(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



TN Republicans Decide That We Should All Know They Are Racists [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2023-04-06  

After thousands of children felt it necessary to skip school to go chant “you ban books, you ban drag, kids are still in body bags” at the state capital in an effort to not die while they try and get an education, three Democrats decided to join the kids and protest for gun safety legislation. The response of the Republican super majority was to put their colleagues up for expulsion from the chamber for violating a rule of decorum. This wildly disproportionate, and likely unconstitutional, punishment was startling for anyone to even suggest given the circumstances. So the proponents of expulsion started claiming that the protest was an insurrection on par, or worse than, 1-6. Yes, three people with bullhorns and a bunch of terrified children are equivalent to that angry mob with the noose and zip ties who fought their way past police looking for Mike Pence. Most of the protesters were White, and I am sure that if they had been there protesting the prosecution of Donald Trump instead of demanding a ban on assault rifles they would have been welcomed with open arms. But they were not, so they were a “woke” mob there to cancel conservatives, who then had no choice but to for-real cancel the representation of predominately Black and brown citizens in Memphis and Nashville.



This evening, with hundreds of protestors chanting in support of the three Democrats, the expulsion votes were taken. The results were more infuriating than the move to disempower the people of these three districts. Two Black men were voted out while a White woman, who did the exact same thing they did, was not. In addition, a video was used against them that seemed to have been recorded by a fourth member. Recording is also against the rules, but there was no effort to expel the guilty party. Further, the last expulsion took months because that member was accorded due process before the vote. An investigation was conducted. None of that happened here.



Both Justin Pearson and Justin Jones, the two men expelled from the Tennessee House, gave inspirational remarks before and after the votes. The former even compared, with the resonating tone and cadence of a preacher teaching his flock on Sunday, this moment in the ongoing movement for recognition of every American’s right to life, education, and healthcare to the execution and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Something that you think would have resonated with these supposedly Christian men judging them the day before Good Friday. While I am proud of both these brave men, and I am glad that they have gotten some national attention because I think they will become national leaders in this fight for America’s soul, the way this has played out has been absolutely traumatizing to watch.

I was born and raised in the two states above and below Tennessee. My grandfather's people were enslaved in that state, and his father, a “share cropper” who had to sneak away with his family in the middle of the night, was born and raised in that state. I am no stranger to the thinking of today’s version of the slaveholder. I am familiar with the deep sense of grievance felt by many White people as the privileged place Whites have had in this nation gradually erodes as we march toward equality. I have to know these things to survive in the world I live in, because saying or doing the wrong thing in front of the wrong person can get you killed by overzealous cops called to a fake emergency.



But this time the ridiculous, racist thing a bunch of smug men just did made me so angry that I felt compelled to write about it. Just who the hell do they think that are to do this? It is bad enough that these hypocrites call themselves “pro-life” “Christians” when elementary schoolers are being gunned down in their classrooms all over this country and they refuse to do anything constructive to stop it. Now they are kicking out the few people who are trying to convince them to act? Snowflake is far too generous a term for people who cannot even tolerate hearing the opposing view, or sharing space with those who hold it if they also happen to have ancestors who might have been forced to build that state house. Cancel culture is, and always has been, real. It is the modus operandi of authoritarians, and for Black Americans America has always been an authoritarian state. They have never been free to express or oppose without the threat of retribution. Look at the Black Lives Matter movement, simply saying Black lives are equally important was enough to make “conservatives” lose their shit. The number of groups that are subject to their vitriol has just increased as different demographics have found their political and social voice.



At least this sordid, sad, and embarrassing episode has made one thing plain, the anti democratic, White nationalistic, theocratic, radical, “conservative” movement that wants to burn this country to the ground if the masses refuse to be ruled by them alone do wish to conserve something. White (straight, "Christian”) male privilege and power. What happened was a very public lesson on structural racism, or even better, critical race theory.



I am sure the speaker of the house will be all over conservative media touting his actions as some sort of brave defense of “values.” Because from the first guy who shoved the first African into the hold of a ship to the Assholes talking down to these men before voting to strip them of their rightful office, hateful bigots never admit that they know what they are doing is wrong. They are always the real victim no matter how bad they treat other people. Which is why they cannot be reasoned with and also why they rarely ever change on their own. Their thinking will not change until their majority power is taken, along with their ability to obstruct, and they must change what they say to remain relevant in the decision making process. In other words, when they have to. Unfortunately, it will probably be a decade- when those angry kids are grown up and can vote- before that happens in Tennessee.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/6/2162581/-TN-Republicans-Decide-That-We-Should-All-Know-They-Are-Racists

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/