Charles M. Blow: 'Georgia voters proved this year that the historic election of a Black senator from a Southern state by a coalition led in many ways by Black people was not a fluke.'
Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, during an election night event after winning the race against his Republican opponent Herschel Walker, in Atlanta, Dec. 6, 2022.I’m a strong advocate of Black reverse migration — Black people returning to Southern states from cities in the North and West in order to concentrate political power.
One of the ways that people often push back on what I’m proposing is to worry aloud about the opposition and backlash to a rising Black population and power base in Southern states.I heard so many people after the Georgia runoff in which Raphael Warnock defeated Herschel Walker who said some version of “Yes, but it was still too close.”
And that coalition sent Warnock back to the Senate in the face of fierce opposition. Not only did the Georgia Legislature and Gov. Brian Kemp do their best to suppress voters — a tactic almost always designed to marginalize nonwhite voters — but Republicans also turned out in droves to try to retain power that they see slipping from their grasp.
According to the Georgia secretary of state’s office, Black voters only account for 29% of registered active voters in the state. During early voting, Black voters outperformed. They went to the polls to prove a point. They voted to flex. According to a Pew Research Center report, the number of Black people registered to vote in Georgia increased 25% from 2016 to 2020, a far larger increase than any other racial group.
Georgia Republicans thought they could fracture the Black vote. They couldn’t. It held strong and united. Some may look at the defeat of Stacey Abrams in the governor’s race and see it as a sign of caution, that the “Old South” is alive and well. But I see it differently. Power will not be passively relinquished. Those with it will fight like hell to retain it. And in that power struggle, they will win some of the battles.
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