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gloria johnson
'Run, Gloria, Run!' Tennessee Three Democrat Urged to Challenge Sen. Blackburn in 2024
"Honestly, Tennesseans deserve someone who will stand up to corrupt special interests, fight for lower costs so that every family can build a good life, and that's not Marsha Blackburn," said state Rep. Gloria Johnson.
Jul 23, 2023
Politico's Friday reporting that one of the "Tennessee Three"—Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson—is considering a run next year for the seat held by GOP U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn generated excitement across the Volunteer State and throughout the country.
Welcoming the "amazing news" that the Democrat may try to challenge the first-term Republican, Victor Shi, the youngest elected delegate for President Joe Biden in 2020, tweeted that "Tennessee deserves so much better than Marsha."
Johnson, who represents District 90, "is a friend, she has fought time and time again for Gen Z and young people (as both a teacher and state rep.)," Shi added. "She is the perfect person to be the next U.S. senator from Tennessee."
Kyle Tharp of the newsletter FWIW simply said, "Run, Gloria, Run!"
"I'm taking a serious look at the race and having conversations with folks that are hungry for better leadership in Washington," Johnson told Politico. "Honestly, Tennesseans deserve someone who will stand up to corrupt special interests, fight for lower costs so that every family can build a good life, and that's not Marsha Blackburn."
Johnson is expected to make a decision about whether to run by the end of the summer. Politico noted that she would not "have the primary field to herself. Marquita Bradshaw, an environmental activist and her party's 2020 Senate nominee, has filed to run again. Three years ago, she bested James Mackler, the candidate preferred by national Democrats, and then lost to incumbent Bill Hagerty by 27 points."
The former teacher has previously confirmed she is weighing a Senate run, telling the Chattanooga Times Free Press in late May that "there have been a whole lot of people, very serious people, asking me to do it. And so I told them I would seriously consider doing it."
"It needs to be done. People want somebody who will stand up for Tennessee families, and they just don't feel Marsha's doing the job. There's a lot of issues with Marsha, I believe. Mainly, what I hear is she's not voting for Tennessee families," Johnson added.
In April, Johnson and two of her Democratic colleagues in the Tennessee House of Representatives faced a GOP-led expulsion effort over the trio's protest for gun control legislation on the chamber floor in the wake of the Covenant School shooting.
Tennessee Republicans ultimately declined to oust Johnson, a white woman in her 60s, but they expelled Reps. Justin Jones and Justin J. Pearson —though local councils swiftly voted to send both younger Black men back to the chamber.
The multiday battle garnered intense media attention and elevated the Tennessee Three to national platforms. Asked by reporters at the time why she was spared expulsion, Johnson said: "I'll answer your question; it might have to do with the color of our skin."
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GOP Cynically Recast Progressive State House Protests as 'Insurrection'
"It's as if they learned a word on January 6th for the first time and never figured out what it meant," quipped one critic.
Apr 28, 2023
Progressives are pushing back this week against Republicans' conflation of peaceful protests by Democratic state lawmakers defending their constituents' rights with the deadly insurrection effort on January 6, 2021 by supporters of then-President Donald Trump in service of subverting a presidential election.
After seven protesters were arrested Monday in the Montana legislature following Republican lawmakers' silencing of state Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D-100) over her impassioned defense of transgender and nonbinary children, a group of GOP legislators accused her of "encouraging an insurrection."
"Peaceful protest is not insurrection."
Although the demonstration was entirely peaceful, the Republicans—members of the Montana Freedom Caucus—blasted what they falsely called "the violent protesters" and urged "immediate disciplinary action" against Zephyr, who is transgender.
"They want to ring alarm bells and they want to compare this to January 6," Andy Nelson, the Democratic Party chair in Missoula County, Montana—which includes Zephyr's district—told the Associated Press. "There's absolutely no way you can compare what happened on Monday with the January 6 insurrection. Violence occurred that day. No violence occurred in the gallery of the Montana House."
It's not just Montana. Republican state lawmakers in Tennessee called it an "insurrection" and a "riot" when Democratic Reps. Justin Jones (D-52), Justin Pearson, and Gloria Johnson (D-90) took to the well of the legislative chamber to support thousands of Nashville-area students rallying outside for gun control measures following the March 27 Covenant School massacre. Republicans voted to expel Jones and Pearson from the legislature over the protests, though they were swiftly reinstated by municipal councils.
Republicans "are trying to dismiss the integrity and sincerity of what all these people are calling for," Tennessee Democratic Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-55) told the AP. "They're dismissing what it is just to avoid the debate on this issue."
"My colleagues across the aisle have spent so much time trying to silence the minority party that anyone speaking up and amplifying their voice probably strikes them as insurrectionist, even though it doesn't resemble anything like it," he added.
Donald Trump Jr. and other Republicans also described a peaceful February protest at the Oklahoma State Capitol against a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth as an "insurrection."
"Tennessee. Oklahoma. Montana. The GOP seems to want to redefine the word 'insurrection' to include literally any peaceful protest they don't like," tweeted independent journalist and transgender rights activist Erin Reed, who is also Zephyr's partner. "It's as if they learned a word on January 6th for the first time and never figured out what it meant."
