Four days after his exclusion, Justin Jones will regain his seat in the Tennessee State House of Representatives. A vote by the Nashville board of directors on Monday evening April 10 temporarily reinstated this black elected official in his post, before the organization of a special election.
Last Thursday, Justin Jones, elected Democrat, had been expelled from the local parliament, like Justin Pearson, another of his also African-American colleagues, for having joined a week earlier, in the precincts of the assembly, hundreds protesters calling for stricter gun control after a shooting at a Christian school in Nashville.
The exclusion of these two elected officials had plunged America into a fierce political battle, between debate on weapons and accusations of racism, since a third elected Democrat, Gloria Johnson, white and threatened with exclusion for the same reasons, was managed to keep her seat.
The American president, Joe Biden, and the vice-president, Kamala Harris, had stepped up to the plate, the latter going to Nashville on Friday to meet in particular MM. Jones and Pearson.
round of applause
Shortly after the unanimous vote of the Nasville Council, Justin Jones returned to the Tennessee State Capitol. A round of applause greeted him when he entered the hemicycle, fist raised and accompanied by Gloria Johnson. “To the people of Tennessee, I am with you,” Mr. Jones said in his first statement to the House. “We will continue to be your voice here. And no expulsion, no attempt to silence us will stop us, it will only galvanize and strengthen our movement,” he added. “Power to the people,” he shouted to cheers.
The other excluded elected official, Justin Pearson, could also be reinstated on a provisional basis on Wednesday at a meeting of the Shelby County Commission. Special elections will take place in the coming months. MM. Jones and Pearson have announced their intention to appear there.