State Rep. Carl Gilliard, D-Savannah, joined an emergency Zoom call with about 70 other Black Georgia faith leaders Monday night to discuss their concerns about the state’s latest early voting figures. Most prominent leaders of the state’s Black faith community have thrown their support behind Vice President Kamala Harris in her White House race against […]
Politics & Policy
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Harris, Obama Rally in Georgia to Boost Black Voter Turnout
Disha Williams drove all the way down from Columbia, South Carolina, on Thursday to sell T-shirts, buttons, and hats at the latest Kamala Harris rally in Clarkston, about 10 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta. The 40-year-old entrepreneur and her husband started their family printing company in 2008, the year Barack Obama’s likeness helped retail business […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Incarceration, Politics & Policy
The Georgia Law That Causes Women to Serve Time for Other People’s Crimes
This story was published in partnership with The Appeal, a nonprofit newsroom covering the criminal-legal system. A law in Georgia allows prosecutors to charge people for crimes they never committed. I know this firsthand — I was charged under this law and have been incarcerated for the last 20 years. In 2004, I was with […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Local Gaza Supporters Call for Harris to Support Israeli Arms Embargo
Kafia Haile wants the U.S. government to issue an arms embargo against Israel to end what she calls its American taxpayer-funded mass killing of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The 44-year-old Spelman College alum and her humanitarian allies in the Atlanta Multifaith Coalition for Palestine, which includes local Black Muslims, […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy, Voting
Churches Drive Early Voting Surge in Georgia with ‘Souls to the Polls’
After listening to Kamala Harris speak at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church on Sunday, Jeremiah Kilgore and his wife, Katrina, said they were heading straight to the polls to vote for the vice president. “I look forward to seeing her get inaugurated in 2025,” Jeremiah said of Harris after exiting the Stonecrest megachurch with his […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Will Black Men in Georgia Decide the 2024 Election?
Independent voter Azola Martin still hasn’t decided who he’s voting for in November, but he says he has reservations about Vice President Kamala Harris that have nothing to do with her gender. Martin says he primarily gets his news from social media, subscribes to some debunked myths about Harris, and may vote for former President […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Harris to Appear Sunday at Atlanta-Area Megachurch for Key Campaign Stop
Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to appear at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in the Atlanta-metro area on Sunday as Georgia faith leaders ramp up their 2024 “Souls to the Polls” operation across the state. Harris campaign officials and New Birth Pastor Jamal Bryant confirmed news of the vice president’s visit to the 10,000-member […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
Black Seniors for Harris Help Fuel Record Turnout as Early Voting Begins in Georgia
Ann Keith, 79, and William Keith, 84, didn’t encounter any problems casting ballots during the first day of early voting in Georgia on Tuesday. The married couple was among many Black folks who traveled to the C.T. Martin Natatorium and Recreation Center in Adamsville to hit the polls ahead of Election Day. “It was very […]
Posted inCity Politics
Atlanta Inspector General Accuses Mayor’s Office of Obstructing Anti-Corruption Efforts
Atlanta’s inspector general defended herself on Monday against allegations that her office has been violating the legal rights of city employees as it works to root out corruption inside City Hall. Inspector General Shannon Manigault spent Monday afternoon telling members of a temporary task force organized to examine her office’s policies and procedures that the […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
The Voting Group That Flipped Georgia Purple Is Losing Leaders and Funding Ahead of the Election
A Black-led organization that was instrumental in turning the red state of Georgia purple – helping Democrats elect President Joe Biden in 2020 and sweep the state’s runoff elections for Senate the following year – is in turmoil. Four of its executives have resigned or been dismissed in the past six months due to internal […]