Cindy Carr, cindy.carr@sierraclub.org
Scott Banbury, Sierra Club Tennessee, scott.banbury@sierraclub.org
NASHVILLE -- Yesterday, Tennessee House Republicans voted to expel Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two young Black men representing parts of Nashville and Memphis respectively, for joining their constituents to protest the state’s woefully inadequate gun safety legislation. An expulsion vote for Representative Gloria Johnson, a white woman representing part of Knoxville, did not pass.
The Sierra Club’s Tennessee Chapter has worked closely with all three Representatives for years on social justice and environmental issues, including working with Rep. Pearson to stop the Byhalia Crude Oil Pipeline in 2020, with Rep. Jones during his appointment to the House Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee, and with Rep. Johnson on multiple pieces of legislation since she took office in 2012.
In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous issued the following statement:
“The Tennessee Republican Party’s expulsion of Representatives Jones and Pearson are not only racist but undemocratic and unAmerican. There is a reason the First Amendment of the US Constitution explicitly protects the right to peacefully demonstrate, but it does not take a constitutional scholar to understand the motives of the Tennessee GOP in targeting these two Black leaders.
“The people of Tennessee deserve a state legislature that will listen to their demands and protect children and the public from the ongoing gun violence epidemic - not a state government that attacks our democracy and tries to strip away the rights of their political opponents. The Sierra Club and our members and supporters rise in support of the Tennessee Three, and we call on the Nashville Metro Council and the Shelby County Commission to reappoint Representatives Jones and Pearson immediately.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.