In the April 23, 2023, issue of the Atlantic, Ron Brownstein summarized how the removal of two young Black millennial lawmakers, Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, is part of a nationwide trend in deep-red states. Jones and Pearson represent constituents in the Democratic-leaning cities of Nashville and Memphis, respectively.
The move, as ill-conceived in Tennessee as it was, harkens back to the extreme racism and frequent torture of Black bodies, including many young Black men, during the Freedom Rides of the early 1960s.
Brownstein writes: “The vote in the Tennessee House of Representatives … marked a new level in the long-term struggle between red states and blue cities. In most red states, Republicans control the governorship and/or state legislature primarily through their dominance of predominantly white non-urban areas. Over the past decade, those red-state Republicans have grown more aggressive about using that statewide power to preempt the authority of, and override decisions by, their largest cities and counties, which are typically more racially diverse and Democratic-leaning.”
How should readers of the Mississippi Free Press view the repugnant actions of the Tennessee House of Representatives on April 7 to oust, or in their language ‘“expel,” two Black men from their ranks? A good place to start is with how Jones and Pearson, channeling Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, characterized this outrageous stunt.
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Jones and Pearson called their expulsions “silencing” because their strong, loud voices in the well of the chamber during a lunch break apparently threatened the speaker of the House of Representatives. The speaker puzzlingly invoked a never-used protocol that “protests” should not occur during the conduct of the state House of Representatives. However, house business was not actually occurring at the time the men stood at the well—and let’s not forget that Rep. Gloria Johnson told CNN she was spared “because I’m a white woman.”
Understandably, these Black legislators and their white allies merely wanted their colleagues in the House to seriously consider passing common sense gun laws after the horrific slaughter of children and teachers at Covenant
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