Experts

Justin J. Pearson

Bold Strategic Advisor, Founder, Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP)

Justin Jamal Pearson is an advocate and politician, elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives representing the 86th district, covering parts of the city of Memphis, in January 2023. When he was sworn into office at the age of 28, Pearson became the second-youngest lawmaker serving in the Tennessee House of Representatives. Pearson and fellow state representative Justin Jones were expelled on April 6, 2023 for participating in a gun reform protest inside the state capitol to lift up the voices of parents and young people who were grieving the loss of kids and school staff at the Covenant school shooting. Pearson was reappointed by a unanimous vote of the members present at the Shelby County Board of Commissioners on April 12, 2023. In 2020, Pearson co-founded the environmental advocacy group Memphis Community Against Pollution (originally called Memphis Community Against the Pipeline), which was a key driver of the successful coalition effort of landowners and grassroots citizens to cancel the construction of the proposed Byhalia Oil Pipeline. The project was planned through black neighborhoods in south Memphis, as well as over the Memphis sand aquifer, which provides water to residents in the Memphis area and would have used eminent domain for private gain.