Tennessee Republicans abused their power last week by expelling Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson for speaking out about gun violence amid the protests following a deadly massacre in Nashville. Furthermore, by selectively expelling the two Black members who spoke out and not their white colleague, Republicans continued a long history of racist attacks against Black legislators. And, in doing so, they violated Rep. Jones and Rep. Person's First Amendment rights and violated the law.

The Department of Justice should immediately investigate these actions—and Representatives Jones and Pearson should be reinstated, while House Republican leadership should be held accountable for these racially-motivated, authoritarian, anti-democratic actions. Add your name to show your solidarity with the Tennessee Three—especially Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson.

It's well established in America that legislators have a right to speak out on issues in the public domain. This is all that Reps. Pearson and Jones—along with their white colleague Rep. Gloria Johnson—were doing in a peaceful manner that met the stakes of the moment while remaining true to democratic principles of civil discourse.

By punishing the two Black representatives—and notably not expelling their white colleague—the Tennessee Republicans abused their power, acted in a long racist tradition, and violated their rights. At the same time, they violated the trust of hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans who are deprived representation.

This cruel and craven move was a power-play that sought to divide urban and rural communities, and silence the voices of a younger generation—while continuing a long, sordid history of violations of the rights of Black voters and their elected representatives.

It's also shameful that this is how the Tennessee Republicans take action when there are real crises—like addressing mass gun violence—they should be tackling.

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