When Stacey Abrams lies, business dies

Recently, my group – Black Americans For a Better Future – co-hosted a press conference with Atlanta-area business owners at the Georgia State Capitol to proclaim a simple but important message: Stacey Abrams is lying, and as a result, businesses are dying.

When Georgia passed the Election Integrity Act into law, Abrams went on the offensive, describing common-sense measures to secure our elections as a resurrection of Jim Crow. President Joe Biden and other white liberals ate it up, repeating the lie at every opportunity — and it is a lie.

Sadly, that lie is costing the Atlanta metropolitan area at least $100 million in potential economic activity, because after Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines caved to Abrams’ demands and issued statements denouncing the law, Major League Baseball reacted by moving the 2021 All-Star Game from majority-Black Atlanta to snow-white Denver, Colorado.

Contrary to what Abrams and her white liberal allies claim, there’s absolutely nothing racist or anti-democratic about the Georgia Election Integrity Act. In fact, voting is now easier in Georgia than it is in deep-blue states such as New York and Connecticut, or even Colorado. The new law makes it easy to vote and hard to cheat, full stop.

Stacey Abrams would like America to believe that she somehow speaks on behalf of all Black people. As we showed at our press conference, that’s simply not the case. One of the main reasons we held the press conference was to show that her lies are causing real pain for Black workers and business owners.

Marvil Rodney is the owner of Rodney’s Jamaican Soul Food, which is located near Truist Park. The COVID pandemic was especially devastating to the restaurant industry, and Mr. Rodney and his employees were eagerly anticipating the extra business that the All-Star Game would bring. It was going to be their chance to get back on their feet – and for the wait staff, the first opportunity in over a year to make some real money to provide for their families.

Michael Bennett is a promoter in Atlanta who caters to an upscale clientele – exactly the sort of people who come to town for events like an all-star game. Based on his revenue from the NBA All-Star Game, he will be losing thousands upon thousands of dollars as a result of the MLB’s decision. In his line of work, he interacts with many waiters, waitresses, and bartenders, and he tells me they’re all deeply concerned about the tips and overtime hours they’re going to be missing out on.

These are the people who get hurt when corporate executives accept a partisan lie at face value and let themselves be used as pawns in a political debate. Coke, Delta, and the MLB were willing to believe that Stacey Abrams spoke for the entire Black community, when really she only speaks for the far-left wing of the Democratic Party.

I don’t completely blame them for being fooled by Stacey Abrams and her racially charged rhetoric. Corporate executives need to focus on business, not politics. But if they’re going to involve themselves in the political arena, they owe it to the American public to be fully informed. That’s why business owners who support election integrity signed an open letter seeking to establish dialogue with Coke, Delta, and other companies that have weighed in on the issue. The same offer is available to any other companies that might be thinking about taking a public position.

Stacey Abrams is lying, and businesses are dying, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Let’s have a real conversation before anyone makes any more rash decisions.

Raynard Jackson