CNN analyst Bakari Sellers told CNN anchor Jim Acosta that the expulsion of Black lawmakers in Tennessee is linked to former President Donald Trump’s use of “racism as political currency.”
On Thursday, the Tennessee House voted to expel Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson over a protest calling for gun reform in the wake of the shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School that killed 6 people. The legislature spared Gloria Johnson, a 60-year-old white woman who participated in the protest. That disparity has been flagged by the Tennessee Three and others as a racist double standard.
On Saturday’s edition of CNN Newsroom With Jim Acosta, Acosta asked Sellers “what do you see in terms of this being an assault on democracy” that Republicans are carrying out in states, and Sellers linked the trend to Trump:
ACOSTA: And Bakari, what do you see in terms of this being an assault on democracy at the state level in Tennessee? Did you view it that way? I know a lot of folks in the Democratic Party, they see sort of a rollback of, I guess, democratic procedures taking place in state houses across the country. Is that what you saw? Did you see some of that at play in Tennessee as well?SELLERS: I did, Jim, and you know, people always want to say, I mean, as soon as we get off this segment, people are going to say, Bakari, why are you playing
the race card on social media, it’s going to go crazy. Well, you have to understand the dynamics of where we are in the south, you have to understand the dynamics of these young black men attempting to speak their truth to power.You have to understand, the dynamics of what’s at play in Nashville where you have these kind of Democratic epicenters of economic empowerment in Memphis, where these men represent. And so, when you put all of these things together, and you see the fact that the first thing they wanted to do was shut them up.The first thing they wanted to do was tell them that boy you can’t speak no more. Then you realize where we truly are. I mean, you think about Josh Hawley. I mean, people want to talk about decorum. You think about Josh Hawley raising his fist of power as he walks by insurrectionist. And Josh Hawley today is still a United States senator from the great state of Missouri.Like people never thought about removing him from office. But we had young people gunned down in a school, let’s put all of this in the context. We had young people, babies gunned down in a school. And these young people, these young black boys, men, excuse me, decided they were going to speak their truth to power about not having any more young babies gunned down and yet they eject them fromtheir seats.And so there’s something else at play here. And I think what’s at play is race, I think power dynamics are at play. And I think the erosion of democracy, as you said, Jim, is at play. And until we truly deal with these things, Donald Trump showed us that you can use racism as political currency, you can attempt to chip away and erode democracy. And then you can talk to people however you want to talk to him and still be politically successful in this country. That’s the danger and that’s why we understand democracy as fragile.
Watch above via CNN Newsroom With Jim Acosta.