Oh Tennessee!
"Here they come, spinning into the turn..."
It's the springtime kickoff, to a long hot summer of racial reckoning, I reckon...
Yesterday, the Tennessee Three became the Tennessee Two, after legislators voted to expel two b/Black male lawmakers for ... inciting fear of insurrection, while the w/White female legislator got to keep her job in a more merciful vote that did not meet the 2/3 approval needed by her colleagues to oust her too.
This one's got everything:
Gender differences; racial differences; punishment for speaking out/representing the people who put you in; the "death of democracy" here at home...
The summer political season is going to be one of hot unrest if leaders keep refusing to listen to people, and expel them. When you go to the strongest penalty first, you don't really leave much maneuver room. Wiki:
President Joe Biden wrote that the move was "shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent."[12]
Joe Biden @POTUS Three kids and three officials gunned down in yet another mass shooting.
And what are GOP officials focused on?
Punishing lawmakers who joined thousands of peaceful protesters calling for action.
It's shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent.
Former president Barack Obama wrote, "This nation was built on peaceful protest. No elected official should lose their job simply for raising their voice – especially when they’re doing it on behalf of our children."[3]
Former vice President Al Gore wrote that the expulsions resulted in a "historically sad day for democracy in Tennessee."[4]
Tennessee State Senator London Lamar accused the Tennessee House of racism for expelling two black representatives but not the white representative.[18]
State Representative Joe Towns Jr. criticised the expulsion saying "you never use a sledgehammer to kill a gnat; we are dropping the nuclear option."[18]
When asked why she thought she was not expelled,
Gloria Johnson said "It might have to do with the color of my skin." Justin J. Pearson said of his expulsion "You cannot ignore the racial dynamic of what happened today — two young Black lawmakers get expelled and the one white woman does not," while Justin Jones described it as "a farce of democracy."[19]
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