Georgia House of Representatives

• The law was justified by supporters as an effort to curb the city’s crime level, which includes one of the highest murder rates in the nation.
• Throughout U.S. history, I see three main periods of legislative disenfranchisement in which legislative bodies have voted to expel members.
• These events have been shown to be a form of “white backlash” working to keep Black officeholders out of power and their constituents powerless without representation.

Reconstruction and legislative disenfranchisement

• After the Civil War, the United States engaged in a brief period known as Reconstruction, which lasted from 1865 to 1877.
• The efforts included formally abolishing slavery nationwide, guaranteeing equal protection of the laws to everyone regardless of race, and allowing formerly enslaved people to vote.
• But after Tennessee politician Andrew Johnson, who had been Abraham Lincoln’s running mate in 1864, took office upon Lincoln’s assassination, many of those provisions of Reconstruction were reversed.
• Collectively, the legislative expulsion of the Black officials and the imposition of the Black Codes served to effectively disenfranchise the Black voters of Georgia.

The civil rights era

• Another major effort to disenfranchise Black Americans came during their next major push to achieve political, social and economic equality: the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
• Opponents targeted two prominent civil rights activists who had been elected to represent their communities: Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Julian Bond.
• A year later, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Bond’s First Amendment rights had been violated and ordered that he be seated.
• Bond ultimately served in the Georgia legislature for another two decades, before turning to teaching and activism.
• He was the first African American to be elected to Congress from New York and from any state in the Northeast.

Black Lives Matter movement

• In the aftermath of the George Floyd killing, a new social movement emerged across the United States.
• In May 2022, Tiara Young Hudson, a long-serving Black public defender, won the Democratic primary for a judgeship in Jefferson County, Alabama.
• Their alleged violation was participating in a protest against the legislature’s rules – but their real violation, I believe, was that they were Black, outspoken and pushed for change.

• WASHINGTON, April 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Howard University is pleased to announce the appointment of Stacey Abrams, Esq., as the inaugural Ronald W. Walters Endowed Chair for Race and Black Politics.
• The chair will be housed in the Ronald W. Walters Leadership and Public Policy Center at Howard University.
• "I am honored to serve as the inaugural Ronald W. Walters Endowed Chair for Race and Black Politics, having had the privilege of knowing and learning from Dr. Walters,” said Abrams.
• Howard University first announced the creation of the endowed chair position in 2020 when Patricia Turner Walters, Ronald Walter’s wife, gifted Howard University with the couple’s personal collection of African American art valued at more than $2.5 million.

• The shooting was a watershed moment in a year of increasing violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI).
• ET on PBS ( check local listings ), pbs.org/RisingAgainstAsianHate , the PBS Video App andon the PBS YouTube channel.
• It has galvanized the Asian American community to speak up and speak out," said Titi Yu, Director of Rising Against Asian Hate.
• "It is essential to our mission to present content that reflects and represents the experiences of people across our nation.

• KENNESAW, Ga., June 27, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- As a woman, candidate for the Georgia House of Representatives and lifelong women's rights activist, reproductive rights and reproductive access are at the forefront of my mind and work.
• The Supreme Court's decision to disregard stare decisis principles in overturning Roe v. Wade is an unprecedented move that usurps our right to self-determination.
• In view of these predictable long term outcomes and damage to the progress we've made to protect human rights, I strongly disagree with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision.
• Together we can recognize and protect the inherent dignity and unalienable rights of all Georgians.