Former Georgia State consultant Dee Dawkins-Haigler stood in entrance of dozens of ladies, every wearing matching brown t-shirts. Dawkins-Haigler, who is aware of her approach across the Georgia State Capitol after serving District 91, stepped to the microphone and stated she was excited to be there with the opposite ladies as a result of “God has assembled this for such a day like this.”
Dawkins-Haigler, a radio speak present host on native radio station 1380 WAOK stated, “Not will we take a second seat to anyone.”
Photograph by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
The Georgia Black Girls’s Roundtable (GBWR), an arm of the Georgia Coalition for the Individuals’s Agenda, gathered alongside supporters of different Black-interest teams on the south wing steps of the Georgia Capitol on Monday morning with a number of normal points in thoughts. On a day when dozens of organizations and tons of of elected officers have been to be downtown pining to be heard, the GBWR needed to verify their voices have been additionally heard.
There are solely 40 days (by late March/early April) to resolve on the state’s annual working price range and to suggest state legal guidelines by the Georgia legislature, which is led by the Republican Get together, and is without doubt one of the largest legislative our bodies within the nation. On Monday the Home representatives voted 153-27 in favor of electing Republican Jon Burns as its speaker for the 2025-26 session.
“I’m extremely assured in every member of this physique and our skill to go measures to make Georgia higher,” Burns stated following the vote and being escorted again onto the Home flooring by a committee of his friends. “It’s a terrific day to be in Georgia, and a good better day to be a Georgian.”
Downstairs throughout the vote, the Black organizations in attendance on the press convention needed to voice their opinions on the best way to make it a greater day to be a Black lady, mom, enterprise proprietor, father or mother, and voter in Georgia as effectively. The teams, a few of whom wore sorority gear, whereas others carried different t-shirts and even a espresso mug that learn “Lease Management”, used the primary day of the legislative session to place a highlight on a report compiled by the GBWR highlighting issues and challenges dealing with Black Georgians. A number of the points listed within the report concerned schooling, psychological well being initiatives, voting rights issues, Mission 2025, one of many extra polarizing matters all through the newest presidential marketing campaign, and Black ladies entrepreneurship. The press convention, which lasted lower than 20 minutes and featured three audio system, happened minutes after the Nationwide Anthem throughout the opening minutes of Monday’s opening session.
Nationwide Council of Negro Girls Nationwide Chair Dr. A. Lois Keith opened with speaking factors about why the ladies have been gathering in such a fashion for the primary time on the State Capitol. Dr. Darlene McGhee Whittington, the Nationwide President of Jack and Jill, Inc. additionally took a flip telling the group on the inaugural assembly within the State Capitol, “We’re right here immediately to face in solidarity with our sisters.”
There was no point out if different conferences just like this one will happen once more throughout the 2025 session, however the picture of dozens of Black ladies crowding the south steps was new for the legislative session.
“We don’t need not one Black lady left behind,” stated Dawkins-Haigler. “That is our second, that is our time. Black ladies are right here and we’re right here to remain.”
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