POLITICS
50 Reasons Why Tennessee Matters in the Long Haul Struggle for Democracy
When the national media leaves town, state lawmakers and their allies will be on the attack
Many people have inquired about the state of Tennessee politics with the expulsion of two African Americans from the state legislature. My response is that there are so many bad things that have taken place in the state from the standpoint of people and communities at the margins. The expulsion of Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson and attempted expulsion of Rep. Gloria Johnson (the Tennessee 3) may not make the top 10 of the worse decisions and policies impacting everyday Tennesseans, people of color, and the working poor.
When the national media leaves town — yes Tennesseans, this will happen soon — state lawmakers and their allies will be on the attack. It will be brutal. People of good will, community organizers, lawmakers, and others will face significant challenges to fend off an escalated assault on working people in the coming years.
Thankfully, Tennessee has a great collection of activists, organizers, lawmakers, and advocates who will be fully engaged in countering political extremism, while advancing policies and legislation that addressing systemic inequalities. Most of these activists operate “behind-the-scenes” and are involved in the “unglamorous” work of organizing — here I am referencing civil rights and human rights activist Ella Baker.
For the outside world, Tennessee has several unique factors that stand out. Geographic and structural barriers have given Republicans a surplus of voters. My co-author (Ray Block) and I talk about these barriers in Losing Power: African Americans and Racial Polarization in Tennessee Politics. Republicans have a supermajority in the legislature, meaning they can have a quorum without a Democrat being in the room. The Attorney General and constitutional officers (Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer) are appointed. The appointment process insulates them, makes them beholden to the state legislature, and allows them to build mini-fiefdoms with unchecked powers.
The Secretary of State has made several attempts to undermine voting access over the years. The Tennessee Supreme Court has shifted further to the right in the past year. In all 95 counties, Republicans control election commissions due to a law that gives the partisan majority in the state legislature more seats on local commissions. Blacks make up only 17% of the population, which differs from Deep South states (Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi) but approximates Mid-South states (Arkansas and Kentucky). Population growth in Middle Tennessee encompassing Nashville and its neighboring counties potentially threatens Republican Party strongholds in the region. This may explain the backlash we are seeing today.
This summary gives a partial list of what has gone wrong in Tennessee at the state and local levels. Addressing these issues and the non-democratic political culture of Tennessee will take solidarity, multiple pressure points, and organizing communities block-by-block, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, and county-by-county. It is a long haul fight.
Here is the list:
1. SB 0817/HB 1376 (also known as the “Tennessee Higher Education Freedom of Expression and Transparency Act”) or the “Divisive Concepts” bill that goes after faculty of color, women, and LGBTQ+ faculty — This is the most aggressive assault on diversity in higher education in recent memory. Senator Joey Hensley, the bill sponsor, acknowledges that the KKK can host events on college campuses. Start at 1:31 of the video — https://tnga.granicus.com/player/clip/28176?view_id=751&redirect=true&h=f2f7f82babebee212a7259172bfe65d1.
2. State Comptroller tries to take over Tennessee State University (HBCU) — https://twitter.com/search?q=%22tennessee%20state%20university%22%20and%20%22board%22&src=typed_query.
3. The state legislature is on the verge of abolish civilian review/oversight boards in Memphis & Nashville (SB 0591/HB 0764) in the wake of the Tyre Nichols’ killing. This includes overriding the vote of 134,000 people in Nashville that approved an oversight board in Nashville in 2018 after years of protest and organizing. The legislation will close use-of-force investigations by oversight boards in the respective jurisdictions by July 2023.
4. Due to the events this week, the voter restoration bill for justice-impacted people has been tabled to next year in the House. It’s the major casualty of the recent events. Free Hearts (lead mostly by formerly incarcerated Black women) and other advocates had momentum to clear a major hurdle in the House CJ Subcommittee and move a step towards re-enfranchising 360k returning citizens. See their work at:
Overall, Tennessee has one of the highest disenfranchisement rates targeting returning citizens/formerly incarcerated persons — https://www.themarshallproject.org/2019/09/19/tennessee-s-voter-restoration-gauntlet and https://www.propublica.org/article/tennessee-black-voters-disenfranchised and https://www.sentencingproject.org/app/uploads/2023/01/Tennessee-Voting-Rights-for-People-with-Felony-Convictions.pdf.
