“Invest in people who don’t look like the success that you’re used to” is a brilliant piece of advice. It’s easy to overlook or dismiss people whose skills and experience don’t match up with the traditional and sometimes narrow markers of accomplishment. That thoughtful reflection by Stacey Abrams is among the many ideas to study and savor in this timely interview with Rebecca Traister in The Cut. Abrams also details the strategic organizing framework at the center of the 10 year effort to turn the tide in Georgia: voter engagement and education, building statewide infrastructure, and developing a network of funders.
Moving Georgia away from voter suppression to the practice of free and fair democratic process required a movement. To that end, Abrams first launched Fair Fight to protect voting rights and election integrity. Then came the New Georgia Project, which was started to sign-up people for the Affordable Care Act and later morphed into a voter registration organization. After establishing both groups, Abrams handed the reins over to other leaders. Fair Fight and the New Georgia Project became part of a growing coalition of organizers and organizations deeply committed and connected to communities across the state, including- the Black Voters Matter Fund, Asian Americans Advancing Justice- Atlanta, GALEO, U.S. Representative-elect Nikema Williams, Helen Butler, Rebecca DeHart, Dubose Porter, and the Georgia Democratic Party.
Abrams’ story is inspiring and powerful. “In the wake of the election, my mission was to figure out what work could I do, even if I didn’t have the title of governor,” she told Traister. No one would have blamed her for walking away from politics after losing the 2018 race for Georgia governor. The election was tainted by aggressive and blatant voter suppression. Yet her vision didn’t waver. Stacey Abrams never let other people’s assumptions dictate or define what was possible.
DP Cogan Consulting 