Noah Bookbinder, president of the watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), asserted that "peaceful protest is not insurrection," and that such conflation "waters down the seriousness of the real insurrection we saw on Jan. 6, 2021."
Attorney and voting rights activist James Slattery tweeted, "I can't help but compare the recent Republican efforts to silence legislators in various states who are acting in good faith to advocate for their constituents—while at the national level the Republicans have done nothing to expel members of Congress who incited an insurrection."
According to a July 2022 Monmouth University poll, just 13% of Republican voters considered the January 6 attack an "insurrection"—down from 33% a year earlier. More than 6 in 10 respondents described the effort by Trump supporters to stop certification of President Joe Biden's Electoral College victory as an act of "legitimate protest."
Legal experts say "insurrection" has a very specific definition.
"Disrupting things is a far cry from insurrection," University of North Carolina law professor Michael Gerhardt told the AP. "It's just a protest, and protesters are not insurrectionists."
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GOP State Rep Who Voted to Expel 'Tennessee Three' Resigns Over Sexual Harassment of Intern
"He needed to be expelled," said one critic.
Apr 20, 2023
Tennessee Rep. Scotty Campbell, the vice chair of the state House Republican Caucus and a leader behind the effort last month to expel three Democrats who joined a gun control protest, resigned on Thursday weeks after a state House investigation found that he had sexually harassed at least one intern.
Campbell's resignation was met with frustration from supporters of the "Tennessee Three"—state Reps. Justin Jones (D-52), Justin Pearson (D-86), and Gloria Johnson (D-90)—who said the District 3 representative should have been expelled last month for his conduct instead of being permitted to stay in the House and vote to remove the three gun control supporters from the Legislature.
Until deciding to resign after being confronted by a local media outlet on Thursday, "Rep. Scotty Campbell saw no consequences as a result of his actions," said HuffPost editor Philip Lewis.
The state House Workplace Discrimination and Harassment Subcommittee alerted Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-25) on March 29 that it had determined Campbell violated House policy by harassing a legislative intern, telling the Republican leader that "discrimination in any form will not be tolerated."
Instead of removing Campbell from his committee assignments, censuring him, or taking other actions to hold him accountable, Sexton did not respond to the panel's findings and moved ahead days later with an effort to expel the three Democrats, after which only Jones and Pearson were ousted. The two lawmakers were quickly reappointed by municipal councils in their districts.
"If you were in court and behaved like those three did, you would have been found in contempt of court," Campbell argued during a debate over the expulsion motion.
NewsChannel 5 in Nashville revealed the committee's findings on Thursday and confronted Campbell about them.
According to the investigation, Campbell made comments to a legislative intern about her and another 19-year-old intern about "imagining they were performing sexual acts on one another." The Legislature has also spent "potentially thousands of dollars" in taxpayer money to move one of the interns out of her apartment building, where Campbell also lived, and to place her "in a downtown hotel for the remainder of her internship."
Campbell told NewsChannel 5 that had only had "consensual, adult conversations."
Hours after the outlet reported on the harassment, however, Campbell announced his resignation.
"He needed to be expelled," said Bryan Langan, a gun control advocate and former Democratic Tennessee Senate candidate.
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Schumer and Warnock Lead Call for DOJ to Probe Expulsion of Tennessee Democrats
Senate Democrats are asking U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to "use all available legal authorities" to determine whether the U.S. Constitution or federal civil rights laws were violated and "take all steps necessary to uphold the democratic integrity of our nation's legislative bodies."
Apr 12, 2023
U.S. Senate Democrats on Wednesday sent a letter urging the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the recent expulsion of two Tennessee Democratic lawmakers to determine whether the widely condemned move was unconstitutional or otherwise unlawful.
Tennessee House Republicans have been roundly denounced since voting last Thursday to expel state Reps. Justin Jones (D-52) and Justin Pearson (D-86), with critics arguing that the removal of the Black progressive lawmakers—the state's first partisan expulsion since 1866—exemplifies the GOP's growing antagonism toward democracy.
A week before they were ousted and their combined 150,000 constituents were deprived of elected representation, Jones and Pearson had joined protesters in disrupting a floor session to demand gun control in the wake of last month's deadly school shooting in Nashville. State Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-13), who is white, also participated in the demonstration but was spared the same fate by one vote.
Wednesday's letter, the first formal effort by U.S. senators to respond to the expulsions, asks U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to "use all available legal authorities" to determine whether the U.S. Constitution or federal civil rights laws were violated and "take all steps necessary to uphold the democratic integrity of our nation's legislative bodies."
The letter, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), was co-signed by Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy (Conn.), Alex Padilla (Calif.), and Brian Schatz (Hawaii).
As The Washington Post reported:
The senators argue that the removals may have violated Jones' and Pearson's First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly, the rights of citizens of Memphis and Nashville to be represented by the legislators of their choice, and rights the pair have under the 14th Amendment or civil rights statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race.
[...]
The letter cites the Supreme Court's unanimous 1966 ruling in Bond v. Floyd as a potential precedent to draw from in arguing that the expulsions in Tennessee were unlawful. In that case, the high court found that the Georgia House of Representatives' refusal to seat a Black lawmaker, Julian Bond, over his stance on the Vietnam War was unconstitutional.
