Justin Pearson, a Democrat in Tennessee who was elected elected by his colleagues from the Republican Chamber for protesting against armed violence in the State Capitol, was reinstated in his headquarters at the Maison du Tennessee on Wednesday.
The council of commissioners of the county of Shelby voted unanimously to return Pearson to the House in a decisive reprimand of the extraordinary decision of Tennessee Gop to expel it, as well as another Democratic colleague last week.
Pearson gave a powerful speech just after the reintegration vote, bringing together his supporters and sending a message to the legislators who voted to expel him.
“What we have shown here in the county of Shelby, what we have shown here in Memphis, Tennessee, with my fiancé, my brothers, my family, my parents, my family here, is that we are not talking alone,” said Pearson. “We are talking together. We are fighting together.
“And so the message for all the people of Nashville who have decided to expel us: you cannot expel hope. You cannot expel justice. You cannot expel our voice. And you certainly cannot expel our fight,” he told Cheers.
“We are impatient to continue to fight, continuing to defend, until justice descends like water and justice as an ever more fluid stream,” continued Pearson. “Let’s go back to work.”
The 28 -year -old legislator was sworn in Thursday morning before the state capitol.
Pearson, who represents the Memphis region, and another Democrat, Justin Jones, who represents Nashville, were expelled from the Chamber on Thursday for protesting against armed violence after three 9 -year -old children and three adults were killed in another mass shooting in Tennessee. Representative Gloria Johnson, a democrat who also participated in the demonstration, survived the expulsion by a single vote. Pearson and Jones are young black men serving their first mandate in the house; Johnson is a white woman in her fourth term.
The Republicans had accused them of a serious violation of decorum in the house by protesting peacefully, and the president of the Cameron Sexton Chamber went so far as to compare their actions to the violent insurrection of January 6, even if there was no violence, no material damage and no arrest.
Jones was reinstated in its headquarters by the Nashville Metropolitan Council and Davidson County on Monday. Surrounded by a swarm of supporters, Jones then returned to the State House and was sworn in on the steps of the Capitol.
