I Am Georgian

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I am Georgian.

That’s what Georgians will stress in the Senate Run Off Election between Ralph Warnock and Herschel Walker.

Ralph Warnock, born and raised in the state of Georgia. I am Georgian. Preach!

I am Georgian. What’s the big deal? It’s because in the eyes of people like Mitch McConnell, being born in the U.S. does not automatically make you an American.

Rewind to January 2022

I am an American.

African Americans were online with that statement of fact. The world wondered why. It started 19 January 2022, with Mitch McConnell, U.S. Senate Minority leader’s response, to a question about their concerns.

“Well the concern is misplaced because if you look at the statistics, African-American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.”

McConnell back-tracked and said his comment was not meant to be exclusionary. For many African Americans, it was no breaking news. They have known that all along. They live it.

They don’t belong. Not only that, they are not human beings, which explains how Derek Chauvin, a police officer of a country called America pressed the life out of George Floyd, an African American, with his boot.

I am an American.

Citizenship, being American in this case, affords individuals certain rights and protection. Privileges come with obligations, like obeying the laws of the country and fighting for it in wars. For some African Americans, the military is the only alternative because the ‘real’ America is like Mitch McConnell, it doesn’t recognize them as Americans.

The United States of America has a colonial DNA. People from Europe continue to flock to the U.S. the same way their forefathers came to set up what is known as the Founding Fathers. They are regarded as the real Americans.

MCCONNELL IN CONTEXT

Note the date in question, 19 January 2022. Mitch McConnell did two things:

1. He said African Americans are not Americans.

2. He voted to uphold voter oppression laws in red states, by upholding the filibuster, thus effectively blocking restoration of voting rights, which affects mostly black voters.

Fast Forward to Georgia 6 December

I am Georgian. Voters will declare once again that they live in Georgia and will vote for things that concern them on a daily basis. They won’t take the first flight back to Texas, after the Senate Run Off.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang. 

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