(FixThisNation.com) – Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones, who was reinstated in the statehouse on Monday is pushing for the resignation of the Republican speaker of the statehouse.
Jones, was one of the two Black Democratic lawmakers to have been expelled from the GOP-controlled legislature last week in connection to their involvement in the gun control protest in the Capitol last week. In his statement to CNN, he called House Speaker Cameron Sexton an “enemy of democracy.” He added that he did not “deserve to be in that office of a speaker of the house any longer.”
Sexton has not yet replied to these comments. The Speaker had previously claimed that both Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson “deserved expulsion “following their participation in a protest of inaction on gun control which disrupted statehouse proceedings. The gun control protests came after a deadly shooting took place at a private Christian school in Nashville days before.
Both Jones and Pearson, both of whom are Black, were removed from the legislature. Following their removal they claimed that this was voter disenfranchisement and voter suppression. President Biden also claimed that this decision was “shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent.”
A third lawmaker who was also involved in the protest, Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson, was not expelled. Johnson was the only one of the three to be White which led to many suggesting that she was not removed because of her skin color.
Sexton has denied any accusations of racism relating to this decision.
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