(Washington) A second black elected official from Tennessee, expelled for having demonstrated in the local parliament in favor of better supervision of firearms, will temporarily regain his seat after a vote on Wednesday.
Last Thursday, Justin Pearson, an elected Democrat, was expelled from the assembly, like another of his colleagues, also African-American, for having joined a week earlier hundreds of demonstrators in the precincts of parliament.
They were calling for stricter gun regulations after a shooting at a Christian school in Nashville.
A vote in Memphis on Wednesday afternoon temporarily reappointed Justin Pearson to office, ahead of a special election. Two days earlier, a similar procedure had given the opportunity to the other elected, Justin Jones, to regain his seat in Nashville.
The exclusion of these two men had plunged America into a fierce political battle, between debate on weapons and accusations of racism.
Especially since a third elected Democrat, Gloria Johnson, white and threatened with exclusion for the same reasons, had managed to keep her seat – fueling accusations of racism.
President Joe Biden had stepped up to the plate, inviting the three elected officials to the White House as a gesture of solidarity.
