Roland Martin brings popular show to WR

Black Voters Matter Fund (BVM) spearheaded a special event on Sunday evening in an effort to bring to the awareness of the Houston County community—especially to its African American population—that their votes are important to the upcoming runoff elections. Based on information posted to the organization’s official website, its primary goal is to increase power in marginalized, primarily Black communities.

As a part of Sunday’s efforts, noted author and journalist (former CNN contributor and TV One commentator) Roland Martin was present and streamed his daily digital show, “#Roland Martin Unfiltered” from the gathering’s location.

On the grounds of 1764 Watson Boulevard where the well-attended gathering took place, Latosha Brown, co-founder of BVM, spoke with Houston Home Journal as the afternoon’s activities prepared to get into full swing.

“Black Voters Matters is a power-building organization,” Brown explained. “I, along with Cliff Albright, founded the organization in 2016, to really be able to build black independent power by strengthening grass root organizations.”

Brown went on to inform that BVM was at work in more than 50 Georgia counties and has over 45 core partners with which they work. She expressed BVM’s excitement to be in Warner Robins alongside local partners that have been working to “turn out the vote.”

Voters cast their ballots in record numbers in Houston County back in November for the primaries, but Brown knows all to well that many who have voted in primaries in past elections have been known not to do the same in the case of a resulting runoff. She believes the Georgia runoffs are far too important for voters become complacent.

“It is very critical,” she emphasized. “It is as critical, if not more so, than the presidential election. We need people to come out, because in the state of Georgia, African American people have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. At one point after COVID-19 hit the country, southwest Georgia had the third highest number of deaths in the world—not just in the country—in the world,” Brown stressed. “In April, 80% of all patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were African Americans. And we can look and see the lack of leadership from our governor, who didn’t want to close the state, and then was the first to re-open the state. This race is important for a number of reasons. It will determine who sets the policy priorities for the Senate.”

Georgia’s Senate runoffs have received much attention from the media—television, radio and newspaper. Brown mentioned the urgency of having Congressional representation that was responsive to the people of Georgia. She said the state’s leadership in Washington D.C. needed to speak for the interest of all those within the state, not just a select group.

Brown explained that the runoff elections weren’t simply about Democrats versus Republications. Instead, she said, “People of this state deserve the best representation. We need somebody that’s going to fight for us, fight for health care; fight for an economic package that will actually pull us out of this. There are businesses in this area that have had to shut their doors because they have not received help.”

Other issues were addressed on Sunday as well. Venita Kennedy—the grandmother of 12-year-old Kaleb Barnes, one of two young black boys who were threatened at gunpoint by a Caucasian woman named Patricia Compton as they rode their bikes in a Byron community last month—was present to share her grandson’s story of being traumatized by the event. Compton was charged with aggravated assault, child cruelty and terroristic threats, but was released on bond. Kennedy said that she’s been told that Compton won’t serve any time for what she did, but the grandmother said that would be unacceptable.

“I want justice!” Kennedy demanded.

She later sat down in panel discussion with Roland Martin, Brown and Albright. During it, Kennedy stated that because of what happened, her grandson no longer feels safe playing outside and is “held hostage by fear in his own home.”

In his panel remarks, Martin reiterated the importance of each vote. He mentioned the number of individuals who he had heard state that they didn’t like any politicians. As a result, they were not going to vote—choosing instead to march for change. To that, Martin said, “It is utterly illogical to protest and march if you also don’t vote. You can’t march for change, and then act as if the people in office don’t matter. They are the ones who can change the policy.”

Martin later pointed out, “There is not a single thing in your life that government doesn’t have a role in. The moment you are born, a birth certificate was issued. That is a government document. Your social security number—government document. You get married—government document. You get divorced—government document. And when you die, your death certificate is a government document.” He further added, “What I’m trying to get us to understand is that we cannot check out of the process. We must maximize the vote, and then come back… and make sure that what (they) promised to do, (they) will do.”

Saturday marked the deadline date for unregistered citizens to secure their ability to cast ballots in the Georgia’s Senate runoff election. Black Voters Matters put together a caravan, lead by their official BVM vans, to ride through the city of Warner Robins to spread the word and help people get registered.

“Because 2020 has been such a challenging year, and outside of the norm for traditional campaigning,” said Fenika Miller, one of the event’s organizers, “we load up the cars in the caravan and we place magnets on the side of the cars that have a scan code. When we find people who want to get registered, they can come up to the car and scan the QR code and get registered to vote or to get an absentee ballot application.”

To draw the public’s attention while they caravan, Miller said the participating drivers honk their vehicles’ horns and put on their flashers. “We go into areas targeting low-propensity voters and Black voters, in particular, because often times our communities are overlooked. We don’t talk to them about who to vote for, we talk to them about issues, such as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, what the Public Service Commission does and who regulates utilities. We do that and let them do the research and make the determination for themselves which candidate deserves their vote. We just want them to engage in the process.”

As a part of Sunday’s agenda, the live debate between Senate runoff candidates, Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler and Democratic challenger, Raphael Warnock was shown on a large screen in drive-in movie style. While some attendees chose to watch from their vehicles, others stood outside for a more close-up view. Although the event was open to the public, masks were strictly enforced, and social distancing was encouraged.

Early voting begins on December 14 and the runoff date is January 5, 2021. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. All absentee ballots must be received by the time the polls close on January 5. For more information on Black Voters Matter, visit blackvotersmatterfund.org. To view episodes of “#Roland Martin Unfiltered,” go to rolandsmartin.com/unfiltered.

HHJ News