Bishop Reginald T. Jackson is no stranger to efforts to get people out to vote nor the attempts to keep them from doing so.
So he’s keeping a keen eye on what happens at the polls in Georgia during the upcoming senate and gubernatorial elections and participating in the kick-off of the Georgia “Get Out the Vote” effort on Tuesday.
“The eyes of the nation are going to be on Georgia,” said Jackson, presiding prelate of the Sixth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
At 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Jackson will join other faith leaders, voting advocates and civil rights organizations for a rally at the King Center, 449 Auburn Ave. Following the rally, participants will march down Auburn Avenue to the John Lewis Mural across from Big Bethel AME Church.
Jackson was recently joined by other faith leaders on a Zoom call to discuss the rally including the Rev. Cynthia Hale, pastor of Ray of Home Christian Church in Decatur; the Rev. Timothy McDonald III, senior pastor of First Iconium Baptist Church on Moreland Avenue in Atlanta; and the Rev. Lee May, senior pastor of Transforming Faith Church, and a former CEO of DeKalb County.
Jackson took aim at SB 202 signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp last year, allowing state takeovers of local elections, shorter absentee ballot deadlines and new voter ID requirements for absentee ballots.
Rather than discouraging people from voting, Jackson said he hopes instead the law will spur more voters to cast their ballots.
McDonald said people are “circling the wagons. I haven’t been engaged in action like this in probably 20 years.”
While he cited “tremendous advances last year” in clear reference to the elections of President Joe Biden and Senators Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael G. Warnock, senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, he added, “We’ve got to keep this ball rolling up the hill.”
Also on Tuesday, Marc Morial, the former mayor of New Orleans and now president of the National Urban League, will be in Atlanta to release the “2022 State of Black America” report.
The report “Under Siege: The Plot to Destroy Democracy” will be unveiled at 10 a.m. at Clark Atlanta University. There will be series of panel discussions that include the Rev. Al Sharpton, who will attend virtually, and MSNBCs Tiffany Cross, who will attend.
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