BLACK Lives Matter activists are calling for Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Delta and UPS to be boycotted in Georgia until the businesses speak out against new voting laws in the state.
Democratic State Senator Raphael Warnock has so far refused to rebuff calls for the boycotts, insisting the protest “should be on the table” and said he’s waiting to see “how all of that plays out.”
Leading the charge against Coca-Cola and the other Georgia-based companies is the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC), which represents 500 black churches.
The group, with the help of other activists, held a rally in Atlanta on Thursday and got the hashtag #BoycottCocaCola to trend across the weekend.
“[If] Coca-Cola wants black and brown people to drink their product, then they must speak up when our rights, our lives and our very democracy as we know it is under attack,” Bishop Reginald Jackson said at the rally outside the Georgia Capitol.
A coalition, which includes The New Georgia Project, Georgia STAND-UP, the Georgia NAACP, and Black Voters Matter, also held a “die-in” in front of Coca-Cola’s Atlanta headquarters on Monday.
The protests come in response to two bills put forward by Republican lawmakers in the State Senate to impose additional identification requirements for absentee ballots, restrictions on drop boxes and earlier poll closures, among other measures.
Stacey Abrams, a prominent Democratic politician in the state, said the new rules will disproportionately affect historically marginalized voters, including young people, the disabled, and minority ethnic groups.
President Joe Biden also spoke out to condemn the proposed new law, calling it “Jim Crow in the 21st Century.”
Civil rights activists and voter advocacy groups believe black voters, who account for 30 percent of Georgia’s total vote, would be particularly affected by the new measures.
Black voters and other voters of color played a key role in the election of Joe Biden in November, in addition to electing two Democratic senators in the state’s January run-offs, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
Pushed on whether he supported AMEC’s calls to boycott the likes of Coca-Cola and Delta, Warnock told CNN on Sunday he believed they “should be on the table.”
“I think we all have to use our voices … I’ve seen these corporations falling over themselves every year around the time of the [Martin Luther] King holiday, celebrating Dr. King and yes, I think that the way to celebrate Dr. King is to stand up for what he represented, voting rights.
“We will see how all of that plays out, but I’m focused on what we can do in the United States Senate.”
Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed the controversial election reform bill on Thursday just two hours after it was approved by the Republican-controlled legislature.
On the same day, a rally was held outside the Capitol by AMEC.
Speaking at the event, Bishop Jackson said there had been a “deafening silence” around voting rights from the likes of Coca-Cola and numerous other Atlanta-based companies since they issued statements last year in support of Black Lives Matter.
“We will speak with our wallets,” Jackson pledged. “This past summer, Coke and other corporations said they needed to speak out against racism. But they’ve been mighty quiet about this.”
In an interview with the Guardian, he added: “Our position is they’ve not lived up to their own words. By your silence you’re actually being complicit. So we’re going to say to them, if you want our money, then you ought to have our back.”
Bishop and AMEC urged Coca-Cola, as well as Delta Airlines, Home Depot, Aflac, UPS, and Southern Company to use their political clout to oppose the bills in the legislature.
With pressure mounting, Coca-Cola, Delta and Home Depot all told Bloomberg they had lobbied Georgia lawmakers to remove some of the more extreme measures called for in the legislation.
In a statement issued on Friday, Home Depot said it “supports candidates on both sides of the aisle who champion pro-business, pro-retail positions that create jobs and economic growth.”
“We believe that all elections should be accessible, fair and secure and support broad voter participation,” said Home Depot spokesperson Sara Gorman.
“We’ll continue to work to ensure our associates, both in Georgia and across the country, have the information and resources to vote.”
Coca-Cola, meanwhile, said that while the bill was being debated, the company was “active with the Metro Atlanta Chamber in expressing our concerns and advocating for positive change in voting legislation.”
The company added: “We, along with our business coalition partners, sought improvements that would enhance accessibility, maximize voter participation, maintain election integrity and serve all Georgians.”
Delta also said it had lobbied both Democratic and GOP lawmakers about the need for free and fair elections that ensure all who want to vote have ample access to the means to do so.
“The legislation signed this week improved considerably during the legislative process, and expands weekend voting, codifies Sunday voting and protects a voter’s ability to cast an absentee ballot without providing a reason,” the airline said.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson took to Twitter on Friday to express his opposition to Coca-Cola, tweeting, “I am not buying @CocaCola products and now re-evaluating my relationships with
@Delta @HomeDepot @UPS as long as they are complicity silent.”
Also under fire in the wake of the newly enacted law being signed, is the Masters golf tournament and Major League Baseball.
The Masters is due to take place in Augusta, Georgia, on August 8; while the MLB All-Star Game is slated for July 13, at Truist Park.
Participants of the annual All-Star game are reportedly open to discussing a change of venues, The Boston Globe reported.
‘Players are very much aware of the Georgia voting bill, which places restrictions on voting that some believe will make it particularly difficult for black voters to reach the polls,’ said Tony Clark, executive director of the MLB Players Association.
‘As it relates to the All-Star Game, we have not had a conversation with the league on that issue. If there is an opportunity to, we would look forward to having that conversation.’
The National Black Justice Coalition, a Black and LGBTQ civil rights group, has also called out the Masters in a recent statement, saying tournament organizers should be taking action against the law.
“The PGA Tour and Masters Tournament have both made commitments to help diversify golf and address racial inequities in this country – and we expect them to not only speak out against Georgia’s new racist voter suppression law – but to also take action,” the statement read.
While the activist group awaits a response, James Mangold, the director of films such as Walk The Line and Ford v Ferrari, tweeted on Thursday: “I will not direct a film in Georgia.”
“Georgia has been using cash to steal movie jobs from other states that allow people to vote,” he told the Wrap. “I don’t want to play there. I am not telling anyone else what to do. I just can’t work there till this changes.”
