Tennessee Silencing Black Politicians Is Not New for the South

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On Thursday, two Black members of the Tennessee House of Representatives, Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin Pearson of Memphis, were expelled after they participated in protests at the State Capitol. A third representative, Gloria Johnson, who is white and also participated in the protest, was not expelled. The protests were centered around calling for more gun control after the deadly mass shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School.

The politicians’ expulsion has drawn national attention—even former President Barack Obama who is typically fairly muted on daily political issues stated, “What happened in Tennessee is the latest example of a broader erosion of civility and democratic norms. Silencing those who disagree with us is a sign of weakness, not strength, and it won’t lead to progress.”

Asked why her two colleagues had been expelled while she had not, Johnson was blunt: “I think it’s pretty clear. I’m a 60-year-old white woman, and they are two young Black men. In listening to the questions and the way they were questioned and the way they were talked to, I was talked down to as a woman, mansplained to, but it was completely different from the questioning that they got.”

As Pearson departed the Tennessee house chambers, the words he had for the Republicans who undemocratically ousted him carried the weight of the American experience. “We, and you, are seeking to expel District 86th’s representation from this House in a country that was built on a protest,” he said. “In a country that was built on a protest. You, who celebrate July 4, 1776, pop fireworks and eat hot dogs, you say to protest is wrong, because you spoke out of turn.

“Because you spoke up for people who are marginalized,” he added. “You spoke up for children who won’t ever be able to speak again. You spoke up for parents who don’t want to live in fear, you spoke up for Larry Thorn, who was murdered by gun violence. You spoke up for people that we don’t want to care about. In a country built on people who speak out of turn, who spoke out of turn, who fought out of turn to build a nation.”

The Republican Speaker of the House in Tennessee ludicrously likened what Pearson, Jones, and Johnson did in their anti-gun violence protest to the January 6 attack on the Capitol. As if peacefully protesting for the government to address the systemic problem of gun violence is the same as a violent insurrection in which hundreds of police officers were injured.

Reuters/Cheney Orr

This moment reflects a dangerous antidemocratic trend in American history; the unjust expulsion of Black politicians in the South. Jones and Pearson’s removal isn’t the first time Black elected officials have been kicked out of office for going against the grain. This happened right after the Civil War to 33 Black representatives from Georgia, also known as the “Original 33.”

In 1868 following the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, some of the first Black elected lawmakers were from Georgia. They were known as “Frederick Douglass Republicans”. They stood for an inclusive political platform based on the values of Douglass. As a result of the end of slavery and the new enfranchisement of Black men, white politicians in the South started passing racist voter suppression laws in order to prevent Black voters from spending the political power they earned.

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Another suppression tactic they embraced was the expulsion of newly elected Black state representatives. Following the election of the first 33 Black members, the white majority in the Georgia state legislature voted to remove all Black and mixed-race elected representatives.

This sent shockwaves through the Black community in Georgia, and one of the expelled members, Georgia Representative Philip Joiner, planned a protest in a town square nearby to bring to light the antidemocratic actions of the Georgia State Legislature. A violent protest followed, leading to the death of multiple protesters by radical white nationalists. In the following months, voter intimidation tactics were used to pressure Black voters to stop voting. As a result the Original 33 never returned to Congress.

Anthony Michael Kreis, a Professor of Law at Georgia State University a constitutional law scholar, told The Daily Beast: “The lesson of 1868 is there was certainly an impulse in Georgia resistant to any Black political power in the state legislature. What we saw unfold in Tennessee is a resistance to the same dynamic, where you had very strong leaders who represent heavily black populations and they are being met with a certain infantilization and dismissiveness.”

Although hundreds of years apart and in different circumstances it’s impossible to not see some of the uncanny similarities between the Original 33 and the Tennessee 3. Jones and Pearson were expelled not because of their political views but because they were Black politicians who were speaking out against the status quo. The removal of Jones and Pearson represents a complete rejection of the American democratic process, and of the people’s right to have the representatives they voted for.

In the revolutionary era, as misguided as those who designed the government were in the enfranchisement of women and minority groups, some understood the power of elections and the value of democracy.

As Founding Father George Mason said, “The people will be represented; they ought to therefore choose their representatives.” By removing Jones and Pearson, not only are Tennessee Republicans perpetuating the racist attitudes of those hundreds of years ago, but they are acting as the antithesis to the American doctrine of democratic rule which has been a part of our country since its founding.

It’s painful to watch the treatment of the Tennessee 3 on our cellphones and television screens. For all the progress our nation has made, moments like these can feel as if we are going backwards in time, and reversing decades of racial progress.

The American project sits in its own unique space, before its creation the destination of a multi-racial democracy seemed impossible and at times our trek to reach it seems brutal, never-ending, and almost Sisyphean as if we are pushing a gargantuan boulder up a hill. Instances like Tennessee remind us of how sometimes humans can be vengeful and selfish. It’s painful to see some politicians value weapons and corporate special interest over children’s lives.

But as we grimace with frustration it’s important to remember the journey to reach a perfect multi-racial democracy is long, but it’s not a lonely one. As long as we all speak out whenever we see an injustice happen—as the young protesters who are supporting Jones and Pearson so admirably and volubly are—we are only getting closer to a destination of true equality.

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