Justin Jones
speaker
93 appearances
2 recordings
2 series
first heard May 2025
last heard 21 Jan
Justin Jones’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jan 2026 with 1.
Appearances
And his welcome to me was saying, Jones, I want you to know that you're worthless and you're not supposed to be here. And that was his welcome to me, my first week in the legislature. But I actually appreciate Senator Johnson now, because at that point, I didn't know what to say. I went to the glorious office. I was like, you know, this just happened. I mean, overt racism, ageism, all the isms.
And I didn't know how to respond. But I actually appreciate him, because he taught me a very important lesson in that legislature, that I'm not there to make friends. I'm there to make change for my district.
And I'm willing to work with Republicans in the community, but I know that that party in there is a party that is drunk with power, and there is no way that we can work with people who are so arrogant, who have so much hubris, that even when their own Republicans vote against vouchers, they kick them out of their committees and kick them out of their office space.
When their own Republicans speak out, they are punished. People like Todd Warner from Chapel Hill, who has been ostracized because he dares say that vouchers are going to destroy his rural school district. I mean, this is a party that is not willing to work with us, that sees us as subjects, that sees us as people.
Another thing in the legislature, you come in committee rooms, all the Republicans are sitting at the dais above us, and we're supposed to sit below them as this unspoken rule.
I sit next to them because I want them to know that we are colleagues, that we are equals, and that we are not below them, that we got here the same way, we represent the same amount of people, and that we have an obligation to stand up for our constituents.
Article 2, Section 27 of the Tennessee Constitution says that every lawmaker has a right to dissent from and protest against legislation that is injurious to the people and to have their dissent marked in the Journal of the House.
And so every time we speak up, every opportunity we have, I speak up for my district because I know that we may not win this vote, but I know that when history sees us at this moment, my children and grandchildren will know that we stood up for them. and that not all of us were insane in this time. And what I know, too, is that we're winning over some of their children.
I'll just say names, I'm just honest. Senator Gartenhier stopped me. I was in the governor's office for Christmas. He said, can I take a picture with you? Because I tried to convince my son to not like you, but he supports you. So I want to show him that we know each other. And so we're winning their children. Why do you think they're banning books?
Why do you think they're trying to restrict curriculum? Because we're winning their children. They know that their time is limited, that the clock is ticking, that people like Paul Sherrill, who says we need to bring back lynching, those days are over. That their time is running out, and so they have to cheat their way and voter suppress, but these are not powerful people.
Because if you're powerful, you will not have to shut off microphones when somebody disagrees with you.
I think we judge our victories by the bad bills we stop. I think that is what we are now. There's 24 members of our caucus, 23 when Johnny Shaw forgets he's a Democrat. And so I think we have to be honest about where we are. And what we have to do is like what we're trying to do when I add committees, build coalitions with their people in their district. That's how...
Advocates we wanted to shout out and uplift were able to defeat that horrible asinine bill that was going to stop undocumented kids from going to school. That was defeated this session. What a powerful victory. The Monsanto Cancer Act, whatever they want to call it, that was defeated this year. You know, there are bad bills stopping.
We have to judge our victories, not just based off of what we pass. Because some of my colleagues do see that you win by based off of what you pass. And so they'll pass a bill that says, we're going to put a marker here, a historical marker, which is beautiful. But I want to see the material conditions change for my constituents.
And so I'm not willing to silence myself in order to pass a symbolic resolution. And so I think we have to realize, too, that our victories can be judged based off of the coalitions we're building. How many people are we bringing with us? Who are the new people we're engaging in this process to come testify? So many people, I've traveled the state. I remember I was in Tullahoma. I think Ms.
Janice and I, she was with me. And this man came out of this restaurant, this meat and three, and he looked like he was from Duck Dynasty. And I said, oh Lord, he's like, he's like coming up to our table. I was like, oh Lord, just, he's going to say something. He said, keep up the good trouble. In Tullahoma.
See, that's a victory.
That's a victory. That's a victory. When we win over their people, when we play offense, when we let them know that we are building a coalition that can defeat this coalition of hate and fear and division by building a coalition based off of solidarity and showing up for each other, I think that's how we judge our victories.
And I think that the tide is going to shift because they're getting so arrogant with power that even their own voters, Republicans are saying, defecting and saying, this is getting too extreme for me. And I think this voucher bill is going to help us. I think what's happening at the federal level, 25% increase price on fertilizer because of these tariff wars.
So many of our farmers had these grants with USAID that have been cut. Now they're struggling with their soybeans. Where are they going to send these? I mean, they're hurting too. And so I think this is the opportunity not to say we were right, we told you so, but to say, welcome. Welcome to this movement. You're always welcome here.
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