April 4th will be a great day for Blacks and many people of color in Georgia. It will be a great day because this session of the Georgia Legislature will come to a close.
Blacks and people of color don’t fare well when the state legislature is in session.
Last year, during its 40-day session, it passed legislation, including SB202, which makes it harder for Blacks and people of color to vote, and this year it is on the verge of continuing what it started by passing HB1464, another anti-voting bill. For good measure, the Legislature also plans to pass SB377 which prohibits the teaching of truth and fact about American history. All of this legislation has been sponsored and passed by Republicans.
What makes the actions of extreme Republicans so frustrating is that they have and will pass hateful legislation knowing that the premise is a lie, and it is done so with the hope that the overwhelming majority of Georgians either don’t know the truth, or don’t care. And perhaps, more concerning, this war on the truth has been created only to harness more power.
For example, last year, the General Assembly passed and Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation which intentionally seeks to make it harder for Blacks and people of color to vote. Just a year before, during the 2020 election, Blacks and people of color turned out in large numbers, voted by absentee ballot, and utilized drop boxes and early voting. Georgia went blue, supported Biden and elected the state’s first Black and first Jewish United States senators.
While this was a great moment for democracy, it also has threatened the power of extremist Republicans across the state and their status quo. Rather than re-evaluate or focus on developing better policy for the majority of Georgians, these extremists fabricated “the Big Lie” and promoted a completely false narrative.
Extreme Republicans have shown they have no care for the facts or the will of the majority. Three recounts proved there was no fraud, court case after court case was thrown out because they had no merit and no proof was presented. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who had oversight of the election, said there was no fraud and the election was not stolen. Yet, the Republicans passed SB202 with the result of making it more difficult for Blacks to vote. And if that was not demoralizing enough, the legislation was signed by Gov. Kemp less than two hours after it passed in a locked office, surrounded by white men underneath the picture of a slave plantation.
We all know the problem with the election wasn’t lack of integrity, the problem for the Republicans was that too many Blacks and people of color voted - and SB202 and the new legislation being debated right now is a pathetic and racist attempt to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
The bottom line is that we live in a democracy and in order to save it we must begin asking some very basic, but important questions. Why is it that every piece of new voting legislation proposed by Republicans makes it harder for Blacks and people of color to vote? Why is it that the only time “integrity” is challenged in our elections is when large numbers of Blacks vote? How is it that in 2006 every Republican in the United States Senate voted to renew the Voting Rights Act, but 16 years later we can’t get more than one Republican senator to support voting rights? How is it that drawing legislative and congressional districts always are manipulated to reduce the impact of the increasing number of Black voters?
Rather than lying, rationalizing or assuming that we are naïve, extreme Republicans would do better to own up to their actions. The first domino to fall was SB 202, but clearly, as seen in this recent legislative session, they are not done. It is time that these electors own up to the truth – that the goal here is to keep Blacks in the minority, to limit Black political power, and most of all put themselves and their political careers ahead of the will of the people.
To be clear, this is not about political parties, it is about right and wrong. Democrat, Republican, or independent, whether Black, brown, Asian, Jewish or white, it is the right of every eligible citizen to vote.
It is our prayer and hope that Republicans who place the country above party will reclaim the Republican Party. Georgia and the nation desperately need it. Most of all, each of us must do all we can to ensure we continue to be a country where the voters elect their leaders, not leaders selecting their voters. As we look to the spring primary and the fall elections, Georgians must remain resilient, determined and persistent.
If we do not, our democracy will be in peril.
April 4th is coming and this legislative session will be over, barring a special session. In the coming months we must join together to save our democracy – by informing, mobilizing and organizing to get every eligible voter to exercise their right to cast their ballot and to support the candidate of their choice. Hopefully this November the voters of Georgia, including an overwhelming number of Blacks and people of color will elect leaders who genuinely love country more than a specific party - and believe “that out of one blood God created all people to dwell together” (Acts 17:26).
Bishop Reginald Jackson is head of the Georgia jurisdiction of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Rev. Dr. Cynthia Hale is senior pastor of Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur. Pastor Sherry Austin is an elder in the United Methodist Church.
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