In their letter, Senate Democrats praised Jones and Pearson for "courageously participating in nonviolent demonstrations" that "challenged procedural rules."
"We do not believe that breaking decorum is alone sufficient cause for employing the most draconian of consequences to duly elected lawmakers," the senators wrote. "This is undemocratic, un-American, and unacceptable, and the U.S. Department of Justice should investigate whether it was also unlawful or unconstitutional."
Laurence Tribe, a professor emeritus of law at Harvard University, told the Post that "there are some who would try to distinguish Georgia's exclusion of Bond for his speeches about the war outside the legislative chamber from Tennessee's repressive and vindictive expulsion of two duly elected members for their robust expressions of views in the well of the chamber in alleged violation of its rules of decorum."
"But to me, that is a distinction without a difference," added Tribe. The legal scholar is far from alone in opposing Tennesee Republicans' retaliatory act.
"We cannot allow states to cite minor procedural violations as pretextual excuses to remove democratically elected representatives."
A USA Today/Ipsos survey conducted Friday through Sunday found that three-fourths of U.S. adults—including 62% of Republicans—believe Americans, including lawmakers, have the right to peacefully protest in state houses.
Reporting on the poll Tuesday, USA Today noted that "a 51% majority call the expulsions an anti-democratic abuse of power, compared with 42% who view them as an appropriate way to discipline lawmakers."
Moreover, "in the wake of school shootings, two-thirds say state legislatures should enact stricter controls on gun purchases," the newspaper pointed out.
Stronger gun laws, after all, are precisely what Jones, Pearson, and Johnson, along with hundreds of concerned citizens, were calling for during the March 30 protest in the Tennessee State Capitol.
Alluding to the March 27 shooting at Nashville Covenant School that left three adults and three children dead, the Senate Democrats wrote Wednesday that this "tragedy shattered hearts across our country and galvanized Americans—particularly young Americans in Tennessee—to peacefully demand their legislators act."
"These deeply moving expressions of democratic participation follow America's long tradition of peaceful, nonviolent protest, perfected during the struggles and triumphs of the civil rights movement," the letter says.
"Silencing legislators on the basis of their views or their participation in protected speech or protest is antithetical to American democracy and values," the letter continues. "We cannot allow states to cite minor procedural violations as pretextual excuses to remove democratically elected representatives, especially when these expulsions may have been at least partially on the basis of race. Allowing such behavior sets a dangerous—and undemocratic—precedent."
"We are deeply concerned that without immediate action by the U.S. Department of Justice, anti-democratic actors will only be emboldened, and we will see more troubling and more frequent incidents meant to unravel our democratic fabric," the senators concluded. "Thank you for your work to protect our democracy."
Jones and Pearson were reappointed to the Tennessee Legislature by the Nashville Metropolitan Council and the Shelby County Board of Commissioners on Monday and Wednesday, respectively.
There are lingering fears, however, that the Tennessee GOP, which has defended and fundraised off the expulsions, could engage in further retaliation against Jones and Pearson. Attorneys for both men have warned the state's Republican lawmakers against doing so.
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Attorneys for Jones, Pearson Warn Tennessee GOP Against Further Retaliation
"The world is watching Tennessee," the lawyers wrote, adding that any retributive action would be unconstitutional and "require redress."
Apr 10, 2023
Ahead of the Nashville Metropolitan Council voting Monday to reappoint Tennessee Rep. Justin Jones to the state House of Representatives, attorneys for him and ousted Rep. Justin Pearson warned Republican legislators not to further retaliate against the pair.
The letter from the six attorneys, including former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, to Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-25) came after Republicans in the chamber voted last Thursday to expel Jones (D-52) and Pearson (D-86) over their protest in support of gun control after the Covenant School shooting in Nashville.
The missive also follows Pearson saying in a televised interview that he has "heard that people in the state Legislature and in Nashville are actually threatening our Shelby County commissioners to not reappoint me, or they're going to take away funding that's in the government's budget for projects that the mayor and others have asked for."
The GOP state lawmakers expelled Jones and Pearson "not for any criminal or unethical act, but for merely exercising their constitutional rights," the Democrats' lawyers wrote. "In so acting, the House Republicans not only wrongfully stripped these representatives of their rights as duly-elected legislators but also disenfranchised the voters they were elected to represent."
"Their partisan expulsion was extraordinary, illegal, and without any historical or legal precedent," the attorneys continued. "The House must not now compound its errors by further retributive actions."
Should the Metro Nashville Council and Shelby County Commission vote to reinstate Jones and Pearson, the letter states, "such reappointment must lead to the full and immediate restoration of their rights as members of the House."
They "should be promptly sworn back in as members of the General Assembly and granted the same benefits, rights, duties, and liberties as any other member," the letter asserts. "That includes, but is not limited to, returning their parking and badge access to the state Capitol, which was cut off before their expulsion, restoring their benefits, including healthcare, which was immediately cut off upon expulsion, returning their status on committees, and being allowed to, in all manners, conduct legislative business the same as any other member."
