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‘We’re gonna fight like hell’: Tenn. lawmaker calls for riots after passage of pro-police bill

March 17, 2024 | | Print Article

While invoking the name of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a radical member of the Tennessee General Assembly has called for her constituents to riot after the passage of a pro-police “routine traffic stop” bill.

“Yeah, we gonna fight,” state Senator Charlane Oliver told reporters on Friday. “Dr. King said ‘riots are the language of the unheard.’ You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

“If you keep silencing us like this, what do you think our district gonna do?” Oliver warned. “We have had it up here. Gloves off. Like, we’re going to fight like hell. You don’t expect us to respond when you gaslight us every single day with these bills?”


Of course, the Democrats left out a key part of Dr. King’s message.

When he was speaking at Grosse Point High School in 1968, just before he mentioned the “unheard,” King said:

Now I wanted to say something about the fact that we have lived over these last two or three summers with agony and we have seen our cities going up in flames.

And I would be the first to say that I am still committed to militant, powerful, massive, non­-violence as the most potent weapon in grappling with the problem from a direct action point of view.

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I’m absolutely convinced that a riot merely intensifies the fears of the white community while relieving the guilt. And I feel that we must always work with an effective, powerful weapon and method that brings about tangible results. 

The legislation that has Oliver so ready to riot was introduced by Republican State Sen. Brent Taylor. It prohibits “a local government from banning routine traffic stops.”

“I am grateful to my colleagues for understanding how important routine traffic stops are to restore law and order to our community,” Taylor wrote on X after the bill cleared the Senate.

“It’s time to take handcuffs off police and put them on criminals where they belong,” Taylor said. “My efforts to Make Memphis Matter are paying off, and I’m doing it for YOU! I’m working so our families can flourish.”

“Tennessee cannot be successful if its most famous city is sliding into chaos,” the lawmaker stated.

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Taylor introduced the bill “after the Memphis City Council ordered police to no longer pull over motorists for the following traffic violations: Cars with expired registration within 60 days of expiration; When a temporary registration permit is improperly located but still clearly displayed; When the registration plate is not securely fastened, but is clearly displayed; When a single brake or headlight is inoperable; Cars with a loose bumper,” according to KWAM.

“Memphis has become one of the most deadly and dangerous cities in the nation mostly because of local policies that prohibit the police from doing their job. The police department is also woefully understaffed,” the outlet reports. “The majority black city, which is ruled mostly by black Democrats, blames most of its problems on white Republicans.”

Oliver likened Taylor’s bill to “Jim Crow” laws.

“Don’t tell me this stuff ain’t racism. Don’t tell me it’s not,” she insisted. “It is rooted in racism. This was a Jim Crow bill that Taylor brought and all his confederates voted for it today.”

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Taylor responded to Oliver’s threat by calling his opposition “insane.”

“Despite your overwhelming support for my bill that prohibits local governments from banning legal routine traffic stops, leftist opposition has been insane and totally out of touch with reality and our community’s demands,” he wrote on X.

“I have been hearing from people in Democrat districts who have thanked me for passing this important legislation,” he said. “These community members are tired of crime and bad policies that don’t allow police to do their jobs.

“From Whitehaven, to East Memphis, to Collierville, and to Frayser, law-abiding citizens ask me to keep pushing and to stand up for law and order.”

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“Restorative Justice Schemers like Decarcerate Memphis and Just City are a loud and brazen minority,” Taylor continued. “Do not give into their bad ideas.”


“Stand with me and regular citizens who want common sense to prevail. Together, we can Make Memphis Matter and not give power to these out of touch radical groups and legislators who kowtow to them,” Taylor urged Tennesseans. “Trusted. Conservative. Leadership.”

According to users on X, Oliver is an “insurrectionist” and she needs to held accountable:


“It’s literally all they have left. Same thing play every time,” noted one X user. “Cry cry cry. Racism racism racism because we don’t get our way and people aren’t dying fast enough to give us more power.”

Sen. Taylor’s bill now awaits only Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s signature to become Tennessee law.

Melissa Fine
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