In the past few weeks Republican-led Georgia has been in the news for transforming former President Donald Trump’s big lie of fraud in the last election into actual voter suppression. Big companies with headquarters in Georgia such as Coca Cola and Delta Airlines came under scrutiny for staying silent. These companies finally issued statements condemning any attacks on the right to vote. In response to corporate America’s frantic response to Georgia’s voting law, Republicans are considering punishing big corporate bodies who dare reprimand them on their push to arguably limit voter access with high taxes. An article in the New York Times by David Gelles looks at these on-going dynamics. Here is an excerpt:
On March 11, Delta Air Lines dedicated a building at its Atlanta headquarters to Andrew Young, the civil rights leader and former mayor. At the ceremony, Mr. Young spoke of the restrictive voting rights bill that Republicans were rushing through the Georgia state legislature. Then, after the speeches, Mr. Young’s daughter, Andrea, a prominent activist herself, cornered Delta’s chief executive, Ed Bastian.
“I told him how important it was to oppose this law,” she said.
For Mr. Bastian, it was an early warning that the issue of voting rights might soon ensnare Delta in another national dispute. Over the past five years, corporations have taken political stands like never before, often in response to the extreme policies of former President Donald J. Trump.
Read the full article here. Also, visit the main Democracy Chronicles section on American Democracy or our articles on Money Politics and Worldwide Corruption.
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