Former Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, and former Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, April 6, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
In Nashville, Tenn., Republicans ousted Democratic Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from the Tennessee House of Representatives over gun-control protest. They also tried to expel Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville. These three lawmakers had become known as the “Tennessee three.”
Reps. Jones and Pearson are Black, Rep. Johnson is white.
Pearson’s rousing exit speech has gone viral on social media, with many calling for him to seek a higher political office.
The ouster of the two pro-gun control advocates came just 10 days after a mass shooter unloaded 152 rounds inside a Nashville school and killed three young children and three school faculty members.
Tennessee House Republicans on April 6 expelled two Democratic lawmakers for breaking House rules and mounting a gun-reform protest on the chamber’s floor. The House expelled Jones, D-Nashville, on a 72-25 vote, and Pearson, D-Memphis, by 69-26. They were two of the youngest Black lawmakers from the General Assembly, The Tennessean reported.
“What is happening here today is a farce of democracy,” Jones said at the beginning of his 20-minute defense. “What is happening here today is a situation in which the jury has already publicly announced the verdict. What we see today is just a spectacle. What we see today is a lynch mob assembled to not lynch me, but our democratic process.”
Jones told Republicans, “your flexing of false power has awakened a generation of people who will let you know your time is up.”
He also accused Republicans of allowing an “admitted child molester,” a then-Republican representative and former high school coach, to continue serving despite accusations from former students that he had abused them sexually, The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.
Jones noted another member was convicted of domestic assault and there was no effort to remove him.
After the vote, Jones said, “A state in which the Ku Klux Klan was founded is now attempting another power grab by silencing the two youngest Black representatives.”
“We, and you, are seeking to expel District 86th’s representation from this House in a country that was built on a protest,” Pearson said in his speech that has been viewed more than 2 million times on Twitter. “In a country that was built on a protest. You, who celebrate July 4, 1776, pop fireworks and eat hot dogs, you say to protest is wrong, because you spoke out of turn.
“Because you spoke up for people who are marginalized,” he continued. “You spoke up for children who won’t ever be able to speak again. You spoke up for parents who don’t want to live in fear, you spoke up for Larry Thorn, who was murdered by gun violence. You spoke up for people that we don’t want to care about. In a country built on people who speak out of turn, who spoke out of turn, who fought out of turn to build a nation.”
Johnson was asked why she thought she’d been spared.
“It might have to do with the color of our skin,” Johnson told CNN.
“This is not about expelling us as individuals. This is your attempt to expel the voices of the people from the people’s house. It will not be successful,” Jones said before the vote. “Your overreaction, your flexing of false power has awakened a generation of people who will let you know that your time is up.”
The White House has weighed in on the expulsions.
“Today’s expulsion of lawmakers who engaged in peaceful protest is shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “Rather than debating the merits of the issue, these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly elected representatives of the people of Tennessee.”
Former Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, and former Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, raises their hands outside the House chamber after Jones and Pearson were expelled from the legislature, April 6, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
