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Waynesboro, Georgia – Sarah Jenkins has long faced tensions in the community. She owns a small business in a white part of the city, intended for the elderly and the mentally handicapped, an arrangement that many of her neighbors disapprove of.
But since "Mrs. Jenkins," as people like to call it, has become a big supporter of Stacey Abrams – who is trying to become the first black woman to become governor of the nation – these tensions have exacerbated. They have become particularly ugly since Abrams won the Democratic nomination in his quest for Georgia.
The Abrams campaign signs that Jenkins had placed on his lawn were frequently stolen; she would replace them. But then came the handwritten messages of a word, written on white paper, which began to appear in his mailbox.
"Coon," some said.
Jenkins did not want to repeat his words.
"They are intimidating people," said Jenkins. "They do not want us to exist as a company. They do not want us to vote for anyone who could help us. "
Nevertheless, Jenkins was part of the crowd of Abrams supporters, perhaps about 100, who listened to the governor candidate deliver her stump speech at a car park in Waynesboro, GA, on Wednesday. afternoon.
It will be choices such as the one Jenkins is making – staying firm in the face of intimidation in a state where voter repression charges have increased in recent weeks – who will probably decide what poll data say is a race. tight between Abrams and her Republican challenger Brian Kemp.
Georgia made national headlines recently after the Associated Press found that 70% of the voter registration applications retained by Kemp, who is also Secretary of State of Georgia, are African. US. (Georgia is black at 32%.)
Like the tension in Jenkins Ward, Kemp's dual role as Abrams Opposition and Voter Registration Officer has become a prominent feature of this election cycle. Kemp has justified his decision to retain as many apps because of the "exact match" rule that can invalidate an app if something as simple as a dash on the surname of 39, a license is missing on the form. Most civil rights groups believe that it is a tactic of repression of voters. Although those whose names are among the 53,000 can still run to vote with the appropriate ID, many black Georgians see it as an attempt in the 1960s to remove them from the polls.
"I come from the generation where we had to walk to be able to vote," said Evelyn Ellis, 72, of Augusta, after the Abrams speech. "I am the last of this generation to be able to tell this story. It was a terrible thing that my generation had to go through. Because any kind of repression is horrible. So, I hope and pray that even if this effort is deployed, we will still be able to overcome it. "
The interstate that takes you to Waynesboro is lined with cotton fields, which many blacks in this small town will remember, remember that you were chosen by their ancestors. They will tell you that the very ground you are on is probably a plantation where their now free bodies have been chained to the American system of slavery, and how the remnants of that past are of great importance today. Inviting Stacey to come to town to speak on this very land reminds them of Georgia's progress – and the progress ahead.
It may be for this reason that Jenkins kept for her the knowledge of the tactics of intimidation of the voters; because they are neither new nor waiting for them to work.
"Why did not you tell me, Mom?" Mamie Parks asked Jenkins.
A friend, Lizzie White, was standing nearby.
"I did not know either," White said.
Jenkins was silent for a few moments before breaking his silence. Looking at her daughter, who has just graduated from Colorado Law School, Jenkins said she did not want her to worry about her mother at home.
"I did not know it was happening here in Burke County," said Parks. "I am appalled."
The city of Waynesboro is about 70% black and 25% white, but the Burke County population is divided into several racial groups. Hillary Clinton won the county in 2016. Abrams won during a landslide during his primary. The region suffers economically, making relations between small towns vital for survival. There are few jobs for which people can apply. Blacks say whites still have the power to keep. Something as simple as expressing a political opinion may prevent whites from sponsoring your businesses or, in the case of Jenkins, from resorting to harassment.
Jenkins is considered a local hero. Many people have told how she helped them in one way or another, for example, how she helped them grow their business when no one gave them a loan, and how she got them. He was addressing people for whom most had given up. White said Jenkins was his most loyal client while his business had been running for a year and a half until closing due to lack of funding.
Francys Johnson, a local Burke County pastor who is running for the US Congress in the 12th district, told The Root that his campaign posters had also been altered with the word "negro" and that people had told him that They had been threatened with jobs, and got nasty voice messages.
"Make no mistake, it's 2018," said Johnson. "A lot has changed, but a lot remains unchanged. And at the base of this is the same craze for power that has always reserved the right to use violence to get its way. "
The polls have Abrams and Kemp in a tight race that should pass overnight on election night. But the Abrams campaign and its supporters have long claimed that these polls do not take into account the new voters it addresses: newly naturalized citizens, Latinos, college students, registered voters who missed the elections, residents of black rural communities.
Early voting is underway in Georgia. The locals say they waited in line for three hours to vote. As the people of Waynesboro see, the kind of energy they feel for Abrams is similar to that of Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, but more intense and personal. Abrams is a Georgian and a black woman, a child from the South. Nobody will stop them from supporting her. Not Kemp, nor the people who destroyed their placards.
Betty Debbie Green came from nearby Millen County to hear Abrams speak to the church. She is aware of the 53,000 people whose registration status remains uncertain. But she firmly believes that Abrams will overcome it.
"I again the impression that she will win, "she said. "I have this feeling because we have been under depression for two years. And if you think well and you want things to go well, you'd better go to the White House and those states to make sure everything goes smoothly. "
White says that she clearly sees the challenges of voting.
"I am hurt and sad to think that in 2018, we still have that level of hatred around us," she said. "It hurts."
However, none of this will prevent them from going to the polls and supporting Abrams.
"Oh no, no," Jenkins and White said defiantly.
"I'm up," said White. "I will support. Because I am not afraid of what is right. We will defend what is right. I will vote. I will vote."
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