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Dear Friend,
*While the following message focuses on what’s happening in Nashville – and how what’s happening there and across the nation impacts every single one of us, we first want to express our grief over yesterday’s mass shooting in Kentucky. Our hearts are broken for the victims, their families and the Louisville community. [1]
In the aftermath of the Covenant Christian School mass shooting last week in Nashville, instead of taking action on gun safety, white Tennessee Republican lawmakers used the tragedy as an excuse to strip more than 140,000 Tennesseans of their representation in the state house by expelling their Black Democratic representatives. This is unprecedented and undemocratic. [2]
For Tennessee, our hearts burn with the anger of a million suns.
*Here’s what shamefully happened: Democratic State Representatives Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, and Gloria Johnson joined thousands of Tennesseans to express their anger and grief at the terrible loss of life at the Covenant Christian School mass shooting. They demanded action from their colleagues who were also elected leaders to fight gun violence and prevent such horrific tragedies from happening again.
Outrageously, instead of addressing gun violence, the white Republican supermajority in the Tennessee State House responded by silencing the voices that were raised up against gun violence! And then, breaking democracy and ignoring the will of the voters, they voted to expel Representatives Jones and Pearson, who are Black, from their duly elected offices. (Representative Gloria Johnson, a white woman, survived her expulsion vote.)
What’s next? The Nashville Metro Council and the Shelby County Board of Commissioners are responsible for filling Jones and Pearson’s seats. The Nashville Metro Council has already voted to return Representative Jones to his office as interim representative. [3] The Shelby County Board of Commissioners will vote soon on Representative Pearson’s status. Following these votes, in order to stay in office, Jones and Pearsons will need to win special elections to be called by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee within 60 days.
The likelihood of Republicans interfering in the reinstatement process is high. There are already moves to withhold millions of dollars in funding from Memphis if Representative Pearson is reinstated. [4] These racist and undemocratic expulsion votes are not only profoundly damaging to Tennessee’s democratic systems but to the nation as well. The expulsion votes must not be allowed to stand!
America’s moms are horrified by the assault on democracy, free speech, and common decency that has been taking place in Tennessee. Expelling two lawmakers – both Black men – who spoke out in support of moms, students, parents, teachers, and others who were protesting gun violence was racist, disgraceful, wildly disproportionate, and stunningly undemocratic. It was a transparent, disgraceful attempt to distract from state lawmakers’ failure to protect children and adults in the state from the ravages of assault weapons and from gun violence generally.
Republicans in the state disgraced themselves and their office.
Please forward this email to everyone you know who cares about our democracy and ask them to sign too.
Together, we will never stop fighting anti democratic forces. We’ll never stop defending our families and communities from gun violence.
– Gloria, Monifa, Donna, Kristin, Felicia, Sue Anne, and the whole MomsRising.org & MamásConPoder Team
References:
[1] “At least 4 killed in bank shooting in Louisville, Kentucky,” CNN.com, April 10, 2023.
[2] “Tennessee House GOP expels two Democrats in retaliation over gun control protest, on ‘sad day for democracy,’” CNN.com, April 7, 2023.
[3] “Nashville council votes to reinstate expelled Democrat Justin Jones,” The Guardian, April 10, 2023.
[4] “Memphians talk Pearson ousting: Pearson confirms re-election plans,” Fox13memphis.com, April 7, 2023.
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