Justin J. Pearson is a Tennessee state representative, community organizer and advocate for social and environmental justice.
Why you should listen
As the Democratic Representative for District 86 in Memphis, Tennessee, Justin J. Pearson is a dedicated leader in the environmental and social justice movements. He is the cofounder of Memphis Community Against the Pipeline, a Black-led environmental justice organization that successfully defeated plans to build a crude oil pipeline through their community. He is also the co-lead and strategic advisor for Poor People's Campaign: National Call for Moral Revival, an organization advocating for the rights of low-income people across the country.
In April 2023, Pearson and two of his colleagues in the Tennessee state legislature led a march for gun control from the House floor just days after a mass shooting at a Nashville elementary school. Pearson and Rep. Justin Jones, both Black men, were expelled from the legislature in a vote along party lines, while the third organizer, Rep. Gloria Johnson, was not. After national outcry, Pearson and Jones were reinstated to their elected posts, where they pledged to continue to fight for reform.
In April 2023, Pearson and two of his colleagues in the Tennessee state legislature led a march for gun control from the House floor just days after a mass shooting at a Nashville elementary school. Pearson and Rep. Justin Jones, both Black men, were expelled from the legislature in a vote along party lines, while the third organizer, Rep. Gloria Johnson, was not. After national outcry, Pearson and Jones were reinstated to their elected posts, where they pledged to continue to fight for reform.
Justin J. Pearson’s TED Talk
David Lammy, Justin J. Pearson
How to be a leader for climate justice
13 minutes 25 secondsClimate justice is taking center stage -- geopolitically, socially and morally. In a contagiously courageous conversation, Member of Parliament in the UK David Lammy and Tennessee state representative Justin J. Pearson discuss how brave leadership can shepherd global movements and uplift historically marginalized communities in the face of humanity's greatest challenge: climate change. "We must have outrage, but we must have optimism as well," says Lammy.Posted Jul 2023
