TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Aug 26, 2020

Gov. Bill Lee drew criticism last week when he said he had not responded to a meeting request from the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators because “we meet with those folks that are willing to work together to move forward.” Members of the Black caucus registered their anger at a press conference today, calling the answer personally offensive. Now, Lee's staff is “working to get one on the books,” a spokesperson said of a future meeting, according to the Nashville Post. The caucus has been seeking a meeting with Lee to discuss recent protests and legislation Lee signed into law making it a felony to camp out overnight on the Capitol grounds. The lawmakers also used today’s event to call on Lt. Gov. Randy McNally to apologize for a meme posted to his Facebook page that warned Black Lives Matters supporters “there’s nobody protecting you from us” if police are defunded. When it was pointed out that the meme could be interpreted as an implicit threat, it was taken down.