
The Issue
We are writing to formally oppose renaming Memphis International Airport after Fred Smith, founder of FedEx. Recent revelations demand that we reconsider what and more importantly, who we choose to honor.
When the Department of Justice began releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files, FedEx appeared in 5,872 documents. What the public has seen so far is only 2% of the total files. But that small fraction already raises urgent questions.
According to the International Business Times UK, during Ghislaine Maxwell's 2021 criminal trial, FedEx provided testimony about Epstein's shipping account. A company witness confirmed that invoices tied to this account existed in FedEx's billing systems dating back to the early 2000s. Those invoices became court exhibits. They helped convict Maxwell.
FedEx has known for years that this account belonged to a convicted sex offender. Yet according to investigative reports, at least two shipments were made from Epstein's account in 2024, five years after his death. Those invoices have now mysteriously disappeared.
The files also contain an October 26, 2014 email from Larry Visoski, Epstein's main pilot, informing Epstein that a flight engineer "is able to fly Wednesday to Zorro if needed" but that he had "a commitment on Thursday to fly a FedEx Boeing in Memphis." Zorro Ranch in New Mexico, where investigators finally agreed to search just two days ago, on February 16, 2026.
The invoices and deliveries routed through Memphis to Little Saint James feel endless once you start digging.
However, my concerns about honoring Fred Smith did not begin with the Epstein files. They began with where his money came from.
Fred Smith started FedEx with the inheritance he received from his father. James Frederick Smith (Fred Smith’s father) was a financier for the Tennessee Children's Home Society, an institution that stole children from poor families, mostly in Memphis, and sold them. He owned the Toddle Houses and the Dixie Greyhound Bus Line. He passed in 1948, missing the scandal break. By the 1950s, a powerful PR machine made sure the public looked away. No one was ever held accountable. Only 4 years old when his father passed, he was obviously not involved in the TCHS, but Fred Smith indeed built his empire on the fortune made by James Frederick Smith.
There is one more thread worth pulling. Epstein was involved in the Iran-Contra operation as early as 1981, funneling drugs and guns into poor, predominantly Black neighborhoods. 1983 brought the rise of for-profit prisons. Memphis has never recovered from the damage inflicted then. And while we may never know the extent of anyone’s involvement, we know our city’s airport should not be named after the founder of a company that did business with a sex trafficker of this magnitude.
We cannot keep looking away. Not when the evidence is this public. Not when we know better.
Therefore, we ask two things of the Airport Authority Board:
1. Leave Memphis International Airport as it is. Do not rename it after Fred Smith.
2. Erect a memorial at 1556 Poplar Avenue to honor the children whose lives and futures were stolen by the Tennessee Children's Home Society. Let the truth stand in the light.
The city of Memphis has survived by telling our own stories. This is one more story that needs telling, and one more wrong that needs making right.
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The Issue
We are writing to formally oppose renaming Memphis International Airport after Fred Smith, founder of FedEx. Recent revelations demand that we reconsider what and more importantly, who we choose to honor.
When the Department of Justice began releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files, FedEx appeared in 5,872 documents. What the public has seen so far is only 2% of the total files. But that small fraction already raises urgent questions.
According to the International Business Times UK, during Ghislaine Maxwell's 2021 criminal trial, FedEx provided testimony about Epstein's shipping account. A company witness confirmed that invoices tied to this account existed in FedEx's billing systems dating back to the early 2000s. Those invoices became court exhibits. They helped convict Maxwell.
FedEx has known for years that this account belonged to a convicted sex offender. Yet according to investigative reports, at least two shipments were made from Epstein's account in 2024, five years after his death. Those invoices have now mysteriously disappeared.
The files also contain an October 26, 2014 email from Larry Visoski, Epstein's main pilot, informing Epstein that a flight engineer "is able to fly Wednesday to Zorro if needed" but that he had "a commitment on Thursday to fly a FedEx Boeing in Memphis." Zorro Ranch in New Mexico, where investigators finally agreed to search just two days ago, on February 16, 2026.
The invoices and deliveries routed through Memphis to Little Saint James feel endless once you start digging.
However, my concerns about honoring Fred Smith did not begin with the Epstein files. They began with where his money came from.
Fred Smith started FedEx with the inheritance he received from his father. James Frederick Smith (Fred Smith’s father) was a financier for the Tennessee Children's Home Society, an institution that stole children from poor families, mostly in Memphis, and sold them. He owned the Toddle Houses and the Dixie Greyhound Bus Line. He passed in 1948, missing the scandal break. By the 1950s, a powerful PR machine made sure the public looked away. No one was ever held accountable. Only 4 years old when his father passed, he was obviously not involved in the TCHS, but Fred Smith indeed built his empire on the fortune made by James Frederick Smith.
There is one more thread worth pulling. Epstein was involved in the Iran-Contra operation as early as 1981, funneling drugs and guns into poor, predominantly Black neighborhoods. 1983 brought the rise of for-profit prisons. Memphis has never recovered from the damage inflicted then. And while we may never know the extent of anyone’s involvement, we know our city’s airport should not be named after the founder of a company that did business with a sex trafficker of this magnitude.
We cannot keep looking away. Not when the evidence is this public. Not when we know better.
Therefore, we ask two things of the Airport Authority Board:
1. Leave Memphis International Airport as it is. Do not rename it after Fred Smith.
2. Erect a memorial at 1556 Poplar Avenue to honor the children whose lives and futures were stolen by the Tennessee Children's Home Society. Let the truth stand in the light.
The city of Memphis has survived by telling our own stories. This is one more story that needs telling, and one more wrong that needs making right.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on February 18, 2026