5. Tennessee has one of the country’s most regressive tax structures. State lawmakers resisted an income tax proposal two decades when Republican Don Sundquist backed bipartisan legislation. His right-wing base stormed the state legislature in protest in what is known as the Tennessee Tax Revolt.
6. Tennessee lawmakers consider rejecting $1.8 billion of Federal education funds.
7. Tennessee lawmakers reject $8.8 million of HIV funding that impacts 20,000 people.
8. State lawmakers reduce 40-member Metro Nashville council, replaces it with 20 members, and gives local officials 2 months to draw new district lines. The state court just placed a temporary injunction on the law.
9. State lawmakers attempt to take over Nashville’s Sports Authority and Airport Authority.
10. Tennessee Department of Transportation uses eminent domain to take property owned by Black rural landowners.
11. Signage at voting sites about party registration intended to intimidate voters.
12. Anti-drag bill targeting LGBTQ+ Tennesseans. This is the latest in a bevy of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
13. Legislation on its way to passage that prevents broadband companies that receive state incentives from forming a labor union.
14. State lawmakers reject establishing a diversity training program for law enforcement officials.
15. Nashville-Davidson County’s congressional district was eliminated, split into three parts with each part placed into Republican-controlled districts — https://www.usnews.com/news/elections/articles/2022-11-04/nashville-how-tennessees-blue-island-was-lost-in-a-sea-of-red.
The state legislature eliminated a statehouse district in Memphis-Shelby County — reducing the # of districts in the state’s Blackest city from 14 to 13 — https://dailymemphian.com/article/26028/state-house-redistricting-map-shelby-county.
Other redistricting plans diluted Black and Latino voting power in Fayette County, Covington (TN), Chattanooga, and LaVergne.
16. Tennessee has 31 gerrymandered Judicial Districts (district attorneys, public defenders, civil asset forfeiture divisions, etc.) that reward rural, White communities. In the 2019 round of judicial redistricting (the previous round was in the mid-1980s), there was no representation from civil rights groups or diversity-based legal organizations on the redistricting task force. See the NAACP LDF’s concerns.
17. Tennessee legislature adopts bill to mandate partisan elections for school boards. The legislation injects hyper-partisanship into school board races.
18. Pam Moses was unfairly jailed and sentenced to 6 years for alleged voter fraud. A judge ruled that evidence was withheld, thus leading to her conviction.
19. Children jailed in Rutherford County for a crime that did not exist , a disproportionate # of whom were Black and Latino children — https://www.propublica.org/article/black-children-were-jailed-for-a-crime-that-doesnt-exist.
20. Tennessee’s previous Attorney General accelerations state executions — https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/the-state-attorney-general-s-role-in-tennessee-s-death-penalty-revival/article_08ea4563-4422-57a7-9177-18656ecff61c.html.
21. Tennessee bans nearly all abortions: “Even children who are raped are required to carry their pregnancies to term, making Tennessee’s ban one of the strictest in the nation” — https://tennesseelookout.com/2023/04/03/tennessee-lawmakers-must-understand-rape-when-drafting-exceptions-to-abortion-ban/.
22. Tennessee loses Title X federal family planning funding, which it had received for 50 years. Funds were lost because the state was out of compliance after enacting a strict abortion law — https://www.axios.com/local/nashville/2023/04/03/tennessee-losing-federal-reproductive-care-funds.
23. The use of Confederate memorabilia in the Pulaski County courthouse, the place where the KKK was founded. The state court has allowed for this practice — https://tennesseelookout.com/2022/08/17/tennessee-court-rules-confederate-memorabilia-in-jury-room-not-prejudicial/.
