Tennessee state Representative Justin Jones, a Democrat temporarily expelled from his seat by Republicans last year, offered a resolution to honor recent Grammy winners with ties to the Volunteer State. Two acts won — the rock band Paramore for Best Rock Album and Best Alternative Music Performance, and solo singer Allison Russell, who won Best American Roots Performance for the song “Eve Was Black.”
Paramore is a white band. Russell is Black and gay. Stop me if you see what’s coming from the same state that produced the first Ku Klux Klan.
There was no opposition to the resolution to recognize Paramore. But Jeremy Faison, the House Republican Caucus Chair, effectively killed the resolution for Russell, citing “questions” about the singer.
Here’s the twist you might not have seen coming: The rock band, sniffing out the shameless racism in the move, refused the honor.
Paramore’s lead singer, Hayley Williams, told the Nashville newspaper, The Tennessean, “For those that don’t know, Allison Russell is an incredibly talented musician and songwriter. Her music spans genres with strong ties to the Folk/Americana scenes.”
Williams added, “Oh, she is also Black. She’s a brilliant Black woman. … The blatant racism of our state leadership is embarrassing and cruel.”
In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, Faison denied that the resolution had been “blocked” but said multiple members had asked him questions about Russell, “which made it appropriate for us to press pause on that particular resolution.” Apparently, the pause was a comma that became a period because the resolution has not been revisited, and Faison did not disclose what those questions or concerns were.
Russell has been critical of Tennessee Republicans, especially after they expelled Jones and fellow Democratic Rep. Justin Pearson — Black legislators the GOP derisively referred to as “the Justins” — for leading a 2023 gun control protest. (Both were reinstated in an August special election.) Their protest, complete with megaphones on the House floor, came after a March 27 attack at Nashville’s Covenant School left six people dead, including three children.
Expulsion proceedings also were begun against a third lawmaker, Gloria Johnson. Still, they narrowly fell short of the required two-thirds majority. Some said it was because she didn’t employ a megaphone. She suggested it was because she is white.
Jones sharply criticized Faison’s move, saying both Paramore and Russell “have been vocal voices for justice, but only the Black queer woman was bumped” from consideration for the honor.
