“Not Giving Up”: Expelled Black Tennessee Lawmakers Are Reinstated as Movement for Gun Control Grows
As the world watched, the Shelby County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to reappoint Justin Pearson to the Tennessee House of Representatives, less than a week after the Republican-led House voted to expel him and fellow state Representative Justin Jones from the body for joining peaceful protests against gun violence after the school massacre in Nashville. Pearson and Jones were the two youngest Black lawmakers in the Tennessee House. The Nashville Metropolitan Council unanimously voted Monday to restore Jones to office, and he was sworn in Tuesday. Pearson is being sworn back in today. We feature their remarks at the vote and rally Tuesday in Memphis.
The GOP Kicked Justin Jones Out of the Tennessee House. Two Days Later, He’s Back.
Rep. Justin Jones was sworn in last night, and a vote on the seat vacated by former Rep. Justin Pearson is set for Wednesday.
Mother Jones on Instagram: "NEW: “I feel like North Korea has more democracy than we do in the state of Tennessee, and it’s terrifying to me that we’re in this march to fascism,” Tennessee state representative Gloria Johnson told Mother Jones’s @garrisonh today, in an exclusive sit-down interview in Nashville. “And it seems like the Tennessee supermajority is leading the charge.”
While the nation’s gaze was fixated on a singular event this week—the unprecedented arrest and arraignment of a former president in downtown Manhattan—another critical stress test for democracy was unfolding at the Tennessee State Assembly. Republicans introduced resolutions to expel three opposition lawmakers, citing “disorderly behavior”.
The threats stemmed from a tidal wave of outrage following last week’s mass shooting at Nashville’s Covenant Elementary, which claimed the lives of six people, including three children. Just days later, hundreds of anguished students orchestrated a school walk-out and marched on the Capitol en masse, demanding gun reform in a vibrant show of solidarity. Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones, and Justin Pearson stepped up to the chamber’s well to express their unwavering support for the demonstrators, with the help of a bullhorn.
The act of defiance prompted House Speaker Cameron Sexton to assert that the representatives would face “consequences,” likening their actions to the Capitol insurrection on January 6.
Johnson told Garrison she’s going to fight every step of the way. “When my folks sent me here, they knew I was vocal, and they knew I would stand up and I would be their voice,” she said. “And that’s why they sent me here. There’s no question about that. Everybody in the state knows that.”
The trio was subsequently stripped of their committee assignments and now faces the risk of an ouster as early as Thursday. The student-led protests have only continued.
We’ll keep posting video from the interview and the scene in Nashville as it unfolds.
Stay tuned for more video from the interview, as Garrison probes what happens next, and asks Johnson her to share her message to families affected by the Nashville shooting."
26K Likes, 962 Comments - Mother Jones (@motherjonesmag) on Instagram: "NEW: “I feel like North Korea has more democracy than we do in the state of Tennessee, and it�..."
Expulsion of Tennessee Lawmakers Jeopardizes Democracy
Yesterday in the United States, the Tennessee House of Representatives voted to expel Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two Black lawmakers from the democratic party, for peacefully protesting congressional inaction on gun violence in the wake of a recent school shooting in Nashville.
‘Farce of Democracy’: Tennessee Republicans Just Expelled 2 Black Democrats for a Peaceful Protest
Republicans voted to kick Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson out of the legislature, while a vote to oust Rep. Gloria Johnson failed by one vote.
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