Most Tennessee House Democrats have been stripped of their committee assignments for “instigating and encouraging disruptions” in coordination with “paid protestors and attendees” and using “prohibited props and noisemakers on the House Floor.”
“Speaker of the TN House Cameron Sexton just removed me and every Democrat,” Tennessee state House Rep. Justin Pearson (D-District 86) said in a Tuesday X post, before bizarrely implying the punishment was due to race, noting that “every black elected official in the state legislature” was stripped from their committees.
The Tennessee state House Representative was reacting to an X post by Daily Memphian reporter Julia Baker, who announced that “House Speaker Cameron Sexton has removed Democratic Caucus members from standing committees until next session due to ‘disrupting processes’ and ‘creating disorder’ during the special session.”
The matter was also confirmed in a letter obtained by WSMV, sent from Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) to Minority Leader Karen Camper (D-Memphis).
In his letter, Sexton reportedly said “members of the Democratic Caucus will receive individual letters removing them from all standing committees and subcommittees of the House, except where membership is required.”
Sexton adds in his letter that the committee removals are “due to actions taken” by the members during last week’s special session over redistricting across Tennessee.
Those actions, the Tennessee House Speaker added, were “aimed at disrupting the democratic and legislative processes and creating disorder on the House Floor.”
Sexton went on to cite specific examples, including Democrats interlocking arms and blocking aisles on the House floor.
He also reportedly accused the Democrat lawmakers of “instigating and encouraging disruptions — in coordination with paid protestors and attendees,” as well as using “prohibited props and noisemakers on the House Floor.”
Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) shared the letter to his Instagram account, wildly accusing Sexton of stripping him of his committee assignments because he protested Republicans’ so-called “white supremacist agenda.”
“The Speaker of the House is now choosing retaliation against a black lawmaker for standing up against their Jim Crow racial gerrymander,” Jones asserted.
“This is not new. This is the same pattern of racial discrimination and authoritarian abuse we have come to expect,” Jones further alleged, before claiming that Sexton committed an “assault on our democracy.”
“We will not stop fighting. We will not stop getting in good trouble. We will not go back!” the Democrat Tennessee state congressman exclaimed.
For her part, Camper released a statement on Tuesday calling House Republicans’ actions “one of the most troubling abuses of power this legislature has seen in recent memory,” WSMV reported.
The minority leader went on to accuse Tennessee Republicans of having “little regard for precedent, fairness, or even the spirit of the law itself,” before claiming they change the rules “whenever it benefits them” while “punishing anyone who dares to challenge them.”
Camper dramatically added that Sexton’s letter “felt like being stabbed in the back, then having the knife pushed in deeper and turned to finish the job.”
“No committee assignment will stop us from fighting for democracy, voting rights, and the people of Tennessee,” she proclaimed.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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