24. Tennessee has a long struggle against Nathan Bedford Forrest statute. Activists and lawmakers forced the state to remove the memorabilia from the state capitol (due to efforts by Justin Jones and the People’s Plaza) and a public park in Memphis. Yet, the “Nathan Bedford Forrest” ROTC building at Middle Tennessee State University is prevented from changing its name due to state law -
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/05/us/memphis-nathan-bedford-forrest-remains.html, and https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pithinthewind/a-look-back-at-the-peoples-plaza-protest/article_c0506939-e591-50bf-9eb4-514e9455688b.html
25. Tennessee had one of the worse juvenile life sentence laws in the country. There may be some impending changes as legal advocates won an important victory in November 2022 — https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2022/11/18/tennessee-supreme-court-ends-juvenile-life-sentence-law-cyntoia-brown/69661161007/.
26. The state legislature overturned a workforce hiring program backed by a labor-community coalition in Nashville via 2015 voter referendum that intended to employ working class Nashvillians — https://inthesetimes.com/article/republican-prohibition-on-nashville-municipal-local-hires.
27. The state legislature overturned a local ordinance in Nashville that established inclusionary zoning to provide affordable housing options — https://wpln.org/post/how-tennessee-lawmakers-tilted-the-scales-toward-developers-to-make-it-harder-for-cities-to-get-affordable-housing/.
28. The state weakened workers’ compensation law — https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2022/07/17/tennessee-workers-compensation-system-sedgwick-investigation-takeaways/7665542001/.
29. About half of Tennessee’s rural hospitals are at risk of closure — https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2023/feb/18/hospital-report-tfp/.
30. Tennessee lawmakers passed a law a decade ago preventing cities/counties from establishing anti-wage theft and living wage ordinances — https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/2016/title-50/chapter-2/part-1/section-50-2-113.
31. Tennessee voters approved a right-to-work (anti-union) constitutional referendum in 2022. The referendum is paired with the 1947 right-to-work law adopted by the Tennessee General Assembly— https://www.governing.com/now/tennessee-overwhelmingly-supports-right-to-work-amendment.
32. Energy companies — with backing by state regulators — tried to construct a pipeline through a Black community in Memphis. They were defeated by a coalition of grassroots activists, partly led by Justin Pearson — https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/16/opinion/environmental-racism-memphis-pipeline.html.
State lawmakers are considering reviving the pipeline project— https://www.actionnews5.com/2022/03/06/activists-worry-byhalia-pipeline-project-will-be-revived-under-new-legislation/.
33. The Memphis Depot (run by the U.S. military) had a long history of giving neighboring Black residents cancer — https://www.fox13memphis.com/health/fox13-investigates-south-memphis-residents-say-old-defense-depot-is-making-them-sick/article_0f4e61ba-a6d2-11ed-ab5e-4fdb878a97c8.html.
34. The Holt family’s drinking water in Dickson County was contaminated with cancer-producing toxins — https://www.nrdc.org/bio/albert-huang/poster-child-environmental-racism-finds-justice-dickson-tn.
35. Tennessee is a gun-toting state with too many gun-carry laws to count — https://tn.chalkbeat.org/2022/7/12/23204652/tennessee-partisan-school-board-race-law-elections.
36. From 2004–2006, Governor Phil Bredesen (a Democrat) carried out the largest Medicaid disenrollment program in history resulting in the loss of health care to 200k+ people and benefit cuts to a 350k+ — https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/mismanaged-care/.
37. Tennessee has a punitive civil asset forfeiture program that impacts low-income communities and communities of color — https://www.usccr.gov/files/pubs/2018/09-12-TN-Civil-Laws.pdf.
38. Tennessee is one of a handful of states that has not expanded Medicaid or established a parallel program under Obamacare (the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act). This has cost the state $20 billion and denied insurance to 300,000 residents — https://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/contributors/2023/02/14/opinion-refusal-to-expand-medicaid-in-tennessee-is-a-moral-failure/69900980007/.
39. Tennessee creates a felony for protestors camping out on public land leading to a loss of voting rights — https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/22/politics/tennessee-felony-camping-law-right-to-vote/index.html.
