The white-majority, GOP-dominated Tennessee House of Representatives expelled two Black lawmakers Thursday (but kept one white lawmaker on the same offenses) as the country looked on.
The Memphis Flyer will capture as many reactions to the news here as we can. This thread will be updated as reactions come in throughout the day.
Reverend Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network:
“The Tennessee House’s decision to remove two Black legislators who exercised their right to free speech was a plain and simple attack on our democracy. How can you remove these lawmakers, who spoke for thousands of Black Tennesseans living under the threat of gun violence every day, but stop short of removing their white colleague and deny this is a racist action? The National Action Network stands with our Nashville Chapter in supporting their fundamental right to protest, especially against the gun violence that consistently and persistently impacts Black communities.”
JB Smiley, Memphis City Council member
“The Shelby County Commission must immediately return Representative Justin J. Pearson to the Tennessee General Assembly. This is a sad day for Tennessee. The Republican super majority in the Tennessee General Assembly has put its knee on the neck of democracy in this state and in this country. I hope people will hold the dishonorable representatives who voted to expel Representative Pearson accountable for their actions and recognize that they have a total disregard for the thousands of constituents affected by such actions.”
Joint statement by Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition Votes; Tequila Johnson, executive director, Equity Alliance Action Fund; and Tikeila Rucker, political organizer, MemphisForAll:
“The power of our democracy is that the people choose our leaders to represent us, not the other way around. Our communities came together to elect Representatives Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones, and Justin J. Pearson because they are bold, progressive champions and we knew they would fight to make sure our families have opportunities to thrive. We knocked on thousands of doors, called voters across the state, and elected leaders that listened to our voices and represented our communities.
“But in the face of the growing political power of Black and brown communities, the power-hungry supermajority is doing everything they can to silence our voices and disenfranchise our communities, including ousting two young black men who were duly elected. Expelling Justin Jones and Justin J. Pearson is an unprecedented power grab that directly undermines our democracy, but it isn’t their first attack. They redrew congressional maps to break up Nashville to dilute the growing power of black and brown communities. They shrunk the size of the Nashville metro council from 40 to 20 members, forcing the city to redraw districts, eliminating leaders that represent our communities and throwing the city into political chaos. They’re coming after local authority in every city that dares challenge them. All of these attacks are tied together. They saw our power, and they’re doing everything they can to stop it.
“And let us not forget what started all of this: the House GOP’s refusal to take action to protect our children from gun violence in the wake of the terrible tragedy at the Covenant School last week. They want to distract and divide us with political stunts instead of focusing on making our schools safe.
“But we aren’t backing down. We are registering voters and organizing our communities to turn out for every election and elect leaders that will build a state that works for all of us. Just like we came together to elect Representatives Jones and Pearson the first time, we will keep showing up to elect champions, hold our government accountable, and pass policies that help our families thrive and keep our children safe. Tennessee is on the front lines of defending our democracy in this country. For years our movements have been fighting to defend and build a truly multiracial and pluralistic democracy in our state — and we won’t give up now.”
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen:
“As a longtime state Senator and current member of Congress, I appreciate that certain rules of decorum are necessary for conducting the people’s business in our state legislature. But I view the expulsion votes today as a provocative and disproportionate response to the breach of House rules prompted by the emotions triggered by last week’s Covenant School shooting.
“I was pleased to see the effort to expel Representative Johnson fail. I wish cooler heads would have prevailed and prevented the disenfranchisement of the citizens of Memphis and Nashville the expulsions create, in addition to the special expense state taxpayers will now have in scheduling primary and general elections. Debate on the proper response to gun violence is an essential part of the democratic process. Today’s votes were an embarrassing stain on an important democratic institution.”
The Black Southern Women Collaborative:
“The expulsion of Black legislators is an unacceptable travesty that should not be tolerated in a democracy. Black people from Memphis and Nashville now have no representative in the House of Representatives. This comes at a time when one in five Black people in Tennessee cannot vote due to felony disenfranchisement. Most of the folks are in Memphis. Additionally, Tennessee voters are being purged from the voting rolls and most of the impacted people are in Memphis and most are Black.
“Jones and Pearson were willing to enact the will of the communities that elected them, and now they have been removed. There can be no confusion; this is not only an attack on democracy, but also an attack on Black people.
“Justin Pearson is an activist and organizer who worked to oppose an oil pipeline in his community. He is concerned not only about the environment, but gun violence; issues of concern to his constituents.
“The other irony in all of this is that three legislators protested the death of innocent babies who were killed at the mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, yet only the Black legislators were removed. The racial inequity in this process is brazen.”
Amber Sherman and the Black Caucus of the Tennessee young Democrats have issued a petition to send Pearson back to the House:
“Justin J. Pearson was unjustly expelled from the TN State House on April 6th. His constituents deserve representation, send him back to the state House!”
