this week, we've watched as our democracy continues to be threatened. in tennessee, the republican majority in the state house of representatives expelled its two youngest black members. these young men represent 140,000 constituents in the cities of memphis and nashville, leaving those who elected them without representation in the tennessee house. the reason for their expulsion was their participation from the house floor in a protest over the state government's refusal to act on gun regulation in light of the killing of three children and three staff members at a private school in nashville. undoubtedly, their actions disturbed the "decorum of the house" and prevented its members from continuing their work.
their behavior was inappropriate, even if their fervor to persuade the tennessee legislature to act to pass reasonable gun restrictions was commendable and right. there were other consequences for their actions that could have been imposed short of the drastic step of expelling them from their elected positions. what is equally disturbing was that the only white representative who participated in leading the protest from the house floor was not expelled. she narrowly escaped the fate of her fellow protestors by one vote, but the failure of the house to punish her in the same way smacks of racism.
the willingness of republican majorities in many states to act in ways that deny those with whom they disagree the right to express their views is anti-democratic and unamerican. as one democratic member of the tennessee house put it, we live in a country that exists because of radical protest. our founders fought and died to establish a country based on the idea that government exists to serve the people and that those who make up the government are responsible to those who elected them. if the constituents of those who elected the expelled representatives believed that their actions were wrong, the proper way to remove them from office was at the ballot box, not by the tyranny of a republican majority in the tennessee house.
in state after state where legislatures are in republican control, electoral maps are drawn up so that a republican majority can continued to be elected. the votes of democrats and minorities count less than those of their white republican counterparts in these gerrymandered districts. for instance, in wisconsin, republicans can control their legislature with only 44% of the vote, despite the fact that more often than not democrats win in elections that count the state-wide vote rather than the district-by-district vote. other republican-controlled legislatures have done and are doing the same thing by splitting demoratic-majority districts so that their inhabitants cannot elect candidates to the state legislature.
by and large the courts have sided with legislatures that engage in extreme gerrymandering, because the courts hearing these cases, including the federal supreme court, are dominated by those with conservative, right-wing views. these courts hold that elections are in the hands of the individual states according to the constitution, even when such control disenfranchises millions of citizens. in the past, the legal view that each person's vote should carry equal weight made it difficult for state legislatures to engage in redistricting plans that prevented minorities from having their fair share of representation. that view is no longer the dominant one, making one-person-one-vote less likely to prevail in court battles.
may we return to the principles of democracy that protected the rights of all, including minority parties and races. may we insist that a tyranny of the majority not prevail in tennessee or anywhere else in our country. may our people awaken to their responsibilities to vote and hold their representatives accountable and prevent them from assuming dictatorial powers. may we truly become "one nation," as we pledge when we recite the national pledge of allegiance. shalom.
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