Great Barrington — The current state of American democracy was the main topic of discussion at the Du Bois Freedom Center’s Juneteenth event on Wednesday, June 19, at Saint James Place. The event, the first in the Freedom Center’s “Reflections on Democracy” series, included a discussion with Michael Blake, CEO of Atlas Strategy Inc. from New York City, and Georgia Congresswoman Nikema Williams.
Blake is the Freedom Center’s Visiting Scholar and has served as the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, as well as three terms as a member of the New York State Assembly.
Congresswoman Williams is a native of Columbus, Ga., and previously represented the 39th district in the Georgia State Senate from 2017 to 2021. In July 2020, however, the Georgia Democratic Party chose Williams to replace the late Congressman John Lewis on the November 2020 election ballot. Lewis, a civil rights leader, served 17 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before his death on July 17, 2020.
Williams was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2020 and was sworn in on January 3, 2021, three days before the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol by rioters who protested the results of the 2020 presidential election. “[Earlier in the day,] I got a phone call from Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi about Georgia being one of the states where our Electoral College votes were being challenged, which had never happened in this fashion in the history of our country,” Williams said. “I was also one of the 16 electors on January 6 to certify the election [results] in the United States Congress. So, I’m prepping a statement [about the challenge to the Electoral College votes], but because I was a new member of Congress, I didn’t even know how to get to the floor of the House to make my statement. But when I got a chance to speak on the floor, I thought I was going to have a chance to speak on democracy, voting rights, and [election] access. With this [congressional] seat that means so much to me that was held by Congressman Lewis, this [speech is about] protecting our vote and standing up for the voters of Georgia.”
Williams said explained, because this was taking place during the pandemic, members of Congress were taking separate turns on the House floor to speak, and she was therefore waiting in her office until she was invited onto the floor. “An hour later, I started getting text messages and I looked at Twitter, and I realized that something was going on, but it was not clear what was happening,” Williams said. “Again, I only got sworn in three days earlier, so I didn’t even have access to the House email system on my cell phone to get alerts to go to the safe room, or even to know where the safe room is if I got an alert.”
Williams said that, despite what was going on around the Capitol building, she planned on giving her speech on the floor of the House. “As soon as I was called, I still went to the floor,” Williams said. “I still didn’t know what the posture was over Georgia [on the Electoral College votes] and I was determined to defend our roots.”
Williams then recalled when she was arrested as a state senator along with a group of protestors in November 2018 at the Georgia State Capitol during a special Senate session. The protestors believed that votes were not counted during the 2018 gubernatorial election which saw Republican Brian Kemp win by a vote of 1,978,408, over candidate and Democrat Stacey Abrams who received 1,923,685 votes. “I showed up that day in November 2018 to do my job, thinking I was there for a special session to get funding for Hurricane Michael recovery,” Abrams said. “I heard that there were some constituents there [at the State Capitol] to use their voice to stand up in a protest that every vote should be counted. I showed up with them, and ended up being arrested that day and taken out of the State Capitol, put up in jail for standing with my constituents who demanded that every vote would be counted. I was not willing to allow [the January 6 protestors] to silence me, because I understood that’s what the intent was, to put fear into me.”
During her talk with Blake, Williams spoke about Georgia’s Election Integrity Act, imposed in 2021 by the state, which makes it a crime for anyone other than election workers to hand out food or water to voters who are standing in line to vote at a polling place. As per the act, violators are subject to a misdemeanor charge of up to 12 months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
“During the election cycle in 2020, I remember in the primary election standing in line to vote on my 10th wedding anniversary,” Williams said. “I waited in line for five hours to vote in the primary election, and the line was wrapped around the building. During that vote in 2020, we had people out who were comfort teams. We had bands, musicians, and food trucks, and we made it into a voting experience, a fun and comfortable experience for people who were all standing in line. But now you can be arrested for handing out water to people who are standing in line to vote.”
Williams spoke about how the state’s Democratic Party started a full-time voter-protection program in 2019. “We need to assure people that, when we tell you and ask you to show up and cast your vote, that’s what we are focusing on because we know that Georgia is a battleground state,” Williams said. “In Georgia, every vote matters, and we have to make sure that we are not taking anything for granted, because we are working so hard to protect [votes].”
“How are you doing with protecting [voter] data and your systems?” Blake asked Williams. “Misinformation and disinformation with our different [voting venues] is constantly happening. You are in a state where the world is literally watching what is happening. How are you protecting and safeguarding voting data?”
Williams explained that the Democratic National Committee has helped with safeguarding the state’s voting data. “While we are grateful for the support, I will be honest, [safeguarding] is not always done,” Williams said. “We are not allowed to go to outside sources anymore to do the things that the secretary of state should be doing. These are things that should be commonplace, nonpartisan, for every voter regardless of who you’re showing up to vote for. But these things aren’t just happening.”
Williams said that she previously spoke to an audience in Silicon Valley in California about voter security issues. “Regardless of if you thought you were into politics or not into politics, politics is into you, and it is society,” Williams said. “Everything that we do, all of our freedoms are on the line, and so we are living on so many people to stand up and help us in this life. To save our democracy, Congressman Lewis told us that a fight for democracy is not for a day, a year, or a month. It is for a lifetime, a struggle of a lifetime. So we have to continue to do this work. It wasn’t just about 2018 when 68 women were on the ballot [nationally], and it wasn’t just about 2020 when we had two [presidential candidates] on the ballot. This is an ongoing continuation so that we can preserve our democracy for the next generation.”
At the beginning of the event, the members of Great Barrington’s W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Committee were sworn in for a new term.
The next event in the Du Bois Freedom Center’s Reflections on Democracy Series is a discussion with Marvin Carr, the chair of the Council on Foundations and the director of the Center for Racial Equity. The event will be held on July 11, at 6 p.m., at St. James Place.
For more information about the event and the Du Bois Freedom Center, visit the Center’s website.
