Tennessee Removes House Democrats From Committee Assignments 

Apparently, there’s a competition going on for the most racist state, because Tennessee is doing its damnedest to win it. As if it wasn’t bad enough that Tennessee Republicans passed a map that disenfranchises the state’s Black voters, on Tuesday, they announced that every state Democrat will be removed from their committee assignments. 

WSMV reports that House Speaker Cameron Sexton sent a letter to several House Democrats informing them they have been removed from their committee assignments. “Dear Representative Jones, You have been removed from all House standing committees and subcommittees,” the letter sent to Rep. Justin Jones, signed by Sexton, read. The removal came after Tennessee Democrats protested a redistricting effort that eliminates the state’s only majority-Black district. 

Sexton’s letter said they were removed from their assignments for “instigating and encouraging disruptions…in coordination with paid protestors and attendees,” and using “prohibited props and noisemakers on the House Floor.” 

I’m so tired of hearing Republicans talk about “paid protesters.” You don’t have to pay people to fight for their rights. Republicans are actively disenfranchising Black voters, at the behest of an unpopular president, no less, and they expect people to sit around and treat them like the good guys? 

“Just as my white Republican colleagues chose racial retaliation against Tennessee’s Black voters, the Speaker of the House is now choosing retaliation against a Black lawmaker for standing up against their Jim Crow racial gerrymander,” Jones wrote in an Instagram post showing the letter. “This is not new. This is the same pattern of racial discrimination and authoritarian abuse we have come to expect.” 

In a recent video with NewsOne, Justin Pearson explains the tangible benefits of his work on the state’s Transportation Committee. “Some of the big issues I’ve been able to fight for on the Transportation committee has actually been investments like the new bridge that is being built with $250 million from the Tennessee General Assembly,” Pearson says in the video. Without the work Pearson and other elected Democrats do on those committees, the needs of the districts they represent will go unanswered. 

It’s not just a simple committee removal; it’s denying Tennessee voters effective representation. Pearson said in a social media post that the move “strips nearly 2 million Tennesseans from the representation they deserve.”

Black With No Chaser summed it up perfectly in a Facebook post about the committee removals. “Committees matter. That is where bills are negotiated. Where amendments are fought for. Where communities either gain representation or lose it before legislation ever reaches the floor,” they wrote. 

“It’s interesting that disenfranchising an entire district here in Shelby County carries zero consequences,” state Rep. Gabby Salinas said in a video posted to social media. “But speaking out, using your voice, and representing the interests of the people of Tennessee is something that they deemed punishable.” 

In a statement released Tuesday, House Minority Leader Karen Camper (D-Memphis) called the removals “one of the most troubling abuses of power this legislature has seen in recent memory.”

“I will be honest: at this point, they can do whatever they want. They have proven time and time again that they have little regard for precedent, fairness, or even the spirit of the law itself,” the statement read. “They have abused the supermajority over and over again, changing the rules whenever it benefits them and punishing anyone who dares to challenge them.”

It’s both infuriating and just so goddamn pathetic. What does it say about you when your most notable legislative accomplishments are disenfranchising Black voters and denying them representation in the state legislature? It’s so hard not to be mad at the folks who voted for these people. What values do they represent? What do they even do for Tennessee? The state has one of the worst education rankings in the country, and health care ain’t much higher. But hey, they make life harder for Black people, and pay lip service to “Christian values,” so that’s good enough? 

Bums. The lot of them. 

SEE ALSO:

Rep. Justin Pearson Cusses Out Tennessee State Trooper During Protest

Justin Pearson Fights For Environmental Justice And Community In Memphis