MANILA, Philippines — One of the two Democratic lawmakers expelled by Tennessee’s Republican-dominated state legislature for leading protests that called for stricter gun laws is a Filipino-American.
The Tennessee House voted on Thursday to expel Justin Jones—who is of Black and Filipino descent—and his colleague Justin Pearson after leading protesters in calling for gun control at the state capitol in the wake of a shooting that left three students and three staff dead at a Christian school in Nashville.
A vote to expel another Democrat, Gloria Johnson, failed as expulsion requires a two-thirds majority of the 99-member House.
With the expulsion of Jones and Pearson, Republicans ousted two of the youngest Black lawmakers in the legislature.
“A week after a mass shooting plagued our community, the most direct action this legislative body takes or should I say my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are taking is to expel us for speaking about the issues of weapons of war on our streets,” the 27-year-old Jones said in a video posted by media outlet NowThis prior to his expulsion.
US President Joe Biden said the move against the lawmakers is “shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent."
School shootings are strikingly common in the United States, as are calls in the aftermath for action on gun control, a hot-button political issue in the country.
Activist
Jones was elected to represent House District 52 in November 2022.
Jones is a vocal advocate for free speech, voting access, expansion of healthcare services, and representation of minority groups. He led protests in response to the police murder of George Floyd.
According to an article published on Positively Filipino, a digital magazine focused on stories of Filipinos in the diaspora, Jones’ grandmother is Ibanag and his grandfather is Aeta. He grew up in Oakland and East Bay in California, and moved to Nashville.
Jones’ political awakening began in middle and high schools, and the killing of African-Americans Oscar Grant in 2009 and Trayvon Martin in 2012.
“His English teacher inspired him to not be complicit with injustice; to speak up and stand up. Environmental issues, social justice and civil rights became central to his passions and concerns,” read the article written by Leny Mendoza Strobel, professor emerita in American Multicultural Studies at Sonoma State University.
Jones’ passion for activism “came from hearing of his lola’s stories about the People Power protests.” He also heard stories of the civil rights movement from his African-American grandmother.
Jones was arrested over a dozen times for nonviolent protests and is a recipient of various awards such as those from the Tennessee Human Rights Commission.
He went to Fisk University, a historically Black university in Nashville where he received the John R. Lewis Scholarship for Social Activism, and is currently completing his Master of Theological Studies at Vanderbilt University
According to a USA Today report, Jones sponsored bills to allow student IDs for voter identification, to eliminate qualified immunity protection for law enforcement, to require police to only use marked vehicles for non-emergency traffic stops, and to impose a 4% tax on Tennesseans’ non-retirement financial securities purchases. — Gaea Katreena Cabico with report from Agence France-Presse