Shortly after Georgia died Senate Act 202, the controversial electoral law passed by Republicans of the State Assembly, actor Will Smith and producer Antoine Fuqua, have withdrawn production of their upcoming film.emancipation” from the State.
Even if this may appear negative for the local Georgian film industry in the short term, the greater importance of this step, especially given the content of “emancipation”, cannot be underestimated. To say this type of action is good is an understatement, and in my personal opinion, economic protest is one of the most effective ways to get involved in politics.
“This is Jim Crow 2.0,” ACLU Georgia activist and political director Christopher Bruce said WJCL in Savannah. Before SB 202 became law, he denounced it as “a law that disenfranchises thousands of Georgians and is completely unnecessary”.
At first glance, the reaction to this law may seem dramatic, but when measures such as the ban on the distribution of food and drink are introduced in potentially hour-long series of votes, this act of protest is more than justified.
Most importantly, the Georgia cessation of filmmaking hits the state where it hurts: its wallet.
Since big budget productions like “Emancipation” create thousands of local jobs, this is more than a strongly worded statement. In just one year from July 2018 to July 2019, nearly $ 3 billion was invested in the state from its film industry alone, which really shows how much Georgia benefits from films.
Will Smith’s upcoming film “Emancipation”, directed by Antoine Fuqua, will no longer be shot in Georgia due to the state’s new electoral law, which many say will drastically affect black voters pic.twitter.com/K25W8eshzk
– NowThis (@nowthisnews) April 12, 2021
There is no better way to show resistance and resilience to actions like SB 202 than direct pulling out money and jobs, and hopefully protests like this will get lawmakers to vote on such measures next time.
“Emancipation” tells the true story of an escaped, enslaved man, played by Smith, who was whipped and brutally abused and then escaped during the Civil War and joined the Union Army. Faced with criticism of SB 202 as racist voter suppression, Smith and Fuqua felt a moral obligation to distance themselves from Georgia.
“The new electoral laws in Georgia are reminiscent of electoral barriers that were passed at the end of the reconstruction to prevent many Americans from voting,” said Smith and Fuqua in a joint press release, tying today’s laws to the Jim Crow strategies of disenfranchisement back that set shortly after the events of “emancipation”.
A picture of the man’s warped back “played an influential role in broadening” understanding of slavery during the Civil War, according to Frank Goodyear, assistant curator of photographs for the National Photo Gallery. This was one of the first widely available photos to reveal the real torture of slavery.
SB 202 is proof that such acts of protest and defiance are necessary in a society still plagued by oppression. It has proven effective time and again to economically boycott an oppressor, whether by pulling a movie from a state that is passing harmful electoral laws or choosing not to buy from a company that goes to anti-LGBTQ organizations donates.
The US is a country that was founded on economic protest. You may have heard of one of the most influential economic protests of all time, the 1773 Boston Tea Partywhere American colonizers threw hundreds of thousands of dollars of tea in the ocean to protest that they are being taxed by the British Empire without their consent or representation.
In our recent history, of course, there are newer and perhaps less ostentatious examples. A personal favorite of mine was 2019-2020 “No music for ICE!“Protest. In response to the company’s ever-problematic dealings with the Department of Homeland Security and thus Immigration and Customs Enforcement, over 800 music artists signed a letter stating that they would not perform at any Amazon-sponsored music event.
Both our history and our modern activism remind us of the importance of money in economics and politics. Not only do I admire that the producers of “Emancipation” are pursuing this strategy, but I also believe that it can be very effective, especially when they are not alone. Should other productions join in protest “emancipation”, Georgia’s politicians could stop ignoring their voters and the will of their people, who clearly do not support racist policies.
