Three years ago, we witnessed the expulsion of Representative Justin Jones and Representative Justin J. Pearson. Two young progressive leaders of color fighting for the working class of Tennessee were hounded out of office by a racist, power-hungry General Assembly that is unable to cope with the existence of dissent from their conservative agenda. Ultimately, these actions failed to intimidate the residents of their districts, who promptly sent them back to Nashville, but they showed the Assembly would stoop to any low to silence democracy.
Now, three years later, we have another attempt to silence the voices of our state’s Black and brown residents. The decision to gerrymander the last Black-majority district in the state, following the Supreme Court’s demolition of the Voting Rights Act, represents a reversion to Jim Crow rule. Governor Lee and his conservative lackeys in the General Assembly are responsible for the greatest step backward in over 60 years. The legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and the efforts of generations of activists and organizers are being torn apart. Many are rightly outraged by this injustice.
It is clear that the government of Tennessee fears the working class of this state. They fear what an organized multiracial movement of the working class could do to threaten their hold on power. They did not call a special session to lower your healthcare costs, to increase your paycheck, to fund your schools, to enforce protections at your workplace, or to fix our crumbling infrastructure. Instead, they have tried to silence the voices of Black voters, and will do the same to target anyone who threatens their hold on power.
The only way to defeat these attacks on our representation is through SOLIDARITY. Working class people must come together to build people power in every city, town, and community to bring a political revolution to Tennessee. This requires becoming an organizer, standing with and learning from the Black organizers and activists who have been on the frontlines of building working class power, and joining the fight. We, the united chapters of the Tennessee Democratic Socialists of America, will be with the people of our state through it all.
A better world is possible IF we organize for it. We fight for a socialist future, where government representation and the economy are truly democratic. We can achieve this vision together!
All power to the people!