40. Tennessee has one of the country’s most punitive systems of fines, fees, and legal obligations for returning citizens/formerly incarcerated persons — https://www.usccr.gov/files/pubs/2020/01-15-TN-LFO-Report.pdf.
41. According to reports, Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton meddled in the selection process for the Democratic Caucus chair in the House of Representatives — https://tennesseelookout.com/2022/12/16/stockard-on-the-stump-former-democratic-caucus-chair-claims-house-speaker-pushed-him-out/.
41. ICE, in partnership with local officials, threaten New Americans (undocumented immigrants, young immigrants who have citizenship but live in families with persons without citizenship). See https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/local/2023/02/28/workers-arrested-at-tennessee-slaughterhouse-ice-raid-receive-settlement/69949336007/ and https://www.newschannel5.com/news/ice-agents-involved-in-a-traffic-stop-in-hemitage.
42. State Representative Justin Lafferty defends the three-fifths compromise on the House floor in 2021 — https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/04/us/politics/justin-lafferty-tennessee-three-fifths-compromise.html.
In 2023, Representative Paul Sherrell publicly supports lynching as a form of execution during question and answer about state executions, and after comments made by a Black lawmaker — https://tennesseelookout.com/2023/03/03/stockard-on-the-stump-black-lawmakers-push-sherrell-sanctions-for-lynching-statement/.
43. State Comptroller tries to take over the finances of majority-Black Mason, which is next to a new $5 billion Ford plant — https://tntribune.com/state-comptroller-mumpower-vs-african-americans/.
44. Tennessee legislature tried to criminalize voter registration drives carried out by grassroots organizations and Black groups. Fortunately, the law was defeated in court by civil rights and voter advocacy groups and eventually changed — https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2019/05/03/tennessee-voter-registration-new-law-punishes-voter-signup-missteps-suit-filed/3658674002/ and https://casetext.com/case/tenn-state-conference-of-the-naacp-v-hargett.
45. Tennessee’s “critical race theory” law targets diversity-based curricula — https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-racial-injustice-race-and-ethnicity-religion-education-9366bceabf309557811eab645c8dad13.
Moms For Liberty and other far right groups lead fight against “critical race theory” — https://www.reuters.com/world/us/critical-race-theory-roils-tennessee-school-district-2021-09-21/.
46. Tennessee is home to what has been the largest private prison corporation in the world (CCA) — https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/why-is-tennessee-still-shackled-to-cca/article_99eb39ca-7715-533c-a347-abf43100c43a.html.
The State continues to keep open the notorious Trousdale Turner Correctional Facility, a private prison — https://www.newschannel5.com/news/naacp-calls-for-closure-of-trousdale-turner-correctional-center-cites-barbaric-treatment-of-black-men and
47. Governor Bill Lee and state lawmakers develop voucher program only targeting Memphis and Nashville, taking millions of dollars of local school funding in the cities — https://tn.chalkbeat.org/2022/7/20/23272154/school-voucher-esa-rollout-tennessee-governor-lee.
Governor Bill Lee then partners with the far-right Hillsdale College to establish a charter school program — https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/revealed/tennessee-governor-now-claims-his-much-heralded-partnership-with-hillsdale-college-is-not-my-vision.
48. State Senator Katrina Robinson is expelled after being convicted for Federal crimes even though she claimed no wrongdoing. The state legislature has a history of corruption, yet she is the first senator in the history to be expelled — https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2022/02/02/tennessee-senator-katrina-robinson-expelled-senate-over-fraud-charges/9204524002/.
49. Tennessee Department of State fires state vaccine director in the wake of the covid-19 — https://www.newschannel5.com/news/tennessee-physicians-call-on-justice-department-to-investigate-gov-lees-handling-of-pandemic-following-top-vaccine-officials-firing.
50. Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich, serving from 2011–2022 (recently defeated in 2022 election) considered one of the most corrupt in the nation — https://publicsafetydatabase.com/shelby-county-district-attorney-the-most-misconduct-of-any-prosecutor-per-harvard-law/.
https://www.wkrn.com/news/what-police-want-you-to-know-as-tennessees-permitless-carry-law-begins/
