Another chapter in Georgia’s history of voter suppression
SEF Co-Founder Julian Bond pens an op-ed for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, comparing the Georgia GOP’s voter suppression tactics to the Jim Crow tactics of the early 1960's:
Another chapter in Georgia's history of voter suppression
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Charles Weltner was a hero of the civil rights era. A white Democrat, he served in Congress during the early 1960s and was the only Georgian who supported the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In 1966, he chose to resign rather than support the Democratic Party’s candidate for governor, segregationist Lester Maddox.
When Weltner was up for reelection in 1962, many wanted to see him go. I remember being at an Atlanta polling place in 1962 as a SNCC activist and seeing one response from his enemies. They hired white men dressed as armed police officers to patrol polling places where Black voters were expected to vote, most likely for Congressman Weltner. The pseudo-cops didn’t physically threaten anyone, but they were clearly there to frighten away black voters.
Weltner came to mind when I heard that Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp had issued a subpoena to the New Georgia Project, the nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that is closing the racial gap in voter registration in Georgia.
Read the full article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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