The abolitionist
journalist Ida B. Wells’s quest to document
lynchings began when three of her friends,
Tommy Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Will Stewart,
were lynched because whites were envious of
their economic success. Moss, a highly
regarded pastor, postal worker (a great job in
the South in the 1890s), and activist started
the People’s Grocery with two of his friends
in the Curve area of Memphis, partly because
the white owner held a monopoly and provided
substandard service to Black shoppers. The
white owner chafed at the competition and that
Black men dared to stand up to him. When two
youths got into a scuffle over marbles, white
men went to confront Black men at the People’s
Grocery. Shots were exchanged, and three Black
men were eventually incarcerated, then
lynched. Tommy Moss was a dear friend of Ida
B. Wells. Her outrage at that lynching
propelled her into documenting lynching around
the South.
What would Wells
write today about how the Tennessee
legislature politically lynched, two young
Black Democrats who protested that
legislature’s inaction after the massacres of
three children and three adults at the
Nashville Covenant School? The details are
less important than the fact that the shooter
used automatic weapons, had an arsenal, and
was prepared to massacre others. In the face
of this carnage, the Tennessee state
legislature refused to act on measures
curtailing the ownership of automatic weapons.
Thus, three legislators joined others
protesting the inaction. In addition to the
two Justins, a white woman legislator, Gloria
Johnson, was threatened with expulsion. She
avoided it by one vote.
Tommy Moss, Calvin
McDowell, and Will Stewart were lynched
because they dared take a stand against
economic exploitation by a white grocer whose
monopoly power denied Black shoppers fair
prices and hassle-free shopping experiences.
Justin Pearson and Justin Jones were expelled
from the Tennessee legislature for taking a
stand against the gun violence that their
fellow lawmakers refused to take a stand on.
The Nashville Metro Council unanimously voted
to reinstate Justin Jones, but he may have to
run to regain his seat in a special election.
Justin Pearson has been reappointed to his
seat by the Shelby County Board of Commission,
although some worry that state legislators may
retaliate against Memphis.
Ida B. Wells was a
principled woman whose writing about lynching
resulted in her newspaper, the Memphis Free
Speech, being destroyed. She was threatened
with lynching and left Memphis for New York,
where she continued writing. She was
undeterred by her pointed writing putting her
in physical jeopardy. Like Wells, the two
Justins were undeterred by the potential
consequences of their anti-gun protest. Like
Wells, they are a profile in courage and
conviction.
Both Justin Jones
and Justin Pearson are under thirty. The
resistance to their activism must encourage
other young people to be similarly active.
Unfortunately, too often, young people are
discouraged from political participation. Many
don’t vote because they find it cumbersome or
because they feel it doesn’t make a
difference. But the Justins are not only
making a difference but inspiring others to do
the same thing. People are thronging to
Nashville, the state capital, to protest both
the treatment of the Justins, but also the
inaction of the legislature in the face of gun
violence.
The Tennessee
legislature behaved unjustly in expelling the
Justins. Their selective discipline of these
young men is in sharp contrast to their
treatment of Rep. Paul Sherrell, who advocated
“hanging from a tree” as a form of capital
punishment. Sherrell offered a tepid apology
after members of the Black Caucus called for
his resignation or, at the very least, censure
from his colleagues. He was not rebuked. He
did not resign. He was unscathed by his
abhorrent statements. He apologized for his
“poor judgment,” but it was more than poor
judgment that lynched Tommy Moss and his
colleagues.
According to the Equal Justice Initiative, 236 Black
people were lynched in Tennessee between 1877
and 1950. Those murdered by racial terror
included journalists, business leaders, and
teachers. These Black people were lynched
because they were activists who stood up to
the virulent racism that defines our nation.
While Justin Jones and Justin Pearce did not
find ropes around their necks, their political
lynching is shameful but not unusual in a
state where elected officials harken back to
the days of lynching, where racists have
killed 236 Black people. May the treatment of
the Justins inspire us to resist racism. One
of the signs outside the capitol said it
succinctly. “No Justins, no peace”.
