The Tennessee General Assembly’s blatant disregard of democracy with the expulsions of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson grabbed front page headlines and the national spotlight of the American conscience.

The unjust expulsions of these two young Black lawmakers, along with the threat to oust Knoxville’s own Gloria Johnson, has forever stained Tennessee’s reputation to the outside world. Some may say the messy ordeal is over now with the reinstatement of Jones and Pearson, but this could not be further from the truth. The threat to Tennessee’s democracy is still a clear and present danger.

Firstly, we cannot forget why the Tennessee Three protested on the House floor to begin with – the brutal deaths of three kids and three staff members at Covenant School in Nashville. State House Republicans, under the cowardly leadership of Speaker Cameron Sexton, decided to create a political sideshow to distract our state from talk of desperately needed gun reform.

Instead of a distraction, this political maneuvering was seen by students and common-sense citizens for what it really was: a brazen attempt at a scare tactic to forcefully silence the opposition. The Tennessee GOP has established a dangerous precedent nationwide that extreme political retribution can be used to crack down on those they disagree with. A simple breaking of House rules, which had no precedent for expulsion in our entire state’s history, was met with the nuclear option because of who the protesting lawmakers were and what they represent.

Secondly, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson are both among the legislature’s youngest Black Democrats and have activism in their blood. Gloria Johnson is a progressive, outspoken woman with a history of taking firm stands. These expulsion processes would not have taken place if these lawmakers were white Republicans.

Jones and Pearson were attacked for being different, in both race and political beliefs. State Republicans have shown the country and the world their disdain for Black leadership, and visibly took joy in talking down to the two at their expulsion hearings. The House GOP has no qualms about attempting to quash rising, progressive Black leaders.

Thirdly, laying aside the blatant discrimination, the unnecessary expulsions were an attack on democracy itself. Around 210,000 citizens would have completely lost their representation if all three were expelled. When their constituents were able to have a say, after the expulsions of Jones and Pearson, the Nashville Metro Council and Shelby County Commission each voted unanimously to reinstate their lawmaker. They proclaimed to the world that their voice would not be silenced.

Lastly, in their expulsions of Jones and Pearson, Speaker Sexton and the House Republicans attempted to silence the voice of the next generation, our generation. They sought to destroy the youth’s momentum that is pleading for gun reform, but instead they have failed. Jones and Pearson have not been silenced. We have not been silenced.

In the past few weeks, there has been an awakening. The young generation of Tennessee, particularly among the students, has plainly seen the authoritarian and racist actions committed by the General Assembly. Students have chanted for 12 hours straight in the State Capitol, rallies have been held from Knoxville to Memphis and all demonstrations have been peaceful. There were no insurrections as claimed by state Republicans, only democracy. This movement cannot be stomped out by disinformation, fascist abuse of power or wicked scare tactics.

However, the expulsion process can still be abused again. Racism in our State Capitol can still continue on. Misuse of legislative power is still happening. Tennessee’s democracy is still threatened. That is why we, the young generation and students of our state, must continue to rally. This is why we must vote. This is why the youth movement started at the steps of the Capitol must continue. Our protest must continue, for this is what democracy looks like.

So to my fellow students, we must close ranks and stand shoulder-to-shoulder to stop the conservative-induced backsliding of democracy in Tennessee. We can either be active and climb upwards into a bright new day, or we can ignore these injustices and fall back into a time that our ancestors so desperately fought to scale out of.

Rally on campus, rally on the streets, rally to the Capitol and, most importantly, rally to the ballot box. The movement can only succeed when each person makes that small individual choice to lift up others. So I ask of you: rally.