In Nashville’s small hilltop Statehouse, a battle of enormous national consequences is unfolding. Yes, it is about gun control and safety within our schools. It is also about racism, religion, disenfranchisement, privilege and power, First Amendment versus Second Amendment rights, and an us-versus-them mentality that seems to worsen by the month.
It is about whether democracy can prevail as a divided country faces increasingly contentious, and often very urgent, issues. “Whose house? Our house!” is a fervent battle cry of the protesters, often led or echoed by the Tennessee Three. But “whose house?” is still an open question. The outcome in Nashville will help answer it.
Photography and reporting for Reuters.
A Hill in Nashville
