Last week, two young Black Democrats were expelled from the state legislature for breaking decorum rules while protesting for gun control on the House floor. But their white colleague, who also protested, narrowly maintained her seat. Black leaders across Tennessee — and beyond — are calling out the expulsions as racist.
The expelled the two black men and kept the the white woman! The racism that is on display today! Wow!
— Senator London Lamar (@SenatorLamar) April 7, 2023
After a supermajority of Republicans ousted Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin Pearson of Memphis, Rep. Jesse Chism, D-Memphis, likened the proceedings to “a Jim Crow-era trial.” He spoke during a press conference from the state legislature’s Black Caucus on Friday.
“We saw two Black men fighting for their careers, fighting for their reputations, fighting for their political lives,” Chism said.
He recounted some Republicans smirking after voting for Jones’ expulsion.
During the hours of questioning Thursday, some Republicans commented that Jones appeared unapologetic about breaking the House rules. Sen. Charlane Oliver took issue with that.
“This idea that he and Rep. Justin Pearson must apologize is a mindset set in white supremacy,” Oliver said. “A mindset set in that we as Black folk are not on par or not peers to them, and we must be inferior and subservient to their demands.”
Tequila Johnson is co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit The Equity Alliance, which works to increase civic engagement in Black communities. She said the decision to expel the lawmakers for being “disrespectful” and disruptive is an “attack on Black voters.”
“Because we only talk about civility,” Johnson said. “We only talk about respectability when it comes to people of African descent.”
— TN House Republicans (@tnhousegop) April 7, 2023
Republicans said that by protesting on the House floor, Jones, Johnson and Pearson distracted from the victims of the Covenant School shooting. But the three Democrats refuted that, saying they were trying to bring attention to the issue of gun violence, voicing the concerns of protesters who had shown up that day. Multiple Democrats said members of their party are routinely silenced by Republican leadership.
Several Black leaders have called the expulsions hypocritical, when white Republican members who’ve broken rules — and even broken the law — were not expelled.
Rep. Gloria Johnson, who held onto her own seat by just a single vote, said the decision “might have to do with the color of our skin.”
National figures have spoken out against the expulsions, including Vice President Kamala Harris, who visited Nashville on Friday.
More: The nation reacts to the Tennessee legislature’s expulsion of 2 Black lawmakers
Bernice King, a social justice advocate and daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., has also called the expulsion decisions racist.
So this attack on #democracy is also a #racist attack, as the third lawmaker, Rep. Gloria Johnson, is white. A disastrously amoral day for Tennessee House Republicans in a state reeling from a school shooting. @Tennessean https://t.co/Fn4dXdhPDW
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) April 7, 2023
The House Republican Caucus did not respond to a request for comment Friday. An automatic reply stated that offices were closed for Good Friday.
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