A coalition of gun safety groups are calling on Corporate America to cease donations to the political campaigns of Tennessee state lawmakers who voted last week to expel Justin Jones and Justin Pearson for demanding that the General Assembly take action to prevent gun deaths.
“America’s largest corporations, particularly those who claim to support democratic ideals, have a choice: stand with the overwhelming majority of your customers who support democracy and free speech or continue to back anti-democratic extremists who expelled two young Black leaders for demanding a conversation about gun violence in Tennessee,” said Igor Volsky, executive director of Guns Down America, which is joining with Community Justice Action Fund, March For Our Lives, Newtown Action Alliance, and Giffords in the push for a campaign donations moratorium.
The Tennessee House of Representatives voted to expel two of the three Democrats who had led a March 30 protest on the House floor to draw attention to how they were being silenced by House Republicans as the legislative body debated gun violence prevention measures.
That debate was ongoing in the wake of what was then the nation’s latest mass-shooting tragedy, a March 27 shooting at a school in Nashville that took the lives of three children and three adults.
Jones and Pearson are both Black men. The third Democrat, Gloria Johnson, a White woman, survived her expulsion vote.
The groups pushing the corporate donations moratorium note that well-known brands including Amazon, Coca-Cola, Verizon and Kroger all have donated tens of thousands of dollars to anti-democratic lawmakers in Tennessee.
They’re suggesting that those and other companies who want to have a say in political matters in Tennessee should instead donate the equivalent of their past contributions to local organizations working to reduce gun violence in the state.
“With more than a thousand Tennesseans killed by gun violence each year, and three children and three staff brutally murdered in a Nashville school, voters are demanding action. Elected on a promise to improve Tennesseans’ lives, Reps. Justin Jones, Gloria Johnson, and Justin Pearson had the courage to keep their word, stand with their constituents and fight to stop gun violence,” said Allison Anderman, GIFFORDS Law Center’s senior counsel and director of local policy.
“Corporations can’t speak out of both sides of their mouth and say that they value our lives and demand action on gun violence while also propping up extremists who undermine democracy,” said Natalie Fall, executive director of March For Our Lives. “Tennessee has one of the highest rates of gun violence, as well as some of the loosest gun laws. Leaders like Speaker Cameron Sexton and Rep. William Lamberth are fueling this violent status quo, and threatening the very pillars of our democracy by expelling duly elected representatives. It’s time for corporations to put their money where their mouth is and redirect their contributions away from these corrupt leaders and towards community violence intervention programs that, unlike the Tennessee Republicans, actually aim to tackle gun violence.”
“Corporations must unite against the suppression of free debate and vital conversations surrounding gun violence prevention in Tennessee, especially when it concerns those most affected,” said Greg Jackson, executive director of Community Justice Action Fund. “By expelling Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, the Republican-led Tennessee House has chosen to disregard the voices of over 200,000 Tennesseans who elected these courageous Black lawmakers. As gun violence remains the leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States, and the number one cause of premature death for Black men, the dismissal of these dedicated representatives is a stark reminder of the systemic silencing of survivors’ voices and the communities most impacted by gun violence.”
“U.S. corporations must stop fueling the gun violence epidemic in America by donating to state lawmakers like Tennessee Speaker Cameron Sexton, Rep. William Lamberth, and Rep. Jeremy Faison who are willing to sacrifice the lives of our children and our democracy for blood money for the gun industry,” said Po Murray, chairwoman of the Newtown Action Alliance. “We also urge the corporations to publicly denounce the unjust racist expulsion of two black Representatives in Tennessee, support state and federal gun control measures to honor the victims who were impacted by the Covenant School shooting, and help the communities recover, heal and prevent gun violence instead of funding the gun lobby lap dogs. Those of us from Newtown, Conn., know too well what their community is going through.”
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Chris Graham
