As Republican lawmakers in Tennessee passed a proposal to eliminate the state’s only Black majority district, an intense confrontation between a Black representative and Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) troopers was captured on video.
Rep. Justin J. Pearson of Memphis can be seen confronting state troopers and shouting profanities as they attempt to detain his brother, KeShaun Pearson.
Lawmakers held a special session on Thursday (May 7) to propose a new congressional map that would eliminate the only Democratic House seat in the state, represented by Rep. Steve Cohen.
KeShaun, president of the environmental justice group Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP), was among the demonstrators who gathered at the Capitol during the session to protest the vote, according to ActionNews5.
“Get the f*** back!” Justin shouts at the officers as they escort both KeShaun and him out of the House chamber. “Boy! The f*** is wrong with you?! The f*** is wrong with you?! Stupid m***********,” Pearson says to one trooper in particular who was holding him back.
Pearson later confirmed on Facebook Live that troopers had taken his brother into custody for refusing to move after Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton ordered the Capitol gallery to be cleared out
THP Lt. Bill Miller later confirmed that at least three individuals were taken into custody for “disrupting the session of the House of Representatives.”
“During today’s hearing, three individuals in attendance began disrupting the session of the House of Representatives,” he wrote in a statement shared with WKRN. “After repeated warnings, three individuals were taken into custody inside the gallery of the Capitol for suspected violation of TCA 39-17-306 (Disturbing an Official Meeting). The individuals were transported to the Davidson County jail for booking.”
Troopers reportedly escorted several demonstrators out of the House chamber while the vote passed without public input. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee officially signed the map proposal into law on Thursday, which splits the majority-Black Memphis into three separate districts, giving Republicans the means to gain an additional seat in the midterm elections and control over Tennessee’s congressional delegation.
Lee also signed two additional bills that bar lawmakers from redistricting between censuses for over five decades and no longer require county elections officials to notify voters of changes to their designated polling places when redrawing electoral lines, according to Democracy Docket.
“These maps are racist tools of white supremacy at the behest of the most powerful white supremacist in the United States of America, Donald J. Trump," Pearson said on Thursday when protesting in the House chamber. “Memphis is the most beautiful place on the planet. It’s the place that raised me, my brothers, my parents, my grandmothers, and where my ancestors’ bones rest. And what you are doing today is eviscerating the only Black majority congressional district in our state because we are majority Black.”
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