Gov. Kemp: MLB ‘gave in to fear’ over voting bill
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp criticized Major League Baseball (MLB) for its decision to transfer its Georgia All-Star Game over a broad bill it signed last month. (April 3)
AP
Former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was criticized on Saturday for a tweet attacking Major League Baseball and several corporations that many considered intolerant and insensitive.
“I decided to ‘identify’ myself as Chinese. Coca will like me, Delta will agree with my ‘values’ and I will probably get Nike shoes and tickets to @MLB games. Isn’t America great?” Huckabee wrote.
Huckabee’s tweet was quickly condemned as racist, as many Asian Americans and anti-hate speech advocates have pointed to anti-Chinese rhetoric as a key factor in increasing anti-Asian hatred – and hate crimes – in the U.S.
The New Georgia Project, a Georgia-based voting rights group, called the tweet “openly racist, “while others called the tweet”hateful, “”shameful” and “antithetical to the gospel. “
Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor, responded to allegations that he had violated Christian doctrine the day before Easter Sunday, saying, “I don’t take Twitter or myself so seriously, but I do take the gospel seriously. I really only want continued joy and blessings.”
Huckabee’s daughter, former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, is running for her father’s former job as governor of Arkansas. “Do you tolerate Mike Huckabee, adding fuel to anti-Asian hatred?” Deputy Ted Lieu, D-Calif., Asked the candidate for governor on Twitter.
Huckabee’s criticism was also part of a bigger reaction against the MLB, after the professional sports league decided to transfer its Atlanta All-Star Game in response to Georgia’s new electoral law. Huckabee also echoed conservative ire towards large companies, headquartered or heavily invested in Peach State – including Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines and Microsoft – that openly oppose the law. Major financial institutions like Citi and JPMorgan Chase have also expressed concern about the law.
More: Georgia’s new voting bill brings about radical changes. See how it will affect you.
Last month, the Republican Legislature and the state governor passed a law that reduced access to voting and added stricter voting requirements. Critics claimed the law was the imposition of a “New Jim Crow” for its disproportionate impact on minority voters, while defenders defended the law’s provisions as necessary security measures. They also say the criticism is overblown and misrepresents the actual content of the law.
“Major League Baseball fundamentally supports the right to vote for all Americans and is opposed to restrictions at the ballot box,” MLB Commissioner Robert D. Manfred said in a statement.
Republican lawmakers in the state and across the country, accordingly, fired on companies and voting rights advocates. Many made comparisons between the corporate handling of the situation in Georgia and the responses of some companies to human rights violations in China.
More: The United States says China is committing genocide against Uighurs. Here are some of the most frightening evidence.
“Dear GOP: @MLB gives in to the pressure and moves draft & #AllStarGame out of Georgia in the same week that they announce an agreement with a company supported by the genocidal Communist Party of # China,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in a tweet in response to the MLB decision. “Why are we still listening to these agreed corporate hypocrites about taxes, regulations and antitrust?”
“Hey @MLB, how many days of early voting are allowed in China?” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., asked in a tweet.
“Hey, Joe Biden, are you going to boycott the Beijing Olympics because of the mass genocide?” Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, wrote in a tweet addressed to the president about the US participation in the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022. “Or do you just want to hurt the small Atlanta companies that planned the game of the stars? Americans are fed up with this agreed-upon BS. @MLB is a shame.”
Georgia lawmakers are fiercely divided on the issue, with Democrats arguing that the decisions of the MLB and large corporations are an unfortunate but justified response to an unfair law, and Republicans argue that the decisions are unfounded.
“Just as elections have consequences, so do elected actions. Unfortunately, removing GA’s @MLB All-Star game is probably the first of many dominoes to fall, until unnecessary barriers are put in place to restrict access to the Internet. ballot boxes are removed, “Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat, wrote on Twitter.
“Today, the Major League Baseball has yielded to fear, political opportunism and liberal lies,” Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, said in a statement.
“Georgians – and all Americans – must understand perfectly what the automatic decision of the MLB means: canceling culture and awakening political activists are coming to all aspects of your life, sports included. If the left disagrees with you, facts and the truth doesn’t matter, “said the governor.
First Jim Crow. Now SB 2020: In Georgia, voter suppression has always been a concern for black voters
Senator Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., A fierce critic of the bill, said in a statement: “Companies and organizations have great power in their voices and the ability to press for change, and I respect the players’ decision to manifest against this unjust law.
“It is my hope that companies, athletes and artists can protest against this law, not leaving Georgia, but coming here and fighting electoral repression head on and hand in hand with the community,” continued the senator.
Atlanta Braves was “saddened” by the decision to move the All-Star Game, the organization said in a tweet, but said the team “will continue to emphasize the importance of equal voting opportunities” and that Atlanta has always “been known as a unit in split times and we will miss the opportunity to address issues that are important to our community”.