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‘Scared for my safety’: White woman who reported Black volunteers at polls now faces gun charges [1]

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Date: 2023-02-10  

Although the election board found the volunteers innocent, Webster’s case was referred to the attorney general’s office—not because they believed the poll workers were at fault, but because Webster thought carrying a gun to the polls was a good idea.

Webster defended her actions to the board, claimed the gun wasn’t functional, said the board was attempting to cover up election fraud, and compared the Black voting rights group to the Black Panthers, making her fear for her life.

"I remember the Black Panthers that stood in front of the polling place with their guns. That's how I felt when I pulled up to vote in Albany, Ga.," Webster told board members. "That's what I felt. 71 years old, I don't run as fast as I used to, and I was totally intimidated. I'm still intimidated and shaking."

GPB reports that after Webster voted that day, she got into a confrontation with members of Black Voters Matter and was charged with disorderly conduct.

"I spoke to Ms. Webster and explained to her what we were doing," Black Voters Matter member Demetrius Young said. "I was simply trying to help people who were in 90-degree heat, standing in line for six hours trying to cast their vote, many of them passing out on the sidewalk."

Young added that Webster was even handed a bottle of water.

"You know, the half has not been told on about what we went through that whole elections period," he said. "We were the ones that were threatened with violence, guns pulled on us, but we were the ones who were threatened with arrest from the local officials there. We were the ones who had to endure charges and things of that nature."

Black Voters Matter has brought millions of dollars into grassroots elections in the last six years.

They have held bus tours with different themes, such as “The South is Rising” in 2018 to “We Got Power” in 2020, a “Freedom Ride” last year, and this year the Blackest bus tour in America, titled “We Won’t Black Down.” That’s not even half of it: The group also works year-round to increase voter registration, advocates for policies around voting rights, and funds and inspires civic engagement in marginalized communities nationwide.

Cliff Albright, who co-founded BVM with his business partner LaTosha Brown, told Daily Kos in September 2022 that despite all that’s been thrown at marginalized communities—voter suppression, the persistence, and rise of white supremacy, economic inequities, and more—the message of BVM has remained the same since it launched in 2016: When it comes to getting Black and brown folks to the polls, the group has no plans to let up.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/10/2152230/-Black-volunteers-giving-out-water-to-voters-cleared-White-woman-who-cited-them-faces-gun-charges

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