Republican racism trumps gun violence concerns
Tennessee Republicans Accused of Racism After Expelling Two Black Lawmakers – Newsweek
How are Republicans so concerned about the unborn but fine with born children being slaughtered by gun violence at the same time, and expel Black lawmakers demanding safer schools for children?
– How many children were gun violence casualties? How many mass shootings have taken place?
– Where and when did they take place? Which school and state house district?
– Who is the State House rep for the district? How can you contact them?
– Which district does Cameron Sexton the State House Speaker represent?
– Which districts did Justin Jones and Justin Pearson represent before Republicans expelled them?
– What is the % of Blacks and Whites, poverty and young people in these districts?
– How can you directly fundraise from a map? Encourage people to call their rep from the map?
Check for yourself with this map created with esri ArcGIS and let your Republican rep know that public safety comes before gun lobby donations.
Gun violence, school districts and political districts
Leading cause of death among children and teens
Guns are now the leading cause of death among children and teens in America.
More kids are dying from guns than from car accidents or cancer.
We’re losing 120 lives a day — 40,000 per year — and many of those are kids.
Mass shootings like the one at Covenant School and Sandy Hook and Uvalde are horrifying, but they also make up less than 2% of the overall gun deaths in America.
Gun violence is a public health crisis in Tennessee and in the U.S.
We’ve lost more lives to guns than all the casualties of all of America’s wars combined.
That’s why anyone who says they are pro-life can’t ignore gun violence. – Religion News
Racist, anti-democratic & authoritarian
“When Republicans in the Tennessee House of Representatives voted this week to expel two Black members — Justin Jones and Justin Pearson — they revealed their resemblance to the anti-democratic, authoritarian Redeemers of more than a century ago.
In 1868, White legislators in Georgia voted to expel the 33 Black men elected to state government. Henry McNeal Turner, a well-known leader in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) denomination, was one of the men expelled from his position by the Georgia politicians. In remarks during the proceedings, he stated, “[White legislators] question my right to a seat in this body, to represent the people whose legal votes elected me. This objection, sir, is an unheard of monopoly of power. No analogy can be found for it, except it be the case of a man who should go into my house, take possession of my wife and children and then tell me to walk out.” – CNN
The truth shall set you free
Don’t fall for political excuse making meant to distract you from the cause of gun violence: fewer regulations on who can get guns and easy access to weapons of war. Follow the truth (which might be in the form of a map) to understand the scope of the horror while some paid for by your tax dollars block common sense gun safety measures.
We used data from the Gun Violence Archive to map gun violence incidents in Tennessee using esri ArcGIS Online
The gun violence incidents are split by children, teenagers and mass shootings.
The date, location of the incident is included along with the number of people who were killed or injured in the incident
School and state house district boundaries are shown along with how to call or write to the State House rep for your district
The districts for Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Cameron Sexton are highlighted.
You can turn the individual data layers on and off as well as zoom into the map.
Just the facts ma’am
Information in the map is organized in layers to make it easier to understand. For instance clicking on a dot tells you when and where a shooting took place, along with the school district and State House District. The pop up box shows the name, phone number and email address of the State House rep. Clicking on the phone number lets you directly call your State House rep.
There are three layers for Justin Jones, Justin Pearson who were expelled by Tennessee Republicans and Cameron Sexton who is the Republican Speaker of the House who led the expulsion. The pop up box shows the Black and White percentages of the population of the district; the poverty level and what % of the population is young.
Wait! There’s more.
The information box has donation links for Justin Pearson and Justin Jones.
You can turn ON or OFF any layer of information.
Name of the School Districts appear as you zoom into the map.
The MAP LEGEND explains the meaning of each symbol and color in the map.
The SHARE icon provide a link to share the map and code to embed it in a website.
TakeAway: Use maps to hold Republicans accountable for blocking gun safety bills that could save children’s lives. They can run, but not hide from their actions with a map.
Deepak
DemLabs
A special shout out to my mentors at esri including Bonnie Stayer, Julia Bayer, Jennifer Bell, Allen Carroll and Robby Deming for showing me the power of maps to bring about change. As esri’s website says “Geography brings essential context to decision-making”.
DISCLAIMER: ALTHOUGH THE DATA FOUND IN THIS BLOG AND INFOGRAPHIC HAS BEEN PRODUCED AND PROCESSED FROM SOURCES BELIEVED TO BE RELIABLE, NO WARRANTY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED CAN BE MADE REGARDING THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, LEGALITY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY SUCH INFORMATION. THIS DISCLAIMER APPLIES TO ANY USES OF THE INFORMATION WHETHER ISOLATED OR AGGREGATE USES THEREOF.
Reposted from Democracy Labs with permission.
