On Thursday, the Republican-dominated Tennessee Legislature voted to remove two of the youngest black lawmakers, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, from its membership. The cause of the eviction was a protest inside the House on March 30, when hundreds of young people demonstrated outside the local Capitol, and three lawmakers inside the building called on lawmakers to vote for amendments to Tennessee gun control law with a megaphone, According to the CBS news.
The Republican majority in the legislature viewed the actions of the “troika” as a violation of standing orders and rules of conduct within the House. In a speech to a meeting of the Legislative Assembly, Republican Assemblyman John Garrett said, “A week ago members of our assembly rushed in and tried to stop our work. People can say that when they speak, or when they can’t speak in the Legislative Assembly because of the rules, that somehow limits their freedom of expression. Today that did not happen, but a week ago members of the House violated the order of business of this institution and silenced the representatives of seven million people.
“Three from Tennessee” – so today in the American press they call Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones, Justin Pearson – the Democratic lawmakers of Tennessee. They led a protest for tougher gun laws a week after the tragedy in the state – at a Covenant school in Nashville, three nine-year-old students and three adults were killed in a shooting. After participating in the protest, the three lawmakers were expelled from the committees of which they were members. Tennessee law requires that a majority or two-thirds of the total number of deputies be expelled from the House of Representatives.
“A week after the mass shooting which is spreading like a plague in society, this legislature, my colleagues on the other hand, have decided to act directly – that is, to expel us for speaking out about the problems weapons on our streets. We asked you to ban assault weapons, and you attacked democracy in retaliation.—Justin Jones, Democratic lawmaker.
Gloria Johnson avoided elimination as Republicans lost a vote. After which she spoke up, “I hear a lot about childcare, but I still don’t hear a single talk about things that can stop gun violence. There are so many things we could do to change the course of our path. In the meantime, we have an increase in cases of shootings in schools, in churches, in restaurants, in theaters. My friends, this is happening everywhere. The common cause of everything is the weapon.
President Joe Biden slammed the vote to exclude Democratic lawmakers from the Tennessee state legislature, calling it “shocking, undemocratic and unprecedented.”
Alexander (Alex) Crowther is a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis’ Transatlantic Defense and Security Program, an expert at the Center for European Policy Analysis, argues that events in the legislature reveal deep contradictions that exist in American society.
“Republicans have an absolute majority in the Tennessee House of Representatives. And not only did they refuse to support (the Tennessee Three), but they told them, “Listen, we’re going to relax the gun laws! They are thinking of legislation to allow people to openly carry guns. And it created fundamental divisions within the legislature. At the same time, anti-gun protesters said they needed more rules and laws. And when the Republicans backed down, their opponents felt they were underrepresented and someone had to do something about it. They made noise in the House. Obviously, this is a violation of the rules. A civilized society must have rules. This is why the majority voted to expel two of the three legislators. Two African-Americans excluded. But the one who wasn’t expelled is a white woman. So now we have several problems: the problem of gun violence, friction between left and right, and racial divisions. And this is a serious problem, ”said Alexander Krauter.
However, the two Democrat deputies, expelled from parliament, do not give up and plan to return to their legitimate places. For the next election campaign of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, the democratic platform ACT BLEU raised more than 250 thousand dollars in one day.
In March, according to The Eastern Herald , Biden announced tougher controls on gun buyers.
