Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, Gloria Johnson, Cameron Sexton, Tennessee Politics and the Overt, Sinister Spirit of White Supremacy!

By now, most Americans have heard and seen the callous and malicious manner in which two Tennessee lawmakers were expelled from their house seats on April 6th.

The GOP-controlled Tennessee House voted late Thursday to expel two of the “Tennessee 3.” That trio of Democratic lawmakers had committed the transgression of presiding over protests at the capital — with one wielding a bullhorn — demanding action on guns after the horrific mass shooting in a Nashville school that left six people dead, including three children.

Two of the three Democrats — both young, Black and representing urban areas — were ousted by overwhelmingly white and conservative majorities. The third, a white woman, narrowly survived the vote. Republicans charged them with breaking House rules of conduct.

Justin Jones, representative for Nashville, and Justin Pearson, who represented Memphis, gave rousing speeches in the chamber before the majority-white legislature voted to oust them, leaving tens of thousands of mostly Black and brown Tennessee residents without representation. Due to the vociferous level of outrage, on April 10th, the Nashville Metro Council voted 36–0 to restore Rep Jones. On Wednesday…