Tennessee State Representatives Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) joined protesters engaged in a sit-in at the Tennessee Capitol after being removed from the House gallery and urged troopers not to make arrests.
Jones and Pearson reportedly “intervened” by stepping between protesters and troopers, according to NewsChannel 5’s Phil Williams, who was with the Democrats during what he described as a “sit-in.”
“She was silent in the gallery,” said Jones, the California native who moved to Tennessee to study theology, in the video of the exchanged posted online by Williams.
Jones continued to argue, “This is a mother who was not yelling,” despite the trooper’s objections.
Troopers proceeded to move the detained protester into the elevator, and during this time Pearson moved with the crowd toward them. A trooper appeared to briefly touch Pearson, prompting further complaints from the crowd.
Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones intervened as troopers were taking one or more protesters into custody. 2/ pic.twitter.com/DRD0QTSzsm
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) April 18, 2024
The protester was apparently removed from the House gallery after Jones called Representative William Lamberth (R-Portland) a racist. Protesters then began chanting, “Ku Klux Kameron,” in an apparent reference to Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville).
Protesters disrupted the Tennessee House after lawmakers passed the budget in a 78-18 vote, but video suggests the disruption was sparked after Jones accused Lamberth of racism.
A response from Lamberth, who recently filed a resolution condemning neo-Nazism, was inaudible in the video recording.
Some contentious moments just now in the House.
Rep. Justin Jones calls Rep. Lamberth a racist and several spectators in the balcony are removed for chanting over proceedings.
One of them, I believe, was Methodist minister Rev. Ingrid McIntyre. pic.twitter.com/FHkIKUNlCU
— Chris Davis NC5 (@ChrisDavisMMJ) April 18, 2024
Video from the balcony showed one protester being removed from the gallery by troopers after the disruption.
It was later claimed a protester identified as Allison Polidor refused to leave after being asked by troopers, insisting she was not among those chanting.
Democratic Tennessee House candidate Amanda Collins later reported that Polidor was eventually released by troopers after she was removed from the gallery.
We understand that Allison was taken into custody but now released. Looks like #tnleg did one right thing today, finally. @RiseAndShineTN @brotherjones_ @Justinjpearson https://t.co/KU0lqbbANq
— Amanda Collins for #TNHouse14 (@amandafortn) April 18, 2024
Pearson and Jones, who left the House floor to intervene between troopers and the protesters, were previously expelled from the Tennessee General Assembly due to their role in a gun control riot last year. Voters ultimately returned the Democrats to their seats in special elections that followed.
Jones currently faces a challenge to the signatures submitted to officials for his reelection campaign. The Democrat currently has the minimum of 25 valid signatures, meaning his Republican opponent Laura Nelson would only need to disqualify one to remove Jones from the ballot.
Their participation in this week’s disruption comes as Jones appears to suffer poor relations with his Democratic colleagues.
In a now-deleted post Jones made to X in March, he declared Sexton “has bought and paid” for elected members of the Democratic Party, and accused his colleagues of being complicit in the Republican’s plans for Tennessee.
A disagreement involving Jones previously led to the suspension of a staffer for State Representative Torrey Harris (D-Memphis) until the end of the legislative session.
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Justin Pearson and Justin Jones” by Phil Williams.
I do not care what these mothers or anyone thinks about guns. Guns are not the problem. These people have absolutely no common sense at all. Criminals do not care about gun laws or restrictions. The only people that will be left defenseless are the victims of the criminals with guns. Just look at the cities with the strictest gun laws. They also have the highest homicide rates by guns as the weapon. These people do not want restrictions they want guns BANNED totally but they know they cannot come right out and say that so they will chip away at our rights little by little until one day they too will realize the real reason we have the 2nd Amendment. Want to protect your children. Teach them how to shoot, how to respect the law and how to respect firearms.
Our legislature failed to keep them out of the Capitol when they had the law on their side to remove them. They allowed them back in the Capitol and did nothing when they violated TN law that says expelled legislators cannot run in the election to replace them. So now we pay the price to have thugs in our Capitol and make no mistake they are thugs. They, like most Democrats, think they are above the law. Theology?? Gee, I wonder what kind of theology he studied. Not hard to figure out.
How is it that those sworn to uphold the constitution, as representatives of “the people”, feel empowered to disrespect the very democratic norms they are meant to uphold?
Each and every miscreant involved should now get a bill for the cost of engaging law enforcement.They are stealing the resources of the citizenship. They could be better deployed to keep us safe, instead of having to babysit the mentally ill.
And yes, by the dems’ definition, each of these instances are an insurrection, and the violators should be jailed for a year or two until a trial date. The left set the standard, so let’s abide by it.
These two goobers: Jussie Smollett-Jones and Talcum X in his off the rack daishiki are performance artists straight out of community college drama class.
Of course, the Republican legislators are not ready dor primetime players themselves. Laws against cousin lovin’, chemtrails, selling cold beer and vaxxed vegetables…they’ve lost the plot.
losers in face diapers
Can you imagine an legislature made up of idiots like this?
When is this sh*** stirrer going to remove permanently?
Phil Williams is just another “protestor”. Jones and his buddy should look in the mirror if they really want to see a racist.
Jones and Pearson should take a stare in the racist mirror too.