[Justin Pearson, was one of two Black representatives ousted from
the Tennessee legislature, speaks out before Thursday’s vote: the
legislature ‘does not want diversity of people nor diversity of
thought, and they do not want democracy.’ ]
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INTERVIEW: THE TENNESSEE REPRESENTATIVE EXPELLED FOR SPEAKING AGAINST
GUN VIOLENCE  
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Adrienne Johnson Martin
April 5, 2023
MLK50
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_ Justin Pearson, was one of two Black representatives ousted from
the Tennessee legislature, speaks out before Thursday’s vote: the
legislature ‘does not want diversity of people nor diversity of
thought, and they do not want democracy.’ _

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The Tennessee state legislature, with its Republican supermajority,
will vote Thursday_ _on whether to expel three Democratic lawmakers,
including Shelby County’s Justin Pearson, who represents the 86th
District.

Pearson, Gloria Johnson of Knoxville and Justin Jones of Nashville are
facing expulsion for “disorderly behavior.” Last Thursday, they
briefly disrupted a legislative session, leading chants from the
podium in the well of the House chamber on March 30, after three
9-year-olds and three adult staff members were killed at The Covenant
School in Nashville. 

According to the expulsion resolution
[[link removed]], Pearson’s
actions “knowingly and intentionally (brought) disorder and dishonor
to the House of Representatives.” House Speaker Cameron Sexton has
called the three Democrats’ actions “unacceptable” and likened
them to an “insurrection.”

As an organizer
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Pearson, who grew up in Westwood, helped lead the charge to stop
the Byhalia Connection Pipeline
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represents District 86
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includes parts of South Memphis, Westwood, Downtown, parts of Frayser
and parts of Millington. The district has a population of almost
64,000, more than 60% of whom are Black, according to Ballotpedia
[[link removed]]. 

MLK50: Justice Through Journalism spoke with Pearson as he prepared
for the vote. 

MLK50: Do you expect to be expelled tomorrow? 

PEARSON: Yes. I expect the folks who are willing to support the
National Rifle Association and gun lobbyists more than the people in
this state who are advocating for just reform that protects our
communities to expel members of the House for exercising their First
Amendment rights to peacefully protest and elevate the issues of gun
control and gun reform in our state, to be expelled by a super
majority of people who want to keep the status quo. … We went up to
the well of the House because six people were killed in Nashville at
The Covenant School, three of whom were nine years old, because in
Memphis we’ve seen an increase in murders by 44%.

We are tired of going to funerals. We’re tired of the proliferation
of guns and we’re tired of legislation being passed or inaction
happening by the people who are in positions of power and who’ve
been elected by people who are demanding change. … I believe our
peaceful protest is going to be met with expulsion by people who
don’t want to meaningfully address the thousands of people across
our state who are asking and demanding that we do something. 

MLK50: You’re pretty new to the body and you moved from outside the
system to be inside the system. How are you processing this
response? 

PEARSON: What is apparent and was apparent on day one is that this
institution does not want to change. It does not want to have
diversity and representation. You’ll remember on my first day, in
honoring Black ancestors who paved the way for us to be in the
institution, I wore a dashiki
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the House floor and that was met with a despicable comment by a member
of the state legislature. The reality is this institution does not
want diversity of people nor diversity of thought, and they do not
want democracy. 

I believe our peaceful protest is going to be met with expulsion by
people who don’t want to meaningfully address the thousands of
people across our state who are asking and demanding that we do
something. 

State Rep. Justin J. Pearson

And so, instead of having real meaningful dialogue about gun reform,
having meaningful dialogue about the end of the epidemic of gun
violence that has taken the lives of so many people at our schools but
also in our community, instead of putting energy and effort to
actually helping to address the issue, there’s an intentional
system, systemic and systematic effort by the Republican party and
those in leadership to expel members of the House who just listened to
the people, which is what each and every one of us were sworn to do. 

It isn’t a question about how long you’ve been in the institution,
it’s about who is in the institution. And there have been a lot of
people who’ve been there for a very long time and we are still in a
very dire situation in our cities, in our counties, and in our state
and West Tennessee, middle Tennessee and East Tennessee as it relates
to gun violence and as it relates to poverty and other issues that are
undergirding the problems that we need to address in this state.

But instead of focusing our attention there, we see amendment after
amendment, legislation after legislation that talks about supporting
the Second Amendment, making sure there’s a proliferation of  guns
and very little (being) done to actually protect kids and to protect
communities and to stop this epidemic that’s happening in our
communities. 

People who are peacefully protesting to end gun violence and have
their schools and their homes and their lives protected are being
called insurrectionists. That’s the language being used by the
speaker and by the Republican party leadership because we are
resisting a status quo that says, you bow to the NRA, you bow to the
harm that’s done by us doing nothing. 

Clyde Robinson (left) a homeowner in southwest Memphis, chats with
Justin Pearson on Robinson’s land in the midst of the community
battle against the Byhalia Connection Pipeline. Photo by Brandon Dill
for MLK50

MLK50: It sounds like you feel like there’s a bit of misdirection
going on. 

PEARSON: Not only is this misdirection, but is an egregious overreach
of power by the Republican Party in Tennessee. The last two members
that were expelled from the House in modern history had committed
actual crimes. One had committed
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forms of sexual assault and another had committed an act of broad
bribery
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they were expelled from the House. They committed crimes, they were
indicted, they went to court. We’re being told that we have broken
house decorum, rules of the house that are too often bent or ignored
for the benefit of people in positions of power. For instance, we were
supposed to be able to speak at the beginning of that Thursday
(session), after the shooting of the Nashville Covenant School, during
welcoming and honoring. Only one of our members was allowed to speak.
And that entire time everyone else was silenced. Granted 5,000 people
were at the State House marching, protesting and chanting, and we were
never allowed to have an opportunity to speak.