"The world is watching Tennessee," the letter declares. "Any partisan retributive action, such as the discriminatory treatment of elected officials, or threats or actions to withhold funding for government programs, would constitute further unconstitutional action that would require redress."
In a statement Monday evening, Tennessee House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-44) and Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison (R-11) said that "should any expelled member be reappointed, we will welcome them. Like everyone else, they are expected to follow the rules of the House as well as state law."
Jones returned to the House for Monday's evening session, fist raised.
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Countering 'Miscarriage of Justice,' Metro Nashville Council Reappoints Justin Jones
"Voters in District 52 elected Justin Jones to be their voice at the statehouse, and that voice was taken away this past week," said Nashville's mayor. "So let's give them their voice back."
Apr 10, 2023
Cheers erupted Monday evening after Nashville's Metropolitan Council unanimously reappointed Democratic Rep. Justin Jones to the Tennessee House of Representatives after Republicans expelled him from the chamber last week over a gun control protest.
In sharp contrast with the Republican-dominated House's 72-25 expulsion vote on Thursday, all 36 council members supported Jones reclaiming his seat representing District 52.
Just before the "unprecedented" vote, Democratic Nashville Mayor John Cooper declared that "voters in District 52 elected Justin Jones to be their voice at the statehouse, and that voice was taken away this past week. So let's give them their voice back. I call on this body to vote unanimously, right now, to do just that."
Jones was the only candidate even considered. He was nominated by Delishia Porterfield, the Democratic council member for District 29, who called his expulsion a "miscarriage of justice."
Ahead of the Tennessee House's Monday night session, Jones marched with a police escort from City Hall to the state Capitol, where protesters chanted, "Welcome home!"
As The Tennessean reports:
Jones took a bullhorn in his hands and began speaking.
"Today we sent a clear message to Speaker Cameron Sexton [R-25] that the people will not allow his crimes against democracy to happen without challenge," he said. "This is not about one person. It's not about one position. It's about a movement of people empowered to restore the soul of what this building should represent and that is democracy."
Chancellor I'Ashea L. Myles led Jones in his oath on the steps of the Capitol as cheers erupted from the crowd. When he was done, he raised his fist into the air.
Along with Jones, Rep. Justin Pearson (D-86), a fellow young Black man, was expelled from the House last week. A third GOP expulsion resolution targeting Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-13), who is white, failed.
As Jones returned to the chamber Monday evening, he walked with Johnson—one arm linked with hers, and the other raised, with his hand in a fist.
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Children Cried, Racism Thrived, Democracy Died – 10 Terrible Days in Tennessee
Republicans cherish the right to life, but only until the moment of birth. They value democracy, but only when it suits them. They defend dissent, but only when they are the dissenters.
Apr 10, 2023
On March 27, the Covenant School killer in Nashville used two semi-automatic weapons and a handgun to end the lives of three nine-year-old students, the head of school, a substitute teacher, and a maintenance worker.
Republicans shrugged. They said there was no role for the federal government in protecting the nation's children from gun violence. Then, walking hand in hand with the National Rifle Association, they resumed their successful efforts to loosen state gun restrictions across the country, including Tennessee.
Ten days later, a GOP supermajority in the Tennessee House of Representatives punished dissent, undermined democracy, and became a case study in institutional racism. But they transformed a petty grievance about legislative "decorum" into a major national news story. They have energized gun control and civil rights advocates in the way that the Supreme Court's poorly reasoned abortion decision galvanized the pro-choice movement.
Guns and Money
Since 1998, the NRA and its affiliates have spent more than $200 million on political activities, nearly all of it to support Republicans.
In Texas alone, the NRA has spent $5 million over the past five years as that state's legislature expanded gun rights. At the June 2021 signing ceremony for the law that eliminated training and licensing requirements for carrying a handgun in public, NRA leader Wayne LaPierre sat alongside Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) as the only non-elected official at the table.
"Thank God, Texas is leading the way for the country," LaPierre said.
Leading where? Every year since 2020, gun violence has been the leading cause of childhood deaths in America. Recent episodes of mass school shootings include:
- October 2022: St. Louis, MO: AR-15-style assault weapon used to kill one student and one teacher; seven other students injured.
- June 2022: Uvalde, TX: AR-15 assault weapon used to kill 19 kids and two teachers; 17 others injured.
- November 2021: Oxford, MI: Semi-automatic handgun used to kill four kids; seven children and one teacher injured.
- May 2018: Santa Fe, TX: Shotgun and handgun used to kill eight students and two substitute teachers; 10 others injured.
- Feb 2018: Parkland, FL: AR-15 assault weapon used to kill 14 kids and three adult staff; 17 others injured.
- January 2018: Marshall County, KY: Semi-automatic pistol used to kill two kids; 18 other students injured.
The list goes on and on. In 2023, there have already been 16 school shootings in grades K through 12.
But the carnage isn't limited to kids or schools. Every year since 2020, there have been more than 600 mass shootings in the United States. In 2023, there have been more than 130—so far.
