Kamlager-Dove: Expelling Black Lawmakers is a Sign of "Overt Racism"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 7, 2023

Media Contact: Maya Valentine | maya.valentine@mail.house.gov

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congresswoman Kamlager-Dove (CA-37) released the following statement on the expulsion of Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson, two Black members from the Tennessee Legislature: 

“The expulsion of two young, Black Tennessee lawmakers yesterday in Tennessee by the Republican-controlled legislature is an assault on our democracy and a warning of just how far Republicans will go to silence the will of voters and Black voices.

I am disturbed and outraged by what has occurred in Tennessee. Following the heartbreaking shooting at the Covenant School that took the lives of six people – three of them young children – and left another community traumatized, every lawmaker should have mobilized around an end to the gun violence epidemic like Rep. Justin Jones, Rep. Justin Pearson, and Rep. Gloria Johnson. Instead, extremist Republicans launched a dangerous retaliation against these duly elected lawmakers and, in a show of overt racism, expelled two Black men.   

Free speech is necessary for any thriving democracy. However, what was made painfully clear in Tennessee is that freedom of speech is not always extended to those of us who are Black. We must not tolerate these blatant anti-democratic actions in our nation, especially when they disenfranchise Black people and communities. I vow to work with my colleagues in Congress and the Congressional Black Caucus to always stand against these sorts of brazen attacks on our individual freedoms.”

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