Democratic state legislator Justin Jones is being targeted again. You may recall that in April of this year, he and fellow legislator Justin Pearson (both young Black Democrats) were expelled from the House after protesting gun violence. This was in response to a school shooting in Nashville—in their state for crying out loud. Republicans were clearly targeting these men, as another Democratic legislator who partook in the same protest, Gloria Johnson (a white woman) was saved from expulsion by one vote. They garnered a lot of national attention and brought much-needed debate to the issue of gun violence at large.
Now it appears that Jones is being attacked by his colleagues yet again. On Monday, the Tennessee House of Representatives voted to ‘silence’ Jones for the remainder of the day/session. The vote passed along party lines, 70-20. Jones is not a fan of their Speaker of the House, Cameron Sexton. He has called for a vote of no confidence against Sexton and believes that he is being targeted because of this. On Twitter/X, Representative Jones called the move by Republicans “authoritarianism.”
The debate over gun control measures has continued in Tennessee, with not much happening legislatively. Jones was first ruled to be out of order for admonishing proposals that would allow private schools to make their own gun policies. He was then ruled out of order and ‘off topic’ during a discussion on putting officers in schools. Instead, Jones pushed for more mental health professionals and an increase in teacher pay.
Advocates in the gallery were yelling in protest after the vote to silence Jones was triggered. It seems like Republicans are mad that people are angry over the issue of dying by gunfire. Of course we are angry! They are not willing to do what’s necessary and completely possible to greatly decrease gun violence in our communities. They will do anything they can to silence people—even the lawmakers we elect to represent us on these issues—but we cannot be defeated.
The GOP has become the party of gaslighting. They keep telling the public that Democrats are “communists” and are controlling our culture, but really this is what they are doing. They are seeking to silence people that they don’t agree with. It ties into other issues like banning books and abortion—it’s all part of the same fight for total control. We can’t let them control the narrative as well. Representative Jones must keep speaking out for what’s right and I am sure he will.
(featured image: Seth Herald/Getty Images )
