Nathan Bedford Forrest Would Have Been Proud

 According to Tennessee republicans Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were kicked out of the state house of representatives because they broke the rules of decorum. In other words when you approach the well of the Tennessee state house floor without being recognized your ass is expelled,. No exceptions--sort of.

Indeed, it  doesn't matter if you are legally elected, or not. It doesn't matter if you are speaking in support of hundreds of constituents who are there to demand law makers do something about run amok gun violence. It doesn't matter if three nine year olds and three adults have just been murdered down the street  by a lunatic with an AR-15. And it certainly doesn't matter if you are a black legislator.

Oh. Wait.

You see there were actually three people leading that peaceful anti gun protest in the state house. The third was Gloria Johnson, another duly elected legislator. She survived expulsion by one vote. She also just happens to be white.

Afterward when asked about why she escaped the purge Ms. Johnson said, "It might have had something to do with the color of my skin."

Well, what else should we expect from a state that gave us Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Fort Pillow Massacre (Where Forrest's confederate troops massacred the Union garrison,--who was attempting to surrender--because almost all of them were African-American) and the Ku Klux Klan. 

More than one republican legislator referred to the demonstration which led to the expulsions as an insurrection and compared it to the Jan 6th 2021, riots in Washington D.C.  You know, that day the mob demanded a national election be overturned, violently attacked police officers, vandalized the building, obstructed lawful proceedings defecated on the floor of the house, and called for the execution of those who got in the way.

That would be opposed to a bunch of kids and parents in Nashville who simply wanted their representatives to curb the availability  of military style assault weapons to those of us who hear voices and see banana people in attics. They may have been loud, but no one attacked any cops, or threatened to hang republicans. No one smashed any doors and windows, and, as far as we know, no one took a shit anywhere other than the rest rooms.

So, yeah, it was a little different. 

Not that it matters. Thanks to their shameless, brute, stupidity, Tennessee republicans have made sure everyone in the country knows the removal of Pearson and Jones had nothing to do with their alleged lack of decorum, or even their cause. It did, however, have everything to do with their race.  

Nathan Bedford Forrest, former buyer and seller of slaves, confederate general, and the very first Grand Wizard of the KKK, would have been proud. 

The rest of us, not so much.

4-9-25