Racist Top Tennessee

Tennessee Republicans made good on their threat to expel state House Democrats who joined protesters earlier this week demonstrating against last month's school shooting in Nashville, except they actually made the whole nonsense worse by only expelling the two Black men and sparing the white woman, making it a baldly racist farce instead of a regular farce.

 

In an extraordinary move, Tennessee's Republican-led House voted Thursday to expel two of three Democratic lawmakers who recently led a raucous protest from the House floor calling for gun law reforms.

Reps. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, and Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, were both removed from the body with votes falling along party lines, in a disciplinary measure that's only been used twice since the 1800s. The votes were 72 - 25 and 69 - 26 respectively. Together, they represent a combined constituency of about 130,000 people.

Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, who represents about 70,000 Tenneseans, escaped the same fate by a single vote, with a final count of 65 - 30.

Following the failed vote, Johnson was asked by reporters if she thought there was a reason she'd had a different outcome. "I'll answer your question," she said. "It might have to do with the color of our skin."

Both Jones and Pearson are Black and Johnson is white.

The expelled lawmakers conceded they didn't follow decorum by walking on the floor — what is called the well — and speaking without being formally recognized.


Republicans said the trio's actions amounted to an insurrection.

The trio, whom supporters call "The Tennessee Three," have already been stripped of their committee assignments.

 

I'm thinking this was done not only because of the fact these were the two youngest members of the Tennessee House, Black, Democrats, and willing to speak out, but as retribution for a Black DA in Manhattan daring to charge Donald Trump. The justification was of course "insurrection", and the message is pretty clear, that Republicans will do what they can to hurt Democrats that speak out now because it's "worse than January 6th".

This is petty, openly racist retribution and naked authoritarianism, and more of it is coming, because these assholes will not stop until they have complete power.