Democracy Thwarted
Mass shootings garner the most attention, but they are the tip of a deadly iceberg. America has five percent of the world's population and 46 percent of the world's civilian-owned firearms. We have 120 guns for every 100 people—more per capita than any other nation. Compare that to Canada (34.7), Australia (30), and Norway (28.8).
So it's not surprising that among developed nations, the U.S. also ranks first in gun homicides per capita (4.12 for every 100,000 people). Compare that to Canada (0.5), Australia (0.18), and Norway (0.07). So far in 2023 alone, guns have been involved in more than 400 children's deaths and more than 1,100 kids' injuries.
An overwhelming bipartisan majority of Americans wants solutions that would not compromise anyone's Second Amendment rights:
- 90 percent of support universal background checks.
- 75 percent support a national database for gun sales.
- 67 percent favor a ban on assault-style weapons.
- 84 percent favor "red flag" laws preventing firearms sales to dangerous individuals whom a mental health provider has reported to law enforcement.
- 81 percent favor making private and gun show sales subject to background checks.
- 77 percent favor requiring all gun owners to use a safe storage unit.
Assault weapons are especially deadly. During a span of only 14 minutes, the Covenant School shooter fired 152 rounds—a bullet every five-and-a half seconds. Two semi-automatic weapons held 30 rounds of ammunition each.
From 1994 to 2004, America had a federal ban on assault weapons, and it helped—a lot, according to some studies. A 2021 analysis found "overwhelming" evidence that the law reduced mass shootings and deaths. Experts agree that the key was banning sales of high-capacity magazines that could hold more than 10 rounds.
But the federal ban expired in 2014. Republicans and the NRA have led the fight against reinstating it.
The Republican "Three-step"
Only a handful of states have enacted significant gun restrictions, but even they remain at the mercy of neighboring states that often have very few. The problem cries out for a national response.
During a three-minute interview on the U.S. Capitol steps immediately following the Nashville shooting, Tennessee's own Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) summarized the GOP's three-step defending federal paralysis on the issue.
Step 1: Nothing works, so don't try.
"We're not gonna fix it," he said.
Asked whether Congress could do anything about the problem, he continued, "Criminals are going to be criminals."
When pressed on what Congress can do to protect the nation's kids, Burchett replied: "I don't see any real role that we can do other than mess things up."
Step 2: More religion
"We need to change people's hearts," Burchett said. "As a Christian, if we talk about the church, and I've said this many times, I really think we really need a revival in this country."
Step 3: I have mine; go get your own
Asked whether other steps might safeguard children like his own daughter, Burchett said, "Well, we homeschool her."
That's his most telling comment. Fend for yourself. Don't expect a Republican-controlled government to do anything for you or your kids, unless you're wealthy and want a tax cut.
"The Tennessee Three"
Days after the Covenant School tragedy, thousands of peaceful protesters, including school-age kids and their parents, gathered at the state capitol in Nashville. Exercising their First Amendment rights to speak, assemble, and petition their government, they urged gun restrictions.
Three Democratic state representatives—two young Black men and a white woman—joined them symbolically by walking to the well of the House floor and voicing support for their cause. But Tennessee's Republican Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R) hadn't given them permission to do so.
Sexton compared them to the January 6th rioters: "What they did… was equivalent, at least equivalent, maybe worse, depending on how you look at it, of doing an insurrection in the Capitol."
Then he sought the ultimate legislative punishment: expulsion. Not a reprimand. Not censure. Not stripping them of committee assignments. Expulsion—a rare penalty that the House had imposed on only three prior occasions in the last 150 years.
In 1866, it expelled six members after they tried to block the state's ratification of the 14 th Amendment granting citizenship to former slaves. In 1980, it voted 92-1 to oust a member after his bribery conviction. And in 2016 after months of investigation, it voted 70-2 to expel a lawmaker accused of repeated sexual misconduct.
On April 6, 2023, the expulsion proceedings against the "Tennessee Three" became vivid illustrations of authoritarianism and institutional racism.
State Rep. Andrew Farmer (R) sponsored the expulsion resolution against Justin Pearson (D). It asserted that Pearson's behavior "reflects adversely upon the integrity and dignity of the House…." But during the hearing on his resolution, Farmer himself did far greater damage to that legislative body.
"Just because you don't get your way, you can't come to the well, bring your friends and throw a temper tantrum with an adolescent bullhorn," Farmer scolded as Pearson stood in the well of the House floor defending himself.
"Now you all heard that," Pearson responded. "How many of you would want to be spoken to that way?"
Receiving no response, Pearson repeated his question. Again, silence followed.
The Republican supermajority then expelled Pearson, as it had the other Black representative, Justin Jones (D). It deprived 130,000 residents of the state's largest cities—Nashville and Memphis—of representation. Only one Republican joined Democrats in opposing all three expulsions.
Gloria Johnson (D) retained her seat by a single vote because six additional Republicans supported her. Asked why she was the only survivor, Johnson, who is white, said, "It might have to do with the color of our skin."
Republicans cherish the right to life, but only until the moment of birth. They value democracy, but only when it suits them. They defend dissent, but only when they are the dissenters.
And they give lip service to the quest for racial justice and equality. But their actions betray their words.
