Issue and Opposition: Voter suppression in Georgia has been a hot political topic in the United States for some time. The urgency with which the white Republican legislators began framing anti-voter laws can be explained by the Supreme Court ruling in 2013 in Shelby County v. Holde. According to this ruling “state and local governments with a history of discrimination are no longer required to preclear amendments to voting laws and processes with the federal government,” according to a Brookings 2021 report. Georgia’s voter suppression laws have been often compared with the Jim Crow era anti-black laws that were meant to marginalize the black population further. In March 2021, Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed a law that discriminated against Georgia’s black and Person of Color (POC) voters. The new law states that giving voters bottles of water and snacks as they waited their turn in the line was a criminal offense. Because black and POC communities are the ones that have in the past witnessed long queues of voters over long hours, the new law negatively impacts these sections of voters. In addition, the law banned mobile voting. Since black and brown voters often do not have cars, mobile voting was beneficial for them. In earlier elections, this was implemented only in Fulton County. Incidentally, this county has the highest concentration of blacks in Georgia. Bringing an end to this practice meant adversely impacting black voters, discouraging them, and making them unable to cast their votes. To make voting more inaccessible to racial and ethnic minority voters, Kemp’s new law stated that ballot boxes would no longer be situated in different locations but that they would be put only in early voting centers inside the voting sites. While mail-in votes could still be submitted, Kemp made it harder by asking to provide driving licenses s or state ID numbers. The Black and POC voters often do not have these documents. If these provisions seem harsh enough, it should be noted that the Georgia legislators tried passing stricter laws guiding voters such as putting an end to mail-in ballots for black majority counties but allowing it for white-concentrated counties. However, these provisions were taken off under the pressure of black and POC populations. This dilemma action was against Brian Kemp because of his discriminatory voter suppression law. This action was part of a larger campaign against Kemp for his voter suppression Act.
Dilemma Action: Democratic state Rep. Park Cannon, a Black woman, continued knocking on Kemp’s office door and continued even after being asked to do so by the Georgia State Patrol troopers. Her constant knocking ended in her arrest.
Outcome: The print and social media had a field day describing how a black woman with a short physical structure was handled and arrested by a group of white and physically robust police. Some media reports drew parallels to police atrocities against the black population and the struggles of black people for their civil rights during the Jim Crow era. The police released Cannon on the same day at almost midnight.