In recent news, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed an extreme voter suppression law which bans people from giving water to voters waiting in line. That part of the law has been making headlines, but it's actually much worse than that. This law allows the (Republican-controlled) Georgia legislature to have control over certifying the state's elections, increases their ability to change voting rules, and even allows the state legislature to remove local-level election officials and delay certification at the last moment.
"The new law basically codifies Trump’s grievances against Republican officials in the state who resisted his efforts to overturn the election there. You’ll recall that Georgia’s current Secretary of State, Brad Raffensberger, became the target of Trump’s fury when he deflected pressure from the former president to “find” enough votes to reverse his loss in the state. The new law strips the secretary of state, Georgia’s top elections official, of his seat and his role as chair of the state election board, and endows the state legislature with the power to fill three of that board’s five seats — essentially giving the legislature control over the certification of elections and voting rules in the state. The new law also empowers the state election board to suspend or replace local election officials and delay certification, making it potentially easier for them to meddle with results."https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/georgia-voting-bill-brian-kemp-voter-suppression-1147493/
The part about banning handing out water to voters highlights how extremely unethical the law is and will also be an easy way to get people riled up to defy and protest this unjust and Unconstitutional law, but Republicans want to distract us so we stop just short of realizing the true intent of the law.
"The measure was signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, on Thursday evening. “Significant reforms to our state elections were needed. There’s no doubt there were many alarming issues with how the election was handled, and those problems, understandably, led to a crisis of confidence,” Kemp said during prepared remarks shortly after signing the bill.https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/25/georgia-voting-restrictions-law-passed
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It requires voters to submit ID information with both an absentee ballot request and the ballot itself. It limits the use of absentee ballot drop boxes, allows for unlimited challenges to a voter’s qualifications, cuts the runoff election period from nine to four weeks, and significantly shortens the amount of time voters have to request an absentee ballot.
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The legislation also empowers the state legislature, currently dominated by Republicans, to appoint a majority of members on the five-person state election board. That provision would strip Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who stood up to Trump after the election, from his current role as chairman of the board. The bill creates a mechanism for the board to strip local election boards of their power.
Gloria Butler, a Democratic state senator, said the bill would make it harder to vote, especially for poor and disabled people. “We are witnessing a massive and unabashed assault on voting rights unlike anything we’ve seen since the Jim Crow era,” she said just before the bill passed.
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Protesters outside the state Capitol called the bill “Jim Crow 2.0”, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.
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They offered little substantive justification for why the measure was necessary after an election in which there was record turnout, and in which multiple recounts found no evidence of fraud. Instead, they said the bill was necessary to preserve voter confidence.
The nearly 100-page measure was only formally unveiled last week, when it was abruptly inserted into another two-page bill. While the legislation includes several of the measures lawmakers debated, it included some new ideas that had not been fully debated. Democrats and voting activists have accused Republicans of trying to ram through a bill without fully vetting it.
Democrats and voting rights groups are expected to file lawsuits challenging the measure."
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To make clear the symbolism behind signing the bill, Kemp signed it under a portrait of a slave plantation, while "black" Georgia state Representative Park Cannon was arrested for simply knocking on the door while he was signing the bill behind closed doors.
Oh, and Georgia is the last state to still fly the flag of an enemy nation.
...And how did Kemp become Governor? In 2018 Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp was in charge of his state's voter rolls while running for Governor--a massive conflict of interest. Not surprisingly, over 340,000 Georgians had their voter registration improperly cancelled under Kemp leading up to the election. Kemp narrowly beat Stacey Abrams by less than 55,000 votes in the election for Governor.
Stacey Abrams' tireless work during the 2020 election was able to turn Georgia blue in the 2020 Presidential vote as well as deliver both critical Senate seats to the blue team. In response to this surprising outcome, Republicans in Georgia and the rest of the US introduced over 100 bills to suppress voters--and that was only within the first two months of 2021!
Republicans even had the nerve to argue in front of the Supreme Court that they needed to suppress voters because that's the only way Republicans could win elections:
"Arizona GOP lawyer tells Supreme Court the party needs certain voting restrictions to compete with Democratshttps://news.yahoo.com/arizona-gop-lawyer-tells-supreme-200813978.html
The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments by Arizona Republicans in defense of two voting restrictions they are looking to keep intact. At one point, Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked Michael Carvin, a lawyer representing the Arizona GOP, what the party's interest in maintaining the policy of discarding ballots cast at the wrong precinct was. Carvin answered, without hesitation, that removing the rule would prevent Republicans from competing in the state.
