Alarms, airhorns and arguments flooded the House floor in protest of the new Tennessee redistricting map, which Gov. Bill Lee signed into law on Thursday, splitting several cities and dicing congressional seats.
Lee called in a three-day special session in response to the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision to weaken Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial gerrymandering, or the practice of lawmakers purposefully skewing areas to favor a party or candidate when drawing congressional districts. Murfreesboro Representatives did not immediately respond to Sidelines’ request for comment about how this may affect Murfreesboro.
Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson filed House Bill 7003 and Senate Bill 7004 this week to redraw Tennessee’s districts, less than a week after the Supreme Court’s decision.
“It was absolutely drafted on politics,” Rep. Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) said. “For the first time in history, to have an all Republican delegation sent from Tennessee to Washington, D.C. to represent conservative values, to represent conservative principles.”
State Democrats attempted to offset the majority republican rule by offering amendments and providing emotional testimony. The House approved only two of the nearly 50 proposed amendments.
“No matter what you do,” Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) said. “No matter how much you try to break us and make us small and make us quit, we will still be here.”
Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis) suggested Memphis, Tennessee, should secede from the state, as the map now splits the city into three, dividing the historically black community and splitting an established Democratic-held congressional seat.
“Perhaps the legislature should explain why Memphis should continue to be part of the state of Tennessee,” Parkinson said. “Allow us out … I ain’t joking.”
Protestors then partnered with Democrat representatives to disrupt House proceedings. The movement, while visually successful, did not prevent the House from voting to approve the new congressional map.
Marian Patton, a 38-year-old professional organizer, traveled from Chicago to protest the new map.
“What happens to black voters in one place happens to black voters across the country,” Patton said. “It’s not an individualized event.”
Tierney Macon, a Shelby County native, echoed that sentiment, saying the issue extends beyond local concerns to a broader national pattern.
“It’s not just a Memphis issue or a Tennessee issue,” Macon said. “We need the maps to represent the population.”
To make way for the new map, state Republicans repealed state law 2-16-102, which establishes that congressional districts may not be changed during its 10-year cycle. Senate Bill 7002, which repeals the law, passed the committee on Wednesday morning.
Throughout the third day of this special session, state Democrats like Sen. Charlane Oliver (D-Memphis) vocalized their discontent with the repeal, viewing it as a slight to law and order.
“You broke the law to change the law,” Sen. Oliver said. “You will never know what it’s like because it’s always been given to you. You’ve never had to struggle to be seen not as three-fifths of a human, but as a full person that has self-agency in this country.”
The state’s senate meeting also saw protests, as Sen. Oliver joined fellow Democratic senators on the floor, holding a large piece of fabric with black spray-painted words reading “No Jim Crow, Stop the Steal.”
Lt. Governor Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) released a statement following the Democrats’ protest on the Senate floor.
“Senator Oliver’s outrageous and unprecedented display on the Senate floor today was disgraceful,” Lt. Governor McNally said. “She disrespected her colleagues, her constituents and this state. There is simply no excuse for what she did. The Senate floor is for deliberative debate not calculated performative disruption. It was conduct unbecoming of a Senator — pure and simple.”
The NAACP’s Tennessee chapter kicked off what is expected to be a series of lawsuits just hours after Lee’s signing of the new map into law. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) also indicated he plans to challenge the redistricting in court.
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