Black voters must push back against efforts to weaken their voting rights
On Jan. 6, 2021, I arrived at the U.S. Capitol transfixed with amazement by the Senate victories of Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock the night before.
These triumphs — achieved largely because Black Georgians voted in high numbers — empowered the incoming Biden administration with a trifecta, meaning the Democrats would be equipped with the full governmental capabilities to address COVID-19-related emergencies as well as execute President Joe Biden’s agenda.
Unbeknownst at the time, Black Georgians delivering a trifecta preemptively endowed the Senate Democrats with the authority needed to administer a trial against President Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn the results of his failed reelection by inciting a violent attack against Congress.
It has been underappreciated how the overwhelming performance of Georgia’s Black electorate on Jan. 5 spared this nation. The political aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on Congress without a Democrat-led Senate would have left the country in a precarious position. It’s now time for the Black voters of Georgia to make history again by sending Ossoff back to the Senate and by delivering midterm wins for Democrats up and down the ballot.
Jan. 6 still gives me night terrors
Trapped in the Capitol as a mob — that included members of white supremacist groups — tore through, the celebratory spirit I felt as a native Georgian kept my hope alive as I watched horrific violence in panorama, fearing my Black skin and blue suit, specially worn with a Morehouse College maroon tie to honor Sen.-elect Warnock’s win, made me a target. Experiencing the threat of political violence is something that changes you. The crashes of windows shattering, the roar of rioters clamoring through the halls, the attackers contorting the limbs of blood-drenched officers are all bludgeoned into my mind.
As we approach the midterms, I’m afraid of what could happen if we are unable to rein in Trump’s power now. Night terrors of Jan. 6 have jolted me from my sleep in recent weeks. My plea is that Black Georgians recognize the seriousness of this political moment and will deliver decisive electoral victories throughout the state that reject Trump and his failed policies.
As I hid on Jan. 6, I thought of Congressman John Lewis. I started my Capitol Hill career in his office, often wondering how the small man found gigantic courage to confront political violence with non-violence — peaceful resistance that gave us the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
I received an early lesson in politics directly from Congressman Lewis shortly after the Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision drastically weakened the VRA. Sitting across from him at a dinner table, I naively asked if the decision was intended to discriminate against Black voters and not an unintended consequence of a haphazard legal decision. He shot me a sharp look while nodding successively and sternly.
That moment revealed to me my own political gullibility — but taught me to never underestimate the blowback that could reemerge to stop Black people from the ballot box. The conservative-dominated Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision earlier this year has further dismantled the VRA, leaving Black Southerners with the fewest voter protections in decades. Despite this opposition, Black Georgians can — and must — deliver wins for Democrats.
But now is not a moment to despair
Georgia has been ground zero for Trump to launder his attempt to steal the 2020 election. Nobody should forget his actions to exhort Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for 11,780 votes and his administration’s raid on the Fulton County courthouse to seize voting materials.
Even though his conspiracy theories about election fraud have been repeatedly debunked, Trump continues to sow election distrust and may be preparing to contest possible Republican midterm losses. This is exactly why Black voters in Georgia must show up to the polls in record numbers and proactively blunt any potential effort to steal the midterms.
The recent right-wing onslaught against voting rights is aimed at stopping the full emergence of a multiracial democracy in the U.S. Understandably, Black voters may feel anything from enthusiasm to exhaustion in this political climate — continuing to participate in electoral processes that refuse to fully address the concerns and circumstances of Black people causes an exceptional weariness.
While this political pain is valid, this is not a moment to despair. Landslide wins at the midterms can bring a new hope and renewed opportunity for Democrats to offer a robust agenda that counteracts Trumpism and the long-standing inequities and oppressions that paved Trump’s rise to power.
This midterm season, we must recommit ourselves to building what Congressman Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr. called the “Beloved Community,” a global vision of social inclusion and justice. Let’s get in “good trouble” and win.
Terrel Champion, a native of Stone Mountain, Georgia, is a Ph.D. student at Harvard University who previously worked on Capitol Hill as a voting rights policy adviser. He is a Morehouse College alum.
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