GEORGIA AND RACE IS ON MY MIND AS ELECTION 2020 HAS MAGNIFIED AMERICA’S BLACK AND WHITE DIVIDE
The Black and White Divide, a rift many hoped would dwindle with a clear repudiation of Trump, has been magnified as Election 2020 has merely intensified our disconnect—all as we watch two disparate presidential candidates limp toward the finish line.
To say that Election 2020 has shaped up the way we thought it would would be a stretch. Though Trump stands on the precipice of defeat, and Biden has been steadily gaining momentum, this almost inexorable surge is contrasted with what many anticipated would be an early and decisive victory for Biden. November 3rd, 4th, and 5th has witnessed most Americans like myself going to bed each night uncertain; resting our heads on a pillow of swirling emotions, a deep foreboding, a tangible horror interrupting our rest. A recurring nightmare has taken shape, as many progressives have had to stomach the unnerving prospect that the monstrous incumbent will not go down. Many lamenting “Not this again.”
However, the uncertainty that enveloped our hearts and minds on Election Night has slowly dissipated as each day brings news that, though Trump once enjoyed a sizable lead in critical states like Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, his grip has been loosened, his lead having all but evaporated.
As I wake up to the news that Biden has pulled ahead by more than one thousand votes in Georgia, an Election that many hoped would have followed certain contours is, unmistakably, shaping up to be one we will never forget. It is now unequivocal: the Black vote in the cities of Detroit, Philadelphia and Atlanta have proven to be critical to Biden pulling out an ostensible victory. African Americans engaging in the democratic process, a potential that has long struck fear in the dark hearts and twisted souls of white conservatives, has become an actuality as Dekalb County and metro Atlanta have now carried Biden past the threshold of victory.
55 years removed from the passage of the Voting Rights Act, it is important to point out that the suppression measures, the shameless, pernicious, and incessant attempts to fetter the Black vote have seemingly been neutralized as the groundwork laid by those like Stacey Abrams, the tireless work of Black women in Georgia and elsewhere, has proven pivotal in once again saving this country from itself.
Just about every Black comedian I know has a joke about how someone in their family has moved to Atlanta in the past decade or so. No matter what you do, as a Black American you’ve witnessed this trend as friends, aunts and cousins have headed to the 678 in droves. This reverse migration has witnessed Black progress, Black entrepreneurship bourgeoning in Georgia clay.
And thus Georgia more than any state, embodies what the United States has truly become in the year 2020. A dynamic future being forged amid a backdrop of segregation, separation and hate. A benighted and backward white citizenry is now enmeshed with a vibrant and progressive populace of engaged black Georgians.
The 2020 Race came down to Race. Yet Georgia is on my mind this early fall morning because, it is Black advancement that has, once again, stemmed the red tide of regression.