Indivisible IL9 Antiracist Work Group (AWG) Sunday Nov 29 from 10-11am CT

As all of our minds are on Georgia right now, we decided at last week’s meeting to learn a bit more about that state, particularly as it relates to voting and, of course, racism, two issues that are inextricably intertwined. I think sometimes it’s easy to write this topic off as “the South is racist,” when we know that our whole country was built upon the foundation of systemic racism (I still think a lot about the Sundown Towns right here in Illinois that we discussed a few months back) so let’s dig a bit deeper into more specifics.

Please consider any of the following articles before tomorrow’s meeting:

• A brief history of Georgia’s runoff voting – and its racist roots: “To date, Georgia has never elected a single African American U.S. senator, governor, lieutenant governor or secretary of state.” and yet the state of GA is 30% Black and its largest city, Atlanta, is a majority Black city.
• Stacey Abrams blew up Georgia’s electoral map: A primer on Stacey Abrams’s work in GA and other states.
• Why Do Nonwhite Georgia Voters Have To Wait In Line For Hours? Too Few Polling Places
• Georgia hotbed for voter suppression tactics: This article was published right before the Nov 2020 election and outlines many of the hurdles faced by voters in GA, particularly Black voters (many of these same tactics were also used in WI this year, as we well know).