Georgia Progressives Celebrate Victory After Defeating Awful Discrimination Bill (VIDEO)


This week, a Georgia lawmaker tried to do something so unbelievably stupid that it could only have been conceived of by a Republican. Rep. Jason Spencer (R-Ga.) attempted to pass a bill modifying a law originally intended to curb KKK violence. His goal? To effectively legalize discrimination against Muslim women.

Let me emphasize the absurdity here. This law was written in 1951 to combat the KKK, a hate group whose goal is discrimination and persecution of diversity. And in 2016, Spencer tried to revise it to discriminate against one of the most vulnerable groups in the contemporary United States. Welcome to Trump’s America, folks.

The ‘Anti-Masking’ Law

The law currently prohibits men from concealing their faces in public. It was created to prevent men in the KKK from committing anonymous acts of violence. It reads:

“A person is guilty of a misdemeanor when he wears a mask, hood, or device by which any portion of the face is so hidden, concealed or covered as the conceal the identity of the wearer and is upon any public way or public property or upon the private property of another without the written permission of the owner or occupier of the property to do so.”

And Spencer wanted to modify the gender-specific language to make the law read “he or she.” Understandably, the Muslim community saw the potential for legal discrimination against women wearing any sort of Islamic veil. Of course, Spencer denied this:

“…[The law] would bring uniformity and equal applicability, and there is no intention of targeting a specific group.”

Sure, Spencer. Of course you didn’t have “specific groups” in mind, even though the Republican hysteria about Muslims is making headlines everywhere.

Let’s keep in mind that Republicans aren’t too keen on publicly acknowledging their racism. You usually have to read between the lines a bit to detect it. Although with Trump and his white nationalist Cabinet soon to be in the White House, Republicans feel a bit more comfortable being overt about their racism.

The Bill’s Withdrawal

Muslim community leaders took a strong and unified stand against the bill. Edward Ahmed Mitchell, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Georgia, spoke out:

“The bill is a bad solution to a nonexistent problem. [Muslim women] are not endangering themselves or anyone else. We have a new president, but not a new Constitution. The bill is unnecessary and unconstitutional, and we intend to oppose it if it goes forward.”

Apparently, Spencer got the message. On Thursday, Nov 17, he withdrew the bill, citing a “visceral reaction” as the reason:

“After further consideration, I have decided to not pursue HB 3 in the upcoming 2017 legislative session due to the visceral reaction it has created. While this bill does not contain language that specifically targets any group, I am mindful of the perception that it has created.

In response, Mitchell said:

“First of all, we want to thank Rep. Spencer for doing the right thing by withdrawing the bill. We thank our coalition partners, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, who stood up for religious freedom. It was reassuring to see the Georgia community uniting so quickly to say that this is not acceptable.”

What a fantastic example of how protest and speaking out against injustice can indeed be effective. That will surely be a valuable lesson to keep in mind when Trump and his team of racists take power.

 

Featured Image by Faizal Riza via Flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0