How Trump's Georgia plan would have emboldened white supremacists: Black activist

If Donald Trump had been successful at overturning the election in Georgia, the former president would have undermined the rights of Black Americans, an activist said on Friday.

LaTosha Brown, writing an opinion piece for MSNBC, said her grandfather "carried an old poll-tax receipt in his wallet to remind him that the right to vote didn’t come easy, and it wasn’t guaranteed."

"We work every day to increase power in marginalized, predominantly Black communities, and we believe effective voting allows a community to determine its own destiny," Brown wrote Friday. "In 2020, like many other advocacy groups from across the country, we knocked on doors, held bus tours and community events, and hosted virtual gatherings across the country. We supported local organizers and used messages emphasizing love and hope to engage and mobilize voters, because we believed, and still believe, that power organized is power realized."

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Brown added that, in Georgia, "our efforts were even more critical. Despite suppression efforts, more than 1 million Black Georgia voters cast their ballots even before Election Day, a turnout that played a decisive role in determining the winner of that election. Turning Georgia blue was a monumental achievement. It served as a reality check for America that Black voters, particularly Black voters in the South, are a powerful force."

"Monday’s indictment was a full-circle moment for me. My grandfather carried an old poll-tax receipt in his wallet to remind him that the right to vote didn’t come easy, and it wasn’t guaranteed," the activist wrote. "I thought of that as I watched the stories about the indictment this week. If Trump had been able to overturn the election, it would have sent a message to white supremacists that it was open season on the rights of Black voters. But what we know, what we’ve always known, is that Black voters stand up for what is right — even when centuries of oppression and hate have tried to prove otherwise."

You can read it here.