Tennessee and Jan. 6: A history lesson

Earlier this month, in a brazen assault on democracy and blatant display of racism, the Tennessee state legislature expelled two Black members, Rep. Justin Pearson and Rep. Justin Jones, for halting legislative proceedings in a nonviolent protest for gun control legislation. Cameron Sexton, the Republican speaker of the Tennessee House, who led this farce, called the peaceful protest "an insurrection in the State Capitol" that was "at least equivalent, maybe worse" than the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. The comparison is comically false while also highlighting a cruel irony: In the two years since the violent attack on the Capitol, not a single state legislator involved in that actual attempt to upend our democracy has been expelled or barred from office. Reversing that trend should begin with state legislators who participated on Jan. 6 and continue with other officials, including Donald Trump.

Contrary to Sexton's claims, the expelled Tennessee representatives did not engage in an "insurrection." After another horrific school shooting in Nashville, the representatives joined thousands of students and parents in a peaceful protest calling for gun reforms. Unlike on Jan. 6, the representatives did not aid protesters in violently attacking law enforcement in order to break into the Capitol and delay the peaceful transfer of power. Reps. Jones and Pearson spoke on the House floor using bullhorns while they were not recognized to speak, which violated the chamber's "rules of order." Both members were selected to return to the chamber by their communities. Before last week, only two Tennessee House members had been expelled since Reconstruction, one based on sexual misconduct allegations and another for accepting bribes. Unlike the bipartisan majorities that voted in Donald Trump's House impeachment and Senate trial that he had incited an insurrection, the Tennessee representatives' "unprecedented" expulsions were along strictly partisan lines.