A new Georgia law aimed at preventing blacks and working people from voting prompted Assemblyman Roy Freiman (D-16) to consider legislation that would pressure powerful entities in Georgia and other states contemplating similar voter-impairments to reverse course on the Jim Crow measures.

The 98-page new Georgia law outlaws providing food or water to people waiting in line to vote and adds additional voter ID requirements to mail voters and shortens state runoffs.

Co-chair of the business caucus in the Assembly, Freiman said,  “In New Jersey, we are taking steps to increase access to the drop boxes, and encouraging more and more people to vote. We are increasing democracy and yet what’s taking place in Georgia is the opposite. It is truly outrageous, going backwards in time. What we had hoped that what would be happening in the country is that we are encouraging people to vote.

“We can sit back and say ‘isn’t it great to live here in New Jersey as it relates to that,’ but I think we have a moral obligation to stand up and support the people of Georgia,” Freiman added. “They’re speaking out. I’m a legislator here in New Jersey and there are some things we can do.

“Maybe we should halt how we spend money in the state of Georgia,” he noted.

Hoping to pressure Georgia -based businesses already feeling squeezed by public outrage over their silence in the lead up to the bill’s passage, Freiman at the very least wants to prevent state funds from being used in connection with events in Georgia and/or other states pursuing similar legislation.

For more on his efforts, please watch the video embedded below into this post.

President Joe Biden on Friday condemned the sweeping new voting restrictions in Georgia as “outrageous,” “un-American” and “Jim Crow in the 21st Century.”

“This law, like so many others being pursued by Republicans in statehouses across the country is a blatant attack on the Constitution and good conscience,” Biden said in a statement.

In comments to reporters as he departed the White House for the weekend, Biden added, “If you want any indication that it has nothing to do with fairness, nothing to do with decency, they pass a law saying you can’t provide water for people standing in line while they’re waiting to vote. You don’t need anything else to know that this is nothing but punitive, designed to keep people from voting. You can’t provide water for people about to vote. Give me a break.”

Bishop Reginald Jackson of Georgia – a former longtime New Jersey resident – wrote a letter to parishioners regarding the racist new law, which reads in part:

“I am writing today in regard to Georgia Bill SB 202 which was passed by the Georgia Legislature and signed by Gov. Brian Kemp on March 25th.

“SB 202 targets Black and Brown people and will now make it much harder for each of us to vote.
The new law disintegrates the electoral procedure and process that was once developed together, by both Democrats and Republicans. It changes a host of laws that will affect early voting, ballot drop boxes, and absentee voting and it facilitates the ability for Republicans to overturn the will of the people and can change the outcome of an election.  More simply put, this new law not only seeks to suppress the votes of Black and Brown people, but it is also racist and seeks to return us to the days of Jim Crow.

“Each of us knows deep in our hearts the truth of what is going on because we know our history. White extremists have once again looked to target and marginalize our community. This time, it is for only one reason – Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and did not receive the majority of votes in our state.

“This new law was based on a lie fabricated by Donald Trump that the only way he could lose was if the election was rigged. Since Republicans were unable to win the election on fair grounds, they are once again looking to change the laws to suit their own purpose, regardless of the facts, the law, or even the moral implications.

“What is even more disturbing is that some in the corporate community in Georgia and around the nation have remained silent or even embraced. For example, The Coca-Cola Company has watched silently and done nothing to fight as this bill moved forward to become law. And recently, Delta Airlines wrote an “in house” memo in which they actually praised the law.  Silence, inaction, or blind support represents complicity. They are like Paul in the Book of Acts, “I stood there, standing by and consenting.” (Acts 22:20).”