Outrage As Georgia Gov. Signs Sweeping Voter Suppression Bill Under Slave Plantation Painting

Photo via @GovKemp/Twitter

March 26, 2021, 10:12 am

As Georgia state Representative Park Cannon, a Black woman, was being arrested for knocking on his door, Governor Brian Kemp was signing a massive voter suppression bill under a painting of a notorious slave plantation.

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After a photograph of Kemp signing Senate bill 202, surrounded by a gaggle of other white men, spread online, people became curious about the pretty painting that hung in full view behind them.

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Columnist Will Bunch put together a thread explaining how they discovered the subject matter of the painting and just how awful this plantation was for African slaves.

1. You’ve probably seen this picture of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and his gaggle of white men signing the state’s voter suppression law — the new, new Jim Crow. But there’s a shocking angle to this story that you haven’t heard. Sit down for this one… pic.twitter.com/edHPmyeoiu

— Will Bunch Sign Up For My Newsletter (@Will_Bunch) March 26, 2021

“The harsh reality of life for slaves in the era of the Callaway Plantation is captured in this oral-history ‘slave narrative’ of Mariah Callaway, a woman who was born into slavery on the plantation in 1852,” Bunch wrote.

“In her account, she notes that ‘…[T]here were some slaves who were unruly; so the master built a house off to itself and called it the Willis jail. Here he would keep those whom he had to punish. I have known some slaves to run away on other plantations and the hounds would bite plugs out of their legs.’”

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5. The promotional sites gloss over the fact that by the time of the Civil War, the Callaway Plantation only thrived because of the back-breaking labor of more than 100 slaves who were held in cruel human bondage

— Will Bunch Sign Up For My Newsletter (@Will_Bunch) March 26, 2021

Today, Callaway Plantation remains as a tourist attraction that tries to downplay the immense suffering and torture that occurred for the Black slaves, with a slave cabin that is “mentioned as an afterthought and something you can go to and look at yourself.”

Bunch goes on to summarize the era of Jim Crow laws that took away the right to vote from the vast majority of Black Americans, in addition to other freedoms. He notes that the bill makes it illegal to provide water to people standing in line to vote, which in Georgia can be 10 hours or more due to already insufficient polling locations and voting times.

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14… that took place behind the placid scenery of Brickhouse Road in Wilkes County, to the suppression now hidden behind a phony facade of “voter integrity.” This legacy is a crime against humanity, and it cannot stand – 30 –

— Will Bunch Sign Up For My Newsletter (@Will_Bunch) March 26, 2021

Today’s Black Americans and their anti-racist supporters have been widely appalled at this image that seems to depict a serious backslide when it comes to racial equity and justice in the U.S. Some find it so striking that they’re wondering if the juxtaposition was intentional.

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At the very least, it’s not nearly as surprising as it should be.

It always gets worse… He signed his Jim Crow voting suppression bill LITERALLY in front of a picture of a plantation. https://t.co/GocfIfiZX8

— Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (@malcolmkenyatta) March 26, 2021

Kemp signing a voter suppression bill in front of a portrait of a violent slave plantation is… my stomach is turning.

(this is very much on brand for him and his fellow white supremacists) https://t.co/T9eQ9cguCE

— CiCi Adams (@CiCiAdams_) March 26, 2021

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In case you had any doubt Georgia’s voter restriction bill was about anything other than Jim Crow and white supremacy—read this horrifying thread. I’m speechless but not surprised. https://t.co/aDWv8YAdZJ

— Qasim Rashid, Esq. قاسم رشید (@QasimRashid) March 26, 2021

The new Georgia law designed to make it harder to vote under the pretext of combatting imaginary fraud was signed under a painting of a literal slave plantation. Very subtle. https://t.co/nEDEqB9J0n

— Julian Sanchez (@normative) March 26, 2021

Georgia’s racist Republican Governor Kemp signing a new voting restriction law, surrounded by fellow racist Republicans. Painting in the background: the infamous Callaway slave plantation.

This is today’s Republican Party perfectly captured in one image. pic.twitter.com/oGzyph8c5L

— Mikko Alanne (@MikkoAlanne) March 26, 2021

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7 white dudes just signed and celebrated a new voter suppression law in front of a painting of a slave plantation, all behind closed doors. How is this where we are in 2021? pic.twitter.com/yy1yvmNDLx

— Tony (@chipsyeehaw) March 26, 2021

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*First Published: March 26, 2021, 10:12 am