Press Releases

Today, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford (NV-04) and members of the Congressional Black Caucus issued the following statement regarding the Republican-led Tennessee State Legislature’s vote to expel two Black Democratic Legislators for protesting gun violence in the wake of the Covenant School shooting.

“In the days following the tragic mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, in which three 9-year-old students and three adults were murdered, the Republican majority in the Tennessee State Legislature has chosen to abdicate its responsibility to keep their communities safe. Instead of working to keep residents safe from gun violence, they have taken the unprecedented step of expelling two Black members of the Democratic Caucus who chose to stand with families, teachers, and students to demand gun safety reforms and speak truth to power about the reality of gun violence in their community and across our country.

“The targeted expulsions of Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson – two Black duly elected members representing minority districts – makes clear that racism is alive and well in Tennessee. The GOP-led House chose to silence dissent from not only the Black representatives in the chamber, but the voices of their constituents as well. This move is not only racist and anti-democratic, it is morally-bankrupt and out of step with the overwhelming majority of Americans who believe that we need common sense gun control reforms to save lives.”