"It puts us at a competitive disadvantage relative to Democrats," he told Barrett. "Politics is a zero sum game. Every extra vote that they get through unlawful interpretations of Section 2 hurts us. It's the difference between winning an election 50-49 and losing an election.""
This is a sentiment Kemp and many other rightists have echoed:
"Brian Kemp, Georgia Secretary of State and the Republican nominee for Georgia governor, expressed at a ticketed campaign event that his Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams’ voter turnout operation “continues to concern us, especially if everybody uses and exercises their right to vote,” according to audio obtained by Rolling Stone."
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/brian-kemp-leaked-audio-georgia-voting-745711/
I think the symbolism of signing the bill in front of a slave plantation tells us all we need to know about the intentions of Republicans who supported the bill..
Mississippi recently removed the Confederate flag from their state flag, signalling they are at least willing to consider turning over a new leaf and beginning the healing process from the legacy of slavery and the racist culture of Dixie. Meanwhile, Georgia is doubling down on its White Supremacy.
View the following links for more information on the Callaway Plantation in the painting:
https://twitter.com/Will_Bunch/status/1375434696671256581
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/georgia-governor-brian-kemp-painting-slave-plantation-20210326.html
"The promotional sites gloss over the fact that by the time of the Civil War, the Callaway Plantation only thrived because of the back-breaking labor of more than 100 slaves who were held in cruel human bondage.
The harsh reality of life for slaves in the era of the Callaway Plantation is captured in this oral-history "slave narrative" of Mariah Callaway, a woman who was born into slavery on the plantation in 1852. In her account, she notes that "...[T]here were some slaves who were unruly; so the master built a house off to itself and called it the Willis jail. Here he would keep those whom he had to punish. I have known some slaves to run away on other plantations and the hounds would bite plugs out of their legs.”"
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Trump and 147 Republican members of Congress attempted to obstruct the counting of electoral votes by planning and carrying out an insurrection, murdering a police officer and wounding countless more in the process. The terrorists they incited chanted "Hang Mike Pence" and some carried zip tie handcuffs to take members of Congress hostage. So far, these politicians who participated in a bloody coup have faced no punishment and continue making laws for the nation... Meanwhile, Representative Park Cannon gets arrested immediately for calmly knocking on a door.
"We will not live in fear and we will not be controlled," Cannon wrote. "We have a right to our future and a right to our freedom."
Georgia U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, visited Cannon in jail and contrasted her arrest with the treatment of Trump supporters who led a deadly siege on the U.S. Capitol in January to disrupt the counting of electoral votes.
"I want to know what makes her actions so dangerous, and the actions of those who were trying to undermine an actual election so benign in the minds of some politicians," Warnock told reporters. "She did not deserve this."
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President Biden indirectly called out Georgia in his first press conference, alluding to its voting bills and calling GOP voting restrictions "sick" and "un-American.""
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/park-cannon-arrested-georgia-voting-restriction-bill-protest/
Watch the video of her calmly knocking on the door, not "pounding" it:
"Cannon faces two felony charges -- felony obstruction and preventing or disrupting general assembly session, according to an arrest affidavit seen by CNN. The affidavit states that Cannon was charged with disrupting General Assembly session because she "knowingly and intentionally did by knocking the governor's door during session of singing [sic] a bill."https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/park-cannon-georgia-state-lawmaker-arrested-protesting-voting-restriction-bill-outside-governors-office/ar-BB1eYxxF
The arrest affidavit for the felony obstruction charge said she "did knowingly and willfully hinder Officer E. Dorval and Officer G. Sanchez of the Capitol PD, a law enforcement officer in the lawful discharge or the officer's official duties by Use of Threats of Violence, violence to the person of said officer by stomping on LT Langford foot three times during the apprehension and as she was being escorted out of the property. The accused continued on kicking LT Langford with her heels."
Arrested for doing her bare-minimum duty as a politician.
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Now, let's look at the actual law itself, to show that it is in fact not hyperbole that it forbids handing out water to citizens trying to vote.
Section 33.
(a) No person shall solicit votes in any manner or by any means or method, nor shall any person distribute or display any campaign material, nor shall any person give, offer to give, or participate in the giving of any money or gifts, including, but not limited to, food and drink, to an elector...
(1) Within 150 feet of the outer edge of any building within which a polling place is established;
(2) Within any polling place; or
(3) Within 25 feet of any voter standing in line to vote at any polling place.
