One Georgia Assembly Forsyth County Republican Response

Georgia’s 6^th Congressional District is hosting Stacey Abrams and 6^th District candidates will speak Sunday, September 18 in Forsyth County School District’s new FoCAL Center for Performing Arts. (Press Release link.) The Forsyth County Republican Party is inviting its members to gather to protest at the event with verbiage that is reminiscent of Forsyth County Georgia’s racial history.

The invitation from the Forsyth County Republican Party.

Response from 6^th District and Forsyth County Democratic Committee Chairperson Melissa Clink:

The Forsyth County Democrats support the right to peacefully protest. We recently protested Kemp ourselves at the same location. The attendees and speakers at Sunday’s One Georgia event also have the right to peacefully assemble and to politically organize. And everyone in attendance has a right to go home safely without fear of intimidation or harm to self or property.

We have been and are working closely with Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office to ensure that our event remains safe and peaceful. Law enforcement will be very present and visible and will remain in constant contact with lead organizers.

We strongly condemn the dangerous and embarrassing rhetoric of the Forsyth County Georgia Republican Party. You should be ashamed to have typed out that Abrams and Warnock are “crossing our border”; Forsyth County’s history of racial cleansing and being a documented sundown town make this line especially incendiary, disgusting, and shameful.

You can disagree politically with us, but you will not intimidate us, and you will not stop our passion to create and advocate for better public policy through legislation and electing leaders who support that. You will not silence us, if anything, your actions will make us louder.

Saying that you will line the streets to show that this is your town is reminiscent of 1987, which continues to be a moral stain on the history of our shared county. If you are a Republican reading this and disagree with how they are representing you locally, it is your responsibility to join our condemnation of the charged language in this flier. It is the clearly the intention of local Republican leaders to tap into any underlying white supremacist ideology for political gain. Want us to stop pointing out white supremacy? Then you MUST stop accepting its use in your party politics. We will continue to call it exactly like we see it, as we always have. The venue does not belong to anyone but the county and is open to anyone who wishes to use it’s beautiful building for a play, performance, or political assembly.