Let's Talk About Georgia

Reworked picture (from the NYT) by me

Georgia Senate runoff:

Two Democrats, Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, have made history and won over the state of Georgia--a state that Biden narrowly carried in the presidential election. Rev. Raphael Warnock was a senior pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church and is now the first Black senator to represent Georgia; Jon Ossoff-- only 33 years old-- has never held public office, was the head of a video production company, and will now be the youngest senator since Biden. Democrats now have control of the Senate, which means that Mitch McConnell is no longer Senate majority leader :)

Democrats have turned out in record numbers to vote in the Georgia Senate Runoff. Thanks to Stacy Abrams and her work with Fair Fight, first time and young voters were mobilized to the polls, helping secure the Democratic victory. Abrams also teamed up with rappers to engage the hip-hop community to vote; she collaborated with Gucci Mane and Verzuz in a music battle, where they encouraged people to vote in the runoff. This show reached 1.8 million viewers. Another rap artist, Jeezy, wrote an op-ed for the Rolling Stones, prompting people to vote. He also performed a drive-in concert to promote voter turnout.

In November, Purdue held a roughly 88,000 vote lead against Ossoff, which prohibited him from hitting the necessary 50% threshold needed to win. As Democrats, specifically Black voters, were supported all the way from voter registration to actually casting their ballot, this narrow lead was clearly overturned. Early polls revealed that 93% of Black voters supported Warnock and Ossoff while 71% of White voters supported the Republican candidates, Loeffler and Perdue. Black Americans saved America through this election. I saw a social media account explain how Georgia isn’t actually a red state, and it’s an extremely suppressed state in terms of its voting. The historic suppression of votes in Georgia has caused the White vote to prevail, and we can see who the White voters turn to. Trump has taken to Twitter to claim the election is “rigged” and “illegal and invalid,” which displays how he disapproves of the immense efforts to help Democrats vote; he is outwardly supporting voter suppression. The election was not rigged; more people finally got to practice their civic responsibility of voting.

Flipping the Senate and removing the position of Senate majority leader from Mitch McConnell could help pass some recent bills that McConnell has shut down. McConnell rejected a bill to raise the stimulus checks to $2,000. McConnell also refused to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would restrict the power of law enforcement from doing blatantly unjust acts like no-knock warrants and chokeholds. He also refused to take up the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act that would help alleviate the racial discrimination of American voters. McConnell not supporting equitable voting clearly highlights how scared he is for the fall of the GOP because as more Americans are given opportunities to vote, they’re promoting Democratic candidates and replacing conservatives. With Warnock and Ossoff in office, these bills could finally be passed. Their help in flipping the Senate will also help Biden pursue his agenda with more ease and support.

While Democrats across America celebrated Warnock and Ossoff’s victories and as Congress was preparing to certify the 2020 election results, domestic terrorists attacked the Capitol in efforts to support Trump. Five people so far have been reported dead as a result of the invasion. The security let a majority White crowd storm the Capitol, allowing them to steal from people’s offices, take pictures, and bring weapons into the building. As police were happily taking selfies with these terrorists, Trump tweeted out “We love you. You’re very special,” and “I know how you feel.” Trump really said he “love[s]” domestic terrorists. The same police that abused and killed innocent protestors this summer during BLM protests let White, domestic terrorists walk right over them. Trump also addressed the population by continuing to promote rhetoric that claims the election was “stolen” as well as claiming “we will never concede.” This was a coup, and it was a coup that Trump comprehensively supported.