Democracy Now! speaks with Justin Jones, one of two Black Democratic lawmakers expelled by a Republican supermajority in the Tennessee state House of Representatives Thursday for peacefully protesting gun violence in the chamber last week as thousands rallied at the Capitol to demand gun control after the Covenant elementary school shooting in Nashville. A vote to expel their white colleague who joined them in solidarity failed. “They thought they would silence us, but in fact they amplified it, because the nation can see how racist they are. The nation can see how retaliatory, how authoritarian they are,” says Jones. We also feature some of the dramatic exchanges that unfolded on the House floor, which Jones calls “a public lynching” targeting the two youngest Black lawmakers in the Legislature.

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#democracynow Black Democratic lawmakers Democracy Now! House Of Representatives Justin Jones Tennessee state youngest Black lawmakers