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House January 6th Select Committee Holds Its Fourth Hearing

Georgia election workers Wandrea Arshaye “Shaye” Moss and Ruby Freeman appear before Jan. 6 Committee on June 21, 2022. Source: Kevin Dietsch / Getty

No one should ever accept harassment and violence against election workers and voter registration volunteers. Black election workers in Georgia are still fighting to serve their communities in peace, nearly six decades after three voting rights organizers were killed in Mississippi.

Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea Arshaye “Shaye” Moss, testified before the January 6 Committee, detailing the harassment and targeting that began between the 2020 general election and the 2021 Georgia Senate Runoff election.  

During her video testimony shared Tuesday, Freeman shared the horror of having the president use his platform and power to attack her by name. Both mother and daughter described fearing for their safety. Previous reports documented countless threats of violence, with no law enforcement agency intervening to protect them in the months after the election. 

Moss shared that when she discovered hateful messages on social media, her mother said she was lucky it was 2020 instead of 1920. She’s also fortunate it wasn’t 1964.  

Their testimony comes 58 years after Andrew Goodman, James Earl Chaney, and Michael Schwerner were assassinated by the Ku Klux Klan for helping to register Black voters in Mississippi. According to the SNCC Legacy Project, Schwerner and Chaney were on staff with the Congress of Racial equality (CORE), and Goodman was a summer volunteer. Their bodies would not be found for another six weeks.  

Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner knew the risks and believed that helping Black Mississippians actualize the right to vote was a worthwhile endeavor. But no one should compromise their safety or put their lives in danger to ensure others have the right to vote or that those votes are correctly counted. 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at News Conference

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holds a photo of the three murdered men during a press conference in 1964. Source: Bettmann / Getty

Giuliani and Trump’s harassment of Freeman and Moss follows the violent racist harassment endured by organizers across the south during the civil rights movement and notably during Freedom Summer. Thankfully, no one suffered bodily harm as a result of Trump-led harassment.  

The harassment endured by Freeman and Moss caused irreparable harm to their livelihood and overall ability to live without fear. A GoFundMe has been set up to help repair some of the damage.

This country cannot simply ignore the anger and hostility at an increasingly diverse electorate in Georgia flipping two U.S. Senate seats and the state’s electoral college votes for Democratic candidates. The multiracial coalition of organizers and voters followed in the footsteps of Freedom Summer organizers like Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman.  

Georgia Republican officials amplified unfounded allegations and gave Rudy Giuliani, acting as Trump’s legal representation and lawyer, space to make blatantly false accusations against Freeman, including claiming she was guilty of criminal activity. Freeman was even harassed by a former Kanye employee and Republican supporter, who reached out and tried to coerce Freeman into confessing.  

January 6th Hearing Day 4

Wandrea Arshaye “Shaye” Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman. Source: Tom Williams / Getty

Also, part of protecting election workers is ensuring they have the training, resources and technical support necessary to carry out their duties. Giving space to unfounded allegations and fear-mongering puts people like Moss and Freeman in danger and undermines trust in the electoral process from start to finish. 

In his first year in the Senate, Sen. Raphael Warnock introduced a bill that would protect election workers, seeking to address some of the issues experienced by Freeman, Moss and others who reported attacks after the 2020 election. Senate Democrats later included some of the provisions in his bill in the Freedom to Vote Act which unfortunately did not pass the full Senate last year.  

With the 2022 midterm election cycle underway, and a Georgia election law motivated by the big lie, election workers remain in harm’s way. Elections cannot happen without poll workers and other election staff carrying out the most basic tasks that lead to a Democracy that works for everyone.  

SEE ALSO:  

Beyond Juneteenth 2022 To Fighting For the Next Round Of Freedom 

Fair Fight Action’s ‘Civics For The Culture’ Series Explores History Of Democracy 

Veteran SNCC Organizer And The Algebra Project Founder Bob Moses Dies At 86 

Commentary: Mother-Daughter Duo Testify About Georgia Election Harassment On Anniversary Of Freedom Summer Murders  was originally published on newsone.com