The Republican-controlled Tennessee House of Representatives voted to expel two Black Democrats Thursday afternoon, while sparing a third white colleague of that fate, after the trio of lawmakers led a protest on the House floor last week.
Former Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, poses for a portrait in the gallery of the House chamber Thursday, April 6, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. Jones was expelled from the legislature for using a bullhorn to shout support for pro-gun control protesters in the House chamber. voted to expel two Black Democrats
. In 1980, then-Rep. Robert Fisher, also a Republican, was expelled after being convicted of soliciting a bribe in exchange for attempting to block pending legislation.According to House rules, a two-thirds majority vote of members is required in order to expel a lawmaker. Given that 75 of the seats in the chamber are currently held by Republicans and 23 are held by Democrats, the GOP had a healthy head start on that goal.
“This is the consequence of a body that wants to suppress not just our vote, but the votes of our districts that are majority Black and brown," he said. “I represent one of the most diverse districts in Tennessee, and so now those 78,000 people have been silenced.”that this is"what happens when you lose democracy."
"Our members literally didn't look at the ethnicity of the members up for expulsion," Majority Leader William Lamberth of Portland toldPushing back more pointedly, Republican Rep. Gino Bulso of Brentwood accused the three Democrats of “effectively [conducting] a mutiny” with the protest.One of the most contentious moments during Thursday’s six-hour House session came when Republican Rep.
, in which the three Democrats approached the podium last week with a bullhorn chanting,"No action, no peace!" to an"insurrection."“To liken the protest to an insurrection is to use hyperbolic language,” Susan Haynes, an associate professor of political science at Lipscomb University in Nashville told Yahoo News.
“It’s not possible for us to move forward with the way they were behaving in committee and on the House floor,” Faison said. “There’s got to be some peace.” “You, who celebrate July 4, 1776 — pop fireworks and eat hotdogs — you say to protest is wrong because you spoke out of turn, because you spoke out for people who are marginalized ... in a country built on people who speak out of turn, who spoke out of turn to build a nation,” Pearson said. “I come from a long line of people who resisted.
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