ALT The expulsion of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson in the Tennessee House of Representatives emphasizes just how dire the gun problem is in this country, and especially in the South. Rather than address the problem head on as Pearson, Jones, and Rep. Gloria Johnson attempted to do, fellow state lawmakers chose instead to silence the voices of two young Black representatives and look the other way when their own communities are ravaged by gun violence.
ALT We know that incidents of gun violence, and school shootings in particular, are disability issues. In schools, active shooter drills are largely exclusive of disabled children and aren’t effective in keeping disabled kids safer. What’s more, those with mental health disabilities are often scapegoated in mass shooting incidents, attaching a damaging stigma to mental illness that does nothing but take the conversation away from what these incidents of violence are really about. We stand in solidarity with Pearson and Jones.
