No Justin, no peace!
17th April 2023 · 0 Comments
It’s often said that history repeats itself. For Black Americans, history is an unending cycle of fighting for justice, equality, and fairness. They march, protest, speak truth to power, and call out those attempting to return to the good old days of Jim Crow.
The modern Civil Rights Movement never ended. Just as it was in the 1960s, today’s high schoolers, college students, and young adults are fighting for voting rights and constitutional rights.
But the issues they are demanding action on have grown to include gun reform, abortion rights, voting rights, transgender rights, fair representation, and climate change, among others.
Recently, the rallying cry of the 20th Century, “No Justice, No Peace,” became “No Justin, No Peace,” in the latest 21st-Century injustice protest. Hundreds of Gen Z and Millennials marched, along with other generations of Americans waving signs and shouting “No Justin, No Peace,” powerfully conveying to the Republican-dominated legislature that the ouster of two millennial Black lawmakers would not be tolerated.
They call out by name the Republican white male lawmakers and judges who, like their 20th-century predecessors, are engaged in unconstitutional legislation and bench rulings to maintain minority rule in a nation that is racially diversifying at warp speed.
In the collective quest for justice, the protesters are more multi-racial, intergenerational, and non-partisan than ever.
Still, Republican lawmakers and judges are turning a blind eye to most Americans whom polls show favor sensible gun reform, a woman’s right to choose, voting rights, and a voice in decisions that impact their lives.
Earlier this month, the country reached an inflection point when Tennesseans marched on the state Capitol to demand a ban on assault weapons after three nine-year-old children and three adults were machine-gunned to death at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.
Three legislators went to the well of their legislative body to voice support of those citizens protesting. In reaction to their action, the Republican-controlled state legislature sought retaliation and initiated proceedings of expulsion for “breaching decorum” in calling for an assault weapons ban.
While most of Tennessee’s Republican legislators voted to expel the “Tennessee Three” they only successfully ousted the Black millennial lawmakers.
Justin Jones, D-Nashville and Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, both 27, were stripped of their House seats on April 6 for demanding an assault weapon ban on the House floor on March 30 without permission to go to the well of the state house.
State Reps. Jones and Pearson were expelled on April 6, but a third protester, Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white, said she was spared because of her skin color.
Even without Rep. Johnson’s truth telling, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what’s happening in the state where the KKK was born.
Truth is that the Republican Party is legislating racism, keeping weapons of war on the streets for gun lobby campaign contributions, putting women and people of color in their place (passing abortion bans and gerrymandering Black voters out of districts), eroding democracy, banning books and transgender people, and creating authoritarian governments is the national Republican agenda.
The Metropolitan Council representing Nashville voted unanimously to return Rep. Jones to his legislative seat. He didn’t miss a day of work and returned to the statehouse, fist raised high, accompanied by supporters singing “This Little Light of Mine.” But thanks to Republicans, Jones will have to run again for the same seat.
Rep. Pearson won the special election to succeed Barbara Cooper, who was posthumously re-elected in the 2022 Tennessee House of Representatives election after dying last October.
The Democratic-led 13-member Shelby County Commission also voted to reinstate Pearson and sent him back to the Tennessee House of Representatives despite rumors circulating that the state legislature would hold back funding promised to Shelby County if they voted in favor of the young legislator.
Hopefully, some organizations will sue Tennessee legislators who led the effort to disenfranchise the 123,000 voters who elected Jones and Pearson. The unconstitutional act of Tennessee’s house lawmakers cannot be understated. Using processes and procedures to nullify people’s votes.
The Republican agenda to resist gun regulations is responsible for the insane number of mass murders – 146 – which have occurred in the United States as of April 11, 2023.
Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, District of Columbia, California, Maryland, Wisconsin, Illinois, Arkansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Alabama, Washington, New York, Oregon, Missouri, Michigan, Indiana, Mississippi, Colorado, Utah and Louisiana have all experienced the epidemic of mass shootings in the first four months of 2023. Some states have witnessed more than two of these incidents in the year’s first quarter.
The recent elections of progressives and Democrats to statewide offices show that today’s civil rights activists will vote Republicans out of office if they continue an agenda to destroy democracy.
The breakdown of generations is as follows: Baby Boomers: Born 1946-1964 (59-77 years old) Gen X: Born 1965-1980 (43-58 years old) Millennials: Born 1981-1996 (27-42 years old) Gen Z: Born 1997-2012 (11-26 years old). Gen Alpha: Born early 2010s-2025 (0-about 10 years old).
Gen Zers, in particular are concerned about the cost of living, gun violence, mass shootings, systemic racism, equality, and human rights. As the oldest among them turned 23 in 2020, roughly 24 million had the opportunity to cast a ballot during the last presidential election.
And Millennials are not to be overlooked. These 21st Century civil rights activists aren’t just protesting and shouting in the streets. They are marching to the polls.
The two Justins are Millennials but the cadence of their speeches and extemporaneous streams of thoughts are reminiscent of the non-violence of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the bold, blunt rhetoric of Malcolm X. Yet, they are uniquely millennial. They are calling perpetrators of injustice out and calling a racist a racist.
This article originally published in the April 17, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