(e) This Code section shall not be construed to prohibit...from making available self-service water from an unattended receptacle to an elector waiting in line to vote.
Considering that voters in predominately "black" districts are disenfranchised by having considerably fewer polling places available than in predominately "white" districts, thereby facing hours of waiting in line, the racist intent of this soulless law cannot be hidden. Ever since 2013, when the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Jim Crow-style voting laws in Dixie states have come roaring back.
"This country has a long history of disenfranchising and suppressing the votes of people of color, particularly in the South. But in 2013 the voter suppression efforts of yesteryear came roaring back. That's when the Supreme Court gutted key provisions in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Those provisions had stopped states with histories of voter suppression from changing their election laws without an okay from the federal government.https://www.salon.com/2020/10/25/what-happened-to-the-voting-rights-act_partner/
Let's take a look at how that shameful decision has played out over the years, shall we?
Today's voter suppression often takes the form of purging eligible voters from the rolls, cutting back early and absentee voting, closing polling places, and using strict voter ID requirements – disenfranchising voters of color at every turn.
Voter roll purges have become increasingly common.
Officials purged nearly 4 million more names between 2014 and 2016 than between 2006 and 2008 — a 33 percent increase. Officials in states that used to be under federal oversight purged voters from the rolls at a rate 40 percent higher than those in states with no history of voter suppression.
As it turns out, Chief Justice John Roberts was dead wrong when he argued "things have changed dramatically" in the South.
Election officials in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia have all conducted illegal voter roll purges. In Virginia in 2013, nearly 39,000 voters were removed from the rolls when state officials relied on a faulty database – removing voters who had supposedly moved out of the state.
Even if you make it past a voter roll purge, you may get stuck in endlessly long lines to vote.
Since the Voting Rights Act was gutted in 2013, 1,688 polling places have been shuttered in states previously bound by the Act's preclearance requirement. Texas officials closed 750 polling places. Arizona and Georgia were almost as bad. Not surprisingly, these closures were mostly in communities of color.
In Texas, officials in the 50 counties that gained the most Black and Latinx residents between 2012 and 2018 closed 542 polling sites, compared to just 34 closures in the 50 counties that gained the fewest Black and Latinx residents. In Georgia's 2020 primary, 80 polling places were closed in Atlanta, home to Georgia's largest Black population — forcing 16,000 residents to use a single polling place.
And even if you get to a polling place after standing for three hours to cast your ballot, you may end up being turned away because of a restrictive voter ID law.
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In Georgia, the state's restrictive "exact match" ID law — requiring a voter's ID to exactly match the name on their registration, down to any dots or dashes — allowed state officials to throw out 53,000 majority-Black voter registrations less than a month before the state's tight 2018 gubernatorial race. Stacey Abrams, who would have been the country's first Black woman governor, lost the election by just under 55,000 votes — after years of her rival Brian Kemp systematically suppressing the votes of people of color.
Meanwhile, in North Carolina, a court found that the state's voter ID law "target[ed] African Americans with almost surgical precision," and struck the law down in its entirety. Imagine all we could accomplish with all the time, money, and resources that go into prolonged legal battles against these discriminatory laws that should never have seen the light of day in the first place."
Again, it gets much more evil than the water issue. Remember how during the 2020 election Republicans kept saying only the (Republican-controlled) legislatures should be able to control the rules for voting and vote certification? Well, they are certainly following through on their threats, giving themselves even more power to suppress voters.
"Under the proposal, the Republican-controlled State Election Board would be able to replace struggling county election boards and install new management, with broad authority over elections and results.https://www.ajc.com/politics/georgia-bill-would-shift-power-over-elections-to-gop-appointees/VPNVO2W4TBBTFKGA7Z2GZIEQEE/
State takeovers of local election offices could change the outcome of future elections, especially if they’re as hotly contested as last year’s presidential race between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump. County election boards decide on challenges to voters’ eligibility, polling place closures and certification of results.
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The county at the top of the list for potential state intervention is Fulton County, the heavily Democratic population center of metro Atlanta that Republicans blame for their statewide losses.
Critics of the proposal say it would usurp authority from county election boards, often run by volunteers appointed by each political party or county commissions. The bill calls for one person appointed by the state to oversee a county’s election operations.
