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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A pastor is pushing back on claims that his city is America's "murder capital," arguing that national crime statistics and media rhetoric distort reality.

"Memphis is not the murder capital of the United States," Pastor Keith Norman of First Baptist Church Broad in Memphis told Fox News Digital . "I don't find Memphis to be a threatening place at all. I find it to be a place that I love to call home."

When FBI Director Kash Patel described Memphis as the "homicide capital of America" in May, Norman bristled.

"When you take a high-profile person … to come out and say it in a national forum on a national news program, it really does have a negative impact," Norman said. It affects the economy, tourism and

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