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Expelled Tennessee Democrat Says GOP Is Threatening to Cut Local Funding If He's Reinstated
"This is what folks really have to realize," said former state Rep. Justin Pearson. "The power structure in the state of Tennessee is always wielding against the minority party and people."
Apr 10, 2023
One of the Tennessee Democrats who was removed last week by the Republican-dominated state House said Sunday that GOP lawmakers have threatened county officials with funding cuts in an effort to deter them from voting to reinstate the expelled representative.
"I would be honored to accept the appointment of the Shelby County Commission," former state Rep. Justin Pearson said of the local body that is set to meet on Wednesday to decide who will fill the empty seat until a special election is held. Pearson told NBC News on Sunday that he intends to run in the special election triggered by his widely condemned expulsion, which stemmed from his participation in a gun control protest on the state House floor following a school shooting in Nashville.
The Memphis Democrat said he has "heard that people in the state legislature and in Nashville are actually threatening our Shelby County commissioners to not reappoint me, or they're going to take away funding that's in the government's budget for projects that the mayor and others have asked for."
"This is what folks really have to realize," said Pearson. "The power structure in the state of Tennessee is always wielding against the minority party and people."
Late last week, Shelby County Commissioner Erika Sugarmon told local reporters that members of the body are "being threatened by the state to take away funding, needed funding to run our schools, to run our municipalities."
"This is about bullying people into submission. And enough is enough," said Sugarmon. "We've got to stand for something or fall for everything. And we've been bullied by the state for too long now."
It's unclear whether Pearson has enough support among the 13 Shelby County commissioners to win reinstatement ahead of the coming special election.
Mickell Lowery, the chair of the commission, said in a statement Sunday that "the protests at the state Capitol by citizens recently impacted by the senseless deaths of three nine-year-old children and three adults entrusted with their care at their school was understandable given the fact that the gun laws in the state of Tennessee are becoming nearly nonexistent."
"It is equally understandable that the leadership of the state House of Representatives felt a strong message had to be sent to those who transgressed the rules," said Lowery. "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."
"Coincidentally, this has directly affected me as I too reside in State House District 86," he continued. "I am amongst the over 68,000 citizens who were stripped of having a representative at the state due to the unfortunate outcome of the State Assembly's vote. Therefore, the Shelby County Board of Commissioners will consider the action to reappoint Mr. Justin Pearson to his duly elected position to represent the citizens in District 86 for the State of Tennessee House of Representatives in a special called meeting on Wednesday, April 12, 2023 at 1:30 PM."
Rep. Justin Jones, a Nashville Democrat who was expelled along with Pearson for showing solidarity with demonstrators on the state House floor, reportedly has the support of a majority of the Nashville Metropolitan Council members expected to convene Monday to vote on the removed lawmaker's reinstatement.
Jones warned last week that Tennessee House Republicans could refuse to seat him and Pearson if they are reappointed or if they win a special election.
In his NBC appearance on Sunday, Jones said the resounding national response to his and Pearson's expulsion makes clear that the Tennessee GOP's "attack on democracy will not go on unchallenged."
"The Tennessee House Republicans' attempt to crucify democracy has instead resurrected a movement led by young people to restore our democracy, to build a multiracial coalition," Jones said. "We will continue to fight for our constituents."
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Tennessee Exposes Swift-Moving Fascism Within the GOP
In the minds of Republicans in Congress, and especially in state capitals, there's an unequivocal message—just go for it. You can trample on democracy with few meaningful consequences.
Apr 08, 2023
The expulsion of two Black state legislators for peaceful protest in Tennessee April 6 has long roots in political repression and the legacy of racism in the U.S. But it also is a signpost of the chilling escalation of autocratic assaults on democracy that have mushroomed since the ascent of Donald Trump.
Of all of Trump’s lengthy catalog of abuses and misdeeds, the most dangerous remains his open embrace of authoritarian behavior, and not very subtle encouragement of dictatorial rule, which has encouraged others in his realm to follow.
Despite Trump’s New York indictment and arrest, there is an ominous message that Trump’s behavior has sent to his legion of followers, from the armed militias to Republicans in Congress and state capitals, especially if Trump never ends up on trial for orchestrating the violent insurrection of January 6 and the attempt to steal the 2020 election in Georgia.
Of all of Trump’s lengthy catalog of abuses and misdeeds, the most dangerous remains his open embrace of authoritarian behavior, and not very subtle encouragement of dictatorial rule, which has encouraged others in his realm to follow.
Trump’s willful violation of law and democratic norms, even an attempted coup, has not, to date, led to meaningful accountability, such as jail time, or a conviction in his second impeachment trial that would have barred him from running for office again. And he remains the leading candidate to be the GOP nominee in 2024.
In the minds of Republicans in Congress, and especially in state capitals, there’s an unequivocal message—just go for it. You can trample on democracy with few meaningful consequences.
Pass whatever sweeping laws you want, no matter how unpopular, to please your most rabid base. Enact the most blatant limits on the ability to vote and gerrymandered districts. Adopt rule changes to hamstring or even eliminate your legislative opposition.
All with the goal of building a permanent stranglehold on power. As Nancy MacLean described it, writing about Pinochet’s post-coup Chile dictatorship assisted by U.S. far-right libertarians, “Democracy in Chains.”
