NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Race relations have become so strained in the Tennessee General Assembly that a simple resolution to honor an elderly civil rights leader sparked controversy earlier this year, as Republicans in power insisted it had to be amended to eliminate any reference to "oppressed people."
A NewsChannel 5 investigation discovered that the resolution, along with a White Republican's suggestion that lynching be restored as a form of capital punishment and numerous other incidents, highlight why many are concerned about the role of race and racism especially in the Tennessee House.
This follows a contentious legislative session in which two young Black representatives, Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, were expelled for their gun protest on the House floor, only to be returned to the legislature by their constituents.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked veteran Rep. Antonio Parkinson, a Memphis Democrat and past chair of the legislature's Black Caucus, for his assessment: "Does the Tennessee General Assembly have a race problem?"
"Oh, absolutely," Parkinson answered. "There is a race problem, but it doesn't mean that everyone is intentionally racist, but there is a race problem."
Back in March, before Nashville's Covenant shooting and the gun protest that led to his expulsion, Jones introduced a resolution to honor the legacy of 95-year-old civil rights activist, Dr. Charles Kimbrough.
Instead of passing it in a batch with other resolutions honoring various constituents, as is the custom, House Republicans bumped it.
GOP Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, said some of his Republican colleagues objected to the opening line that praised "those venerable Tennesseans who were willing to sacrifice their personal safety to fight to ensure the individual and collective freedom of oppressed groups across the nation."
Faison had an amendment to remove any reference to "oppressed" people, which Jones explained as he presented his resolution.
"My friend Rep. Faison said it was because some members don't believe there is such a thing as oppressed people," the Nashville Democrat said.
Asked by NewsChannel 5 Investigates, Faison did not dispute Jones' characterization.
"There are plenty of us in Tennessee who don't believe anybody is oppressed in America anymore," the Republican leader argued.
He explained his colleagues' negative reaction to the resolution.
"They saw a resolution that someone is oppressed today."
NewsChannel 5 Investigates noted that the original resolution only referred to "oppressed groups" in the past tense.
Faison's explanation?
"I don't think that people actually read the whole resolution. They just saw the beginning."
House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, also went along with those concerned about the language in Jones' resolution.
"I thought their argument was good — so I supported that," Lamberth told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
We noted that: "You had the Bull Connors of the world who turned dogs and fire hoses on Black protesters. You had the Freedom Riders who were beaten up. You had the little girls killed in church bombings. You had civil rights workers killed for pushing voting rights."
Why is it so controversial to say Black people were oppressed?
"Oh, I don't think that's controversial at all — it is a horrible part of our history," Lamberth responded.
We noted, "But it was stripped out of this resolution."
"Again, the more modern tense word of that," Lamberth continued. "I would hope in the last 50 years we've made some sort of progress in this nation."
Lamberth acknowledged after the interview that he too mistakenly believed that the resolution referred to people being oppressed today.
On the House floor, Jones shared Dr. Kimbrough's story of encountering and confronting real oppression.
Faison said Jones' explanation touched him.
"As he's speaking about the resolution, I realized this was to honor a man who truly is a hero, is a civil rights hero, and truly had fought for oppressed people. And that we had made a mistake by pulling that out," he recounted.
Faison said he wanted to make it right, and he told Jones the House would reconsider the resolution honoring Dr. Kimbrough the next week and pass it as originally drafted.
Then Jones ticked off Republicans in committee by challenging their bill cracking down on college professors teaching so-called divisive concepts, like race.
"People like me couldn't even sit at a table like this," the Nashville Democrat argued. "How would you teach that under this law that is against divisive concepts when we live in a divided America that many of you still want us to live in?"
So Faison decided not to try to fix their mistake on Jones' resolution.
"The will of the legislature or the will of my members is like: why do we want to help this guy again?" Faison said. "He's done nothing but get called out of order and throwing punches constantly."
Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, was not surprised.
"There is a level of fragility especially coming from some of our white male counterparts," Parkinson told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
As an example, no one had a problem when a White Democrat argued on the House floor that a GOP pronoun bill would give teachers a license to bully transgender students.
But when Jones made the exact same argument, Republican Rep. Monty Fritts, R-Kingston, demanded that he be silenced.
Rep. Pearson pointed to the difference between how the White and Black members were treated.
"Yeah, you can object all you want, but there's a difference between Black folk and White folk here," the Memphis Democrat said, prompting howls of protest — "Objection! Objection! Objection!" — across the floor from House Republicans.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton gaveled for order.
"Hang on, there's objection. There's objection. Leader Lamberth, did you object to something?"
Lamberth expressed his own outrage.
"I am objecting to being off the bill and indicating that folks are being treated on this floor based on their ethnicity. That is a serious allegation."
Parkinson's reaction?
"It irritates the sh** out of the members when you call them on racist sh**. I mean, you'd think you had set somebody's grandmother on fire, man, because it makes their blood boil."
It's the same Republican supermajority that has passed laws saying teachers cannot take sides about hot-button issues, including slavery.
Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, explained in one debate that the law was "simply to ensure that when it's presented, it's presented in all facets — both for and against."
Responding, Rep. Harold Love, D-Nashville, noted: "It's kind of hard to be for or against slavery -- you've either got to be against it or against it, I think."
In a debate over capital punishment, Republican Paul Sherrell suggested bringing back lynching.
"Could I put an amendment on that that would include hanging by a tree also?" the Sparta Republican asked with a grin.
This past session, Republicans also killed a bill in subcommittee to require police to complete annual diversity training. GOP members argued that there was no need for diversity training more than once in a law enforcement officer's career.
Even a bill backed by Gov. Bill Lee to make Juneteenth an official state holiday to celebrate the end of slavery passed, but 28 White Republicans voted against it.
"I think the notion of pushing that you are oppressed because you are a minority. It's doing us no good," Faison told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
We wanted to know: "Do you think that we are past the point of racism existing?"
Faison's answer: "Oh, racism will be here, bigotry — the term 'racism' is I think, is a weird term, it's hard to define racism — bigotry is prevalent in every culture."
This year, Rep. Jason Zachary passed a bill to allow teachers to opt out of training that helps them recognize their own biases — so-called implicit bias training — if it makes them uncomfortable.
Jones asked the Knoxville Republican, "Are you aware that students of color are disproportionately suspended and expelled from Tennessee schools? Are you aware of this fact?"
"I'm probably not aware of any of the facts that you are going to bring to me, no," Zachary shot back.
Faison argued that implicit bias training often feels like it's aimed at White people.
"Typically what I have seen in America when it comes to implicit bias training is it's more geared to one side is the issue, instead of we as human having an issue of the heart," the Republican leader said.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates noted to Rep. Parkinson, "The notion of implicit bias is that everyone has some sort of bias."
"Absolutely, everyone does," Parkinson agreed.
"You have biases, I have biases?"
"Absolutely, absolutely. I have my own biases, and I've had some unlearning that I've had to do myself."
But with the Tennessee legislature now deeply divided on racial issues, Parkinson said lawmakers themselves need to take time to understand their own biases — and each other's truths.
"It may not be comfortable, and that's OK," Parkinson said.
"It may not be comfortable for me, and that's OK. But once we understand those truths, I think we can start to begin to have better conversations, more conversations, leading to more solutions."
As for how that dialogue might begin, the people who probably would need to be in that conversation have shown no signs of recognizing that there's a problem.
SPECIAL SECTION: Revealed
Do you have information for our investigation? Email us: investigate@newschannel5.com