Dear John,
Over the past two weeks, Oregon and the nation have witnessed Nashville’s disgusting episode of disenfranchisement and racial acrimony for which the American “south” is historically famous. (Perhaps, some say, “the south” is much more than a simple concept of geography - a topic for a much more detailed opinion piece). In contrast, we have watched the resilience and fierce determination to overcome injustice, for which many Black and Brown Americans, women, our LQBTQ+ family members, and other marginalized communities, are respected and applauded.
Amazingly, the whole Nashville affair erupted from a deadly school shooting that took the lives of six innocent people--three beautiful children, and three devoted members of their school staff. Indeed, the intersection of gun violence, racial justice and democracy came together in Tennessee to grab the world’s attention.
After the shock of seeing two young Black lawmakers un-democratically ousted from the Tennessee House allegedly for a violation of the House's rules of decorum, along with a third member, a white woman, escaping expulsion by one vote, I am still thinking about what this situation teaches us about the ongoing work for justice and democracy.
Thankfully, earlier this week, Democratic Representatives Justin Pearson and Justin Jones were interim reinstated to their seats by their local county commissions. Rejoining Representative Gloria Johnson, now known as the 'Tennessee Three,' each has had a lot to say about justice and democracy.
The thoughtful, honest and unambiguous words of Rep. Johnson, in particular, are widely quoted in the national press in her answers to questions about the unprecedented actions taken by the super-majority Republican lawmakers against the two Black legislators. I believe her words teach us a lot about the “arc of the moral universe,” and the work ahead to bend it more towards justice. She is quoted as saying,
“. . . the role race played in the expulsions of Jones and Pearson is hard to ignore. . . If you listened during our expulsion hearings, if you listened to the questions that were asked of the two young men, it was a different tone entirely than what was used with me. The tone, to me, was demeaning. There was definitely a difference in the questions, like, 'How dare you speak up or stand up without our permission? You need to act like us and dress like us and speak like us.'”
