About
By Jamal-Harrison Bryant, senior pastor of New Birth Cathedral in Stonecrest - for the AJC, May 26, 2026.
Across this nation, and specifically here in Georgia, we are witnessing a deliberate effort to reduce the political power of African Americans and marginalized communities through voter suppression tactics, judicial maneuvering and redistricting schemes designed to weaken hard-fought gains.
While America remains consumed with outrage cycles, celebrity scandals, partisan theater and social media trends, political power is quietly being rearranged underneath our feet. This is the new algorithm of distraction: Keep people emotionally exhausted while democracy is reshaped in real time.
It seems that 2026 showed up dressed like 1955. The tools of fracturing freedom and dismantling democracy may look different from the Civil Rights era, but the objective feels painfully familiar. Today’s assault on democracy does not require bully racists like Bull Connor; it uses smiling MAGA partisans like Govs. Greg Abbott of Texas and Brian Kemp of Georgia and carefully crafted legislation sophisticated enough to appear procedural while producing devastating consequences for communities historically oppressed and suppressed.
Rights once considered untouchable now appear negotiable. Legal precedents are being chipped away piece by piece until the extraordinary begins to feel normal. And we cannot allow it to feel normal.
**Join us AFTER our next meeting at East Cobb Library, Saturday, Jun 6 @ 12:30p in protest of Kemp's decision to redraw our district maps again and in solidarity for the marginalized groups these new maps would likely hurt the most. We will meet on the public sidewalk on Johnson Ferry Rd in front of Gusto's and Regions Bank.**
***A core principle behind all IND Cobb events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values and to act lawfully at these eve
Details
Show
9:00am
Ends
10:00am
Ages
All ages
Tickets
Free
Getting There
4880 Lower Roswell Road Marietta, GA