The Voting Rights Act was only signed 55 years ago. Tonight I'm thinking about all the Black folks in Georgia who have lived on both sides of it. Who voted in this election and who remember a time when they wouldn't have been able to. It wasn't that long ago. Not at all.
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There are Black people still alive today who couldn't vote because of poll taxes. Black People still alive today who couldn't register to vote without the threat of violence hanging over them. Who were asked to count the bubbles on a bar of soap to vote. They remember it clearly.
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I'm watching what the Black voters of Georgia have done, and I just can't stop thinking about all the history that preceded this moment. The history that's not just in textbooks or in black & white films, but a history that's alive in people bones. That's alive in their memories.
Also important to remember that the Georgia runoff exists because of racism:
"...it was designed to make it harder for the preferred candidates of Black voters to win, and to suppress Black political power."
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I wish John and so many others were here tonight to see the change they have made possible.
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thinking of Florida rn. bc of felon disenfranchisement and who the artillery of the criminal justice system focuses on, 1 in 5 Black Floridians can't vote. so so many Black people still waiting.
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