Emboldened laws to censor education, including restricting the teaching of the real history of slavery and racism in the U.S., banning books, barring teaching about LBGTQ lives, voter suppression, and expanding gun rights, have exploded in Republican-dominated states from Florida to Montana.
Tennessee has been at the front of the line.
Exploiting the rush sweeping other red states to censor education and ban books, Tennessee last year passed a law that requires teachers to catalog the title and author of every book in their classroom library for higher-up review, which must meet an approved list which then must be posted online for parental review. One high school educator was fired after teaching students in a rural, nearly all-white school that white privilege is "a fact."
Books that have been challenged or removed from Tennessee school libraries after passage of the law include children’s books on Dr. Martin Luther King’s led 1963 march on Washington for jobs and freedom, the famous story of Ruby Bridges integrating a Jim Crow New Orleans school in 1960, the story of a Latino family’s fight to desegregate an Orange County, CA school in 1947, and the “Maus” graphic novel series on the Nazi Holocaust.
Tennessee, according to the Center for Public Integrity, has “one of the most draconian” voter suppression laws in the U.S. barring voting rights for formerly incarcerated people, and other barriers that have deprived one in five Black state residents from voting.
Tennessee legislators have also followed other states in extreme partisan gerrymandering that has sliced up Democratic-leaning cities, and as the New York Times put it, “all but guaranteed that the majority of political representation is determined in Republican primaries instead of in general elections, leaving lawmakers more responsive to a far-right base.”
In March, Tennessee joined the fanatical right-wing assault on trans rights, passing its own ban on gender-affirming care for youth, and another law that restricts “adult cabaret” drag shows.
Then, perhaps in a preview of this week’s purge of the legislators from its two most populous, and most Democratic cities, Nashville and Memphis, Gov. Bill Lee in early March also signed a law to cut in half the Metro Nashville Council.
“This will give the supermajority the opportunity to gain and control in districts they normally didn’t have control in,” said Clifton Harris, CEO and President of Urban League of Middle Tennessee. “It’s going to impact the Black and Brown community here in Nashville-Davidson County significantly.”
Similar anti-democratic moves to seize and replace local control in predominantly Black and other communities of color have been carried out or are underway by white, far-right governors and legislators in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas.
In late March, an armed assailant massacred six people, three of them children, at the private Christian Covenant School in Nashville. In a nation long plagued by mass school shootings, it was the deadliest school shooting since the slaughter last May of 21 people, including 19 children, at a school in Uvalde, Texas.
Fed up with the refusal of mostly Republican legislators nationally as well as in Tennessee to stop the tsunami of gun violence, thousands of students, their teachers, families, and other supporters marched on the state Capitol in Nashville on March 30 demanding “What do we want? Gun control. When do we want it? Now!” On the night of the expulsions, many were heard chanting “You ban books, you ban drag — kids are still in body bags.”
Three state Reps. Justin Jones, Gloria Johnson, and Justin Pearson stood with the protesters, calling for stricter gun safety laws, then brought their message to the front of the legislative chamber. Jones, held a sign that read “Protect kids, not guns.” Pearson spoke through a megaphone about gun violence saying, “Enough is enough.”
This was the pretext for the gerrymandered super majority to cram through votes to expel Jones, who is biracial Black and Filipino, and Pearson, who is Black, but not Johnson who is white. Asked why she was spared, Johnson noted, “It might have to do with the color of our skin.”
Racism, of course, converges with much of the anti-democratic legislation pushed nationally, especially in the attacks on education, bills introduced or steps taken in 44 states to restrict teaching critical race theory, explaining how structural racism is embedded in the criminal legal system and other institutions, or limit how teachers can discuss racism.
Tennessee has its own long history of racism. During the Reconstruction era, it was the first state to experience a virulent 1866 anti-Black riot against Black Civil War veterans and other Black residents and was the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan and its first Grand Wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest.
During the Civil Rights/Freedom Movement era, Tennessee was home to student desegregation protests in Nashville, with the prominent role of Civil Rights legends Diane Nash, John Lewis, and James Lawson. And, of course, the famous 1968 Memphis strike by low-paid Black sanitation workers, and ultimately the assassination of Dr. King in Memphis.
In comments challenging their expulsion, Jones and Pearson paid homage to that history and doubled down on their commitment to continue the fight for social justice, democracy, and gun safety.
Speaking to demonstrators after the vote, Pearson cited the control of the gun lobbyists and their influence over legislation, adding, “What’s going through my mind right now is we need to fight for democracy in the state of Tennessee. We need for people not just to vote, but to show up and speak out so we can end the gun violence in our state. This is wrong, this is unjust. You’ve got to use your voice, you’ve got to use your power, and yes, sometimes you have to get expelled.”
In an interview on NBC national news, Jones emphasized that "this is how extreme anti-democracy forces have become, particularly here in a state like Tennessee, where they feel because of gerrymandered maps and voter suppression they are in power. But they don’t represent the majority of Tennesseans. So what do they do? They try and limit discussion, they try to limit what we can advocate for because they are afraid it will hold up a mirror to their false power.”
