Georgia Civil Rights Groups Flex Political Muscle After Senate Victory

Demand Congress Oust Six GOP Reps

Two weeks after an angry mob stormed the US Capitol in what can only be described as an outright act of war against the federal government, two civil rights groups in Georgia have demanded the ouster of six Georgia delegation members in the House of Representatives.

The civil rights groups alleged that six Republican members of the US House knowingly told lies, claiming that impeached President Donald J. Trump had won the 2020 Presidential Election. Their lies stirred up the hatred that led to a raid on congressional offices and legislative chambers, placing the entire Congress and the Vice President in jeopardy of serious bodily harm or death.

Several Georgia branches of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Urban League joined forces to demand accountability. Remedies include voluntary “resignations, censure, or expulsion” of “U. S. Representatives Marjorie Green, Rick Allen, Jody Hice, Buddy Carter, Andrew Clyde, and Barry Loudermilk.”

The civil rights organization says they represent “over two million African American voters in nearly 20 of Georgia’s 159 counties.” The groups are poised to flex this political power if the Congress members do not immediately resign.

Richard Rose, President of the NAACP Atlanta Branch, said, “They violated their oath of office to uphold the Constitution and protect the country by knowingly spreading the vicious lie that our elections were fraudulent. And claiming they could overturn results during Congress’ January 6 certification of the Electoral College votes.”

VOTER SUPPRESSION AT HEART OF THE LIES

“The certifications these representatives voted to challenge largely reflected the choices made by voters in cities with heavy Black and Brown populations. A theme of racism runs throughout the false charges of voter fraud, the election challenges, the Capitol’s attack, and the way the rioters were treated. We must hold people accountable for this assault and protect the right of all citizens to have their votes counted,” Nancy Flake Johnson, President, and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Atlanta, added.

In a joint press release, the two organizations posit: “The domestic terrorists killed a police officer and beat others, including one who may lose an eye. They assaulted journalists, planted bombs, paraded through the Capitol with Confederate flags, and even built gallows with a noose on the Capitol grounds. And then, just a few hours after all that death and destruction, these Georgia Representatives, who had helped incite the violence, voted to reject the duly cast votes of the people of Georgia and the rest of the nation. And overturn our presidential election because the person they wanted to win did not.”

“Men and women of honor would step down, even if the results of their actions were unintentional or inadvertent,” Rose said, auguring that if the lawmakers do not step down, Congress must act.

“If the representatives refuse to go honorably, they should be censured by their colleagues and not allowed to serve on any congressional committees. Those who incited and supported sedition do not deserve the right to shape the course of a nation they tried to tear down in allegiance to Donald Trump. The good people of Georgia deserve to be represented by men and women who care more about them than they do a defeated president. We deserve political leaders who champion access to the ballot, not seek to suppress or deny it, Rose said.”

Harold Michael Harvey is the Living Now 2020 Bronze Medal winner for his memoir Freaknik Lawyer: A Memoir on the Craft of Resistance. He is a Past President of the Gate City Bar Association. He is the recipient of Gate City’s R. E. Thomas Civil Rights Award, which he received for his pro bono representation of Black college students arrested during Freaknik celebrations in the mid to late 1990s. Harvey is an engaging public speaker. Contact him at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.com.