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WABE’s Week In Review: Another Week Of Fallout From Georgia’s Voter Law

April 10th, 2021

A demonstrator outside the Georgia Capitol holds a sign, decrying an overhaul of the state’s election laws.

Emil Moffatt/WABE

Georgia continues to remain in the national spotlight this week as the fallout from the state’s controversial voting law continues.

Hear WABE’s Emil Moffatt break down the new law with our Lisa Rayam.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp continues to stand behind the state’s new voting laws, even as a growing number of major corporations push back against them.

At a press conference at the state Capitol following Major League Baseball’s announcement that it was moving the All-Star Game from Atlanta, the Republican blamed the backlash on what he calls “disinformation”

“They ignored the facts of our new ‘Election Integrity’ law, and they ignored the consequences of their decision on our local community,” said Kemp.

The new sweeping voting laws in Georgia and other states are largely not necessary, according to David Becker with the bipartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research.

Voting laws: Colorado vs. Georgia …

Poll workers deposit ballots from voters in the drive-thru lane at the CentrePoint Plaza polling station in Aurora, Colorado, on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020. (Hart Van Denburg /CPR News)

After Major League Baseball pulled its All-Star Game from Truist Park in Cobb County, MLB officials then awarded the game and its weekend festivities to Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. The move sparked outrage from Georgia Republican lawmakers, who have been under fire for passing the state’s new voting law. Some, like Kemp, called the move “hypocritical,” suggesting Colorado’s voting rules are more stringent than Georgia’s.

WABE spoke with Colorado Public Radio’s Caitlyn Kim about the voting rules in Colorado.

Seeking “a proper memorial …”

A consecration ceremony was held over the weekend at the site of the old Chattahoochee Brick Co., where many Black people are believed to have died without proper burials. The brick company was one of many convict labor camps in the post-Civil War South, where Black men, women and children were sold into captivity, many after being arrested on made-up charges. — A consecration ceremony was held last weekend at the site of the old Chattahoochee Brick Co., where many Black people are believed to have died without proper burials. The brick company was one of many convict labor camps in the post-Civil War South, where Black men, women and children were sold into captivity, many after being arrested on made-up charges. (Christopher Alston/WABE)

Black community leaders are hopeful they may be making progress in a fight to reclaim land in northwest Atlanta that they say is sacred.

Clergy, activists, lawmakers and members of the community held a consecration ceremony at the site of the old Chattahoochee Brick Co. last weekend to memorialize the victims of the atrocity that took place there.

Bigger than baseball …

On the night when Hank Aaron made history, Ron Sherman captured a photo of two teenagers patting Aaron on the back. Sherman shared the backstory behind this iconic photograph on “City Lights.” — On the night when Hank Aaron made history, two teenagers ran onto the field to celebrate the monumental feat. (Ron Sherman)

It was 47 years ago Thursday when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record in front of a sellout crowd at Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium.

Aaron — who was also a civil rights hero and did so much for Atlanta — suffered extreme racial abuse throughout his career, especially as he got closer to Ruth’s record.

As he rounded the bases on April 8, 1974, with so many people celebrating, Aaron told WABE in 2016 all he felt was relief.

“It was 2½ years, I’ve probably told this story many times, was probably the saddest 2½ years I ever had in baseball myself,” said Aaron.

In times like these, these kind of moments show themselves to be so much bigger than sports. As legendary Vin Scully so perfectly put it that day:

“What a marvelous moment for baseball! What a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia! What a marvelous moment for the country and the world! A Black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol!