Following the end of the Civil War, Southern states immediately sought to limit the freedoms of Black Americans through laws known as black codes, and to prevent exercise of their right to vote through felon disenfranchisement laws, poll taxes, and literacy tests. These same racist institutional barriers still exist today—some in exact name—and also suppress Indigenous and other People of Color voters. Community organizers and policy experts are on the frontlines engaging and supporting voters, while challenging systemically racist voting practices to realize a more equitable democratic process.
In this episode of Untying Knots, hosts Erica Licht (Senior Fellow at the IARA Project of Ash Center) and Nikhil Raghuveera (Fellow at the Atlantic Council GeoTech Center) take a closer look at the history of racism in US voting, as well as its specific iterations in the state of Georgia. Their conversations with key staff at the ACLU of Georgia and the New Georgia Project reveal how the two organizations are amplifying the voices of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color voters, and striving to eliminate racist barriers in current and future elections.
Notes:
Untying Knots, co-hosted by Nikhil Raghuveera and Erica Licht, explores how people and organizations are untying knots of systemic oppression and working towards a more equitable future. Each episode features special guests and a focus on thematic areas across society.
This podcast is published by the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center.
Thanks to Christopher Bruce, Nse Ufot, LaTosha Brown, Sanhitha Raghuveeera, and Dr. Megan Ming Francis.
Learn More:
ACLU of Georgia: https://www.acluga.org/
New Georgia Project: https://newgeorgiaproject.org/
Music:
Beauty Flow by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flow License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
About the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project
The Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project believes in working at the intersection of community, academia, and policy to address intellectual and practical questions as they relate to antiracism policy, practice, and institutional change. In order to create and sustain change, the goal of this project is to promote antiracism as a core value for organizations by critically evaluating structures and policies within institutions. The project aims to analytically examine the current field of antiracism with a lens on research and innovation, policy, dialogue, and community involvement.
Our vision is to be a leader in institutional antiracism research, policy, and advocacy, and propose structural change in institutions and media centered on antiracism work in the public, private, non-profit sectors and digital space. This work will focus on researching existing organizations that conduct antiracism training and development while analyzing their effectiveness and promoting best practices in the field. Additionally, we will study the implementation of antiracism work among institutions that self-identify as antiracist and promote accountability structures in order for them to achieve their goals.
About the Ash Center
The Ash Center is a research center and think tank at Harvard Kennedy School focused on democracy, government innovation, and Asia public policy. AshCast, the Center's podcast series, is a collection of conversations, including events and Q&As with experts, from around the Center on pressing issues, forward-looking solutions, and more.
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