Ousted Tennessee legislator Justin Jones reinstated after Nashville council vote
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • last year • 41 commentsBy: Safia Samee Ali and Rose Horowitch
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Nashville Metropolitan Council voted Monday to return Justin Jones to the state Legislature after he was removed last week by Republicans for protesting gun violence on the House floor.
The 36 council members at Monday's meeting unanimously supported reinstating Jones. The council had suspended its rules to allow an immediate vote instead of holding a monthlong nomination period.
Less than an hour later, Jones was sworn in on the steps of the State Capitol. He raised his fist as he entered the House chamber while supporters chanted, "Welcome home!"
Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, walks into the House chamber with Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday.George Walker IV / AP
"I want to welcome democracy back to the people's house," Jones said in a speech on the House floor. "I want to thank you all, not for what you did, but for awakening the people of this state, particularly the young people. Thank you for reminding us that the struggle for justice is fought and won in every generation."
Jones and fellow Democrat Justin J. Pearson, who are Black, were expelled Thursday in House votes that drew national attention to racial dynamics in the state's legislative body.
Jones, Pearson and state Rep. Gloria Johnson had led supporters in chants calling for gun control measures after a shooting at a Nashville school killed six people, including three 9-year-old children. The three broke House rules and used a bullhorn when they were not recognized to speak.
House leaders cast the protest as an "insurrection" and voted Thursday to expel Jones and Pearson from the General Assembly. Johnson, who is white, survived her vote, which she suggested had to do with her race. After Monday's council vote, Johnson and Jones embraced and locked arms.
Hundreds of demonstrators who had assembled outside the Metro Nashville Courthouse marched to the State Capitol after the council vote. They were joined by Jones and Pearson.
"Today we send a resounding message that democracy will not be killed in the comfort of silence," Jones said, speaking in front of the State Capitol. "This is not about one person. It's not about one position. It's about a movement."
Pearson said:"You might try and silence it. You might try and expel it, but the people's power will not be stopped."
The Shelby County Board of Commissioners, the body charged with choosing Pearson's successor, will meet Wednesday to consider action to reappoint Pearson to his seat, Chairman Mickell Lowery announced Sunday.
"I believe the expulsion of State Representative Justin Pearson was conducted in a hasty manner without consideration of other corrective action methods," Lowery said in a statement. "I also believe that the ramifications for our great state are still yet to be seen."
Cameron Sexton, the Republican House speaker, has committed to seating whomever the two bodies appoint to fill the vacancies, including Jones and Pearson.
"The two governing bodies will make the decision as to who they want to appoint to these seats," a spokesperson for Sexton wrote in a statement. "Those two individuals will be seated as representatives as the constitution requires."
In interviews since their expulsion, Jones and Pearson said they have felt tensions among their fellow legislators since they started in the majority-white Legislature. Jones said he and Pearson had a "target" on them since they joined the Legislature because of their race, ages and activist backgrounds.
Pearson added, "When you have people who make comments about hanging you on a tree and hanging Black people on a tree as a form of capital punishment, when you wear a dashiki on the House floor and a member gets up and they talk about your dashiki saying it's unprofessional, they're really sending signals that you don't belong here."
Democrats in Washington have rallied around Jones and Pearson. Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Nashville on Friday to meet with the "Tennessee Three," as the group has been called, praising them for "channeling" their constituents' voices in speaking out against gun violence. President Joe Biden also called them and invited them to visit the White House. He had called their expulsion "shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent."
Nashville Metropolitan Council member Zulfat Suara said: "He's a duly elected representative of his constituents. They voted him in. They chose him. They want him to speak for them. We cannot stop the voices of the masses or what the voters wanted. That would not be good for our democracy. What the state did [Thursday] is that: kill democracy."
Black Nashville residents expressed outrage at the ousting of the two lawmakers, saying it silenced their voices. "It's like our vote doesn't matter," one resident said.
Expulsion from the Legislature has been a rare punishment reserved for the most serious offenses, with only a few such instances in the last several decades. Unlike in those cases, Jones and Pearson were not charged with or convicted of breaking the law.
Under state rules, Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, must schedule a primary for Jones' and Pearson's seats within 60 days and a general election within 107 days. Both Jones and Pearson have said they will seek re-election.
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The expulsion was not a good look for Tennessee, and ultimately achieved nothing politically for the GOP, either in the state or nationally.
Give the gop their credit due. Trying to silence two state level black back benchers they have created two up and coming national leaders...
Maybe. Even if they haven't, they've managed to show the world their rear ends.
Exactly, leadership can so easily be created.
