Expelled Black lawmaker Pearson to return to Tennessee House

Memphis — the second of Two black Democrats were exiled. The Republican-led Tennessee Representative will return to Congress after the Memphis Commission voted to reinstate him Wednesday.

Hundreds of supporters marched Justin Pearson from Memphis to the Shelby County Commission, chanting and cheering before entering the commission room.

“A message to all those in Nashville who decided to banish us: Hope can’t be banished. Justice can’t be banished,” Pearson said at the conference, his voice getting louder. “You cannot banish our voices.

A large number of jubilant supporters then greeted him with a church-like celebration. Adopting a preacher’s rhythm, Pearson delivered a provocative speech in a call-and-response crowd interaction.Accompanied by his fiancée, mother, and four brothers, Pearson pumped his fist up. , jumped and hugged relatives.

“They awakened the sleeping giants,” he said, with drumming and thunderous cheers echoing in his voice.

Pearson will return to the Nashville Capitol on Thursday, where the House of Representatives will hold its next floor session, where he will be sworn in.

Republicans ousted Rep. Pearson and Justin Jones last week. Nashville school shooting it’s gone 3 children and 3 adults died.

The Nashville metropolitan area legislature was just minutes away from Monday unanimously reinstate JonesHe soon returned to the House of Representatives.

The appointment is provisional and special elections for seats are expected to take place in the coming months. Jones and Pearson said they plan to run for the special election.

Marcus Dwayne Belton said he attended a rally outside the Shelby County Courthouse after the vote.

“It’s not even about black people anymore,” he said of gun violence. There is.”

A House vote to remove Pearson and Jones and retain white Congresswoman Gloria Johnson drew accusations of racism. However, Republican leadership denied that race was a factor.

expelled last thursday Made Tennessee the New Front of the Battle For the future of American democracy. In a matter of days, they raised thousands of dollars in campaign funds and gave the Tennessee Democratic Party new support across the country.

Political tensions rose as Pearson, Johnson and Jones on the House floor joined hundreds of demonstrators who filled the Capitol last month to demand passage of gun control measures.

As protesters filled the gallery, lawmakers approached the front of the House chamber with loudspeakers and joined in the chant. The scene unfolded days after the shooting at Covenant School, a private Christian school. Since the three did not have the permission of the Speaker of the House, their participation in front of the House violated House rules.

Pearson grew up in the same House district where he was elected to Congress after black Democrat Rep. Barbara Cooper died in office. He quickly earned a reputation as an accomplished community activist and talented speaker.

Prior to his election, Pearson successfully campaigned against an oil pipeline running near a well that pumps water from the Memphis Sand Aquifer, which provides drinking water for one million people.

Back in the Tennessee State Capitol, Pearson and Jones face the same political divide between a minority of Democrats in the state and what the Republican supermajority had already reached boiling point before their ouster. .

Members of the Republican Party introduced a wave of punitive proposals to strip Nashville of its autonomy this year. Some are pushing to do away with the state’s few community oversight boards that investigate police misconduct, and instead replace investigations of complaints with blocked advisory boards.

Lawmakers are also nearing passage of a bill that would shift control of the board overseeing Nashville’s airport from local appointments to elections by Republican state leaders.

Especially when it comes to tackling gun violence, Republicans have so far refused to consider imposing new restrictions on firearms in the wake of the Nashville school shooting. Instead, lawmakers are considering a bill aimed at adding armed guards to public and private schools and allowing teachers to carry guns.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Cameron Sexton’s office confirmed this week that it’s been more than a month since Republicans were stripped of their Supreme Committee duties. heard at the hearing If only I could add “hanging on a tree” to how the state runs. The chairman’s office declined to specify the reasons for removing him from the committee.

Sexton spokesperson Doug Kufner said Rep. Paul Sherrell was removed from the Criminal Justice Committee and transferred to another committee and was “very much in agreement” with the change.

Sherrell, who is white, later apologized for what he said amid protests from black lawmakers who pointed to the state’s dark history of lynching. He said it was “exaggerated” to show “family support.”

Pearson has referenced Sherrell’s comments throughout Expulsion and its aftermath. Pearson said Wednesday that Sexton should resign, saying the House Speaker “would be more willing to banish those who want an end to gun violence than banish those who supported the lynching.” .