Black Tennessee residents express outrage at the state Republicans who expelled their representative for protesting gun violence last week. “He’s Black, he has our interests at heart, and he gets removed for protesting, that is racial.”
Former Rep. Justin Jones gestures to supporters during a vote on his expulsion at the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville, on Thursday.NASHVILLE — Outside a Kroger grocery store in the suburban Antioch neighborhood, where ousted Tennessee representative Justin Jones held rallies during his 2022 campaign, Black residents expressed outrage at the state Republicans who expelled their representative for protesting gun violence last week.
Former Rep. Justin Jones looks for a seat in the gallery of the House chamber after he was expelled from the Legislature.Natalie Hancock, 41, who did not disclose her political affiliation, echoed their sentiment. “We’re not happy,” she said. “I’m sick of the guns, so many of us are, so why can’t we say that? This was obviously racial, there is no hiding it.”
In the March 30 demonstration, the three legislators — dubbed the"Tennessee Three" — had led supporters in calling for stricter gun safety measures following a mass shooting in the state that killed three children and three adults. GOP state Rep. Bryan Richey, who voted to expel Jones but not Pearson or Johnson, has said the expulsions “had nothing to do with race” and “had nothing to do with the color of their skin.”
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