When Tennessee State Reps. Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson dared to stand up for the children in this state, in this city and in this country, they were severely punished.
Jones and Pearson were expelled from the Tennessee State Legislature for speaking on behalf of the children; the children who leave home in the morning and who may not return, the children who go to school living in fear, the children who may not get the chance to grow up to adulthood because of the prevailing insanity in this country controlled by the NRA.
Gun violence is destroying the future of America. We are supposed to protect our children, not slay them. We are supposed to love our children and not fill their hearts with fear of dying.
Billie Holiday sang a song called “Strange Fruit” with the following lyrics:
“Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the Southern Breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.”
It is now not only Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, it is the children hanging from the poplar trees. We must praise and support The Tennessee Three because they are God sent to protect the children and to save our democracy.
