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Two of Georgia’s largest black church groups will officially unite for the first time to mobilize black voters in the battleground state ahead of November’s presidential election.
Two congregations, the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, plan to mobilize their own resources and the state’s more than 140,000 parishioners to carry out the voting program, which they plan to announce on Monday. Georgia State Capitol.
Their efforts will focus only on Georgia for now, but at a time when national polls show black Americans are lagging in their political energy and enthusiasm for President Biden is waning, black churches are being used to boost turnout. The aim is to reinvigorate it as a powerful driving force. It was because of their support that he was able to ascend to the White House in 2020.
Both churches have long widely promoted the expansion and protection of civil rights and voting rights across the United States, but there has generally been no coordination of messages or shared resources.
But now, their leaders, Bishop Reginald T. Jackson and Bishop Thomas L. Brown Sr., are betting on this year’s elections and recent legislation in Georgia that would restrict voting rights and redistrict congressional districts. He said that he views the passage of the Act as an unavoidable reason. Strive towards a common goal.
“This is serious and critical,” said Bishop Brown of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which oversees about 300 churches in Georgia. “We need to show leadership, we need to empower our people, and we need to be on the ground, especially in rural Georgia.”
At another point, he said, “in the civil rights movement, especially in the late ’60s,” there was greater “unity among churches across denominations.” He added: “After some of these advances, I think we kind of faded a little bit.”
As Biden struggles to rebuild support among black voters, there is also pressure from churches whose members lean strongly toward Democrats. Donald J. Trump won just 11% of Georgia’s black vote in the 2020 election, according to exit polls. But in October, a New York Times poll found Trump supported by 19% of voters in the state.
“Given the importance of this election and the voices heard across the country that Black people are disinclined to vote and that some have decided not to vote, we believe it is important to formally do something together. ,” Bishop said. Mr. Jackson presides over more than 500 African Methodist Episcopal churches in Georgia.
The voting program has a modest budget of $200,000 to $500,000, but church leaders say the goal is to provide one guiding voice for the two churches.
Other Black faith groups are also working to reach voters this year.
The Rev. William J. Barber II of the Poor People’s Campaign, an economic justice coalition inspired by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., announced Thursday a 30-state voter engagement campaign starting next month. .
In December, the National Action Network and the National Conference of Black Churches announced a joint voting campaign aimed at meeting urgent needs such as vaccinations in many communities.
For decades, black churches have played a vital role in winning over black voters, often helping Democrats win. Georgia turned out voters en masse in 2020, helping Biden turn the state blue, and Democrats similarly won the 2021 and 2022 Senate campaigns.
The collaboration between the two churches serves, in part, as a response to an established political network of conservative, white-majority evangelical churches in Georgia and beyond. Their followers are a key Republican constituency that has helped shape the party’s policy goals for decades. Evangelical denominations account for more than 50% of all Christian churches in Georgia, but historically black churches account for 16%, according to a Pew Research Center study.
Bishop Jackson said, “Unfortunately, over the last 30, 40 years, the Black church has not been as tenacious and consistent in motivating and educating our community on issues that affect our community. ” Bishop Jackson said. “And what’s happened, and it’s really frustrating to me, is that white evangelicals have used that as an opportunity to lead a lot of people into non-Christian ways of thinking that we believe in. about it.”
During the 2020 election, Bishop Jackson spearheaded a program called Operation Voter Vote that focused on voter education, registration efforts, absentee voting assistance, and promoting Sunday voting coordination.
Now, the lessons learned from that effort will be spread throughout the congregations of both churches. Their programs include regular listening sessions on politics and workshops on voting. Create a “Personal Voter Plan” for believers to vote and persuade their families to do the same. and weekly voter registration drives.
“Voter registration happens every Sunday at our church,” said Cheryl Davenport Dozier, who helps coordinate civic engagement efforts for Georgia AME churches. “And we continue to support rural areas where the effects of COVID-19 continue to be disrupted.”
She added, “Sometimes we’ll have up to 100 people showing up. We’ll have voter registration forms there so we can get them out to people.” Some of the participants are homeless, but “they still have the right to vote,” she said.
Bishop Brown said the listening session is especially important for church leaders to understand why some black voters in the state are becoming apathetic.
“It’s another thing to read apathy or dissatisfaction, whether it’s the Biden administration or whoever,” he said. “I think we need listening sessions where we can have a dialogue with people on the ground about what’s going on, what their frustrations are, what their disappointments are, and address it as best we can with facts and determination.”
Indeed, leaders of both churches believe there is still time to reinvigorate one of Georgia’s most influential voting groups.
“No matter what anyone says, black people believe in the systems that are put in place to protect our rights,” said the Rev. Willie J. Barber II. He also works on civic engagement efforts with AME churches in Georgia, sharing the same name as Mr. Barber of the Poor People’s Campaign. “One of the concerns is that they feel like it’s going to go away easily. And how do we make sure that doesn’t happen? How do we keep our democracy alive so we can stay alive?” Should I let it happen?”
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