No Justin, no peace.
Why is the MAGA Party so intent on erasing African American history from the school curriculum?
Why is Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis running for president on his “anti-woke” agenda?
The events this week in Tennessee give us a clue.
Bury our history and these past few days have no context.
If our schools aren’t allowed to teach how following the overthrow of Reconstruction after the Civil War newly elected Black legislators in the former insurrectionist Confederacy were removed from office and Black voters were denied the right to vote, then the MAGA Party feels free to do it again.
Instead history is coming to bite our latest version of racist insurrectionists in the ass.
The city of Nashville’s governing council on Monday afternoon voted unanimously to return the expelled Black lawmaker Justin Jones to the Tennessee state legislature.
Tennessee Republican state lawmakers had expelled Jones and fellow house member Justin Pearson late last week because they led protests in the chamber demanding gun control after yet another mass shooting in an American school, this one at an elementary school in the city days before.
Following the vote by the governing council, Jones marched to the capitol several blocks away. He took the oath of office on the steps and entered the building while supporters sang This Little Light of Mine.
They convened just after noon at the Arcade on Fifth Avenue North, braving a forceful snowstorm. They came well-dressed in collared shirts, heavy dress coats and ties.
They walked in, dozens of highly composed young black men and women, to the lunch counters at three downtown Nashville drugstores.
They were determined for change and prepared to make a point. Even when no one wanted to listen.
When they entered, others fidgeted. White store clerks claimed spots at the counter to prevent the black students from taking a seat. Employees scrambled to put up hand-written signs. Closed, one read.
But the students didn't disperse.
On Feb. 13, 1960 more than 100 young African Americans, along with a few white supporters, staged the very first demonstrations to desegregate Nashville lunch counters.
They came from local universities: Fisk, Tennessee A&I and the American Baptist Theological seminary. They entered the Woolworth, Kress and McLellans.
They wandered through the stores, some purchased candy and other small items, then they occupied the lunch counter seats.
They asked to be served. When they were denied, they stayed, in silent protest.
It was the beginning of a movement.
Inspired by an impromptu sit-in by students in Greensboro, North Carolina, just two weeks earlier, these Nashville students followed suit in passive opposition that lasted nearly three months until Mayor Ben West heard the cry for integration on the courthouse steps.
The city's sit-ins marked the first organized efforts in the South.
They began something momentous.