There’s Clownery, There’s Hypocrisy and there’s Brian Kemp calling John Lewis a Hero
Brian Kemp is the Governor of Georgia. You know him best as the bumbling idiot currently suing the Mayor of Atlanta for daring to keep her citizens safe.
But it’s important to remember why he’s Governor. He cheated. More to the point, he worked hard to make sure people who don’t like him couldn’t vote. Since he’s an awful person without a real constituency, that’s a lot of people to disenfranchise. But for the first time in his life, Kemp actually put in some effort.
· 53,000 voters were removed from the voting rolls because Kemp decided their signature on the voter form didn’t match the signature from the DMV
· Non-stop robo-calls claimed his opponent was pushing undocumented immigrants to vote, which was patently untrue
· He closed hundreds of polling places
· He used years old photos to claim that Black Panthers were trying to scare white voters away
· When Democrats suggested security risks could undermine the election and strict anti-virus software should be used on the voting system, he publicly accused them of hacking
· When the Department of Homeland Security offered to assist in securing their local election, he refused
As Secretary of State he was responsible for ensuring a fair and open election. He used that power to suppress the rights of those who disagree with him.
Based on those tactics and more, thousands of Georgians showed up to vote to learn that their polling place was closed; the state had run out of ballots; the machines weren’t working; they’re just not registered to vote anymore.
Do I need to say where those efforts were focused? Are you picturing in your mind a kindly old white couple taking a lovely stroll to their church to vote and finding out they can’t? Yeah, I didn’t think so. This effort was focused on Black people. Those 53,000 voters taken off the rolls? 70% of them were Black. Based on demographics they would have killed about 16,000 black votes. They killed 37,000 votes instead.
With his coronavirus response he’s working on killing 37,000 black people too.
So Brian Kemp abused the power of his office to cheat by suppressing the votes of Black people. That’s not news. Elected officials have been doing that forever. Why pay attention to Brian Kemp now and an election that’s almost two years old? Because that mf did this.
There’s hypocrisy. There’s being out-of-touch. There’s clownery. And there’s Brian Kemp praising John Lewis as a “hero”.
John Lewis is the bravest man this country has ever known. He risked his life to make America a better place, repeatedly. He’s the guy who did something dangerous, nearly did, and did that same thing over-and-over again until he couldn’t anymore. He spoke truth to power. He was courageous to his last breath.
When I talk about Civil Rights Activism too many of you hear “Black rights”. That’s not it. John Lewis and his peers cared about the rights of people. All people. You too.
· Here’s Lewis arguing against the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, a time when 2/3 of Americans were against gay marriage.
· Here’s John Lewis leading a sit-in to demand gun control legislation.
· Here’s John Lewis at the airport protesting the Muslim ban and ensuring the rights and safety of the American citizens he represents.
I get why Brian Kemp wants to praise John Lewis. Everything Kemp said was true. Lewis was a Civil Rights hero. He was a freedom fighter. He was a devoted public servant. He was a beloved Georgian who changed our world in profound ways.
But if Lewis is a hero, Kemp is the villain. He’s the bad guy in this story. So is Trump. So is McConnell. So is anyone clinging to power by denying citizens the rights to express themselves at the ballot box, or denying Americans opportunity based on their religion, or denying Americans opportunity based on their race, or denying Americans opportunity based on their gender identity, or denying Americans opportunity based on their sexuality.
John Lewis spent his entire life fighting to make America the place it promised to be. He wanted to Make America Great. But he was fought at every turn by people who want to make us like we used to be, when people like Lewis didn’t just get ridiculed on Twitter and Fox News but beaten in the street.
He rose to prominence in 1963 talking about stopping police brutality, giving people the right to vote and ensuring all Americans are treated fairly.
He died 57 years later saying the same things to the same people and getting the same result.
Some people want us to feel good about how far we’ve come. John Lewis reminds us of how far we have to go.
