To the Editor,

This Thursday, the Tennessee House will vote on whether to expel three Democratic members: Justin Pearson, Justin Jones and Knoxville’s own Gloria Johnson. The last two times a representative was removed from their office, the offenses were bribery, in 1980, and, in 2016, for serial sexual harassment. The only other time was in 1866 when six representatives refused to participate in the special session that ratified the 14th Amendment which granted all former enslaved persons citizenship.

For over a century, expulsion has only been used as a last resort. After stripping these members of their committee assignments, the House GOP is now set to use this measure and disenfranchise thousands of Tennesseans. All of this for the crime of standing with their constituents and breaking a point of order – for this trivial infraction, the Speaker and the Republican party are breaking over a hundred years of precedence.

If Representative Sexton didn’t have a pattern of not recognizing and allowing minority members to speak, especially Representative Johnson, then these three representatives would not have found it necessary to act in solidarity with young Tennesseans. 

These students have grown up with the threat of being murdered while seeking education – in elementary school, in middle school and in high school. The House members who are allowed to speak offer only empty gestures and claim that nothing can be done to stop the violence. 

Action must be taken. Tennesseans deserve voices advocating for solutions to keep us safe, whether the answer is stricter gun laws or better access to mental healthcare (or even both!). Instead, the House GOP took more action over the sound of a bullhorn than 152 gunshots.

Jaxx Fox is a first-year graduate student in the master’s in information science program. They can be reached at [email protected].

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