Turmoil in Tennessee Makes Case for Multiracial Democracy
Justin Jones, one of two Black lawmakers in Tennessee ousted by the Republican majority, was reinstated on Monday to his position in the state House of Representatives by a unanimous vote of the Nashville Metropolitan Council. Jones and fellow Democrat Justin Pearson were both stripped of their seats after they led protests against gun violence in the wake of a mass school shooting in Nashville. Another Democrat, a white representative named Gloria Johnson, survived expulsion by one vote. The three lawmakers, known as the “Tennessee Three,” have faced accusations by Republicans of bringing “disorder and dishonor to the House.” They have countered that Republicans are distracting from their inaction over ongoing gun violence.
Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) Votes, and DaMareo Cooper, co-executive director of Center for Popular Democracy Action, spoke with YES! Racial Justice Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on Rising Up With Sonali about why the situation in Tennessee makes the case for building a multiracial democracy.
The views expressed here and on Rising Up With Sonali do not necessarily reflect the opinion of YES! Media.
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Sonali Kolhatkar
is currently the racial justice editor at YES! Media and a writing fellow with Independent Media Institute. She was previously a weekly columnist for Truthdig.com. She is also the host and creator of Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. Sonali won First Place at the Los Angeles Press Club Annual Awards for Best Election Commentary in 2016. She also won numerous awards including Best TV Anchor from the LA Press Club and has also been nominated as Best Radio Anchor 4 years in a row. She is the author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence, and the co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women's Mission. Her forthcoming book is Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice (City Lights, 2023). She has a Master’s in Astronomy from the University of Hawai’i, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. She reflects on her professional path in her 2014 TEDx talk, “My Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host.” She can be reached at sonalikolhatkar.com
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