Tennessee Rep. Gloria Johnson Tells Don Lemon ‘I Hear Racist Statements’ in State House ‘All the Time’

Rep. Gloria Johnson revealed that she’s heard racist statements “all the time” in the Tennessee State House where she serves.

Johnson is the one non-expelled “Tennessee Three” member who participated in a student protest over a recent school shooting in Nashville. She has alleged that the other two Democratic representatives who participated, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, were expelled due to abject racism.

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton directly addressed those allegations during a Fox & Friends appearance late last week, claiming that there were material differences between Johnson’s behavior and Jones and Pearson, saying that there was no racism at all.

So it was in this context that she appeared on CNN This Morning and was asked to opine on the allegations by Don Lemon, who himself had called out the racism that he saw in this story.

Rep. Johnson revealed that she had heard racist statements all the time while serving in the Tennessee House and shared a story about a colleague who suggested bringing back lynching. Johnson said:

“You know, I’ve been sitting in that body for a while. I hear racist statements all the time. And it was just a few weeks ago that one of my colleagues in our criminal justice committee, we were — we had a bill. They have a bill to bring back the firing squad and the electric chair and one of my colleagues said, ‘I think we should bring back hanging by a tree.’ He literally suggested lynching. I think it’s very clear. There have been statements in committee for years, and they’ve made themselves clear. If you heard the questioning of those two young men compared to my questioning, you definitely heard racially tinged questions. It’s blatant, quite frankly.”

Watch above CNN.