Featured photo by Hannah Carley
Story by Hannah Carley and Megan Goble
Meribah Knight, senior reporter and producer at Nashville Public Radio, spoke Monday afternoon at MTSU about her podcast, “Supermajority,” which follows three conservative women (Melissa Alexander, Mary Joyce and Sarah Shoop Neumann) and mothers of The Covenant School mass shooting survivors, desperate to pass gun control laws in the Republican-dominated Tennessee state House of Representatives.
Knight said the idea for “Supermajority” stemmed from the erosion of Tennessee’s democracy and the effects of lobbyists and gerrymandering on the democratic process, which present obstacles for passing important legislation.
For her, the women’s journey solidified her theory that the problem is not Democrats versus Republicans.
“This is about inside the Republican party…where it’s going to go, and how much are they going to reach for those levers of power? Are they going to do it the democratic way, or are they going to do it the anti-democratic way?” Knight said.
She addressed the disconnect between Tennessee lawmakers and voters. Most Republicans are in favor of “Red Flag” laws, which would restrict gun access for high risk individuals
“Over the past 18 years, Tennessee had the most democratic backsliding of any state in the entire U.S.,” Knight said.
One-in-five Black adults cannot vote in Tennessee, and the state has some of the largest numbers of people disenfranchised from voting because of felony convictions. One out of 10 Tennesseans can’t vote because they have a felony on their record, Knight said.
“Voting is a right but it’s not a right that everybody has,” Knight said. “It’s a right yet it’s also a privilege.”
Tennessee ranked 51st in the country for voter turnout in 2022, and 15% of the electorate voted in the primaries in August 2024, according to Bob Gordon, MTSU Associate Professor and Department of Media Arts interim chair.
Michelle Conceison, MTSU Recording Industry professor, attended the event because she wanted Knight to know that voting is valued at MTSU.
“I hope that everyone takes their right to vote seriously no matter what their opinion,” Conceison said.
Knight left the audience with her thoughts on the way Americans treat democracy and how they can be advocates for change.
“The age of complacency for all of us has to be over,” said Knight. “We have to really realize that democracy is not a gift. It’s something that we work for.”
Hannah Carley is a reporter, and Megan Goble is a reporter for MTSU Sidelines.
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