In words that resonate far beyond Tennessee, Jones, a lifelong activist from his youth days in Oakland, said of the autocrats who expelled him, “The body is afraid of voices of dissent. They’re afraid of voices of opposition. We are the check on power. We are the voice of moral dissent.”
Interviewed on MSNBC after the vote, Rep. Maxwell Frost, the youngest member of Congress who became active in the March for Our Lives movement after a mass school shooting in Parkland, Fl. noted, “They can expel these members, but they cannot expel this movement from this country. That’s why the right wing, not just in Tennessee, but across the country is starting to move into this fascist ideology, removing people from office, passing laws to change education, because they know that time is not on their side.” He emphasized the emergence of a new generation of activists who represent a growing voice for change.
The fight for democracy rests with that hope, with organizations like nationally, the National Nurses United’s Nurses for Democracy, student-led March for Our Lives, Movement for Black Lives, and Working Families Party, Tennessee organizations, Memphis For All, Shelby County Voter Alliance, and Up the Vote, and similar activist organizations across the country. No less than our future is at stake.
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We Are 'Just Beginning,' Tennessee GOP Boasts in Fundraiser After Expelling Democrats
The willingness of Republicans "to expel democratically elected Democrats for minor-verging-on-made-up infractions portends a terrifying new development," warned one journalist.
Apr 07, 2023
The Tennessee Republican Party waited less than 24 hours to start fundraising off the expulsion of two progressive lawmakers from the state House—openly bragging Friday about what critics have called a blatantly anti-democratic move that shows the party's growing authoritarianism.
State Reps. Justin Jones (D-52) and Justin Pearson (D-86) are two of three Democrats who joined protesters in interrupting a floor session on March 30 to demand gun control in the wake of last week's deadly school shooting in Nashville. Tennessee House Republicans on Thursday voted to expel both Black men from the chamber while a vote to expel their colleague Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-13), who is white, fell short.
In a Friday fundraising email, the Tennessee GOP said: "Their adolescence and immature behavior brought dishonor to the Tennessee General Assembly as they admitted to knowingly breaking the rules. Actions have consequences, and we applaud House Republicans for having the conviction to protect the rules, the laws, and the prestige of the State of Tennessee."
"Our fight is just beginning," the email concludes.
Progressives members of Congress had already denounced Tennessee Republicans for engaging in what U.S. Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) called "straight-up fascism in its ugliest, most racist form" before the fundraising email emerged.
Now, the Tennessee GOP is portraying the state's first partisan expulsion since the Civil War era as upholding "the rule of law" and is trying to capitalize on it.
Slate's Alexander Sammon warned that Thursday's vote "is a chilling portent of the future of Republican governance and the state of democracy nationwide."
"While Republicans have focused on gerrymandering and voter suppression as the primary prongs of their assault on democracy (as well as the occasional insurrection attempt)," he noted, "the willingness to expel democratically elected Democrats for minor-verging-on-made-up infractions portends a terrifying new development."
In a Friday statement, Public Citizen president Robert Weissman condemned Tennessee House Republicans for "summarily ending" the current terms of Jones and Pearson and "depriving their constituents of duly elected representation."
"This was a racist and disproportionate act of retaliation against legislators who had joined demonstrators chanting in the chamber, in protest of Republican refusal to adopt commonsense gun control measures in the wake of the March 27 school shooting in Nashville," said Weissman, who called Tennessee Republicans' move "flagrantly anti-democratic."
"American democracy is in a profound crisis... What just happened in Tennessee is yet another reminder of the perilous state of our country."
"In modern American history, expulsion of state legislators is very rare—not just in Tennessee but throughout the United States, and rightfully so. Legislators should expel elected officials only in extreme circumstances, not over policy differences or impingements on decorum," he continued. "Legislative supermajorities already have enormous power; when they wield that power to strip away even the offices of the minority, they are treading on very dangerous ground."
As Weissman pointed out, "Some Tennessee legislators—and a lot of MAGA commentary online—are un-ironically calling the state representatives' chanting an 'insurrection.'"
"Of course, the United States did witness a real insurrection on January 6, 2021," said Weissman. "Not one member of Congress was expelled for promoting [former President] Donald Trump's patently false claims that the 2020 election was 'stolen' from him or for supporting the attempted coup carried out at Trump's behest. Only 10 Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives would vote to impeach Trump in the immediate aftermath of the insurrection, and only two of them were able to get re-elected."
"American democracy is in a profound crisis, riven by lies, right-wing extremism, conspiratorial thinking, and subservience to corporate and special interests, and racism," Weissman stressed. "What just happened in Tennessee is yet another reminder of the perilous state of our country."
Nevertheless, he continued, "a hopeful future is also a visible feature of our nation, demonstrated in the courage and principle of the targeted representatives... and the energy and commitment of the protesters—overwhelmingly young people—demanding justice and commonsense gun regulation."
"This is a powerful reminder that democracy does not die easily," Weissman added. "Indeed, the energy in Tennessee will help inspire and power the nationwide movement not just to defend but to expand and deepen our democracy, and we are committed to rising to the occasion, and being part of this movement to make our country a more just and equitable place for all."
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