Historical Hinge Points

Something Might Have Shifted Yesterday

I didn’t watch the live coverage of the Tennessee House debate concerning the removal of the “Tennessee Three” from their representative posts. I did, however, see how much universal condemnation there was across all forms of media. The three Representatives had used their first amendment rights to engage in protest over the lack of action by the legislature on guns and school safety.

Now, exercising one’s right to speak does not remove consequences for having done so. That’s why those protesting the six week abortion ban in Florida were arrested on Wednesday. They had their right to protest AND they were in trouble for not obeying law enforcement instructions to clear the sidewalk.

Yes, the Tennessee Three violated some procedural rules for taking to the well to lead a protest, especially when using a bullhorn. They were technically violating the House rules of operation by disrupting normal process. But the move to expulsion, rather than censure, was clearly disproportionate to the offense. At the conclusion of the abbreviated and unnecessary process, the House had voted to remove two of the three — both of whom were young black men. The third member — a sixty year old white woman, avoided expulsion by a single vote. As she subsequently told the media, it sure appeared that race was the determinative factor.

The public outrage to what we saw in Nashville yesterday got me thinking about Historical Hinge Points. While these events might take a long time to play out, we can see a moment in the public imagination where a shift in thinking took place. While projecting future history is impossible, I can’t help but think that yesterday was one of those moments.

The crossing of the Edmund Pettis (now John Lewis) Bridge in Selma on the upper left is one of those events. There had been earlier visuals in the civil rights movement, but this one seemed to stand out. I read today that ABC News was showing a special on the Nuremberg trials but cut away to cover Selma live. Other networks shared video and the images of people peacefully marching being beaten by police stayed with us.

While I was alive for Selma, I don’t remember it. The shooting deaths of four students at Kent State in May of 1970 was a shocker. I was already opposed to the War in Vietnam and had been casually aware of the student protests. But the image above right is seared in my memory along with the emotions of that day. The War didn’t end for another five years, but somehow the end seemed inevitable after Kent State.

The Rodney King beating by LAPD officers (lower left) wasn’t the first incidence of police brutality nor was it the last. But it was one of the first captured on video. It was shown over and over again on cable news, to the point that it feels like everyone was there for it. The original trial of officers ended in acquittal but the federal charges on civil rights violation grounds did stick. While the riots that followed the King beating were horrible, this image has remained as an indicator of what police brutality can look like. Later cell phone events (like those in Memphis this year) are often held up as comparisons to the King beating.

It’s obviously too early to identify the expulsion of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from the Tennessee House as one of these hinge events. But I think it’s plausible. The image of young black legislators expelled by a predominantly white group that contrasted “you should learn to behave” rhetoric with a high degree of eloquence from the young men was striking. This is especially true when those expelled were standing up for students calling for an end to gun violence in their schools. Given the outrage and disgust toward the Tennessee legislature shown by viewers across the airwaves and social media, it’s hard to imagine “business as usual” in that body. For that matter, as I wrote yesterday, it points out the illegitimacy of much right wing lawmaking in legislatures across the country.

Historians will need decades to determine if the Tennessee situation was, in fact, a game changer. I will defer to their professional judgment. But for now, this sociologist can argue that the core elements are present to suggest yet another hinge point.