Transcript:

Speaker 1: You're wrong. You're in the well today because you broke rules of decorum, wouldn't you agree, Rep. Pearson?

Speaker 2: I believe I'm in the well today because you have put forward a resolution that says that it's more important to expel voices of dissent than do the work of justice, which is fighting to end gun violence in the state of Tennessee.

I believe that I'm in the well today because I, with the courage of ancestors and family and loved ones and community, stood up and spoke up for folks like my classmate Larry Thorne, who can speak no more because of the proliferation of guns in Tennessee.

I believe that I'm in the well today because you have decided that it is not right to have debate. It is not right to listen to the voices of the minority. I believe I'm in the well today because on the day that we wanted to honour the thousands of people who protested, we were denied that opportunity.

I believe that I'm here because you feel in your heart that it is right to persecute someone who has committed no crime, who has only broken what you call a house decorum rule, which, according to Section 19 of the House Permanent Rules of Order, says that at worst the thing that should happen is censure. But instead, you have brought forward a terrible resolution to deprive and disenfranchise thousands of people in Shelby County of a representative who will and can speak and advocate for them, and I believe, Representative Farmer, that that is wrong.