MLK50: So if the rules waiver, how do you figure out how to conduct
yourself in the legislature to make meaningful change? 

PEARSON: We use our voices at all times to demand justice. Justice
for people who are marginalized, justice for people who have been
pushed to the periphery, justice for our communities and Memphis and
Shelby County, all the way to Gatlinburg. That is what we do with this
platform. That’s what we do with our voices.

The reality is the rules are designed in such a way that it benefits
those in positions of power. The way that we make effective change is
being persistent and steadfast in our work, helping to build the
movement for justice in our communities in order that we might reelect
people who are advocating and being progressive like Rep. Jones and
Rep. Johnson, and that we might get rid of people who are keeping the
status quo, people who never speak up, people who don’t even fight
to have their voices heard and fight for the issues that we care
about. 

MLK50: The gun manufacturing industry is really huge in Tennessee;
Beretta and Smith & Wesson have relocated here. Is there a way that
can be addressed legislatively? 

PEARSON: I will tell you right now with the super majority Republican
legislature, it is unlikely that we will see any laws that prohibit
the manufacturing of guns in the state of Tennessee. In fact, many
people in the state House and state Senate are welcoming gun
manufacturers to our state even though there’s enough guns in the
United States of America
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just about everybody to be armed. I don’t think there’s going to
be a legislative fix on that issue in particular because people view
it as economic development and good for the state.

Our silence keeps our seat, but that doesn’t do us any good. We have
to fight.

Pearson

What does have to happen, and what we are responsible for, is ensuring
that people who get access to guns have the necessary permits, they
have the necessary training and they have the necessary practices to
be able to protect kids and the people in their families while they
have them. 

And the truth is right now it is more difficult for you to get a
license to drive than it is to get a license to have a weapon that
kills people. It is easier in this country to get a weapon of war than
it is to get a driver’s license or an ID. And the reality is that is
wrong and that is dangerous.

MLK50: So is the kind of protest we are seeing among young people and
others, is that at the root to get this kind of change because of the
super majority? 

PEARSON: That’s exactly right. I mean the children are leading us
and they have to.  Just yesterday,  you saw this, a child near
Kirby High School was shot
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The children who are suffering under this are the litmus test for what
we are doing as a state and as a society. And right now, thousands of
them and tens of thousands of children and teenagers and young adults
are standing up and speaking up. And the reality is that pressure is
necessary in order for us to make clear the arguments for change that
we need to have and also necessary for us to build the democracy as
the participation of the electoral process that creates change
ultimately, right? … If we quit, particularly if young folks stop
engaging and stop protesting and stop showing up, then it is much
easier for folks not to have to look themselves in the mirror and
think about the ramifications of their actions. If we allow people
who’ve been in the statehouse for 10 and 20 and 30 years to operate
in the way that they have without any resistance, without young people
running for office, without young people showing up to vote, then we
are going to continue to see bad legislation passed by the super
majority and ignored through silent complicity by the minorities. 

MLK50: If you are expelled, there are two paths: You could be
reinstated or you could run again. Do you expect you would be
reinstated and would you run again? 

PEARSON: I can tell you that whatever happens after we are not going
to be silent. We are not going to stop fighting for just legislation
and policies for the gun reform that we know people want to see, such
as red flag laws and safety storage laws. And personally, I believe
folks in District 86 are also tired and hurting from the gun violence
that we are experiencing. One of my constituents said, “I can’t go
to the grocery store without hearing gunshots.” 

I am not going to ignore those cries of folks who still are demanding
and wanting to see change happen in a way that elevates our issues and
elevates the voices of our community. I can promise you this, I will
continue to fight for District 86 and for our state so that we can get
real legislation that helps to protect people’s lives into the
future, and we don’t just get folks’ thoughts and prayers. 

MLK50: So you believe the community’s role is to keep the pressure
on. What could your Democratic colleagues be doing at this moment? 

PEARSON: I encourage them to keep the pressure on Republicans and one
another. To speak up. We cannot be elected to be silently complicit
with all of the bad things that are happening in the state legislature
in order that we might pass one bill a year or maybe even no bills.
Our silence keeps our seat, but that doesn’t do us any good. We have
to fight. That is what I will say.

Our constituents in District 86 sent us there to fight for them and to
fight for the issues because they’re tired. They’re tired of the
poverty, they’re tired of the gun violence, they’re tired of the
inequitable treatment that we’re receiving from the people in
Nashville, and they want to have voices up there who are also going to
raise the issues and not just be up there to have a seat. And so to my
Democratic colleagues, I encourage them and I implore them to fight
alongside us and to speak out at every injustice that is happening.
And I promise you, there are many that are happening in Nashville. But
we can not afford to be silently complicit in this status quo and to
this status quo. We all have a responsibility to hold them accountable
while they’re in office and when they run for reelection. 

_This interview has been edited for length and clarity. _

_Adrienne Johnson Martin is executive editor of MLK50: Justice Through
Journalism. Contact her at [email protected]_

_This story is brought to you by MLK50: Justice Through Journalism
[[link removed]], a nonprofit newsroom focused on poverty, power
and public policy  — issues about which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
cared deeply —  in Memphis. Contact us at [email protected]
[[link removed]].
Support independent journalism by making a tax-deductible donation
[[link removed]] today. MLK50
is also supported by these generous donors
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* Justin Pearson
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* Tennessee
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* Memphis
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* gun violence
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