Tennessee Rep. Gloria Johnson (D) said Tuesday on “CNN This Morning” that she hears racist statements “all the time” in the Tennessee State House.
Johnson said racism was the reason her two black colleagues, Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were expelled, and she was spared.
Co-host Don Lemon said, “You’ve been very in front after the vote last week that you felt race played a role in Jones and Pearson’s removal. But there are some of your Republican colleagues were saying in their estimation that it wasn’t race. That you argued, your attorney argued to the contrary that you never shouted or pounding the podium or displayed a sign containing a political statement last week and also that you chose not to participate in a letter that their attorneys had submitted that you, your attorney didn’t take part in that letter that you submitted your own. Do you still believe that it was race?”
Johnson said, “You know, I’ve been sitting in that body for a while. I hear racist statements all the time. And it was just a few weeks ago that one of my colleagues in our criminal justice committee, we had a bill. They have a bill to bring back the firing squad and the electric chair, and one of my colleagues said, ‘I think we should bring back hanging by a tree.’ He literally suggested lynching. I think it’s very clear. There have been statements in committee for years, and they’ve made themselves clear. If you heard the questioning of those two young men compared to my questioning, you definitely heard racially tinged questions. It’s blatant, quite frankly.”
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