There’s lots of noise surrounding events in the Tennessee House. This article is not about gun control, or the politics underlying the events of the past few days. It is a simple summation of facts, ending with a question. Judge the actions of all involved for yourselves.
On March 30th, Democrat Tennessee State Representatives Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, and Gloria Johnson took over the House podium with a bullhorn to lead chants in coordination with protestors. The three refused to leave the podium, including after the House Sergeant-at-Arms attempted to remove them.
In response, on April 7th, after hearings on all three, the Republican supermajority in the House voted to expel Rep. Jones, D-Nashville, and Rep. Pearson, D-Memphis, both of whom are Black. The House failed by one vote to achieve the two-thirds majority needed to kick Rep. Johnson out of the chamber. Rep. Johnson is white.
Democrats, including Rep. Johnson, have since accused the Republican legislators of racism due to the different outcomes. Republicans have cited differences in the behavior of the three: Johnson stood with Jones and Pearson, but did not engage in yelling and screaming, or use the bullhorn. Johnson further has since distanced herself from the protest and apologized for the breach of decorum.
Now, leaving aside the question of whether or not the disparate outcomes were the result of racism – we’ll leave that for you to decide – ask yourself this:
If Republicans in the California Legislature had staged a coordinated takeover of the Speaker’s pulpit with a bullhorn, coordinating chants with a mass of protestors for gun rights, do you think the Left would stop at simply expelling those members?
Sam Stone is the co-host of Breaking Battlegrounds