Expulsion of Tennessee lawmakers highlights threat to democracy.

Two Black, first-year Democratic lawmakers in Tennessee were expelled from the legislature after participating in a gun control protest outside the chamber. The lawmakers called the move an unprecedented act of political retaliation and an “attempt to crucify democracy”. The expulsion has prompted nationwide outcry, with President Joe Biden calling it “shocking, undemocratic and without precedent”. The lawmakers were ousted from the Republican-controlled Tennessee house after a vote on Thursday prompted by their roles in a gun control protest held outside the chamber days after a shooting at a school in Nashville killed three nine-year-old students and three staffers.