After being expelled, Tennessee lawmakers both seeking seats again

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
10 Apr 2023 08:52

Two former Black Democratic lawmakers in Tennessee who were expelled by Republican colleagues say they want to be reappointed.

Expelled Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, from left, expelled Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, and Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, at Fisk University before Vice President Kamala Harris arrives, Friday, April 7, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn (AP)

Following their expulsion for participating in a demonstration on the House floor calling for the adoption of gun control legislation in the wake of a horrific school shooting, two former Black Democratic lawmakers in Tennessee who were sent out by Republican colleagues now say they want to be reappointed and then elected back to their seats.

During a special meeting set for Monday, the Metro Council of Nashville is likely to re-appoint Justin Jones to the position. In further detail, Shelby County Commission Chairman Mickell Lowery announced in a statement on Sunday that the board will decide whether to re-appoint Memphis native Justin Pearson to his position at a meeting on Wednesday.

Lowery further acknowledged the need to address those who “transgressed the rules” of the state House of Representatives.

“However, I believe the expulsion of State Representative Justin Pearson was conducted in a hasty manner without consideration of other corrective action methods. I also believe that the ramifications for our great State are still yet to be seen,” he said.

Both former lawmakers said as quoted by NBC on Sunday that they want to return to their mandates as lawmakers. The seats will be up for special elections in the upcoming months, the date for which has not yet been determined.

The expulsions have intensified discussions of racial issues with heated debates developing at both the national and local levels in the US. The former lawmakers have swiftly drawn prominent supporters.

The former lawmakers had a conversation with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris who paid them a visit in Nashville.

“You know, we will continue to fight for our constituents,” Jones said. “And one thing I just want to say ... is that this attack against us is hurting all people in our state. You know, even though it is disproportionately impacting Black and Brown communities, this is hurting poor white people. Their attack on democracy hurts all of us.”

What you need to know

Last week, Jones, Pearson, and Johnson joined the hundreds of protesters who had gathered at the Capitol to demand the adoption of gun control legislation. The three made their way to the front of the House chamber with a bullhorn as the demonstrators filled the galleries and started chanting. Days had passed since the massacre at the Covenant School, a private school where three children were among the six fatalities.

Pearson told journalists last Thursday that in holding the protest, the three had broken “a House rule because we’re fighting for kids who are dying from gun violence and people in our communities who want to see an end to the proliferation of weaponry in our communities;" however, it was Jones and Pearson, both of whom are Black, who were were expelled while Johnson, a white woman, was spared from being expelled.

Enraged by the move, Johnson acknowledged that race was likely a factor in why Jones and Pearson were ousted but not her, telling reporters it “might have to do with the color of our skin.”

Recalling a day in 2008 when students ran toward her out of a cafeteria because a student had just been shot and killed, retired teacher Johnson said she was personally concerned about school shootings.

Last Thursday, thousands of people gathered at the Capitol to show their support for Jones, Pearson, and Johnson. Outside the House chamber, they cheered and chanted loud enough to drown out the debate. As the group entered the room while holding hands, Pearson raised his fist during the Pledge of Allegiance.

Commenting on the expulsions, President Joe Biden called them “shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent.”

“Rather than debating the merits of the issue (of gun control), these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly-elected representatives of the people of Tennessee,” Biden said in a statement.

Before the votes on expulsion, House members discussed more than 20 measures, including one pertaining to school safety that would have mandated that both public and private schools submit building safety plans to the state. Some Democrats criticized the law for failing to address gun control, claiming that it only addressed a symptom rather than the root cause of school killings.

Expulsion votes in the past have happened under distinctly diverse situations.

Due to allegations of sexual misbehavior stretching back to when he was a high school basketball coach three decades earlier, lawmakers were under pressure to remove former Republican Rep. David Byrd in 2019. Republicans chose not to intervene, citing the fact that he was reelected as the charges were becoming public. Byrd retired the previous year.

After Katrina Robinson, a Democrat, was found guilty of diverting around $3,400 in federal grant money to pay for her wedding rather than her nursing school, the state Senate expelled her last year.

The last time state legislators removed a member of the House was in 2016 when the chamber voted 70–2 to do so in response to claims that Republican Rep. Jeremy Durham had inappropriate sexual contact with at least 22 women during his four years in office.