Former Tennessee Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson have been firedwho was ousted last week from the Republican-led Tennessee House for joining a protest on the House floor demanding stricter gun control, they are seeking to reinstate him.
The Nashville Metro Council has been called into special session Monday meeting, during which it will likely vote to install Jones as his temporary successor, effectively returning him to his seat for the time being. A vote to reappoint Pearson to his seat will take place Wednesday, according to Shelby County Board of Commissioners Chairman Mikkel Lowry.
A special election will be held for the vacant seats in the coming months, and both Pearson and Jones said Sunday on “Meet the Press” that they plan to run in that election to formally restore their positions.
On March 30, A.J Protesters gathered at the Capitol BuildingThe two Democrats, along with Democratic Representative Gloria Johnson, joined the protest on the House floor. Pearson and Jones led the “Strength to the People” hymn using a megaphone.
Tennessee House They voted to be expelled Jones and Pearson, who are Black, both voted Thursday, while Johnson, who is White, escaped her attempt to oust her by one vote.
In his statement Sunday night, Lowry said he believed Pearson’s firing was carried out in a “hasty manner” that did not take into account “other corrective action methods”. Lowry noted that Pearson’s eviction particularly affected him as a resident of the 28-year-old’s former district — home to more than 68,000 voters.
The removal of Jones and Pearson left a total of about 140,000 citizens without proper local representation in Tennessee’s predominantly black areas of Knoxville and Nashville, according to the Associated Press.
“The state where the Ku Klux Klan was founded is now trying to seize power again by silencing its youngest black representatives,” Jones said on the House floor before the vote.
Lowery said the protest at the Capitol, which came on the heels Shooting at a private Christian school that claimed the lives of three nine-year-olds and three adults, was “understandable given the fact that gun laws in Tennessee are virtually non-existent.”
“It is equally understandable that the leadership of the state House of Representatives felt the need to send a strong message to those who broke the rules,” Lowry added.
Shortly before his firing, Pearson said Thursday, “We heard from thousands of people telling us to do something about gun violence. What’s in the interest of our people is to end gun violence.”
C Mandler
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