The two Tennessee legislators who were bounced from their seats for knowingly legislating while Black are back in the news—and, once again, the news is good.
Republicans expelled Democratic state Reps. Justin J. Pearson and Justin Jones from the Tennessee Legislature in April, after they participated in a raucous protest against gun violence on the House floor. Within a week, they were returned to the legislature on an interim basis by the Shelby County Board of Commissioners and Nashville Metro Council, respectively, but state law requires them to run in pricey special elections to regain their old seats.
Now, they’ve both won their primaries and are on a glide path to reelection in their reliably blue districts.
What this means, of course, is that all that Republicans managed to prove with this stunt was how absurdly racist they are. And it’s not like we needed more evidence. If you can somehow imagine boxes and boxes of incriminating material piled up in a bathroom next to a shower curtain tension rod, a baroque chandelier, and a factory second Taco Bell Express toilet, that’s how much evidence we currently have of Republicans’ intractable racism.
RELATED STORY: Tennessee Republicans claim they were ‘obliged’ to expel Democrats over peaceful protest
Pearson had faced a Democratic challenger, David Page, while Jones ran unopposed. Unofficial results showed that Pearson and Jones won overwhelmingly. Local government officials reinstated both to their seats days after they were expelled in April, but they still had to run to be re-elected to their old seats.
Their victories send a message to Republicans in the state House that the two men continue to enjoy robust support in their districts and could provide a punch of momentum for advocates of gun legislation ahead of a special session scheduled this summer that Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, called specifically to address gun measures.
Oh, and you’ll be surprised to learn that the third Tennessee legislator who participated in the protest—which was launched in the wake of a mass shooting that took the lives six people, including three 9-year-olds, at the Covenant School in Nashville—was not expelled. Why? Well, that’s a mystery for the ages.
Republican House legislators then took the exceptionally rare step of voting to expel Jones and Pearson, who are Black, over their roles in the protests. But the vote to expel the third Democrat — Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white — fell short, leading to accusations of racism.
Racism? No way! They probably had very good reasons to expel the Black men and spare the white woman. For instance, they may have gotten a glimpse of Pearson’s scary afro. Who can say?
But by no means were they being racist. Just ask them. They’ll tell you exactly the same thing.
RELATED STORY: Leaked audio: Tennessee House Republicans are upset because they made themselves look ‘racist’
Fun fact? These wholly unnecessary special elections that restore the status quo for Jones and Pearson will cost Tennessee taxpayers roughly half a million bucks, per Newschannel 5 Nashville.
Two special elections for expelled seats in the legislature will now cost Tennesseans thousands of dollars even though those same lawmakers were appointed back to those House districts.
[…]
The costs to host both elections range between $470,000 to $570,000.
Oh, man—$470,000 to $570,000? I thought Republicans wanted to control spending. That princely sum could have paid for one or two Pentagon hammers, or reimbursed the Secret Service for Trump’s last three KFC orders.
Of course, Republicans don’t get in a lather over every Black-led protest. How dare you even suggest that? If that were even remotely true, how the fuck do you explain this?
Also, the GOP has warmly embraced lots of Black folks. For instance, there’s Dr. Ben Carson, the world-renowned brain surgeon who regularly practices on himself in the mirror, and Byron Donalds, the greenhorn U.S. House representative many Republicans will likely continue to back for speaker for at least as long as he has zero chance of winning.
RELATED STORY: Rep. Byron Donalds offers up Florida Man defense for Donald Trump
And it’s not like Republicans hate all protests. Had Pearson, Jones, and Johnson’s protests included zip-ties, bear spray, and a series of increasingly bellicose chants exhorting the loving, cordial throngs to hang Mike Pence, it would have likely been deemed kosher. But instead it involved two Black men, and that no doubt started Sen. Ron Johnson’s Whitey sense a-tingling.
Regardless, this is one more big win for the good guys and yet another flashing neon L for the grim, gathering forces of weasel. We’ll take it—and breathlessly await, popcorn in maw, for the GOP’s next mortifying own goal.
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