NEW YORK – When he signed the 98-page law on restricting voting in Georgia on Thursday, Republican Governor Brian Kemp warned: “The demonizers will attack us thanks to the support of their friends in the national media.” Four days later, the “enemies” of one of the most restrictive laws in America, especially against poor and African Americans, could come from two unsuspected worlds: baseball, one of the least black sports in America, and golf, beloved maniacally by the first advocate of the law, former President Donald Trump.
Baseball players association executive director Tony Clark said he “can’t wait” to discuss the possibility of taking the Midsummer Classic, the All Star game that will feature baseball stars on the pitch, out of Georgia. scheduled for July 13 in Atlanta. “The players are fully aware of what is happening – said Clark – we haven’t talked to the league yet but we can’t wait to do it.” The Los Angeles Times asked, in an editorial, to move the event. The director of “Le Mans ’66 – The great challenge”, James Mangold, has threatened to stop making films in Georgia, others call for a boycott of Coca Cola, which is based in the southern state, while the Republican Senator Lindsey Graham spoke of “senseless law”.
Alvin, the beagle who made Democrats win elections in Georgia
by our correspondent Anna Lombardi
The turning point in the protest could come from a not so plebeian and not so popular sport for civil battles. The National Black Justice Coalition has asked the PGA Tour to stop the Augusta Master, one of the most important golf tournaments in the world, scheduled in Georgia from April 8 to 11 at the Augusta National Golf Course. “The new law that limits the right to vote – write the leaders of the civil rights organization – wants to make blacks and poor people return to the role of second-class citizens”. They appealed to the players to boycott the event in protest. “The Pga Tour and the Masters Tournament – they add – have taken a position on racial issues, now we expect concrete actions”.
While waiting for the PGA Tour to explain what he will do, the most famous American player after Tiger Woods spoke: Trump. The former president congratulated the governor: “With the rigged elections in 2020 they understood that we cannot allow it to happen again. It is just a pity that these changes have not been made before.” The law provides for a limitation of voting by correspondence, the reduction of the boxes where the ballots can be deposited before the election day and the ban on bringing food and water to those in line in front of the polling stations. President Joe Biden, who won in Georgia in November thanks to the large turnout, called the law “anti-American”, calling it the “Jim Crow of the 21st century”, a reference to a series of segregationist laws in force until to 1964. The name comes from ‘Jump Jim Crow’, a caricature song from the 1800s in which African Americans were made fun of.
.