Alarge political rally Friday night showcased State Rep. Justin J. Pearson’s rising national stardom and his deep base of support in Memphis.
The rally drew about 1,200 people to New Direction Christian Church in Hickory Hill. Progressive Democrats from across the country turned out in force for Pearson, who they hope will beat back a last-minute attempt by state Republicans to flip the 9th Congressional District red by splitting it into thirds.
Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Summer Lee took the stage to endorse Pearson.
“It seems very clear to me that the people turning back the clock on our rights are afraid of you,” Ocasio-Cortez told the cheering crowd. “They’re afraid of this city’s legacy of fighting back, of (the) hunger for justice. They believed that if they broke apart this city, they could break apart its political power. They believed that if they changed the past, they could change the future. But they were wrong.”
The lawmakers used the rally to highlight how the local issues that Pearson has tackled as an activist and legislator, like environmental pollution, resonate across the country.
Sarah Gladney, a Boxtown resident, spent most of the rally standing on the front row, gripping a Pearson campaign sign tightly with both hands. Earlier, she’d joined Pearson, Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley and others on a “Toxic Tour” of Southwest Memphis, including driving by the Colossus 1 facility, the Valero Oil Refinery and other industrial sites in the area. The congresswomen had a chance to talk with other Boxtown residents and hear how industrial pollutants have impacted their lives.
Gladney, like many other Southwest Memphis residents, is no longer able to vote for Pearson after the Republican-controlled legislature redrew Tennessee’s congressional maps. But she said she knows he’ll keep fighting for the residents of Boxtown if he wins District 9.
“He’s not gonna give up on the people, period,” Gladney said.
