Commissioner Khadijah, faith leaders denounce Georgia corporations’ silence on Senate Bill 202
Pressure is building for high-profile companies in Georgia to express firmer opposition to a sweeping new law that will restrict voter access and make it more difficult to vote there.
Members of the clergy and union leaders joined together with Fulton County Commissioner Khadijah Abdur-Rahman Thursday, to announce a national boycott of Georgia companies that refuse to act against Jim-Crow-racist voter suppression laws and tactics.
Commissioner Khadijah is also sponsoring county legislation and pursuing whether the County will sue the State over passage of Senate Bill 202 in the final days of the Georgia General Assembly session and then immediately signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
“This voter suppression law, unless overturned by a Court, will deny and inhibit millions of voters in upcoming state and federal elections in Georgia and we will not stand for that,” said Commissioner Khadijah.
Among other hardships, SB202:
- Requires you to know your driver’s license number or other state I.D. to vote absentee.
- Ends 24-hour access to secure ballot drop boxes used in 2020, by restricting ballot drop boxes to inside early voting locations only instead of all county buildings, like libraries, and ONLY during daytime business hours.
- Allows police to arrest you for giving water or food to someone standing in line waiting to vote on Election Day.
During Thursday’s boycott announcement, Commissioner Khadijah was the sole woman and only elected official who spoke to a crowd of news media and onlookers on the grounds of the World of Coca-Cola, the soft drink giant’s internationally famous museum.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines bore the brunt of boycott threats on social media over the weekend after it released a statement praising some aspects of the law and noting that it “improved considerably during the legislative process.”
Similarly, Coca-Cola is facing boycott threats after it released a statement “expressing our concerns and advocating for positive change in voting legislation” but fell short of taking a stance against the law.
Civil rights activists who spoke also noted that in addition to Coke, other companies including Home Depot, UPS, and Aflac may be targeted once the boycott commences April 7. Organizers say companies will be removed from the boycott list if they agree to support pending federal legislation on Capitol Hill that would invalidate the new Georgia law; help fund legal cases against the State and the new law pending in federal court; and publicly express support for a new session of the General Assembly to rescind SB202.
“At Fulton County, we have a whole floor full of lawyers, who work for the people and take direction from me and six other commissioners,” Khadijah said. “Trust me, we are going to put them to work to make sure Fulton County and its citizens are not injured by this Jim-Crow-racist law.”
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