The segregation wound has been reopened this Friday after the tennessee congressled by the Republicans, will expel on Thursday two African-American Democrats who demonstrated to demand gun control. This measure has created a stir because it has considered racist.
But the controversy has pointed to the differentiation between congressmen, since the House of Representatives has applied the measure to two African-American Democrats, but not to a third white congresswoman, surprising even in Washington, where the president Joe Biden has called it “shocking” and “undemocratic“.
The president himself spoke by phone with the three to thank them “for their leadership in seeking to ban assault weapons” and defending “democratic values” and invited them to the White House, according to a statement from the presidency.
After a tragic mass shooting in Tennessee, state Republican lawyers called votes to expel three Democratic legislators who stood in solidarity with students and families.
The expulsion of lawmakers who engaged in peaceful protest is shocking, undemocratic, and unprecedented.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 7, 2023
For her part, the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harrishas met with state legislators in Tennessee this Friday after the expulsion of the two members of his party.
“Mute the voices of two black members for peacefully protesting against gun violence it’s not just racistbut also a radical departure from the democratic rules and traditions on which our nation was founded,” Democratic Congresswoman Yvette Clarke also tweeted.
Silencing the voices of two Black members for peacefully protesting gun violence is not only racist but also a radical shift away from the democratic rules & traditions our nation was founded upon. https://t.co/qc0DR1x44j
—Yvette D. Clarke (@RepYvetteClarke) April 7, 2023
March 30th, a few days after a shooting at a Christian school in Nashville, Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson joined hundreds of protesters on Parliament grounds to demand stricter regulation of firearms. Protesters entered the Tennessee Capitol to attract the attention of congressmen, who were gathered. Jones and Pearson used a megaphone to invite protesters to chant slogans such as “Power to the people” and “There is no peace without action,” according to various media outlets. On Thursday, their fellow Republicans sanctioned them.
“Yesterday looked like a Jim Crow era trial“, Jesse Chism, the vice president of the black parliamentary group in the Tennessee parliament, said at a press conference this Friday, alluding to segregationist laws valid for some until the middle of the 20th century. Congresswoman Gloria Johnson, who narrowly avoided expulsionThe reasons are clear. “I think it’s pretty clear: I’m a 60-year-old white woman and they’re two young black men,” she said.
“It might have to do with the color of our skin,” Rep. Gloria Johnson said after being asked why she survived the House expulsion vote, while her colleague Justin Jones did not. @courtneynallen pic.twitter.com/CNUTu9TTna
— WSMV 4 Nashville (@WSMV) April 6, 2023
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Justin Jones and Justin Pearson protested against the exclusionearning them praise on social media and a photo of them raising their fists has gone viral.
Is “a very dangerous precedent for the nation“Justin Jones told MSNBC. “If you didn’t tell me this was happening to me, I would think that we were in 1963 instead of 2023 because what we are seeing is a large, predominantly white majority, undoing democracy,” he added, estimating that the facts should be investigated.