On March 27, tragedy struck when a shooter in Nashville killed six people, including three children. Tennessee’s notoriously loose gun restrictions garnered national criticism after the shooting, and thousands of protestors called for the state government to change them.
What became clear after the shooting, is that Republicans, who currently hold a supermajority of 72-23 in the House, will not budge in their stance on gun legislation in the state. They enlisted the help of thoughts and prayers to meet the moral penance of the loss of innocent children’s lives.
Three Democratic lawmakers, Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville, Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville and Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis took part in the protests, even taking over the well out of turn during a session to shout and chant about gun reform within the state.
Republican lawmakers acted fast and moved to expel the representatives for disrupting proceedings and bringing disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions, according to Tennessee Lookout.
The word insurrection has been thrown around to describe the actions of Jones, Pearson and Johnson, but in my opinion, that is only to make the insurrection on Jan. 6 appear less sinister and violent. The protests that occurred in Nashville were entirely peaceful; there were no people storming through the capitol halls.
Still, on April 6, the Republicans within the House voted to expel Jones and Pearson, while Johnson held onto her seat by one vote. The expulsion of these representatives points toward a dark future in which people can be kicked out for protesting. The Nashville Three were not fighting for anything absurd or inappropriate; they were saying things that the Republican party did not want to hear.
Rep. Justin Jones was reappointed on April 10 as interim representative for his position until a special election is held later this year. On April 12, Rep. Justin Pearson was reappointed by the Shelby County Commission.
It makes one wonder, why even bother expelling them in the first place? The answer is fear. The Republicans of the Tennessee State Legislature want to bully and silence anybody who opposes them. It certainly does not resemble anything that looks like a democracy.
