Best Act of Protest in Nashville 2026: Charlane Oliver Standing on Her Desk
During May’s special session of the state legislature, as the Tennessee Senate began to take its final vote to pass redistricting measures that would eliminate the state’s only majority-Black congressional district, Sen. Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville) did something unprecedented. She climbed onto her desk on the Senate floor, unfurled a sheet reading “No Jim Crow 2.0” and “Stop the TN Steal,” and sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” “I felt like if Black voting rights were not the thing to fight for, then what is?” Oliver told the Scene not long after. While her actions resulted in punishment from Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, she has stood by her act of protest — calling it the “ultimate stand to take.”
