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By Kate Plummer
Senior US News Reporter
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Justin Jones, one of the two Tennessee politicians who were expelled for their involvement in a gun-control protest on the House floor last April, has now said he has been kicked off a state House committee.
Black lawmakers Jones and Justin Pearson were expelled from serving in the heavily GOP-controlled state House chamber last year, after House Republicans said they breached protocol by speaking out of turn to join a youth-led protest for gun control. The protest was held after a deadly shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, in which three adults and three children were killed by Audrey Hale, a former student at the school, who was then shot and killed by police.
An effort to expel Democratic Representative Gloria Johnson, who is white and also one of the "Tennessee Three" who participated in the protest, failed by one vote. Jones and Pearson were reinstated on an interim basis by local officials, after public outrage at the decision. They then won back their seats in August special elections.
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Now, Jones has said that he has been kicked off an education committee by Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Cameron Sexton to "stifle dissent" around the state's school voucher program. Newsweek contacted representatives for Sexton by email on Friday to comment on this story.
In November, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee proposed the program to provide 20,000 students about $7,000 each to attend private schools. Critics have said it will divert state funds from public schools. Nashville Democratic Senator Jeff Yarbro said it would heavily subsidize families already sending or planning to send their kids to private schools.
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Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Jones said: "Today the Speaker announced that I was stripped from being on House Education Admin Committee, as they prepare to push their unpopular school voucher program.
"My Republican colleagues know voters do not want their 'Education for Profit' scheme and are trying to stifle dissent," Jones added.
In another post, he wrote: "This Speaker has repeatedly abused his position to silence dissent and continues to erode our democracy in Tennessee."
The education committee row marks an escalation in tensions between Jones and Sexton as the legislative year kicks off on a frosty note. On Wednesday, Jones also accused Sexton of being "drunk with power;" he said the security team of the speaker had blocked him and the House Republican majority leader from getting into an elevator with Sexton.
"These rules are not about Democrats versus Republicans, but it's about each of us as members and a speaker who is drunk with power," Jones told the House, leading to an immediate vote to silence him.
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