Georgia, in the past few months we have become aware of terrible acts of violence against the black community both in our state and others. These acts have left many shocked and even more feeling hopeless, and while protests are necessary after tragedies like these, the system does not change from the outside. Georgia is one of only four states without hate crime legislation on the books, and on march 7, 2019 the GA state legislature voted for HB 426, a hate crimes sentencing bill! The problem was it did not even come up for a vote in the corresponding Senate committee!

There will not be real change in Georgia until there is real change in the capitol building. Please sign this petition not only to reintroduce HB 426 but to amend it to clearly include the actions of police officers given the actions taken against the late George Floyd in Minnesota. 

BUT IT IS NOT THAT SIMPLE! Signing a petition, unfortunately will not make this a law, and you signing it will not automatically make your legislator vote in favor of it. Down below there is a link to find your state representative and state senator. Reach out to their offices and ask them to sign the bill when it comes up again, and if you do not like the answer you get, there is a link to find out who is running against them for their spot in 2020; reach out to that campaign. 

There is one more big problem. The state legislature only meets for roughly the first three months of the calendar year, so if you really want this passed, you have to remember this when the legislature is back in session in January and continue to reach out to your representatives and senators to make sure it gets passed. 

Together we can make real systematic change, but that takes more time and energy than uploading an instagram story or sending out a tweet. Signing this petition means committing to holding elected officials responsible now, voting them out in November if they are not helping the cause, and continuing to push them in January so that this time next year we will have made real progress. 

Here is the link to the most recent bill that was NOT passed in the legislature:

http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/display/20192020/HB/426

The link to find your state representative is here:

http://www.house.ga.gov/mediaServices/en-US/FindYourLawmaker.aspx

If you don’t like the answer you get from your representative, find out who is running against them in 2020 and reach out to their campaign. Link here:

https://ballotpedia.org/Georgia_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2020

Another link to great info:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T_I6aA0iPek1p4a1usyX2J570755RttfBZVXUd8l3Og/edit