Following Georgia’s approval of new restrictions on voters on Thursday, several voices are considering a boycott of state companies.
Republican-led legislation, which imposes an identity requirement for voters by correspondence, has been criticized by President Joe Biden as “a flagrant attack on the constitution and good conscience.
One of the loudest voices belongs to Bishop Reginald Jackson of the AME Church’s Sixth Episcopal District, who told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he is calling for a boycott of Coca-Cola products until the company declares strong opposition to the new law.
“We are going to talk to our wallets,” he said. “Last summer, Coca and other corporations said they needed to speak out against racism. But they have been very quiet about it.”
The Atlanta-based company said in a statement that it favors greater accessibility for voters.
“During the legislative session, we were active with the Metro Atlanta Chamber expressing our concerns and advocating for a positive change in voting legislation,” the document said. “We, together with our business coalition partners, sought improvements that would improve accessibility, maximize voter participation, maintain electoral integrity and serve all Georgians.”
Others target the state’s growing film industry. Director James Mangold (“Girl, interrupted”, “Logan”) tweeted Friday, “I am not going to direct a film in Georgia.”
LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, began a campaign to pressure Georgia-based companies to oppose restrictions on voters.
Asked by MSNBC presenter Joy Reid Friday if a boycott was in order, Brown said: “I think all things should be considered at the table.”
Voting rights platform Democracy Docket said in a statement on Friday that Aflac, Delta Air Lines, Home Depot and UPS are among the companies pressured to speak out against the law.
Aflac said in a statement last week that “it would only support solutions that make voting easy and accessible for all qualified voters, while maintaining the security and transparency of the voting process.”
Delta said on Friday that it “believes that full and equal access to voting is a fundamental right for all citizens”.
Home Depot and UPS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Friday, Biden called the restrictions, which made it illegal to provide food or water to people waiting in line to vote, the “outrageous” return of Jim Crow’s racist laws.
Not everyone thinks a boycott is the answer. Bernice King, CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, said that such an action could harm some of the voters he seeks to help.
“Please stop the conversation #BoycottGeorgia”, she tweeted Thursday. “It would hurt middle-class workers and people struggling with poverty. And it would increase the damage from racism and classism.”
In 2019, several filmmakers boycotted the state because of the ban on abortion in cases where the fetal heartbeat could be detected.
