The first-floor auditorum of the Vasco Smith County Building has been jam-packed before, but never with so many members of the national media, as it was on Wednesday afternoon when the Shelby County Commission met to consider a vote that would return Justin J. Pearson to the state House, whose Republican supermajority had expelled him a week earlier.
It was the second time this year that Memphis had become the scene of such attention — the other occasion being the tragedy of Tyre Nichols, slain by five errant Memphis cops.
Wednesday’s event, by contrast with that one, was pure celebration.
Representatives of various TV networks were chagrined to find the plug-ins for their mics and cameras not working, but they persevered as best they could in their determination to provide live feeds to the nation. Locals were there in force as well, and other legislators from Nashville, and Congressman Steven Cohen, and — frankly, there was no counting them all.
Soon to be looking for a place to sit or stand were members of what was said to a supportive 500-person march, led by Justin Jones of Nashville and Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, the other members, with Pearson, of the Tennessee Three. Jones had been expelled, along with Pearson, for demonstrating on the House floor in favor of gun-safety legislation. Nashville’s Metro Council had voted on Monday to send hm back to the legislature.
For an in-depth look at all that has transpired, see the Memphis Flyer‘s cover story this week.
Justin’s father was asked to open the meeting with a prayer and obliged.
Wasting no time, chairman Mickell Lowery, a constituent of Pearson’s District 86, advised Pearson, who sat expectantly on the first row, “we’re all with you.”
Lowery called the roll and promptly asked for a vote on returning Pearson to the legislature.Voting aye, along with himself, were six other Democrats — Shante Avant, Miska Bibbs, Henri Brooks, Edmund Ford, Charlie Caswell, and Erika Sugarmon.
That was a quorum, and that was a Yes.
When the seven votes were properly recorded, the crowd whooped thunderously. So much for chairman Lowery’s dutiful admonition in advance that crowd responses should be either thumbs up or thumbs down.
Responding, Pearson said the GOP’s House majority hadn’t reckoned with the Shelby County Commission. He praised the “moral courage of Memphis, Tennessee.”
He further proclaimed, “We never bow, we never break, we never bend …We’re tired of business as usual. We do not speak alone. We speak together. You can’t expel hope, you can’t expel justice … and you sure as hell can’t expel our fight.”
He concluded, “Let’s get back to work!”
There was another collective whoop, and, with that, the Tennessee state House was reconstituted as had been duly elected.