Last November’s midterm elections ushered in a wave of progressive, diverse politicians, including Tennessee Rep. London Lamar (D).
After fighting a tough primary against seasoned Democratic candidates, she won her district outright due to the lack of Republican challengers. Inaugurated into office on Jan. 8, 2019, the 27-year-old became the youngest state representative to enter the Tennessee legislature.
However, Lamar’s rise to success hasn’t been devoid of controversy. Shortly after being elected to the state legislature, she made headlines because of a controversial live stream on her Facebook page. Blavity interviewed Lamar about the incident and her response to people taking issue to her calling out racism in her state.
“Tennessee’s racist. Period,” Lamar said in the now-deleted Facebook Live video, which has since been published on YouTube. “Most of the Tennesseans who voted Republican are uneducated.”
She also dove into voting data, which showed the overwhelming support for Trump, despite the political failings of his administration.
“White men voted Republican over — well over 60 or 70 percent, so obviously that’s a particular base of people who believe in superiority,” she continued in the video.
Her claims were not far off. According to Politico, 59.6 percent voted for Republican Bill Lee as the state’s newest governor. Polling data also showed the races around the state where Republicans won tended to have poorer, whiter and non-college educated demos. In many of those races, Republicans won by a wide margin—well over 50 percent.
The backlash was almost instant, as online harassment ran rampant. The harassment spread from Facebook to Twitter and finally, to Instagram. To make matters worse, her mother manages her social media, so she witnessed the depravity against her daughter firsthand.
Read more at Blavity.
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