Tennessee Democratic Reps. Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin Pearson of Memphis — two young Black men — were expelled from the state House on Thursday, while Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville — an older white woman — survived the Republican-led attempt to oust the trio who participated in a peaceful gun protest from the floor of the chamber last week. The demonstration broke out in the wake of the Nashville school shooting that left six people — three children and three school personnel — dead.
Me too. I think they will. No one on their county commissions probably wants to look as bad as they do in the Statehouse! The wind is starting to blow in the right direction, but winning is a long way off.
I honestly can’t believe that the TN Republicans decided to take the most racist path available to them by expelling the 2 Black men from the TN House and not the White woman. I honestly thought that they started getting cold feet after the Justin Jones vote by realizing that this entire vote looks terrible for them and a few Republicans got together and decided to spare the remaining two members which is why Gloria Johnson survived her vote. But the fact that Justin Pearson was expelled after her leaves little doubt that race was indeed a major factor in this vote.
I have read somewhere (sorry, don’t recall exactly) that the sour-faced GQP fascists are now muttering about not seating them if they are re-appointed.
But if the fascists do re-seat them, I am afraid that this incident will get swept under the carpet (which, of course, would be the fervent hope of the GQP fascists who did this).
Best of all worlds: they get re-appointed, they get re-seated and then they keep on keeping on with their crusade, reminding both TN and the rest of the US that fascism is coming for us if we don’t stay vigilant.
For those who don’t know, the KKK was founded in Pulaski TN in 1866. It evidently still thrives below ground in that state.
The official reorganization of the Klan into a political and terrorist movement began in April 1867, when the state’s Democratic Party leadership met in Nashville. An invitation sent by the Pulaski den to others in the state called for a gathering of members at the Maxwell House hotel, where Tennessee’s conservative Democrats provided for greater control of an expanding KKK. A prescript established administrative protocols and emphasized the need for secrecy. Subsequently, former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest was elected the first and only Grand Wizard. In 1868 a revised prescript declared the Klan the defender of the Constitution of the United States and the protector of the orphans and widows of Confederate dead. Klansmen were required to swear that they had never been members of the Union army, the Union League, or the Republican Party, and they supported re-enfranchising ex-Rebels and upholding the South’s constitutional rights.
Many of us are much older than these guys…and I am happy for the two Justins
Happy of the potential Outcome of getting their positions back
Happy with their YOUTH
It’s time for young (under 40) people to get going and mount a movement to get the country back from the GOP.
An interview featuring Justin Jones included Jones giving thanks to two older African Americans…as they both gave counsel and encouragement to the former…and that is the dynamic going forward:
(1) Older people providing encouragement and structural assistance.
(2) Younger people providing effort, energy, enthusiasm and ability to learn
(3) Younger people will be inhabiting this resultant world. They owe it to THEIR children to provide a setting in which they can survive while working in an atmosphere of cooperation
“Early in my tenure at the court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the court, was not reportable,” Justice Thomas said. “I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.”
Their culture is born from owning people. Their history is built on human property. Generations of them bought, sold, beat, raped, and murdered men, women, and children with legal impunity. For fun and profit.
These are the folk who flocked to the GOP after the Civil Rights Act. This is their history, their “heritage”.
Last evening, I attended a National Geographic event about Greenwood, the site of the 1921 Tulsa massacre. It was hosted by an archeologist who’s been trying to uncover the buildings that were burned down. Outstanding presentation. Partway through, she showed us the KK register, pointing out the mayor, chief of police, city treasurer, and other important folks in Tulsa who were all clearly listed in the records from the 1920s.
It was all about owning the bodies and labor of other people. Tulsa even segregated phone booths–the only state to do so.
Because, ya know, I’m too lazy and too stupid to actually look things up for myself. It’s how I roll, ya know? You tell me what the law says I can do and that’s how I’ll adjudicate.
Yep, a super-majority – and I listened to one of the most contemptuous of the Republicans berate one of these gentlemen by saying all he had to do was pass legislation. So reasonable!
