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| Filipino American Justin Jones (in white suit) was led out of the Tennessee House of Representatives. |
Justin Jones, one of the two Democratic lawmakers expelled by Tennessee's GOP-dominated Legislature, says his activism was inspired by his lola's stories about People Power demonstrations that ousted Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.
Jones, along with fellow Black legislator Justin Pearson, were expelled by the state House after the two expressed their support for the thousands of protesters calling for gun control following the mass shooting at a Nashville school that claimed the lives of six people, including three 9-year old students.
A third legislator, Rep. Gloria Johnson, a White lawmaker who also joined the demonstrators, failed to garner two-thirds vote required for her removal. Asked why the two Black legislators were expelled and she was spared, Johnson said, "It might have something to do with the color of our skin."
Jones’ lola is Ibanag and his lolo is Aeta, indigenous Filipino peoples native to Luzon, according to an essay written by Sonoma State Professor Leny Mendoza Strobel in Positively Filipino, an online magazine catering to Filipino Americans.
It was in Oakland, California, where he was raised that he began his political activism, taking part in social justice protests against the murders of Oscar Grant and Trayvon Martin. He moved to Nashville to attend Fisk University, a historically Black university.
The 27-year old Jones, who was sworn into office in November, 2022, attributes his political activism to his lola's stories about the People Power revolution in the Philippines and the stories from his grandmother on his father's side about the US civil rights movement.
“My Filipina Lola Tessie and my Black Lola Harriet are my first divinity teachers, first theology teachers, first spirituality teachers," Jones tells Strobel. "I realize now that the family stories they told me about their childhood in the Philippines and in Chicago and San Francisco carried their indigenous roots.”
After being kicked out of the House of Representatives Thursday, April 8, Jones said, "There are crimes against democracy happening in Tennessee being led by House Speaker Cameron Sexton,"
"They killed democracy in Tennessee…Their action was meant to intimidate. It was meant to humiliate, but what it did was put the state of Tennessee on trial for the world to see," he continued.
"We broke House rules, but we were obedient to our oath," Jones admits. "I think that what we did was the only human response to a community grieving. It was the only human response to the thousands of young people who were at the Capitol saying, 'please do something. Please hear us. We don't want to be shot or massacred in our schools. Enough is enough.'"
The ousted lawmaker added, "What is wrong is to be silent."
On Monday, April 10, the Nashville City Council angry at Jones' expulsion, is expected to reappoint Jones to be the represent the district in Tennessee's House of Representatives.
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