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Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda Expands GOTV
Activities for Georgia Senate Runoff Amid Ongoing Efforts to
Disenfranchise Black Voters
Special to The Truth
Ongoing efforts to suppress and invalidate the voices of
Black voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and
Georgia have galvanized the Georgia Coalition for the
Peoples’ Agenda (Peoples’ Agenda), Clayton County Black
Women’s Roundtable (BWR) and other groups to register,
educate and mobilize voters for the upcoming Senate runoff
elections.
The disenfranchisement efforts serve as a rallying call and
enabled the coalition to expand their get-out-the-vote
activities.
“We organize year-round in the Black community and voters
trust us. We will motivate them to vote,” said Helen Butler,
executive director of the Peoples’ Agenda. “Before civil
rights leaders like Dr. King and the founder of the Peoples’
Agenda, Dr. Joseph Lowery, endured beatings and jail for us
to have the right to vote, people used poll taxes, literacy
tests and even violence to stop us from voting. Today,
instead of suppressing Black voters, their efforts are
creating a groundswell of support.”
“We’ve received calls from across the country from people
eager to help beyond the much-needed donations they’re
making,” adds Felicia Davis convener of Clayton County BWR,
a member of the Peoples’ Agenda coalition. “We need people
outside of Georgia to help by calling their family and
friends in Georgia and let them know to vote. With the
Coronavirus raging we’re encouraging voters to vote absentee
by mail or early in-person to keep the lines at a minimum on
Jan. 5.”
In addition to celebrities and dignitaries volunteering to
make calls, produce robo calls and public service
announcements, state affiliates of the NCBCP Unity ’20 Black
Voting Campaign will keep their 2020 operations going to
support Georgia GOTV activities.
The Eastern Michigan Coalition on Black Civic Participation,
Philly Unity Coalition, and Ohio Unity Coalition will help
with phone banking, social media, texts, online events and
the Clayton County BWR postcard campaign.
Despite the challenges created by the COVID-19 virus, the
Peoples’ Agenda has worked nonstop the entire year. They
even spent Thanksgiving week training over 500
phone-bankers, registering and educating voters at turkey
give-aways, and dispatching teams of canvassers to
distribute flyer with voting information packaged with PPE
door-to-door in communities throughout the state.
“It’s clear that expanding access to absentee voting boosted
turnout,” said Butler. “The Peoples’ Agenda is working with
our partners to make sure voters receive and return their
absentee ballot requests. For those who want to vote
in-person, we’re providing rides to the polls starting
December 14 when early in-person voting begins.”
“This year we lost Dr. Lowery, Rev. C. T. Vivian and
Congressman John Lewis, three civil rights heroes whose
sacrifices played a key role in the passing of the Voting
Rights Act. Their memory fuels our resolve,” adds Davis, who
also serves as director of HBCU Green Fund.
“Our message to anyone trying to suppress or void Black
votes is best communicated through a quote from Dr. Lowery,
‘We ain’t going back. We’ve come too far, marched too long,
prayed too hard, wept too bitterly, bled too profusely, and
died too young, to let anybody turn back the clock on our
journey to justice.”
The Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda is a
nonprofit, nonpartisan organization performing year-round
voter registration, education and mobilization in Black
communities throughout Georgia. Led by board chair, Rev. J.
A. Milner, the organization has headquarters in Atlanta and
offices in Athens, Albany, Macon, Augusta, LaGrange and
Savannah. To donate or volunteer visit www.thepeoplesagenda.org email coalition@bellsouth.net or
call the Peoples’ Agenda at (404) 653-1199.
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