Representative Justin Jones could go back to work as early as Monday.
Justin Jones, a former state representative who was kicked out of the Tennessee House, could be back in office as soon as Monday if Nashville’s metro council moves to name him again so he can get his place back.
Jones and fellow Democratic member Justin Pearson were kicked out of the state House, which is run by Republicans, because they took part in a protest calling for gun control after the March 27 shooting at the Nashville Covenant School.
State Rep. Gloria Johnson, D, who was also at the protest, managed to avoid being kicked out. People in the Republican House said it was racist that Johnson, who is white, wasn’t removed while Jones and Pearson, who are both black, were.
Jones and Pearson said that their moves were ways to keep people from voting and stop people from voting.
David Webb, who works for Fox News, pushed back, saying that people were not deprived of their right to vote because of their removal.
“Your people won’t be quiet. Even if they don’t keep them on, they still get to vote in a special election, so people can send back another left-leaning Democrat. These guys just outright lie. He said on “The Big Sunday Show” that they don’t want to serve their area.
“All three of them broke the rules, so the Republicans should have thrown them all out at the same time, including Gloria Johnson. The well of the floor was not quiet at this time. They broke rules that have been in place for a long time. And enough with this racism already. If all things are racist, then nothing is racist. You weren’t kicked out because you were Black. “They kicked you out because they had the votes and you broke the rules,” Webb said.
Johnny “Joey” Jones, the co-host, had a different view. He said that the GOP’s choice to get rid of the state lawmakers was a “unforced error.”
“Tactical and strategic are not the same thing. “They decided that kicking these people out was the best way to deal with what they had done,” Jones said.
“Sure, it was a very bad thing to do in terms of etiquette and how democracy works. The irony here is that these people were getting in the way of democracy as it is, but it wasn’t strategic at all because it was a bad idea. When you look back, the whole conversation is the GOP in Tennessee saying, “Yes, we kicked out two young Black men, but we’re not racist.” And even if that is completely true, I think race had very little to do with it, if anything at all. The look is there. And now that’s all we have to say.”
Cheryl Casone, another co-host, agreed that the talk should not be about the politicians who were kicked out, but about the people who died in the school killing.
“You know the names we no longer say? Mike Hill, Katherine Koonce, Evelyn Dieckhaus, and Cynthia Peak. What about the people who were hurt? She asked, “What happened with the shooting?”