Ga. students take to streets to protest 'dehumanizing' voting law that criminalizes handing out water

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

Oct. 19, 2024, 3:30 PM EDT


ATLANTA — In the latest public rebuke of Georgia’s controversial 2021 voting law, dozens of Black students and activists marched through the heart of historic Morehouse College on Saturday in an effort to push back on what they call “anti-voting” measures in Georgia and other states.

Since 2021, SB 202 — also known as the Election Integrity Act — has made it illegal in Georgia for anyone to hand a hot or thirsty person a bottle of water while standing in line to vote. Those participating at Saturday’s rally cited SB 202 as one of many “inhumane laws that attempt to suppress the vote for Black and brown people,” said Nicole Carty, the executive director of Get Free, a Gen Z- and millennial-led movement that focuses on social justice.

“It is so visibly dehumanizing to actually criminalize such an act of humanity and dignity,” she said. “It really exemplifies the broader inhumanity and inequality of all these voter laws that are happening.”

Carty added: “It’s not just about not being able to hand out water. Many of the most insidious components of these anti-voter laws are deep in the bureaucracy and Jim Crow. So, we’re using it to shine a light on what is dehumanizing about these laws.”

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/ga-students-take-streets-denounce-dehumanizing-law-criminalizes-handin-rcna176235

[CTyankee]

1. A new low for these monsters. And I'll bet they call themselves Christians and carry their Bibles...

I'm sure there is something in there about not giving water to those who thirst...

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

3. You know they do

[Cirsium]

8. Indeed there is something in there

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me." Then the righteous will answer him, saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?" And the King will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."

Matthew 25:35-40

[Gore1FL]

13. That describes roughly 2000 years of the religon. nt

[JustAnotherGen]

2. Good on them!

I know it isn't *sexy* like the Gaza protests - but they are shining light on injustice and inhumanity in their own backyard.

So often - America seems to have a problem with that.

I guess Jim Crow 2.0 isn't a big deal to their peers.

[Moebym]

12. Not to diminish the horrors and devastation of the Gaza war

But there are so many humanitarian crises out there in the world that it seems Gaza is currently the shiny object, if only because it's the only one that could be tied to and therefore hurt the Democrats.

[JustAnotherGen]

17. Amen

ETA - Jim Crow 2.0 hurts the MAGA Party. Their policies resurrect Jim Crow.

[Martin68]

4. It is a fascist law.

[GAJMac]

5. How 'bout this

Get the bottled water.
Get a pocket full of nickels.
Drive it to where people are waiting in the ridiculously long line.
Offer to SELL them water at a nickel a bottle.
Then... loan them the nickel.

Hey, nothing illegal here. Just good old American capitalism. I just don't have a very good business model, right?

[BumRushDaShow]

6. I wouldn't put it past some municipalities

requiring a "vendors license" to do that. They know how to pull out every trick in the book.

[KS Toronado]

11. Yea they probably got all the bases covered to make life miserable to vote

I would think they could sue local governments for cruel and unusual punishment for wanting to vote.
Get some Evangelicals to state this is not how we are to treat our fellow man, close polling locations
so we get long lines and then make them go hungry. Do they even have port-a-potties handy?

Sure would be nice after Kamala is sworn in to find a way to have some universal voting requirements
for all 50 States.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. "Sure would be nice after Kamala is sworn in to find a way to have some universal voting requirements"

Unfortunately per the U.S. Constitution, "states" handle their own elections. The federal government can implement certain "universal" requirements when dealing with federal office-holders, and there were 2 bills crafted back in 2021 to do that including restoring provisions of the VRA that John Roberts tossed out and finally starting to deal with the fallout of Citizen's United and campaign finance issues, but they were blocked by Manchin and Sinema (i.e., the need to kill, or at least carve out an exception to the cloture/filibuster rule to get those passed).

[ananda]

7. Good!

Nice to see students so engaged in righting
such an obvious wrong!

[Silent Type]

9. Any kind or "inducement" has been against Ga law for decades. Most folks just take a bottle

with them. I take two, but never really saw anyone that needed one.

Fortunately, polling places can provide water and/or fountains. Most do.

[lastlib]

14. How about taking a pack of bottled water.....

...when you see someone that needs one, set one on the ground beside them. Then walk away. You're not *giving* it to them. Or just take a pack out and leave it in the yard--let them come take it.

[Cirsium]

21. Sure

The cops will declare it "littering" and the Republicans will make it a felony.

[sheshe2]

10. Power to the people, power to the people right on!

[Zilli]

15. It's about punishing the citizens of Georgia for the heinous crime of voting.

Cruelty is always the goal for the maga cult.

[otchmoson]

18. Dox them

How about doxing the legislators who passed such a ridiculous law? Let the public know who's responsible.

[FemDemERA]

19. Is there a way around the "standing in line" rule?

Can they park a pickup full of Water in the parking lot or even a couple blocks away? So people could get it before they get in line?

[Timeflyer]

20. Another in the Southern tradition of Jim Crow voter suppression laws. Proud of those kids.

[electric_blue68]

22. Good on you, students! Damn the voter suppression laws!

[CousinIT]

23. . . .

ENABLED by a MAGA/Leonard Leo-packed US Supreme Court, which gutted the Voting Rights Act, Citizens United, and MAGA election conspiracy/denialism.