Jefferson County, a “Black and Proud” Bus, and a “BBQ Becky” of Our Own
Yesterday in Jefferson County, 40 African American senior citizens were denied a ride to the polls for the second day of early voting because of a “BBQ Becky.” In case you’re unaware of who BBQ Becky is, she is the lady who called police in Oakland, California this past May on some African American men who were holding a “barbecue” (or, let’s be real, it was a cookout) in a public space that the woman believed to be undesignated for that use. She was the first in a string of instances throughout the summer where white people were videotaped contacting authorities and being downright hostile for perceived, but often incorrectly assessed violations of community codes and regulations, to include a little girl selling water, a teenager who was a guest of a resident at a neighborhood pool, an actual resident of a neighborhood at the pool, and more. Lucky for Jefferson County’s version, there doesn’t appear to be video.
However, Black Votes Matter, the group holding the rally as a get out the vote event, did make a video of the seniors dancing toward the bus that was going to take them to the polls and a narration of what then occurred.
It seems that a passerby saw the bus and decided to call County Commission Chairman Mitchell McGraw to complain. Even though event organizers had gotten the rally approved by the Leisure Center’s director and county officials had been properly notified of the event in advance, the seniors asking for a ride to the polls was a bridge too far for someone who drove by. As Cliff Albright points out in the video, the look of the bus clearly made someone nervous. Jim Galloway noted in his article that all the seniors who were told they could not ride the bus to the polls still plan to vote. Good for them. On the other hand, it ends up not being a great look for Jefferson County and Chairman McGraw, who could have easily told the BBQ Becky that it’s perfectly legal for 501(c)(4)s to offer rides to the polls.
About Author
Holly Croft
Holly is an archivist at one of Georgia's institutions of higher learning. In a past life, she was a legislative assistant on Capitol Hill. She cares a lot about records management, open records laws, and privacy laws. Political persuasion? It's complicated. What's not complicated is that she's proudly equal parts Bulldog and Tar Heel.
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This is getting a lot of attention, and is going to get more. It is going to benefit the Abrams campaign. Could this be a set up?
When there is conspiracy talk, you should always look at who benefits.
Like the County Commissioner and/or County Administrator — the ones that made the folks get off the bus– were in on it?
That seems like nonsense to me.
I don’t know the details of the plan. Here is the circumstances. You have a Governors race. Voter suppression, directed at African-Americans, is an issue. A bus, taking African-Americans from a senior center to the early voting facility is stopped. This has never been an issue before. Why is this a problem now, with voter suppression an issue? The Abrams campaign is getting favorable publicity from this incident. The timing is curious.
The timing is curious? It’s curious there is a bus taking folks to early vote the day after the polls open? The only thing curious is the illogic.
Why is it happening now? Maybe read the numerous stories about doing anything while black, as the post relays. I posted one that happened in Cobb County just a few days ago. It’s always been happening. It’s been a real problem that’s existed in some form or other for-like-ever, and there is both a simultaneous increase in overt racism due to a toxic political environment, and a huge bump in the quality and quantity of cell phone videos.
Just shameful.
No courage, no shame, no common sense, no competence.
A meta-fail.
“perfectly legal for 501(c)(4)s to offer rides to the polls.”
It’s also perfectly legal for c(3)’s.
c(4)’s can in fact even directly advocate for election or defeat of a candidate.
They say it was a county-sponsored event, which made the “political activity” wrong. But they offered county vans to go to the polls.
But not only was there no sign of specific advocacy of election or defeat of a candidate on the bus, but even if there was, the proper remedy would be to say: The bus can’t be here. And as soon as the bus drove off the property, the problem would be solved. Making folks get off the bus? That’s just outright race-based voter suppression.
That’s possible. It’s also possible it’s a cup of ignorance with a tablespoon of intimidation.
I can imagine that the county commissioner just didn’t want to make waves, and didn’t know the law, so he made a call, and some ‘supervisor’ at the leisure center gets the call from the COUNTY COMMISSIONER and of course they are going to abide by their wishes.
Nobody thought about it, nobody knew the law, nobody cared to try to stick up for the voters, so one redneck who knows how to use a cellphone got his 15 minutes.