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Tennessee Takes Center Stage in Fight for American Democracy

by Gabriel Martinez
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Tennessee has been caught up in a dispute about democracy. Two African-American lawmakers were kicked out of the state’s Legislature due to their involvement in a protest against gun violence. This decision by Republicans means that nearly 140,000 people who live in Nashville and Memphis don’t have any representatives in the House of Tennessee.

Kevin Webb, a 53-year-old teacher from Pearson’s district, said that it is very “typical America” to remove someone due to such a small mistake. Webb also added that there has been unfairness against Black people in the US for hundreds of years and that this won’t end overnight.

Pearson and Jones were kicked out of the school because they took part in a protest after a shooting happened in Nashville which killed six people, including three kids. But another Democrat was luckily not thrown out because only one person voted differently.

A lot of Republican parties are doing all they can to make it tougher for people to vote and doubting if the election is fair or not.

This year, more than 177 laws were proposed in many states to restrict voting or create systems that could scare people when they go to vote. Neha Patel from the State Innovation Exchange called it a danger to our democracy.

Patel said that making it hard for people to vote was once something uncommon, but now it is very common. The Republican party also often questions the fairness of elections and its credibility. Patel then asked if other states with a lot of Republicans will start to remove people from office who have different opinions than them.

Fred Wertheimer, who is the founder and president of Democracy 21 (a group that wants better government), stated that it’s rare for representatives to be kicked out or “expelled” from their jobs unless they’ve done something illegal. He has not heard of any other states doing this kind of thing yet; however, he believes it would spread quickly if it happened. This action in Tennessee caused a lot of people to express their opinion about it.

Marc Morial, President of the National Urban League, said that the issue was about race but also has to do with some important values of America, like the right to vote, freedom of speech and expressing your opinion publicly. He also added that it looks like people in Tennessee Legislature need to learn more about what’s written in the American Constitution.

Steven Horsford, the president of the Congressional Black Caucus, has asked Tennessee lawmakers to be restored back to their elected positions and for Attorney General Merrick Garland to look into whether people’s voting rights were broken. Derrick Johnson, the NAACP President, mentioned that his organization will do whatever it takes (including legal action) to make sure these bad attempts at silencing people’s voices are addressed in a court of law.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton said that it was wrong for some people to protest and take away the voice of the chamber. He said, “There are consequences when you do something like that. Those people disrupted what we were doing by protesting on the House floor”.

The three people had only been taking part in the demonstration for a short time when Sexton asked lawmakers to have a break. Webb was wondering why Jones and Pearson were removed while Rep. Gloria Johnson, who’s white, stayed put. Clayton Cardwell from Jones’ district in Nashville said it was “good” to take action on behalf of stricter gun laws last week.

“I wish the entire House had agreed with me,” said a retired teacher who was getting his master’s degree in special education. He stated that it used to be said that teaching is the safest job one could take, but now he thinks it may be one of the most dangerous.

He went on to say that he believes some of the expulsions happened due to prejudice from white, older men in authority.

Chris Wood, a lawyer from Nashville was so worried his representative would get kicked out that he went to the Capitol on Thursday. He thought it was terrible how the Republican party wouldn’t even talk about gun safety laws. Chris has three kids in public school, and thinks it’s awful and wrong that the Republicans don’t want to look into these laws.

The speaker said that nothing is more important for the community than stopping gun violence and giving our kids the chance to come home safely every day. He believes two local lawmakers, Jones and Pearson, will be assigned to their old jobs in the House soon with a special election so they can try and get those positions back. Andrea Wiley, who lives and works close to Pearson’s area, said she was embarrassed for her state.

Tamala Johnson said that it is really scary not having anyone in Nashville, the capital city of Tennessee, who speaks on behalf of her community and neighborhood. She also mentioned that she and her family voted for Pearson and she agreed with his idea about changing gun laws. Lastly, Tamala believes that expelling him just for expressing his opinion was wrong.

The vote to throw someone out made the speaker feel like their voice didn’t matter at all. The person who was thrown out was just trying to make gun laws better. Without trust, people won’t feel secure in speaking up and having their voices heard. Other people from Nashville, Tennessee; Washington, D.C.; Memphis, Tennessee; and Richmond, Virginia also reported on this case.

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