The Shelby County Commission voted unanimously on Wednesday to reinstate Justin Pearson to his former seat less than a week after his Republican colleagues in the Tennessee legislature, who make up a supermajority, kicked him and another lawmaker out for participating in a protest following a mass shooting at a school.
TENNESSEE THREE: NASHVILLE CITY COUNCIL VOTES UNANIMOUSLY TO REINSTATE EXPELLED STATE LAWMAKER
Pearson needed at least seven votes to return to his seat temporarily. The board’s four Republicans were absent and did not vote. Two of the 13 county commissioners were out of the country. Pearson will need to win a special election to serve out the term.
“You cannot expel hope,” Pearson told a crowd of supporters. “You can’t expel our voice, and you sure can’t expel our fight.”
A rally was held for Pearson at the National Civil Rights Museum before the vote.
“The status quo needs changing and the status quo needs you,” he told those who gathered.
The 29-year-old, who has personally been affected by gun violence, told supporters that Tennessee lawmakers had an “allegiance” to keep things as they were and not embrace change.
“Their allegiance is to business as usual,” he said. “Their allegiance is to the National Rifle Association.”
Shelby County Commission Chairman Mickell Lowery, who called the meeting and presided over the vote, acknowledged the weight of the proceedings.
“It’s become a big deal because the nation is watching, and the state made it a big deal when they took the actions they took,” he said. Pearson, who was at the meeting, said he was confident the county commission would “restore representation and say the anti-Democratic behavior of the state legislature will not be accepted, will not be tolerated, and also that our communities will not be bought.”
Commission officials said they had received thousands of emails, calls, and letters from around the country pleading with them to reappoint Pearson.
Pearson and state Rep. Justin Jones, also a Democrat, were stripped of their duties after Republican lawmakers claimed the two men tried to incite violence by bringing bullhorns to the House floor during a gun control protest. It was only the third time since the Civil War that the Tennessee House had kicked out a lawmaker.
State Rep. Gloria Johnson, a white Democrat who also participated in the demonstration, survived her expulsion vote.
“I’m so glad Memphis did what was right,” she said. “Memphis put that voice back in Nashville that we desperately need. Justice was done today.”
Pearson has publicly spoken about the pain of losing family members and a mentor to gun violence and said the campaign for tighter restrictions on firearms “is personal when you lose your friends and when you lose loved ones.”
The extraordinary punitive action leveled against Pearson and Jones for an act of protest exposed deep rifts in Tennessee, not only over gun control policies but race as well.
Over the weekend, Pearson called the statehouse a “toxic work environment” and said he was harassed for wearing a black dashiki, a tunic-like garment from West Africa, on his first day in office by Republican state Rep. David Hawk, whom he had referred to as a “white supremacist.” Hawk denied the allegations.
Later, Pearson posted a photo of himself on social media wearing the dashiki and raising his fist.
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“A white supremacist has attacked my wearing of my dashiki,” he wrote on social media. “Resistance and subversion to the status quo ought to make some people uncomfortable.”
On Monday, the Metropolitan Nashville Council voted unanimously to reinstate Jones, appointing him to his post until a special election.
