Tennessee State Senator Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville) warned state Republicans on Thursday moments after the Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill prohibiting local governments from inhibiting law enforcement that her Democrat constituents may respond with riots.
@FoxNashville posted footage of the Thursday press conference at which Oliver and other Democrat legislators held at the Capitol in which they announced their disapproval of the bill.
The legislation easily passed in the State Senate on Thursday in a partisan vote 26 to 6. The previous week, the Tennessee House passed the bill in a partisan 68 to 24 vote.
KWAM posted footage of Oliver’s remarks to X Friday.
'Gloves Off:' Sen. @CharlaneOliver (D-Nashville) Calls for Riots after TN Senate Passes @SenBrentTaylor Pro-Police Bill.
"It is rooted in racism," Oliver said. "This is a Jim Crow bill that [Sen. Brent] Taylor brought and all his Confederates voted for it." Video @FOXNashville pic.twitter.com/F7rhyeAwzu
— KWAM News Radio 990 AM Memphis (@Mighty990KWAM) March 15, 2024
“So yeah, we’re gonna fight,” said Oliver (pictured above), co-founder of a Tennessee-based social justice activist group called the Equity Alliance. “Dr. King said the riots are the language of the unheard. You [sic] ain’t seen nothing yet. If you keep silencing us like this, what do you think our districts [sic] gonna do?”
“Gloves off,” she continued. “Like, we’re gonna fight like hell, you don’t expect us to respond when you gaslight us every single day with these bills?”
She went on to call the legislation a “Jim Crow bill” and the lawmakers who voted for it “Confederates.”
State Senator Brent Taylor, who sponsored the legislation, responded to Oliver’s comments in a thread on X. Taylor lamented the continued opposition from Democrats and said he has had many people in Democrat-represented districts thank him for his work.
Despite your overwhelming support for my bill that prohibits local governments from banning legal routine traffic stops, leftist opposition has been insane and totally out of touch with reality and our community’s demands. pic.twitter.com/bAGXDyO12C
— Senator Brent Taylor (@SenBrentTaylor) March 15, 2024
At the same presser, State Senator London Lamar (D-Nashville) claimed Tennessee Republicans were engaging in “a form of slavery,” according to more footage posted to X by KWAM.
'I Feel Like a Slave:' @SenatorLamar (D-Memphis) Says GOP Supermajority Is Enslaving Her Because She's a Black Woman
"That's a form of slavery," Lamar said. "I feel like a slave sometimes in this building." Video: @FOXNashville pic.twitter.com/NtkokwVZIF
— KWAM News Radio 990 AM Memphis (@Mighty990KWAM) March 15, 2024
Lamar claimed that people were being silenced in the General Assembly and equated such behavior with enslavement.
“I feel like a slave sometimes in this building,” Lamar said. “I am tired of [sic] Republican Party expecting us as minorities to do what they want to do but treat us disrespectfully. Nah, we’re not doing that [sic] no more… We’re at the time of the session where [sic] gloves off.”
Lamar in particular was slammed for her comments comparing her service as a state senator to slavery.
“Holy Cow!!” wrote Newsmax host and author Todd Starnes on X. “Are the Republicans forcing you to lift that bale or pick cotton? This is an international story! Who knew that slaves were still working Tennessee’s plantations?”
Holy Cow!! Are the Republicans forcing you to lift that bale or pick cotton? This is an international story! Who knew that slaves were still working Tennessee’s plantations? https://t.co/FmOixwMNrF
— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) March 15, 2024
“I can assure you that her position is nothing like slavery,” wrote Young Republicans National Committeeman Luke Cymbal, also on X. “She is an elected Senator who was just heralded by state press for bringing her baby (illegitimate BTW) on the Senate floor during session.”
I can assure you that her position is nothing like slavery. She is an elected Senator who was just heralded by state press for bringing her baby (illegitimate BTW) on the Senate floor during session. https://t.co/V4xNliFJ8c
— Luke Cymbal (@LukeCymbal) March 15, 2024
The bill, SB2572/HB1931, would prohibit local governments from restricting the ability of law enforcement officers to carry out their duties of preventing crime, detecting crime, and apprehending offenders, provided they do so in a legal way. Existing local laws that contradict SB2572/HB1931 would become null and void upon the bill’s passage.
A recently passed Memphis City Council ordinance barring the Memphis Police Department (MPD) from initiating pretextual traffic stops would be affected. The council passed the ordinance in view of Tyre Nichols, who died after a brutal encounter with five MPD officers during a traffic stop in January 2023.
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Matthew Giffin is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Matthew on X/Twitter.
Photo “Charlane Oliver” by Charlane Oliver.
This Senator should be arrested for inciting violence!
She should exit to a nation where she can committ as much crime as possible and be left alone. Haiti comes to mind.
Yes, Randall Davidson, it’s the old Saul Alinsky counsel, “accuse others of what you do, while you’re doing it.”
The dumbest of the dumb here in Nashville elect brainless clowns like this. I guess being an activist is cool or something. Eventually, laws passed by these clowns wind up biting the very same voters in the rear end. That part is enjoyable, but unfortunately, too may others get caught up in it, as well. They should rename her State Sen. Cracky Crackhead, because she acts that way.
These radicals are out for revenge and “reparations” and crime is their method for receiving same. They want to break down society and live in war zones. OK, war zones it is, by their wishes.
The females are very happy to be seditious and subversive knowing they will never be prosecuted.
To the one that said she feels like a slave.
You are.
You are a LBJ and Democrat Slave.
Play the race card. When the donks don’t get their way they resort to violence, rioting, burning, and looting. You people are pathetic.
Ashamed that this racist Marxist imbecile Oliver is my State Senator. Her threats are incitement to terrorism and she should be summarily arrested and indicted for such and removed from office immediately.
Democrats are such idiots! The Senator’ is a race baiting. Hater!
How much of the total crime in Nashville takes place in Oliver’s district? She’s the Queen Of Dickerson Pike….that’s all you need to know.
London Lamar “all Tennesseans are racists”….getting old Ms. Lamar…..getting old….