Posted By: S. Moore on April 07, 2023
- The Tennessee House of Representatives has voted to expel Reps Justin Jones and Justin Pearson after they joined in a gun control protest on the House floor
- Jones and Pearson, both black and aged 27, were with a white colleague, Gloria Johnson, protesting after the March 27 shooting in a Nashville school
- Johnson, 60, was not expelled: asked why she survived, she said it 'might have to do with the color of my skin'
The Tennessee House of Representatives has voted to expel two young, black, Democrat members of the state legislature - a week after they joined a protest against gun laws, bringing a bullhorn onto the House floor amid a noisy demonstration.
Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, both 27, were joined in their protest on March 30 by Gloria Johnson, 60, a veteran member of the legislature, who is white.
Jones and Pearson were voted out of the House on Thursday. Johnson was not.
Asked why she avoided expulsion, Johnson said it 'might have to do with the color of my skin.'
Until Thursday, only two people had been expelled from the Tennessee state legislature since the Civil War.
Joe Biden called the vote 'shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent'.
He tweeted: '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.'
Gloria Johnson, 60, representing Knoxville, is seen standing with Johnson and Pearson.
She was spared expulsion, while the two 27-year-old black men were kicked out
Justin Jones is seen speaking to reporters shortly after the vote to expel him from the House of Representatives in Tennessee, as a punishment for his participation in a March 30 protest
Jones said after the vote that it showed Tennessee was 'on a path toward authoritarianism', and his lawyers were analyzing whether the expulsion vote was legal.
'This should sound the alarm across the nation, that we are entering some very dangerous territory,' he said.
He said that the three 'are in this together', and he was heading to the public gallery to support the other two as he is no longer allowed to enter the House floor.
Jones said: 'We are multiracial, intergenerational - we represent Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville. We stand united.
'Because this is not the end.
'But if we don't act, we lose our democracy. Today was a signal that we have lost democracy in Tennessee and we are on a path toward authoritarianism, to be quite honest.'
He said he was not sure if he would run for office again, but would 'stand with the people', and added: 'We were saying, let's pass an assault weapons ban. And they assaulted democracy.'
He said expelling him from the House was 'unconstitutional', and said he is consulting his legal advisers for the next steps.
The House was shown video of the March 30 demonstration, with the three Democrats joined by protestors.
They used a bullhorn to lead supporters in the public gallery in chants for gun reform, and as a result were accused of 'disorderly behavior' in the Tennessee House of Representatives.
The three Democrats raised their fists in the air as video of the disruption played, during the vote to expel them. Cheers and applause were also heard as the video played.
All three progressive representatives were seen speaking with one another as the short clip ended.
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