The Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators elected its leadership positions for the 113th General Assembly of the Tennessee Legislature on Tuesday. Representative Sam McKenzie of Knoxville was elected chairman by a unanimous vote. He succeeds outgoing chair, Antonio Parkinson, of Memphis. Other positions elected were as follows:
• Caucus Vice-Chair, Rep. Jesse Chism of Memphis
• Caucus Treasurer, Rep. Vincent Dixie of Nashville
• Caucus Secretary, Rep. Torrey Harris of Memphis
• Parliamentarian, Rep. Yusuf Hakeem of Chattanooga
• Sergeant at Arms, Rep. Ronnie Glynn of Clarksville
• Chaplin, Rep. Johnny Shaw of Bolivar
Chairman McKenzie said that he’s “honored and humbled to be elected by this group to take the leadership of the Tennessee Black Caucus for this General Assembly. But I stand ready. We’ve got a great group of legislators in both the Senate and the House and we’re going to get things done for this year. We are one body. We’re going to speak with one voice and we’re going to work to improve the lives of Black Tennesseans and all other Tennesseans as well. I think that we’re going to be extremely successful.”
