A newly formed group of Black clergy from across Tennessee plans to sue the state over its redistricting maps.
The Rev. J. Lawrence Turner, chair of the steering committee for the African American Clergy Collective of Tennessee and senior pastor of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, said the group expects to announce in the coming days a partnership with a "historic civil rights organization" to file a lawsuit against the state over the maps.
"It is morally and ethically wrong, and we cannot allow the political trajectory of our state to be solidified for the next 10 years without the African American community, but particularly the African American church, speaking up on behalf of having equitable maps that are drawn so that all of us get the representation that we deserve," Turner said.
The decision by state lawmakers to break up the heavily Democratic Nashville area among three congressional districts drew criticism from Democrats who argued it does not make sense to pair parts of urban Nashville with rural surrounding areas.
Doug Kufner, spokesperson for Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton, said in an email to the Times Free Press that "for several months, the House Select Committee on Redistricting gathered input from citizens, community organizations and legislators to formulate fair and constitutional House, Senate, and Congressional maps.
"These plans balance out population loss in both West and East Tennessee while meeting all constitutional and statutory requirements. The plans - which have now passed in both the House and Senate - represent the distinctive voices of all Tennesseans."
Rep. Dan Howell, R-Georgetown, said in a Cordell Hull State Office Building corridor interview that regardless of which party controlled the legislature, "I think historically we've always had lawsuits when the lines were redrawn."
Howell said he was told Tuesday that in at least one of the urban counties "those districts in the inner city were actually redrawn by the Democrats. And I think there was a lot of input in Shelby County by the Democrats."
Much of Democrats' ire remains directed at the splitting of the Democratic bastion of Nashville, now held by U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, a Democrat, which for years has formed the major part of the 5th Congressional District.
The city and its Black community have now been divided among three congressional districts - the 5th, the 6th and 7th Districts.
Republicans, who already control the 6th and 7th Districts, are counting on the move to give them a good opportunity to win the 5th District. Two recent GOP transplants to the area, which now includes a portion of Williamson County, are planning on running. Cooper, who urged Republicans not to break up Nashville, has announced he would not seek re-election.
The announcement by the African American Clergy Collective came as the group held a special day of prayer and fasting Tuesday, the first day of Black History Month. Leaders of the group held an online prayer service after which the group outlined its legislative goals for the upcoming term.
Along with voting rights, the group is pushing for expanded health care and more attention to gun violence.
"We commit to you, O God, our governmental halls and all of our residents," said the Rev. Earle Fisher, senior pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Memphis, during the service. "We believe in this state and its people. We believe that this is your state and we are your people. We belong to you and we are charged and challenged to serve your people who are called by your name."
Turner said the group is working with state lawmakers to introduce legislation to declare gun violence a public health emergency, underlining the spike in gun violence in recent years.
Turner said there are gun violence intervention strategies that save lives but do not rely solely on law enforcement and incarceration as solutions.
"If the opioid epidemic was serious enough for millions of dollars in this state to be given over to resolve that epidemic, surely gun violence is an epidemic in the state of Tennessee," Turner said.
According to data from the Chattanooga Police Department, the number of non-fatal shootings in the city increased nearly 60%, from 80 in 2019 to 126 in 2021, while the number of homicide deaths remained flat.
(READ MORE: Tennessee Senate Republicans approve political redistricting plans)
The group is also working to expand health care in the state, calling specifically for state lawmakers to take up a previously scrapped bipartisan plan to expand health care, as well as expand Medicaid.
The Rev. William Terry Ladd III, pastor of First Baptist Church in Chattanooga, led the prayer for health care during the service, noting the state's decision not to expand Medicaid and the decision, passed during a special session in October, to remove local government decision-making in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Today, in our state, there are over 300,000 people who are uninsured and have no access to affordable health care. We need your promises, God," Ladd said during the service.
Contact Wyatt Massey at wmassey@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @news4mass.
Staff writer Andy Sher contributed from Nashville.