The good people of Georgia must tell you their family story, which may be relevant to the times we live in our state today.
I remember my mother's attempts to register me to vote in the early 1960s when I was a high school student in Dougherty County, Georgia. Back then, there was an aptitude test that black people had to pass to be eligible to vote. My mother had to write the “Preamble to the Constitution” without missing any words, misspelling any words, or forgetting or misusing any punctuation.
She tried many times to take up this office, but she was not granted the right to vote until the U.S. Congress passed the Election Act in 1965.
Now get it, my mother was a very intelligent person. She worked her way up from being a laundress for white families, to working in a restaurant and a movie theater, to becoming an elementary school teacher, and finally retiring as a high school media specialist.
Now that all the hurdles that gave us the right to vote have been overcome, we are starting over again. Jim Crow has raised its head again in this state. Blacks and whites were beaten and killed to get the right for everyone to vote.
This month, the governor of Georgia secretly signed a new law designed to make it harder, not easier, for people of color in the state of Georgia to vote.
This new law is designed to “eradicate” election fraud in Georgia. If this is indeed the draft of this new law, I have a few questions for the members of the General Assembly of Georgia who voted for this law.
How can you reduce fraud by not giving water to people who have been waiting in line for hours? How can you reduce fraud by reducing the number of mail-in ballots or mail-in ballot drop boxes?
Georgia's own Secretary of State, a Republican, said the 2020 general election would be free of fraud after three census checks. The 45th President of the United States put pressure on the SOS to find enough votes to make up their deficit and overtake candidate Biden in Georgia's presidential election.
This was the only attempt at fraud in the 2020 Georgia election. The real problem is that the Republican Party in Georgia lacks ideas on how to meet the demands of Georgia's changing demographic situation.
Our elected officials across the state must also change to meet the needs of their citizens. We are all worthy. Honor that value. Don't take us back to the times my mother's generation struggled with. Our state deserves better.
Robert Thorpe
Gainesville
