If It Limits Access to the Ballot Like Jim Crow, It May Be the 2021 Jim Crow
By: Syeda Bano
April 15, 2021
“We are witnessing right now a massive and unabashed assault on voting rights and voter access unlike anything we have seen since the Jim Crow era.” These were the words of Georgia’s first Black U.S. Senator, Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock, when he gave his first floor speech on March 17th. The senator was referencing the massive voter suppression movement led by both Georgia Republicans and Republicans across the country. In November 2020 and January 2021, voters turned out in historic numbers to vote, many of them for the first time. Last year was a historic year we will never forget. While we were distanced from our loved ones, trying to survive a pandemic, in addition to dealing with massive unemployment we were also deciding on the fate of our nation for at least the next two years. It fell on Georgia’s 238,000 Desi, Asian American, and Pacific Islander voters to be the decisive block for the most consequential elections of our lifetimes. Our communities recognized the existing voter suppression laws that were designed to keep us away from the decision-making table, but we organized in never before seen numbers and channeled our collective strength into registering; voting early; using mail-in ballots; providing translation services and rides, chairs and bhujia, and whatever other support our most vulnerable community members needed to participate in the electoral process.
Our efforts were rewarded — we flipped Georgia blue for the first time in a generation and Georgia voters got the opportunity to make history again with the historic runoff for two Senate seats.
Desi, Asian American, and Pacific Islander voters again played a pivotal role in an exceedingly close election. Anchored in our community, we turned out for our safety, we turned out for our right to exist, and we turned out to ensure that Georgia made the accelerated shift towards its diverse, vibrant, and prosperous future, a future in which everyone can participate and reach their full potential. We made sure our voices were heard. These triumphs all happened because of the manifested vision of leaders like Stacey Abrams and other organizers who foretold and then organized and invested in communities across the Peach State to bring together a diverse coalition of voters who set the new Georgia on its blue path.
Of course our hard work did not go unnoticed, by the Democrats or the Republicans. Since our victory, a slew of legislation has been introduced around the country aimed at limiting voting rights. These pieces of legislation that continue to promote the “Big Lie” of voter fraud are racist. So, while Senator Dugan from Georgia’s State Senate claims that it is “demeaning” to refer to legislation like his SB 241 — which drastically limits access to absentee voting — as being Jim Crow, it does not mean that these laws are not reminiscent of Jim Crow era restrictions limiting voters’ access to the ballot. When you introduce, advocate for, and try to justify legislation that will disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous, other communities of color, poor people, and persons with disabilities, then you are upholding the same systems of white supremacy that allowed Jim Crow to exist. As Senator Warnock said, Republicans are trying to operate with “democracy in reverse.” Instead of changing their policies and politics, Republicans are trying to restrict who can access the ballot.
These shortsighted and racially-motivated tactics disrespect our communities and our collective intelligence. They may have the legislative capacity right now to pursue racist voter suppression laws, but we will fight them every inch of the way, adapt to whatever obstacles they manage to put in our way, vote them out, and reverse their spiteful resistance to democratic principles. Our community is stronger because of our collective fight against these voter suppression tactics.
Just like we showed in these last elections, nothing energizes us more than sinister efforts to extinguish our voices and our votes! Visit bit.ly/AAAFaction for more information to join the fight against our community’s right to vote.
Syeda Bano is a South Asian Community Organizer at the Asian American Advocacy Fund.
