Imani Tafari-Ama | Tennessee: flashpoint for racist terror and resistance

April provides a timeline of terror in Tennessee in the United States of America (USA). This tragedy-filled month of memorials includes the Fort Pillow Massacre, enacted 40 miles North of Memphis on April 12, 1864. Some 300 Union soldiers, mostly African Americans, were shot and killed by Confederate forces although they had already surrendered. This slaughter was led by General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was among those opposed to the inclusion of black soldiers in the Federal army. Instead of treating African Americans as prisoners-of-war during the so-called Civil War, they were still dehumanised and mistreated, as were the enslaved.

General Forrest was the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, which was formed in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1865. Racist terror has, therefore, been entrenched in the confederacy approach to power. Protesters fought long and hard to remove General Forrest’s bust (and its racist symbolism) from the Tennessee Capitol building. It has been housed at the Tennessee State Museum since July 23, 2021.

Holy Thursday, April 6, was added to the racist terror timeline when the Republican majority in the Tennessee House of Legislature voted to expel lawmakers Justin Pearson and Justin Jones, Representatives of Memphis and Nashville, respectively. These are the two most populous areas in the state, and the expulsion of the two Lawmakers left 140,000 voters without representation in the House.

The expelled lawmakers were accused of violating House protocol by supporting protesters against mass shootings, who were demonstrating for justice outside of the Legislative chambers. The elected representatives were sanctioned for speaking their objections to the injustice of gun violence into the House microphone and on a bullhorn on the House floor. The protesters surrounding the House were mourning the March 27 mass-shooting death of six people at Covenant School in Nashville. The victims included three adults and three children who were nine years old

DEMEANING INTERROGATION

The Tennessee duo was subjected to demeaning, racist, and paternalistic interrogation by their white peers before being routed by a 75/25 vote. Their colleague, Gloria Johnson, who represents Knoxville, survived an attempt to throw her out, too, by one vote, which needed a two-thirds majority to carry. Rep. Jones commented that if it was not happening to him, he would not have imagined that such action, more typical of the 1963 segregation era, was taking place in 2023.

State Rep. Gloria Johnson said that she was spared because of the (white) colour of her skin. She also survived a gun shooting attack at Central High in Knoxville, where she was teaching in 2008. This ignited her passionate resistance of gun violence and wholehearted commitment to the justice cause for which her two colleagues were sanctioned. Justice prevailed, and first. Jones then Pearson were reinstated within a week of the debacle. Meanwhile, the compelling content of their resistance responses has gone viral.

In his defence, State Rep. Justin Jones declared: “I was shocked to have the Speaker of the House condemn mothers and children and grandmothers and parents and concerned citizens, the clergy, lie on them and say that they were violent insurrectionists. And I think that he owes the people of Tennessee an apology because at no point did we encourage violence. In fact, what we were doing was calling for the end of gun violence that is terrorising our children day after day after day. And all we offer are moments of silence.

“It is in that spirit of speaking for my constituents, of being a representative of the people, that I approached this Well last Thursday, breaking a House rule but exercising moral obedience to my constitutional responsibility to be a voice for my people. To be a voice for the Tennesseans who you chose not to listen to because of those NRA [National Rifle Association] cheques that are so hefty in your campaign funds. There comes a time when people get tired of being sick and tired.”

These powerful opening remarks prefaced State Representative Justin Jones’ resistance to the silencing strategy adopted by the lawmaking House in Tennessee. The two newly minted lawmakers denounced the failure of their peers to “do something” about gun violence. Approximately 150 mass shootings have taken place in the USA since the start of this year. The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) also reported that 2020 was the deadliest year on record, with 45,222 persons being killed by guns. As lawmaker Pearson remarked, beyond school shootings, is the use of gun violence to terrorise communities, which suffer from the huge loss of citizens’ lives.

SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE

The symbolic significance of the expulsions taking place during the Easter commemoration of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was not lost on Rep Justin Pearson. Skilfully deploying this metaphor, Pearson also invoked the promise of the Resurrection. He predicted that the sadness experienced by the mourners of the crucifixion would be relieved by the Sunday morning Resurrection victory. His preaching style recalled the sermons delivered by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, who was murdered in Memphis Tennessee on April 4, 1968.

Pearson was defiant as he chanted a response to his expulsion:

“How is it that even under this persecution, during this Holy Week After our Brother, Justin Jones, gets expelled from the House that we still have hope and faith

to believe in democracy in Tennessee? Faith and hope to believe in democracy in the United States of America? How is it that descendants of enslaved people, How is it that you still have hope? Well, it’s because Even in the bottom of slave ships, My people didn’t quit. Even in cotton fields, my people didn’t quit. Even when they were enchained and told they had no name, My people didn’t quit. Even when they incarcerated us, Locked us up for the crack-cocaine epidemic created by President Ronald Reagan, My people didn’t quit. Even when they defunded our schools Even when they put us on lynching trees in the state of Tennessee and specifically, Shelby County My people didn’t quit.”

The lawmakers are demanding an end to the use of assault rifles by civilians and the introduction of common-sense laws to make it difficult for people with mental-health disorders, which are showing up in the profiles of many mass shooters, to have access to guns.

The “right” to bear arms has not been earned by rigorous background checks and mandatory waiting periods of psychosocial assessment. The infamous NRA is currently advocating for the lowering of the gun-access age from 21 to 18. No doubt, NRA members are raising their children in the culture of entitlement that they have taken for granted for generations.

The application of a transformational politics agenda in this scenario is urgent. The first responsibility of change agents is to jettison the racism undergirding the values and attitudes of those who take their power for granted.

Imani Tafari-Ama, PhD, is a Pan-African advocate and gender and development specialist. Send feedback to i.tafariama@gmail.com.