The Republican Party has virtually unchecked power in Tennessee. The governor is a Republican, and the Republican Party enjoys a supermajority in the statehouse, which means that Republicans can pass anything they want to pass no matter how opposed Democrats are. Republicans in the state have already used their near-total power to push an agenda that not only compromises the health and well being of people across the state but also embraces white nationalist politics and relegates marginalized communities, regardless of their race or ethnicity, to the fringes of society.
Now, the party is considering rejecting $1.8 billion in federal funds to help low-income students, English learners and students with disabilities.
Now, the party is considering rejecting $1.8 billion in federal funds to help low-income students, English learners and students with disabilities at least partially because Republicans don’t want to comply with the federal government’s anti-discrimination policies.
According to The Associated Press, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton told reporters last week, “We should do everything that we can to be whole and autonomous and independent from the federal government.” He said, “When you take federal government money, their philosophies and what they want you to do is different than probably what the state wants to do.”
The AP notes that the federal dollars Sexton says the Volunteer State should reject make up about 20% of the state’s education budget.
According to a Sept. 25 report in the Tennessee Lookout, neither Sexton nor Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, who’ve appointed lawmakers to look at the requirements that come with taking federal money, would say what requirements they oppose.
The idea of rejecting the federal government’s “philosophies” is reminiscent of the bad old days of the Jim Crow South when officials in states like Tennessee defied federal mandates for desegregation and equal rights and, in the hopes of thwarting progress and maintaining a racial hierarchy, embarked upon a strategy of Southern resistance.
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling outlawed segregation in public school, officials in Virginia and Arkansas completely closed some schools in defiance. And across the South, individual white parents withdrew their children from the public schools and sent them to the exclusively white private schools they created as a response to Brown v. Board.
This eerily similar talk of rejecting federal funds suggests that Tennessee Republicans, as their like-minded Jim Crow predecessors did, may be willing to sacrifice the needs of their constituents just to thumb their noses at the federal government.
Tennessee Republicans, as their like-minded Jim Crow predecessors did, may be willing to sacrifice the needs of their constituents just to thumb their noses at the federal government.
Consider the impact this strategy, this rejection of money for low-income students, students with disabilities and students learning English, would have on the most vulnerable communities in Tennessee. I’m talking here of communities that disproportionately face systemic barriers, including limited access to health care and institutionalized racism. I’m especially talking about places like Memphis (by far the Blackest city in the state and, according to recent reports, may be the largest majority Black city in the country).
By rejecting federal funding that could help alleviate some of these burdens, the Tennessee GOP would be callously and unnecessarily perpetuating a cycle of suffering and dispossession. But that pain wouldn’t stop at the boundaries of Memphis or Shelby County.
They’d also be exacerbating pain in cities like Jackson, Chattanooga and Knoxville. And in counties like Lake, Hancock and Bledsoe.
To be clear, the GOP rejecting federal funds over concerns that reportedly include the state having to abide by anti-discrimination language would be yet another embrace of white nationalist politics. And, as we’ve already seen here in Tennessee, such an embrace of white nationalist politics not only compromises the health of marginalized communities but also undermines the unity and solidarity of our state. By espousing divisive ideologies, they perpetuate an “us versus them” mentality, pitting Tennesseans against one another instead of working toward common goals. To be fair, this isn’t just a Tennessee phenomenon or strictly a Southern one. Oklahoma’s top education official has floated the idea of rejecting federal money for schools. Many states, including Tennessee, have refused to expand Medicaid as allowed by the Affordable Care Act. As Reuters reports, during the pandemic, Florida and Mississippi “didn’t apply for benefits that would give more money to low-income mothers of young children” and four states “opted not to extend a program that provided grocery money to low-income families with school-age kids in summer months.” Last year, Republican governors in Mississippi, Arkansas and Nebraska sent back money meant to help their residents avoid being evicted. These legislators have refashioned and repurposed Jesus as a white right-wing evangelical who hates the federal government as much as they do. As a faith leader, I’m appalled by how many of the right-wing state legislators claim to have an allegiance to the Christian faith, but do not consider health care a fundamental right and reject money meant to help their constituents who struggle the most. My Jesus gave sight to the blind, caused the lame to walk and healed the sick. But these legislators have refashioned and repurposed Jesus as a white right-wing evangelical who hates the federal government as much as they do. To steer Tennessee toward a brighter future, it is imperative that we reject this destructive path. I challenge Tennessee Republicans to prioritize the needs of their constituents over their rigid ideology and race-baiting theology. Only by embracing the diverse voices and experiences of all Tennesseans can we truly achieve progress and tackle the pressing challenges we face as a state. It seems to me that the only answer to this quandary is to educate, engage, empower and mobilize enough voters to bring forth some parity and equity in the state Legislature in 2024 and beyond. The rallying call would be simple: Any refusal to reject federal funding because it comes attached to strings requiring nondiscrimination policies is a self-destructive act that compromises the health and well-being of all residents, and, just as bad, it hearkens back to the days of Jim Crow.
Earle J. Fisher
The Rev. Earle J. Fisher, Ph.D. is Senior Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church (Memphis), founder of #UPTheVote901 and author of "The Rev. Albert Cleage Jr., and the Black Prophetic Tradition: A Reintroduction of The Black Messiah" published by Lexington Books. 
