In an attempt to turn out Atlanta's dissatisfied Black voters on Monday, former President Barack Obama reminded them that both civil rights icons John Lewis and Martin Luther King, Jr. knew that activism needs to be paired with gradual political progress. He also used the nation-wide protests for racial justice to lure voters who might be disappointed by the piecemeal changes achieved by electoral politics.
During his Georgia rally, Obama noted that there is a possibility that the Black voters do not like who is in the White House right now and are frustrated and have lost faith in government, thinking it does not make a difference. With these remarks, he was targeting those who had decided not to vote in the US elections 2020.
The former president went on to admit that even he experienced this sort of disappointment in politics during and after his eight years in the White House. He alluded to civil rights icons, including the late Rep. John Lewis, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., claiming that both men realized that taking activism to the streets needs to be coupled with even little progress in the political domain, POLITICO reported.
Obama said if they want to convert their aspirations into laws as well as practices, they must engage in both. He was referencing a conversation he had with Lewis before his death this summer. This plea comes at a time when Democrats make their last push to turn out Black voters, The New York Times reported.
They comprise part of a crucial voting bloc that showed up in lower numbers in key states that Hillary Clinton lost while running against Donald Trump for the presidency back in 2016. Moreover, Obama made this appeal in Georgia's red state, which Democrats think can change from red to blue not only at the presidential, but also at Senate levels, and where Black voters are slated to make a noteworthy portion of the electorate.
With early voting drawing to a close, Black voters have already turned out in Georgia's record numbers, per Los Angeles Times. However, Trump is trying to intrude with Black men across the nation in a bid to strengthen his standing with them while stealing important votes from his rival, Joe Biden.
In his speech, Obama noted that when Lewis' attempts did not eliminate racism or bigotry in the United States, but it led to something that helped to get the Voting Rights Act passed, and that made things better. He went on to say that he could not get everything done as a president, but at the end of eight years, the country is better off than it was when he took office.