For Immediate Release
June 2, 2026
Media Contact: eme@stateinnovation.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to Tennessee’s lieutenant governor suspending Senator Charlane Oliver’s committee appointment and compensation as retribution for her protest on the Senate floor against redistricting the state’s only majority-minority congressional district in Memphis, Muthoni Wambu Kraal, Founder and President of Democracy Action for Women; EJ Juárez, Executive Director at State Innovation Exchange Action (SiX Action) and Erin Vilardi, Founder and CEO of Vote Run Lead Action issued the following response:
"They drew Black voters out of power. Now they are trying to draw a Black woman out of her leadership and pay for refusing to stay silent about it.
“In Tennessee’s State Capitol, a Republican supermajority forced through a special session to crack apart the state's only majority-Black congressional district, splitting Memphis into three pieces and erasing the political power of hundreds of thousands of Black Tennesseans. When Sen. Charlane Oliver stood on her desk, held up a banner reading 'No Jim Crow 2.0, Stop the TN Steal,' and sang the Black National Anthem in protest, the response from the men running that chamber was telling. A white lieutenant governor cut her microphone. A white chief clerk physically tore the banner from her hands. And now that same lieutenant governor is cutting her income, stripping her committee assignment, and barring her from using state funds to do her job.
“This is not about decorum. This is about power, and about who is permitted to hold it. The dignity of Black women is always questioned by the very people working to strip them of power. But there is nothing dignified about gerrymandering away a community's representation eight days after the United States Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, and there is nothing childish about a legislator refusing to be a silent witness to the disenfranchisement of her own people.
“By targeting Sen. Oliver’s economic livelihood and her ability to serve, Tennessee's leadership is sending a message to every woman of color in public office to stay in your seat, stay quiet, or pay for it. This is a racist and sexist effort to make an example of a Black woman who dared to fight back.
“An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. Sen. Oliver did what democracy requires by telling the truth about an immoral power grab. Democracy Action for Women, SiX Action, and Vote Run Lead Action stand with her and with every Black Tennessean whose voice this map was drawn to suppress.”
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About Democracy Action for Women
Democracy Action for Women (DAFW) is an independent 501(c)(4) organization working to strengthen the political and structural conditions that allow elected women to lead, govern, and remain in public service.
About State Innovation Exchange Action (SiX Action)
SiX Action is an independent, nonpartisan 501(c)(4) strategy and advocacy organization that is committed to achieving progressive change at the state level while defending against efforts to move our country backward. SiX Action works with our sister 501(c)(3) organization, State Innovation Exchange (SiX), to advance and defend progressive policies in the states.
About Vote Run Lead Action (VRLA)
Vote Run Lead Action (VRLA) is a 501(c)(4) organization dedicated to building women’s political power by supporting candidates to run, win, and lead at every level of government. Together with its sister organization, Vote Run Lead, VRLA is building a national network of women candidates and elected officials who are shaping a stronger democracy. Through results-driven training, award-winning tools, advocacy, and leadership development, the organizations support women seeking office and help sustain their leadership once elected.