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Both bills would allow the State Election Board to seek the removal of county election boards for poor performance. The measure that cleared the House goes further. It would remove the secretary of state as the chairperson of the State Election Board and replace him with an appointee of the General Assembly. That would give a majority of the board to the General Assembly, which already appoints two of its members."
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Abrams' work to organize voters in Georgia for the 2020 election was massive and successful. Now, the next task for Georgia political organizers needs to be getting blue voters, especially "non-whites", armed. This voter suppression law is only the beginning of the tyranny and violence that will come from the Georgia government and crazed White Supremacists.
The Republican party openly incites and provides a safe haven for terrorism and has openly declared that overthrowing the US government is part of their political strategy to maintain power at all costs. Since none of the politicians who participated in the Capitol Coup have faced a single consequence for their actions, we can be certain they will try again and again until they are successful--afterall, they face no risk of punishment if they fail and the payoff if they succeed is massive, so why wouldn't they try again? And when the day comes when they succeed in overthrowing the rule of law, things won't look too pretty for all the Americans who will now have a target on their back.
Gun ownership among left-wing Americans is much lower than rightists in the US--meaning White Supremacists can easily slaughter us. For decades they have made clear their desire to do so; the "Storm" prophesized by the QAnon cult, where Trump would have given the signal to begin a massive Soviet-style purge of every liberal, is merely the latest manifestation of this. Quite troublingly, gun ownership among "black" Americans is much lower than even "white" liberals. (Remember this fact the next time you run into a rightist who pushes the stereotype that every "black" person is a murderous criminal, by the way).
To add another historic fact, Republican Governor of California Ronald Reagan and other right-wingers began to restrict gun ownership after groups such as the Black Panthers legally exercised their 2nd Amendment duty to bear arms in defiance of government tyranny.
Black Panthers on the steps of the Washington state capitol building to protest gun control laws, 1969. None were arrested for this protest as they were in full compliance with the law. The gun control law was passed and racist tyranny continued, however.
Open carrying of long guns is legal in Georgia without a permit. How long until Georgians start asserting their 2nd Amendment duty to protest tyrannical governments?
Apparently it is not prohibited to carry firearms greater than 150 feet from a polling place in Georgia during an election. The 150 foot distance from a polling place is the same distance within which handing out water is prohibited. Does anyone want to volunteer to hand out water precisely 151 feet away, while open carrying long guns (after double-checking the law to ensure legal compliance)?
Bonus points if you have signs quoting Jesus's commands to give food to the hungry and water to the thirsty or face eternal damnation in hell (see below).
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Separately, following in Jesus's footsteps, does anyone volunteer to commit an act of civil disobedience by dressing up as Jesus and handing out water to citizens waiting in line to vote? If you are arrested, I imagine the Georgia legal system will understand that your duty to practice your religious beliefs supersedes any shameful legal code which attempts to Unconstitutionally prohibit free expression of religion. Afterall, Jesus tells us that handing out food to the hungry and water to the thirsty is a matter concerning the eternal fate of our souls.
Heck, even Governor Kemp would agree!
"Well, you know, my goal is for us to be a sanctuary state, if you will, for people of faith. I think this pandemic has shown us that, you know, people will overreach especially people in positions of power, and that's not good. I don't think in this republic that we have, or in the state of Georgia, and certainly, that really hasn't happened here but looking around other states it was concerning to me that we shouldn't have any governor or a future governor be able to stop religious services. That's embedded in our Constitution. That's a fundamental rock of this country..."https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2021/february/gov-kemp-tells-news-how-he-plans-to-turn-georgia-into-a-sanctuary-state-for-people-of-faith
I am not from Georgia, but I would recommend anyone who is seriously interested in this to contact Reverend Tim McDonald, as he has heroically expressed his interest in following the teachings of Jesus and leading this movement:
"One influential Black pastor said he thinks the new law is unreasonable and that his church will use it to fire up voters.https://abc17news.com/politics/national-politics/2021/03/26/its-now-illegal-in-georgia-to-give-food-and-water-to-voters-in-line/
“We will make a movement out of that,” said the Rev. Tim McDonald, senior pastor of First Iconium Baptist Church in Atlanta. “You know something is wrong when you can’t give grandma a bottle of water and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”
McDonald told CNN he is already planning to test the law with some civil disobedience. He said that at a future election his church will dare the police to arrest someone giving water to an elderly person waiting to vote."
For reference, here is what Jesus had to say about this law:
Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’
Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’
And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’
Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
And they too will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’
Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’
And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” -Matthew 25:34-46