No, they were born leaders as evidenced by them being state legislators at such young ages. Now they are famous. That never hurt anyone in politics. Your efforts to denigrate and belittle them have been duly noted...
Let the gop be hateful and ugly as can be!
It is already backfiring across the boards...
Leadership is baked into your DNA, either you have it or you don't?
Exactly, just like AOC.
Oh my!
One has been reinstated, the other will be and they have both raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. They have been elevated from unknown Tennessee state legislators to national political figures...
This has been a fiasco for the damn gop!
Being dicks backfired on goppers, again...
Keep doing just what you've been doing!
I took that step decades ago.
You are correct- they should have shit canned all 3 of them for inciting an insurrection.
Sorry but I disagree with you. One was already re-instated and the other will happen on Wednesday. IMO they should have been rebuked or sanctioned and then the House should have moved on. All they have done is look bad and create bad optics for themselves. But I doubt this will have much impact outside of Tennessee and I doubt those three will receive any real national attention.
Yes, they've managed to alienate millions of young voters and of all ages actually. It doesn't matter that they voted him back in.
Yes seems to only have denigration and belittling those he sees as beneath him.
These fine brave young men will go far, what about Justin Pearson? Will they vote him back in?
Yes indeed! I have to laugh at the 'being dicks'
it's so true. They're such petty and racist scum.
Your deflection is duly noted
Do you have that capability?
Yellow card caution for @Drinker of the Wry.
Better be careful or it's off to the gulag with you, son.
They've alienated millions of voters, young and old, middle aged, everyone! Backfired on their asses big time and rightly so!
I would hesitate to predict the political impact in someplace like Cowan or McKenzie or some other rural place.
For all we know it was a huge win for some of these state reps.
I thought standing up against insurrection was a very good look. When I first saw Pearson, I thought he was doing an impersonation of H. Rap Brown. Maybe that was all he needed to do to gain the love of a lot of sour middle aged to old lefties. Tell him that Jeremiah Wright does the hate gospel. It must be done in the Church of What's Happening Now! On Sunday!
ultimately achieved nothing politically for the GOP, either in the state or nationally.
In other words Sandy thinks that only lefties should have the right to disrupt a session of the Tennessee Legislature....for as long as they want...anytime they want. We won't have to worry about any other political groups protesting, right Sandy? The FBI has them covered.
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Please learn the difference between insurrection and protest. Falsely equating the two renders the rest of your comment meaningless.
Oh my, the NT critic has spoken. Now understanding the difference between insurrection and protest might be a more difficult task than posting an emoji.
You were late!
You are supposed to open these things.
That rating means Dick here.
LOL.
Good for Jones and good job Nashville!
Looks like the Vice President jumped the gun.
The fact that the Nashville Metropolitan Council's vote to reinstate Justin Jones was unanimous makes it even better. Pearson is next!
People were at the capitol chanting "No Justins, No Peace", lol.
So a man previously arrested for assaulting Representatives and used a racial slur to insult another colleague is sent back to the House.
Nashville isn't sending it's best.
You can definitely say that about a lot of people at both the state and federal level from all states.
At first glance I thought elderly couple enjoying their scooters but these two are probably in their early 50's. 'merika.
Exactly, you won't found obesity in any other country.
Exactly, I haven't seen it so wide-spread (so to speak) in other counties as it is here.
Uvalde: AR-15 Aurora: AR-15 Buffalo: AR-15 Orlando: AR-15 St. Louis: AR-15 Parkland: AR-15 Louisville: AR-15 Las Vegas: AR-15 Sandy Hook: AR-15 Waffle House: AR-15 Sutherland Spring: AR-15
We have two representatives expelled from the Tennesse legislature for protesting gun violence and the legislature was shut down for an hour or so.
A very serious breach of rules to say the least. We can be thankful that it was for something so mundane as protesting a mass shooting with five fatalities.
Meanwhile, the legislature has for quite some time refused to expel a self-admitted child molester. They have stood their ground, circled the wagons and protected a pedophile but displayed enormous courage in expelling two and close to a third person for making a lot of noise.
One can see profiles of courage throughout the Tennessee legislature. In the face of deadly noise, they stood their ground and fought back with undeniable courage in expelling the damn noise makers.
This type of courage doesn't come along often, it's a special type of courage that only the simple-minded can muster.
This incident will go down in the annals of Tennessee right next to ''Old Number 7'' as a watershed moment in their history.
Looks the Tennessee legislature have their priorities screwed up
But they made noise and that is a horrible transgression in the simple minds of the Tennessee legislature. Uncle Goober would be proud.