On May 7, 2026, state troopers cleared the gallery of the Tennessee House after protesters chanted “No Jim Crow 2.0.” KeShaun Pearson, brother of state Representative Justin Pearson, refused to leave and was arrested. In the Senate chamber, Democratic state senator Charlane Oliver climbed onto her desk with a banner reading “No Jim Crow 2.0, Stop the TN Steal” before being removed.
Inside both chambers, the Republican supermajority approved a new congressional map splitting Memphis—the state’s only majority-Black city—into three pieces, eliminating Democratic Representative Steve Cohen’s seat and making Tennessee’s delegation nine Republicans and zero Democrats.
Republican State Representative Jason Zachary said the rationale plainly: “It was absolutely drafted on politics.”…