Chris Butler, Tennessee Star, November 9, 2018

The newly elected state representative for Tennessee’s 91st district livestreamed a 15-minute rant on Facebook Wednesday and, said, among other things, Tennessee is a racist state and full of uneducated Republicans.

That newly-elected representative, London Lamar, a Democrat from Memphis, also reprimanded white men for wanting to keep more of the money they earn.

Lamar also suggested allowing felons to vote will help elect more Democrats.

“Looking here at Tennessee, let’s just call a spade a spade,” Lamar said in the video.

“Tennessee is racist, period. Period. And if you for one moment thought that white people in Tennessee were going to leave their own to jump over here and give us more access, they just told you last night it’s not happening.”

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“If we look at some of the numbers last night, white men voted Republican well over 60 or 70 percent,” Lamar said.

“Obviously, that is a particular base of people who believe in superiority. They don’t believe in sharing their wealth. They don’t believe in sharing resources. They believe that you need to work for your own, and they went to the polls and voted.”

Over half of Tennessee’s white women, Lamar went on to say, voted against their own interests Tuesday by helping elect Marsha Blackburn to the U.S. Senate.

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“Most of the Tennesseans who voted Republican are uneducated, so they don’t even know that they went to the polls to vote against their own interests,” Lamar said.

“They literally voted on color lines. In Tennessee, we voted based on race. Not that any of our statewide candidates were black or a minority. It was the fact that they were going to support issues to help uplift the minority community and that is what they voted against.”

Lamar then called upon the black community to start organizing.

“These people — I don’t want to say these white people — in Tennessee have voted against you and not just a little bit but by a lot of bit. Who is your real enemy here?” Lamar asked.

“This is no different than 1968. The only difference is they can’t necessarily hang us by a noose or outwardly kick us out of restaurants, but they are still exercising their right to vote and they are still supporting candidates that openly express they will oppress our communities.”

Lamar then said “right-wing crazies” have replaced moderate Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly.

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[Editor’s Note: Readers who want to learn more about Tennessee may wish to see the Blavity news story “‘We Sprinkle Black Girl Magic All Across the Field:’ Waves of Black Women Are Winning Elections in Tennessee”.]