The Tennessee reckoning
As many of you know I was born and raised in Tennessee. I have been voting since I was 18 years old.
My father and I would make a day of it by going to vote then going to lunch. I loved to go vote for this very reason. This tradition has carried over in my family as well. My son and I will go vote and then go to lunch.
My mom was sick for a numbers of years so she would vote by mail, I come from a family that believes in voting because as a black family our very lives depends upon us voting for the right people.
We cannot afford to wait for a perfect candidate or vote third party because of the consequences. My dad told me when I was young that Democrats are not perfect but they believe in helping the poor and Republicans only care about the rich. He was so right!
I used to live near Memphis, Tennessee. I am from a very small town called Whiteville, Tennessee in Hardeman County which is about 50 miles from Memphis. The main employers in that town were and are a mental hospital and a prison. Because the nearest hospital was over 50 miles away and with my
Mom being sick, my Dad decided that we would move to Nashville where my oldest sister lived so that we could be closer to a hospital in case of an emergency. This was in the early 70s when Tennessee was considered a reasonable state.
The majority of our mayors in Nashville have been democrats. They help make Nashville the powerhouse that it is today. Republicans hate Democratic success! For years Republican railed against Nashville and Memphis because they are heavily blue cities. Knoxville and Chattanooga are heavily red cities. Republicans targeted Nashville because of the large diversity of the city and for the revenue that Nashville brings to the state. They felt Memphis was a lost cause and had a better chance of taking over Nashville through gerrymander. Nashville is a blue city with red representation. We did not elect the three republicans who live outside of our district. We are now a city without democratic representation.
As recently as 10 years ago, Democrats controlled the state legislature. Once Republicans gained a foothold on that branch all hell broke loose.
Now I come to The Tennessee Three. This bond that these three showed is what allied ship is all about.
You have two black men and a white woman coming together for the safety of the community only to be met with ferrous attacks by white male leadership. You see the gun lobby is more important than the lives of children that they say they love. If guns are so important and should be everywhere why they are not allowed at the NRA, Republican led State Government Buildings and at their conventions?
Because they don’t want to be maimed or killed but you the citizens are fair game.
The Tennessee Three are now international stars because of the republican racist attacks. Leaked audio shows they are fine with being racist but they cringe at being called racists. The Republicans garner so much backlash that even Governor, Bill Lee, responded with an executive order regarding gun safety.
This would not have happen it was not for the Tennessee Three standing together for a common cause.
That cause is gun safety. These Three are at the helm of something historic in Tennessee beating back the Republican House and exposing their corruption.
I believe that we will get our city back from republican control. I also hope that the protest that we are seeing in Tennessee will translate in votes and big win for democrats. As you can see from the chart below we have had more democratic senators from Tennessee than Republican.
Historical Representation to the U.S. Senate by Party from Tennessee
Party Total
- Democratic 37
- Republican 11
- Whig 6
- Democratic-Republican; Democratic; Whig 1
- Democratic-Republican 12
- Democratic-Republican; Jacksonian 2